Mercury outboards

[Fathom]

Been on the look out for a new boat and looking through c list I've seen a lot of boats 95 or newer and most seem to have a mercury outbard on them. Are these solid engines or do they have some problems? Don't want to make the same mistake of getting a boat with an unreliable engine.

[BoxMN]

What specific engine? I can tell you this much, the Merc EFIs (135, 150, 175...) are bullet proof. Thirstier than Optis, but we love our 150efi. Optis came out in '98, our 150 is a '97. All the Mercs that I know of were good and solid except the 2000-2001 year class of bigger block Optis, the 200's and 225's I believe. After 2001 they were fine as well.

Good luck, I love black motors, never been stranded on the lake with them since our first one in '82. I think all motors are very good nowadays. Good luck.

[Rich_s]

The 1st generation Fichts and Opti's 200-225's had some problems. I would stay away from them from 1999-2004. The mid sized were bullet proof like mentioned in the post above. The 2006 and above Opti's are truly an awesome engine. Some of the older 4-strokes had some minor issues but nothing too serious.

[EricD]

I've made a bit of a hobby of owning rotten engines - Russian motorcycles, old cars, that sort of thing. It was never intentional. I just sort of fell into it. I have a garage full of bad engines so over time I just though engines were like that. A couple of years I got a Lund with a 115 hp Merc on it. Beautiful engine. Never a hickup. Reading up on them suggests that they're pretty stable.

[Fathom]

It is a 1996 90HP 2-stroke and others that I have looked at around that year are 60HP

Just seemed curious to me that all these boats for sale had mercurys on them, maybe it was just because the fell into my price range.

[hunterjoe]

It could also be that there weren't a lot of other "good" options in that time. The 90 2-stroke is a popular motor (I think they still make that one) and they are pretty bullet proof as well.

[PerchJerker]

It could also be that there weren't a lot of other "good" options in that time.

I tend to agree with this, in the time frame you're talking about Merc pretty much was "the" motor --- none of the other motors were nearly as popular.

[MuskieJunkie]

Just seemed curious to me that all these boats for sale had mercurys on them, maybe it was just because the fell into my price range.

When you buy a boat new one of the cheapest power options is going to be the Mercury Carb'ed 2 stroke so a lot of boats have them, especially lower end brands and smaller hulls. With a new $35k Lund or crestliner the guy is probably going to be willing to spend the extra 3k to upgrade the motor to FI, 4 stroke etc.

They're solid motors but have their issues, they're loud, hard to start, and drink gas although most motors from that era have those same issues.

[candiru]

The reason alot of these boats have Mercs. could be that the parent company of Merc. has an ownership stake in some of the boat manufacturers. I paid a fair amount more to get a Yamaha on my '06 Crestliner Tiller. I do know that the 4 cylinder 50 horse Merc 2 stroke tends to be a thirsty one.

[walleyewild]

Merc and Lund have gone hand in hand for years, since Brunswick Bought Lund and decided to prerig at the factory.

I just sold my 95 Lund with a 95 Merc. It ran as good the day I sold it as the day I bought it new. Maybe a little better then new after I switched over to the AMSOil. I was a little sad to see her go to the new owner, but the new boat sure looks good in the water too.

Fathom,

I would have to say that if you look at who you're buying the boat from it'll give you a good idea as to how the boat was maintained.

Ask questions, if there is any hesatation in the response then there might be room for deceit in the seller.

Ask to meet at a public access and take the boat for a test run.

I let the guy who bought my boat put it through it's paces by himself on a small lake, he had more questions about operational things when he came back in but really didn't question the motor after that test run.

And I will say that you are looking at a used boat and motor, most are in good working order and the owner is selling for one of many different reasons.

There are no guarantees that you won't have problems with the boat, motor and trailer, or any of the on-board systems. But it helps if you can do some or all of the maintenance yourself and this site is great for helping people diagnose problems.

Don't be afraid of buying a used boat, just try and find the boat that is right for you, from a seller that makes you feel ok that the boat was maintained well and they are not trying to just get rid of a problem motor or boat.

Most people that are selling on the on-line sites are on the up and up, there are a few shady characters out there just be aware. Take a friend with that has some experience with used motors if you need to, best advice I can give is run the motor before you purchase, if not on a lake or river at least on muffs, check the telltale for good flow, rev the motor and listen for missing or backfiring, like I said if the person is on the up and up they won't hesatate to let you run it.

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