Quote:
Originally Posted by ursa minor
I'll agree with the suggestions to get the boat and engine surveyed. On salt water boats also consider that it's not just the engine that can be affected by corrosion. The wiring, electronics and other parts of the boat can show signs of salt water use as well.
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Marine Surveyors do not really "survey" an engine. Some will do a compression check and visual inspection, anything beyond that is typically left to a mechanic.
After owning many 2 strokes and a few 4 strokes I would go Verado as long as it is not cosmetically corroded up from sitting in salt. If it was tilted out of the water the inner water jackets should be fine. That would be an early Verado, so check online to see if there are any inherent problems with that year.
The Verado is an exceptional motor. If it has the digital throttle and shift it is even more impressive. We had a 300 Pro last year and loved it.
What is the boat? 50hp is a big size difference, make sure that a 150 is big enough to push it efficiently. Last year we had a 180 Dauntless, when we got it, it was powered by a 135 Optimax. It was a salt water motor and had rust issues in the steering pivot tube. We tried to dismantle it and found the corrosion went much deeper and it was not cost effective to repair, so we sold it for parts and went with a clean 115hp 4 stroke Merc. It was a great motor, but the difference in horsepower and torque between the 2 was very noticeable. The boat lost 8mph top speed, a lot of hole shot and would not plane well with a load. The 115 had 60 hours on it, was mint, and was propped properly. I should have gone with a new 150hp verado at that time but the 115 was a really good deal. I was not happy with the overall package in the end so we sold it and went to a Dauntless 200 with a 200hp Verado. Really loved that boat!!!!
We had another boat that had twin 135hp Hondas with 1000 hours, they were perfect. The 4 strokes really go the distance.