Hello, I am new to this forum, but I have been involved with boating for many years. Mostly with boats < 16' and outboards under 50hp. I recently purchased a 1997 Bayliner 2050 CL with 5.7L Mercruiser. This is my first I/O and first fiberglass boat. <br /><br /> In reading the Mercruiser Maint manual that came with the boat, I was disappointed to find many things just refer you to your authorized mercruiser dealer 
Even for such things as winterizing! I started to look into manuals. From what I have found so far, there is Clymer and Seloc, that cover multiple engine models and drives, or purchase direct from Mercury, which seems to be one manual for drive and second for engine, but looks like it will be only on that particular model. <br /><br />With car manuals, I have been generaly happy with the factory repair manual for the particular model vs Chiltons or other "general" books. An exception would be the Ford 1997 Taurus manual. Three inches thick, but the worse manual for finding what I'm looking for! My dealer has the Seloc on the shelf, but it was sealed, so couldn't review. <br /><br />I want a manual that has good problem isolation procedures, and has all maintaince procedures, along with good detail for adjustment and minor/medium repairs. I don't need info on how to rebuild the engine. If the Mercruiser manual is full of special factory tools for everything, I'd like to know that. I am looking for input from anyone with experience with these or if there are other manuals I should consider. Thanks.
Even for such things as winterizing! I started to look into manuals. From what I have found so far, there is Clymer and Seloc, that cover multiple engine models and drives, or purchase direct from Mercury, which seems to be one manual for drive and second for engine, but looks like it will be only on that particular model. <br /><br />With car manuals, I have been generaly happy with the factory repair manual for the particular model vs Chiltons or other "general" books. An exception would be the Ford 1997 Taurus manual. Three inches thick, but the worse manual for finding what I'm looking for! My dealer has the Seloc on the shelf, but it was sealed, so couldn't review. <br /><br />I want a manual that has good problem isolation procedures, and has all maintaince procedures, along with good detail for adjustment and minor/medium repairs. I don't need info on how to rebuild the engine. If the Mercruiser manual is full of special factory tools for everything, I'd like to know that. I am looking for input from anyone with experience with these or if there are other manuals I should consider. Thanks.