mariner motors??? good bad ugly?

[Ridgerunnr]

been looking for a newer boat..its down to two..priced bout the same

one has yam 115 4 stroke..other has 135h mariner optimax

I dont know squat 'bout mariners...help?

[jellio]

I don't now much about them either but I believe they are made by the same company as Mercury motors. Kind of like a Chevy and GMC same dress different color also like Johnson/Evinrude.

[Ridgerunnr]

well i am torn now between the 3 boats

1.03 lund pro sport w full windshield 115 4 stroke yamaha

2. 01 lund pro v 1775 (console )tourney 3 135 mariner optimax

3. 05 lund explorer 18ft console w 115 4 stroke merc

priced fairly close..not sure ilike the full windshield on the sport

leaning to the 18ft explorer..all pried pretty close

[BoxMN]

I can tell you this, the Mariner opti is the same as the Merc Opti, and will be VERY NOTICABLY more powerful and fast than either of the lesser hp 4 strokes. It is not much different than a 150, built on same block. Nice motor, and bulletproof. The others are very nice motors as well. For me it would come down to whether you liked the quietness of the 4 stroke... and then "I" would buy the opti and I would probably put a Tempest 19" prop on it.

Good luck, all nice rigs, but I would think the #2 older one would be priced less than the others.

[JosMN]

Mariner has always been a Mercury brand since the 1970s, but the first few Mariner outboards were Yamaha motors. This is how YAMAHA got a foot in the door in market. To my understanding the 80's up to early 90's the smaller Mariner outboards were Yamaha motors.

For the last 20 years Mariner is a Merc,with a different paint job...

I personally have a 90 Mariner 60 tiller, and couldn't really be happier with it. Its a Merc, starts like a merc, looks identical to a merc and runs like a merc. Never had an ounce of trouble with it. Had an 89 30hp tiller Mariner (which had the Yamaha motor) and was trouble free too.

[jellio]

I'd go with option 3 just looking at the numbers.

[Jarrid Houston]

In my opinion I would go with the yamaha, however, any motor is as good as it is taken care of. With that being said, I would get some compression readings, check it out make sure she looks nice, ask about warrany etc etc. Good Luck......

[Esox_Magnum]

We have run 3 Mariners all ran great but all loved their gas....

[morepower02]

Both 115's are a yamaha power head. They are great motors. The Opti Is also a great engine. If you want to troll all day I would go the 4 stroke route. If you want better take off and performance go with the Optimax. Being a performance minded person I would take the Opti any day over a 4 stroke unless it was a Verado.. Whole different ball game there.