The port engine’s compression remained strong, but the Bombardier technician agreed with PBR testers: the engine was rattling at idle. Bombardier will take a closer look to determine whether this can accurately be called an engine failure. This marks the first major repair to any of the eight engines we’ve long-term tested.

In last month’s editorial, we sang the praises of Bombardier’s effort to carve out a larger space for itself in the outboard market with its intense advertising campaign, “2>4,” or two is greater than four. The effort aims to convince buyers to opt for the Evinrude E-TEC two-stroke over four-strokes.

PBR is long-term testing a pair of 90-hp E-TECs on a Twin Vee Awesome 22 catamaran. And just as our kind words about Bombardier were about to hit the presses, we got some surprising news from our local Bombardier technician. Bombardier had instructed him to replace the powerhead on the port engine. We considered “stopping the presses” and extracting our…