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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

    Finally did the water pump today. It seemed to be fine, but I noticed the stream at idle was kinda lousy so I went ahead and did it. Ill post some pics but I dont think there was actually anything wrong with my original one? Let me know if yall see something I dont. Also I did some reading...
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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

    Oh I wasn't running it while up on the tabs. I'd kill it floating up to the bank go back pull the motor up put it on the tabs and then Coast it into the sand
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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

    I also noticed there is in fact a little transom flex. I can still Bear all my weight down on it but it does flex just a bit.
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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

    Does anybody know if it's common for these engines that if you tilt them up like if I'm getting the boat close to the bank but I pull the motor up put it on the tabs. I was noticing that when I put it back down it would start and run but then it would run out of gas and I had to reprime the...
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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

    Prop pitch is 19 also
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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

    16ft. And id have to look this evening. Do you know if you add the switch to the controls or if its something id need to pick up a different set of controls?
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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

    Got it out on the lake today and its running great. Zero issues. Its pretty quick out of the hole. I do wish I had power tilt/trim. Should probably figure out a tach for it as well
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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

    How exactly does one test this without doing damage? I don't intend to go tearing into the boat or drilling holes. Transom feels strong and the floor feels solid. Also these boats don't really have any under floor access. Atleast that I'm aware of.
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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

    I did that when looking at the boat before I bought it
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    1974 Caravelle. Tarpon?

    Picked this boat up super cheap a week ago. Im the second owner. Boat was always garage kept im told. And it looks to be true going off the condition. Ive got a question regarding getting some of the covers to fit? Other than the top which I think has always been on the boat the rest of the...
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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

    Transom feels fine when I put the motor up and bear my weight down on it. Although this is a very light boat and the tonge of the trailer will try coming off the ground at a certain point of putting weight on the back. Floors are solid. All the wood in the framing of the seats and other...
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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

    Fired it up on some water horns today. Seems to run decent.
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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

    I suppose the wires to helm are fine? Not sure how to really inspect them seeing as they're kinda sealed in that jacket? After looking at the engine side harness I probed alittle further down the harness towards the cowl and im not sure theres any really "good" wire left to splice to. Its...
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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

    I haven't inspected the wires up to the helm yet. It sounds like I should re-wire it vs just seal it and let it ride. And yeah everything wire wise on the distributor side looked fine. And this is on a 1974 Caravelle Tarpon model. Alittle over a 15ft boat.
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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

    It's definitely failing. And fallen off wires. And yeah I noticed it looked pretty straight forward to make the wiring for it if I wanted. Id love to keep it with the boat being original, if I can get it reliable.
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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

    Well I went ahead and bought the boat. It's basically brand new I'm the second owner and he said the boats maybe been to the lake 10 times it's whole life otherwise it's been garaged. I'll check for spark before I bought it had good strong spark on all four. Brought it home hooked some fuel to...
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    Mercury 850 85hp. Good engine or stay away?

    Looking at an older caravelle bow rider in beautiful shape. Boat is a 1974 model. I assume but haven't confirmed if the mercury is. If it's the older distributor setup should I stay away from it? Guy says it's been garage kept and hasn't ran in awhile.
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    1956 Johnson FD-10 15hp.

    Fixed the idle issue. Long story short a piece of the old gasket was missing and I assumed nothing was missing when I copied it. Caused the idle circuit not to be able to draw fuel up correctly. I tossed in the sierra bowl gasket . The seal around the main "venturi" and the bowl and the...
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    1956 Johnson FD-10 15hp.

    Can I install an 18hp power head on my midsection?
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