I'm thinking about buying a new motor for my modified jon boat. I'm currently using a 1982 Johnson 15HP and it runs fine but I'm considering something a little more reliable. The boat is rated for up to 35HP but the weight of the motor gets pretty high as you go up.
I know I can get a new 2005 Mercury, 15HP, 4 stroke, manual start, tiller drive for just over $2000.
Any advise on what to get? Want to keep the price close to the Mercury.
Anyone have a good source for prices, dealers, etc?
I'm not finding many dealers around the Central Coast. I'd like to give some of the other manufactures a chance before I just go with the Mercury.
Thanks for any info or opinions that you can help with.

i think theres a boat shop in atascedero and another in lompoc,the guy here in santa on betteravia might be able to order you one ,check with him.also if i dont sell my boat ,how much do you want for your old motor?
tight lines, brian

Brian,
I've been to "The Boat Doc" in Paso Robles who sells the Mercury. I found out that Lund's Landing in Lompoc sells Nissan which look pretty good...anyone have any experience with Nissans? They also sell Nissan up to 18HP through Cabela's. I'll ask the Marks Marine guy what he can do, thanks for the advice.
I was going to sell it for around $400 but for a calfishing.com guy I'll go for $300. It will be in late July/ early August timeframe before I'm ready to buy/sell.
Ken

please email me before that used motor becomes available i will buy it immediately,also thought i saw you on mccoy lane the other day,i could tell by the fishing stickers and plate cover,i had the red van with the bass pro shop and "got fishing?" stickers.so i'm local and can buy the motor if you let me know b4 hand,
thank you , brian

Brian,
You'll be the first to know! I'm expecting some bonus money at the end of July that I will be using to buy a new motor. I'll let you know when the old one is available. When you see the Titan IV rocket launch from Vandenberg AFB you'll know that it's getting close!!;-)

I just got a 2005 15hp yamaha 4-stroke, manual start, tiller. Paid $2300 something for it. I didn't try to haggle the price at all because I wanted the motor and it was hard to find. Apparenlty because of the lawsuit between Mercury and Yamaha, getting Yamaha motors is very difficult right now. When I got that motor, it was literally the last Yamaha the place I bought it from had. They weren't expecting any more until June or July I guess.

If I was feeling more spendy, I would probably have gotten the 20hp Honda with electric trim. Its the same weight as the 15hp which is cool, but it was out of my price range.

So far I've been happy with the Yamaha. It seemed a little rough during the first few hours of running it but it seems to have smoothed out now. The idle is extremely quiet and you can troll at incredibly slow speeds on it. At full throttle its fairly loud, but nothing unreasonable. My boat is a 15' modified V jon and I'd estimate it runs about 25-30mph full speed with just me in the boat. With two guys, two batteries, full tank of gas and a cooler full of water it bogs down to about 15mph.

Sounds good! Who did you buy from? It's hard to get much info from some of the websites, especially prices. They all just refer you to their dealer lists and none are from around here. I don't mind a Sunday drive of a few hours to take a look (just not on Memorial Day weekend!)

I bought it from these guys
http://www.sea-power.com/index.html

They were cool, pretty low key. They're a saltwater type place, mostly for sailboats and pleasure boats on the bay I think. It was one of those deals where I called the closest place in the phone book and they just happened to have what I wanted.

So what were you talking about when you said that the Honda 20 was out of your price range? How much do you figure?

Don't remember the exact price but I want to say $3200 or $3600 ?
Any shop that sells outboards should be able to give you a quote over the phone. I got the impression that motor prices on these smaller motors aren't very negotiable because there isn't much margin on them and the money the dealerships make comes to them in kickbacks from the mfgr later, but it never hurts to ask, or ask for a free fuel tank or whatever.

I've heard some bad things about the Mercury 4-strokes. The local county park system replaced all their motors a year ago with Mercurys and they've had to send most of them back already for repairs.

1. I have had 1980s and 1990s Mercurys, 5 to 9.8 hp, for years with little or no problems. However, I heard from an employee at the docks at Lake Cachuma last year that they were having trouble with their new rental Mercurys. I too had trouble with one of their rentals last year, but only once out of several trips.

2. Because I am often in the market for an outboard at or below 15 hp I am always interested in what brands are used for rentals at marinas, because rental motors take a beating and represent part of the livlihood of the rental guys. I saw Hondas at some lakes and at the Santa Barbara Sailing Center. The rentals at Capitola Pier and Santa Cruz Wharf are Nissans, 8 hp I think. I tried this motor once and liked it. My son is satisfied with his 6 hp Nissan, but he has to travel about 2 hours roundtrip twice (no while-you-wait service)for each annual maintenance.

3. Check Cabelas prices if buying a Nissan.

4. Unless you are going to service the motor yourself do not buy a brand for which you have to travel too far for service. Over the years two Mercury dealers went out of business locally, requiring me to travel more than I wanted to for service. (I once had a non-Mercury service shop nearly ruin one of my Mercurys.)

5. Although manual-start outboards are available above 15 hp, I find that manual starting can be more difficult for models above 15 hp. I think that this is a matter of increased compression in models above 15 hp. I much regretted the hard starting 25 hp manual 4 stroke Honda that I bought.

Bob

Thanks for all the advise. I'm now looking real hard at the Honda 20HP. If you keep it manual pull and no electric trim and tilt it comes in at $2700...not that much more than the Mercury or Nissan, and it's lighter than the other's 15 or 18 HP.
Although at $3200 for all the bells and whistles!!!:9
How far can I stretch my bonus money???
Rob, how much research did you do on that Honda with the electric trim and tilt?