Silver Ships takes pride in its longevity within the marine workboat industry and in its partnerships with quality outfitting partners, including Suzuki Marine. Both Silver Ships and Suzuki Marine put customer needs first and offer solutions to help operators feel more confident on the water.

Suzuki Marine: The Ultimate Outboard Motor

Suzuki Marine is a premier outboard motor company with the industry’s largest all-4-stroke lineup. The company has won more NMMA Innovation Awards than any other manufacturer thanks to its innovative outboards ranging from 25 horsepower to the flagship 350 V6. The company develops and offers outboard products that serve customers ranging from new recreational boaters to established commercial workboat operators. Suzuki engineers strive to make outboard motors that everyone can use, requiring the least amount of maintenance possible while still delivering excellent performance and reliability.

Q&A with Connor Fichtner, Suzuki Marine Representative

Q What does Suzuki do to set itself apart in the market?

A Suzuki Marine places an unrelenting focus on bringing the best technology to the greatest number of customers, not only those who can afford the largest, highest-horsepower outboards. Suzuki engineers are always looking to improve our products and deliver a superior boating experience for our wide customer base.

Additionally, Suzuki has made a global commitment to help protect our environment — a commitment we know is shared by our customers. Through our Clean Ocean Project, Suzuki is working to clean up marine environments around the world, reduce our reliance on single use plastics, minimize plastic from packaging, create new products like our Micro Plastics Filter to clean fresh and salt water as it cycles through the cooling system on an outboard motor, and develop new technologies and initiatives to further reduce our footprint on the environment.

Suzuki understands that for our business to continue, we need to make more than just The Ultimate Outboard Motor – we need to work together to create a better world that can sustain our business and our passions for years to come.

Q How has Suzuki continued to stay competitive in the boat engine market?

A Although we might not make the most powerful outboard engine on the market, we know our strengths lie in building high quality products. Suzuki has spent the past 20 years bringing our most advanced technology from our largest, most expensive outboards down to our mid-sized outboards. For example, Suzuki is one of the only manufacturers in the industry that offers digital Fly-By-Wire controls all the way down to our DF115 outboard motor. 

Q How is Suzuki Marine meeting and overcoming the unique challenges in the boat engine market?

A There is more to building innovative outboard motors than racing to achieve the highest   horsepower. Outboard motors must be designed and built to minimize weight and achieve superior balance/weight distribution on the transom of a boat. This is where features like our offset drive shaft on motors 70 horsepower and up come in.

Today’s outboard boats are larger and heavier than ever, requiring superior torque and low-end power. Suzuki meets these requirements with innovations like our contra-rotating dual propellers, rugged gear cases and powerful gear ratios designed to optimize low-end acceleration, mid-range performance and top-end speed.

Additionally, outboard motors perform their duties in challenging conditions and corrosive saltwater environments, so Suzuki engineers have developed important features like anti-corrosion technology, self-adjusting, oil-bathed timing chains, water detecting fuel system protection, sub cooling water inlets and more.

Q Why are Suzuki engines good options for Silver Ships vessels, including those designed and built for military, fire rescue and law enforcement missions?

A Silver Ships builds a premium vessel that requires a premium engine to power it. Silver Ships customers require engines that will not fail them. They must get in and out of potentially hazardous situations without fear of whether their engines will get them there reliably.

Suzuki’s reputation for reliability, durability and performance in the most challenging conditions is well deserved. Combine this with outstanding fuel economy and performance, and it is easy to see why Suzuki is a great choice for any type of boat with intended use by first responders.

Q Which are the most popular Suzuki engines utilized by Silver Ships customers?

A Silver Ships most often orders the Suzuki, DF250AP, DF300AP and DF350AT. These true “flagship” models are the three most powerful engines that we offer, and feature the highest level of technology, performance, fuel-efficiency and durability.

Q Do you have recommendations regarding mission-specific vessels and engine choices?

A The same that we would recommend for many boating applications — go with the highest possible outboard power based on the rating vessel. Consider based on specific usage whether twin smaller engines would be preferable to a single, especially for situations like towing or locations where the redundancy of having multiple power sources might come into play.

Silver Ships partners with multiple engine vendors, as customers can choose their preferred engine during the design and build process. Suzuki Marine is a long-time partner of Silver Ships, and Silver Ships operates its own Suzuki Marine franchise – Gulf Coast Suzuki – to serve recreational boaters in the Mobile, Ala. area.