Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Boat Motor Advice

Recently bought a '98 Triton bass boat for cheap as a project boat.

First project setback was the engine failed its compression test. Johnson 150 had four good cylinders and two showing low compression. Motor will run, but will never run well without a major rebuild.

Any advice on motor rebuilds? (Please phrase at beginner level, since I know little on that topic.)

My (good) small repairs guy thought it would be about $3,500 for a rebuild on that motor. (Which he does not perform.) Is that a worthwhile expense on a '98 Johnson motor, or is that getting too old to put good money back into it?

I also have a Mercury 150 on the boat I inherited from my father. That is about an '84. It has very low hours for such an old motor, because he usually fished on a "no gas motors" lake. I am going to take that motor in for a compression test next.

If both motors are in similar shape and need an expensive rebuild, is there a strong preference for one make? For example, is one brand more likely to still have parts available for older motors in 10 more years, does one brand have much longer run times between major repairs, etc.

Thanks for any wise advice that may help me get back out to fishing!

Side note I've been and still am an outboard mechanic for 45 years. Because of the price of a new engines that is pretty much out of the question for an old boat. I would look at used engines with good compression and a good gear-case. The easiest option is the same brand that is on it now ( The controls, propeller, etc will be a direct fit). Any brand ( Except Force because of parts availability) is a good choice. In my opinion price is the biggest factor. The fuel/oil delivery is the biggest killer of an outboard. 80% of the repairs I preform are fuel/oil. Also if you go with an older Johnson/Evenrude or Mercury 2-stroke I would remove the auto oiling and pre mix the fuel, Yamaha I would leave the auto oiling in tact

I think Johnson Outboards are no longer being made and not sure what parts availability is like now or will be in the future. I think the line was replaced by Evinrude. If there was a choice to make it, my money would be on the one I could get parts for no and in the future.

I believe Evinrude stopped production of their outboards a few years ago. Which would probably make both Johnson and Evinrude parts hard to come by in the future

(EDITED) I was just told that Evinrude stopped producing the outboards, but their parts side of the company is still operational.
So, I would think parts wouldn't be an issue


I've always fished the local bass tournaments in our river system and out of all the bass boats motors they are probably 80% Mercury Optimax. Most of them being from 1995 to 2010

I'm not sure what the fixation of the older mercury 2 stokes is but the people around here obviously love them



I used to be a huge merc fan. We had mercurys on our river, bay and gulf boats. I always used to say "I would rather drive a Lamborghini (Mercury) for a day than a Prius (Yamaha) for a year


Now on the other hand we do not own a single mercury outboard, after a few powerheads replaced under warranty and one not under warranty we swapped to Yamaha. The Mercury is fast and mean but not the most reliable, meanwhile the Yamaha may not have as much torque, but I believe they last longer and have a lot more turnkey reliability.




Just my two cents, I am not an outboard mechanic

Generally problems are from old fuel ( Lack of use). Some of the oil systems are prone to failure and or the alarm system is not working to warn you of a problem. Remember that on a 2- stroke the carbs that deliver the fuel are also delivering the oil. So if a carb is clogged it's not delivering oil properly and will damage the engine. On all engines ( including injected engines) Non-ethanol fuel is best. If not available use stabilizer. And run the engine at least every 6 weeks to replace the fuel in the carbs or injectors with the treated fuel. It is also a good idea to shift the into forward and reverse and exercise the steering

I've had Mercury's since the 70's inline 6 outboards. I've only replaced water pump impellers and a few thermostats over the years. As nbell said, I would also dump the oil pump on older Mercs. Props are another thing. I've destroyed a few cleaver and chopper props over the years.

I would first dial in the decision of how many units of Horsepower you need to be happy with your boat's performance. That depends mostly on weight and a little bit on prop choice where you can make it a little more peppy or a bit more power with the pitch and number of blades on the prop.

Then you can check pricing on used 2 stroke vs 4 stroke. We switched to a heavy fiberglass fishing boat of the Carolina Skiff variety. It came with a Suzuki 50hp 4 stroke that was so smooth and quiet and reliable that it was a joy to use it.
However 50hp was underpowered as it struggled to get on plane with more than 2 adults. That motor started acting up and the mechanic had it for a full summer without much success. Half way through that process we saw a trade in 70hp on the rack in the same shop with lower hours and the shop was happy to do a trade (with us kicking in some extra cash as they were embarrassed they could not find the problem and fix it.)

The 70hp Suzuki is still very quiet and very smooth with a much better fit in terms of power and plane off for the boat's weight. Very happy with it. The 4 stroke is very easy to maintain and work on. No tuning needed.

(the problem with the 50hp it turns out--- like nbell would have predicted from his post,--- was complications of ethanol fuel on the hard to reach and inspect inner fuel chambers of the engine)

We were not faithful with ethanol free gas. We learned our lesson and set up our own repurposed fuel oil tank behind the out-garage and filled it with rec gas so now we have our own supply on hand all the time.

First and foremost, I am on the 4 stroke bandwagon, if these are two stroke motors that you are talking about I wouldn't sink a single dime into any kind of rebuild or refurbishing.

I have spent a ton of money on rebuilding and shop work on an Evinrude 2 stroke till It left me half stranded on the water for the final time,, went and bought a new Suzuki 4 stroke and have never regretted a single minute of it.

A person doesn't need to buy brand new, I don't think, for an older boat, but I am 100% convinced that even a junky 4 stroke is better then the best, top of the line, sputtering, smoking, chattering 2 stroke out there.

I don't see me ever spending another penny on one. obsolete.

A low powered engine on a smaller lake isn't a bad suggestion at all. Question is, how do you drive a stick controlled outboard on a decked bass boat?

If the boat is set up for a console/steering wheel I'm sure there must exist some type of adapter to link up to a tiller type steer. If there are controls then there probably are gauges on a dash as well and that might help you narrow down what brand outboard to look for as certain gauges play better when they are designed for certain outboard brands and their connections/wiring.

Yes, for sure if you don't have to run a mile up and down the lake at high speed and if you aren't using the boat to pull tubers or other tow behinds then 10 or 15hp fourstroke would be fine.

There was a fantastic Honda four stroke with models covering several years in the 1980s with 8hp and 10hp models. My father in law has the 10hp (model BF100) You can youtube and see lots of videos of these BF100 motors. They are very simple and very reliable. By us one comes through for sale every now and then and usually sell for about $600-$800. They would be very adequate for cruising to the fishing spot in a smaller lake.

The only thing I have done is routine maintenance to the water pump, check the lower gear oil, and change the engine oil just like any other small 4 stroke lawn mower engine. No oil filter and a tiny gas filter to check on once in a while. I swapped the prop to one that gave a little more power which worked well for a heavier boat with a few guys in it.

But newer 10hp or 15 hp 4 strokes would give all you need to get to your fishing spot. Newer models by us sell used for about $1200-$1500. It is a little hard to know condition of a used outboard as they don't have a 'hour meter' to tell you how they were used and how they were maintained. Also some are 'short shaft' and some are 'long shaft' which makes a difference in how it mounts to your boat.

It may not be bad to have a local shop that fixes and resells used motors to go through it before you buy or buy one they went through already.