'98 Merc. 15hp. Any good?

[Kymasabe]

I'm a lifelong Johnson/Evinrude user. Not by choice, just kinda worked out that way. I'm thinking about selling my great running '82 Johnson 9.9hp and buying a nice, low hours, clean '98 Merc 15hp.

Problem is...I don't know anything about them. Were they decent motors? Any inherent problems? Anything I need to look for/at when I check it out?

I'm guessing parts are still readily available for this motor. Is it made by Merc or somebody else? Were they fairly reliable?

Any help/guidance/testimonials would be appreciated.

Are Merc's more/less/same powerful as other brands? I know 15hp should be 15hp but seat-of-the-pants use...some people say one brand has an edge over another. Any luck the Merc is on top in that catagory?

 

[Kymasabe]

Re: '98 Merc. 15hp. Any good?

Wow...judging by the overwhelming response...I'll have to assume that Merc sucks.
Thanks for the tips.

 

[TommyA]

Re: '98 Merc. 15hp. Any good?

Sometimes on the weekends the ones you are looking to get a response from are busy. Just give them a little time to respond.

 

[8075mercury]

Re: '98 Merc. 15hp. Any good?

I have a 93 2 stroke 15hp and two of my friends have a 2000 and a 2003 2 stroke 15's that I take care of. We run them in the swamps of Louisiana and hit things routinely.

I think they are very good motors. They weigh only slightly more than the old 9.8 and 7.5 Mercurys and come close to power of the old 20hp Mercurys
(1966 to 1980). On the early ones the swivel bracket can break but the new swivel brackets have extra bracing in the them to solve this problem. They also idle a lot smoother than the old Mercurys plus the lower unit skeg is very sturdy. The only thing we do not like is the tilt ratchet up and down mechanism. We removed all of that, drilled holes and use a typical tilt pin.

Good luck !