The end result of a joint venture between Tohatsu and Mercury Marine, the 30LW is manufactured in Japan by Tohatsu Marine Corporation or TMC. According to my local Mercury dealership it sells hundreds of these engines a year, mainly packaged with Stacer hulls in the 4.3m range.

As the twin-cylinder, oil injected US-built Mercury 30 has been discontinued (though it's still available as a 40), the 30LW is now the only carbie two-stroke 30 in the Mercury outboards lineup.

The 30LW is a simple premix engine that has one carbie, mechanical ignition timing advance and a side gearshift. But, because the engine has a commercial background, it has sensible features such as an auxiliary cooling water intake, rod-operated throttle control and a large capacity fuel filter. Unlike some of the direct competition electric start versions, it retains the manual overhead recoil starter.

However, the 30LW has some quirky features such as a reverse lock release that must be flicked down to set shallow water drive or to fully tilt the outboard. With the competition, this is achieved by flicking up the release lever - more logical when approaching the shore or ramp.

Stacer supplies the 30LW as standard, with its tiller-steer 429 TS Nomad Elite hull in the "Ready 2 Go" Boating Package - adequate for powering a two-adult and fishing tackle load.

The 4.22m 429 Elite is no lightweight, having a hull-only weight of 260kg, and weighs more than the 429 Seaway runabout based on the same hull. Add a full underfloor fuel tank of 50lt and the total displacement quickly passes the 500kg mark, quite a load for any 30hp outboard.

But surprisingly, the demo electric start 30LW had no trouble pushing our 550kg total displacement including two hefty adults. It started instantly hot or cold, using the electric starter and although two hands were needed to manually start the engine when cold, only one was needed when hot.

Running on a 25:1 break-in mix of ULP and Quicksilver TC-W3 outboard oil, it blew oil smoke only on cold starting and when idling. Providing the antiventilation plate was kept immersed when using shallow water drive, power astern was good and no cooling water starvation occurred. Despite the side gearshift, operating the 30LW was very easy and the rod-operated throttle linkage gave precise throttle control.

As expected of a relatively large displacement twin-cylinder loopcharged engine, vibration levels were fairly high trolling but above 2500rpm the engine smoothed-out to vibrate little more than a three-cylinder engine.

Spinning a standard 11-inch prop and set on the second trim-pin hole, the 30LW planed us at 22kmh and 3500rpm or two-thirds throttle opening, and cruised effortlessly at 29.8kmh and 4000rpm using 7.0lt/h. Through a full lock figure of eight turns, no prop ventilation occurred.

At WOT, averages were a reasonable 41.2kmh and 5400rpm using 13.3lt/h, although a little raucous. Also, the bow was starting to bury at this speed and for long downwind runs it would be better to use the third trim-pin hole to lift the bow and reduce hull bottom skin friction.

Servicing is straightforward, with the spark plugs and fuel filter easily reached. Recommended servicing intervals are every 100 hours or yearly (also for water pump impeller replacement) after the first service at 20 hours. The 30LW is rated "1 Star" under the Australian OEDA exhaust emissions compliance system and has a three-year warranty for recreational usage.

For saltwater anglers, the 30LW is hard to beat. It provides surprisingly good power from its relatively small piston displacement, yet because of this, is much easier to hand start than the direct Japanese competition. Because of its light weight compared to the competition, it affects fore and aft hull trim less than these (important with tiller steer hulls not having a motorwell), and has features that ensure a long, trouble-free life span while requiring little maintenance.