Re: Changing outboards from OMC to Merc.
no offense to JB and bassboy but they are telling you this only on personal opinion with no fact to back it up. Its easy to tell a story that "one day i had a merc and it blew up on me so now i hate mercs" or vice versa w/ johnnyrudes. I am not brand bias but ever since i bought merc, i have loved each and every one of them and will only buy them because of how good they have been. This is very similar to a ford/chevy debate... "Get this, the other one sucks because i said so". Going from a johnnyrude to a merc is NOT a downgrade nor upgrade. both are solid made engines regardless of what opinion may tell you. Do what you want to do. you are here for advice but you have to distinguish opinion from fact here.
By the way...there are plenty of people around here in the midwest who own very nice lunds and various bass boats and mercs are hangin off the back. That tells you something...someone who has the kind of money to spend 40,000-70,000 dollars on a boat isn't going to cheap out on the engine. Price, engine condition, and dealer availability would be my determining factors..