Mercury 4 strokes

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mobilaltima

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Does anyone own or have any experience with the newer Mercury 4 strokes? Ive never been a fan of Mercurys besides the Optimax, I know in the past some of their bigger 4 strokes were made by Yamaha, and some of the smaller ones are made by Tohatsu. It seems as though 25 hp on up is now made in house by Mercury, can anyone confirm this, and their reliability? However, I recently bought a used 16 foot Carolina skiff with no motor, Im considering buying a Mercury 40 SeaPro commercial outboard, I'll be using the boat 95% of the time in saltwater. I just want to gather all the info I can before making a decision. I put a link to the 40 hp below.

https://www.mercurymarine.com/en/us/engines/outboard/seapro/15-60-hp/
 
Originally Posted by mobilaltima
I'll be using the boat 95% of the time in saltwater.


All of the saltwater outboards I see are almost all Yamahas
 
My Yamaha has been completely reliable and I'd buy another in a heartbeat. That being said, I would also consider Suzuki as they are supposed to be very reliable as well and a little less expensive than the Yamaha.
 
My uncle has had a Mercury 25hp EFI Four Stroke on the back of his 18' aluminum fishing boat since 2011. Zero complaints. Nearly silent at idle and sips fuel.

Had a Johnson from 2003-2011 until it died for some unknown reason. Both always dealer maintained.
 
Thanks for sticking to the topic of Mercury, oilpsi2high. I have considered Suzuki but my concern right now is the Mercury, particularly the Sea Pro 4 stroke series.
 
I test drove a boat with a 135hp Evinrude E-tec HO and it was comparable to a Merc 4-stroke. I actually thought it was a 4stroke until I researched it. I'm just not sure how durable those Etecs are, and the oil injection is a turn off for me.

If I had to shop outboard power, I'd probably go for the Mercury Verado. Four stroke reliability and simplicity with the power of a two stroke.
 
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I own an 07 Merc 90 H/P 4 stroke and so far it has been a great engine. I have heard, since they were affiliated with Yamaha at that time, mine is basically a Verado/Yamaha engine?
Mine strictly sees fresh water.

Personally, I'd check out iboats.com before deciding. That site has a ton of info on all engines and everything else in between that is boating related.
https://forums.iboats.com/





SDC10030 (Large).JPG
 
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Closing in on 2000 hrs on a 250hp Verado. It's on a Ranger 620vs. It's been run HARD. Tons of trolling and tons of wide open 60mph running. It's been by far the most reliable motor I've ever run. It's on it's original impeller even. Literally nothing but turn the key and go and oil and lower unit oil changes. I did break down and put a 9.9 kicker on the boat this year, but other than that I just trolled 90% of the time with the big motor. I have a place on Red Lake and it's a 15mi Run to anything I want to fish most of the year. It's also seen more than it's share of extremely rough water.
 
Originally Posted by GOPHER FREAK
Closing in on 2000 hrs on a 250hp Verado. It's on a Ranger 620vs. It's been run HARD. Tons of trolling and tons of wide open 60mph running. It's been by far the most reliable motor I've ever run. It's on it's original impeller even. Literally nothing but turn the key and go and oil and lower unit oil changes. I did break down and put a 9.9 kicker on the boat this year, but other than that I just trolled 90% of the time with the big motor. I have a place on Red Lake and it's a 15mi Run to anything I want to fish most of the year. It's also seen more than it's share of extremely rough water.

Original impeller, or propeller ? I think your pushing your luck on impeller
smile.gif
 
There was a lot of concern on boating sites about the Yamaha V6 in a few years around 2005 model year, where the mid section was prone to internal corrosion and water leaks. If the problem occured, the water leak cause major problems. Where it leaked I do not recall- possible lower gearcase, or water reversion into exhaust valves. Whatever the problem was, I believe it was fixed in a part revision around 2008 for subsequent models. There are almost no moving parts in that area, and not many areas that require sealing, so the final cause was puzzling until Yamaha put out a TSB on it. Just going by memory- all my motorcycles and PWC are Yamahas, but I never owned a Yamaha OB.
 
Motor is a 2009. As far as the impeller, in my younger days I worked at a Marine dealership as a mechanic. Replacing perfectly good impellers was the number one money maker in the service department. This idea you change them every year is nuts. If you don't run them dry, they last forever. Not a ton of risk running them either, the motor has telltale and also an overheat alarm. That said, I'm aware I might have to come in on the kicker some day. But I just don't replace good parts.
 
My Dad has a 60hp Bigfoot on his pontoon boat and he loves it. Uses less fuel than the previous 50hp Johnson and it is really quiet. No problems at all in 3 seasons.
 
The 'rents had a 115 on a pontoon. No complaints whatsoever, but was obviously used in fresh water as well. Started every time. Very easy to service.

The water pump impeller needed replaced every 3 years/ 300 hrs, which I thought was odd. On theirs, technically it's service life was almost 2/3rds of the way over since the engine was on it's second season of service, but it had only ~15 hrs or so. It was a pontoon on a 400 acre lake after all.. I imagine this would be have to be the case in salt water even once out of warranty. I have no idea how in depth the job was or what the cost of the part was so it could be a $20 part and half hour of work too. No big deal.
 
Originally Posted by Slick17601
My Dad has a 60hp Bigfoot on his pontoon boat and he loves it. Uses less fuel than the previous 50hp Johnson and it is really quiet. No problems at all in 3 seasons.



Same on our 'toon. That lil merc is quiet and not too thirsty either considering.
 
I have a 25hp EFI 4 stroke mercury on the back of a small pontoon boat and I love it. 6 years old now and zero problems.
 
I have the Mercury 4 stroke 115 hp 2007 engine and a 2014 8.9 hp Tohatsu 4 stroke . Mobilaltima is correct about Mercury are made by Tohatsu. The Nissans, Yamahas, Tohatsus and Mercuy and Suzuki share most of the same internal parts if they are 40 hp and under. All the 4 strokes are very reliable and quiet. The new Suzuki smaller engines are now fuel injected which is really nice for cold starts.
 
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