09-05-2006, 10:13 PM
I had a few Mariner motors back in the late 80's, 9.9, 15 and 35 Hp, while they were all easy to start and never left me stranded, they all had idle and carb problems, and all of them seemed to go though props pretty regularly. I kept wiping out the inner rubber hub bushing. I used to go though up to 5 or 6 props a year. I never hit anything and never damaged a blade, they would simply spin on the hub. I was using original hubs and even tried having a few reconditioned, but it made no difference. A buddy of mine was running an Evinrude and had no problems on the same type of boat.
I just picked up a boat mainly for parts, it's got a super clean looking 50 Hp Mercury on it, the motor is from the mid 70's, I did a compression check on it and it's got 150 PSI in all 4 cylinders but has intermittent spark. It looks to have a new stator on it, and overall the motor looks new, no corrosion or salt damage and I was told that it was only run in freshwater. It will start, but any shock or vibration seems to shut it down. The wiring harness insulation is pretty well rotted and I am guessing that there's a loose or broken wire somewhere. Moving the harness while it's running shuts it right off. It's been sitting for about 10 years or so in a barn, by the looks of it it never saw much use. The prop has some edge wear but other than that in appearance it looks almost new. I have nothing invested in it at this point, so if I need to spend a bit to make it right, I think it should be worth it.
I was surprised to see that its old enough to be Made in USA, not Japan, a buddy has a newer Mercury 50 Hp that looks to be Japanese? Mine is the old 3 piece cover style motor, not the later one piece cover.
I am still looking for another smaller motor, I need something in the 25 to 35 Hp range. I wasn't really looking for a 50 Hp, but having the chance to grab it for free, I couldn't pass it up. It's a little to big to put on my aluminum 15 foot boat, but I may decide to resurrect the hull it was on. That one only needs some minor floor repair and some trailer work.
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I just picked up a boat mainly for parts, it's got a super clean looking 50 Hp Mercury on it, the motor is from the mid 70's, I did a compression check on it and it's got 150 PSI in all 4 cylinders but has intermittent spark. It looks to have a new stator on it, and overall the motor looks new, no corrosion or salt damage and I was told that it was only run in freshwater. It will start, but any shock or vibration seems to shut it down. The wiring harness insulation is pretty well rotted and I am guessing that there's a loose or broken wire somewhere. Moving the harness while it's running shuts it right off. It's been sitting for about 10 years or so in a barn, by the looks of it it never saw much use. The prop has some edge wear but other than that in appearance it looks almost new. I have nothing invested in it at this point, so if I need to spend a bit to make it right, I think it should be worth it.
I was surprised to see that its old enough to be Made in USA, not Japan, a buddy has a newer Mercury 50 Hp that looks to be Japanese? Mine is the old 3 piece cover style motor, not the later one piece cover.
I am still looking for another smaller motor, I need something in the 25 to 35 Hp range. I wasn't really looking for a 50 Hp, but having the chance to grab it for free, I couldn't pass it up. It's a little to big to put on my aluminum 15 foot boat, but I may decide to resurrect the hull it was on. That one only needs some minor floor repair and some trailer work.
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