20 hp mariner

I recently acquired a 20 hp mariner outboard for around 200 bucks. I am pretty sure its early 90's era.
I havent had too much experience working on marine outboards so i took it somewhere to get straightened out. They ended up having
to put a new choke on, rebuild the carburetor, replace a metal gasket and replace the pull rope for a whopping 470 bucks.
so i now have around 670 into it but it runs like a top. is this a half way decent deal? I also have a 15 hp Yamaha that has never had to be serviced because it was taken care of and that engine was around 2000 in 1989 and that's about the only price i have to go on.

opinions?

About the only things you didn't mention was impeller and oil change. I think a new impeller every year or two is pretty important. Around here, $100 per hour for labor is very reasonable....plus parts. It pays to learn to DIY, and I get alot of satisfaction when I pull the rope.

i am putting an impellar on it and changing the oil. i would usually have done something like this but i am fairly new to the boating world and wanted to cover my butt when i get out there and flying around.

what is a motor like that worth on the used market?

MunkMaster said:

what is a motor like that worth on the used market?

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$600 to $1000 range I would guess

Tim

The value of a motor has to do with it's location and whether there are any hp restricted waters near by. Where are you?

Around here in the spring it would bring anywhere from $150 (basically a parts motor) to $850 (a really clean great condition motor) depending on condition. I've noticed other areas of the country tend to run higher prices than here though.

what is a motor like that worth on the used market?

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I purchased a 1991 25hp Mercury Mariner last February (drove clear across the other side of the great state of Michigan & over alot of $hitty back-roads too to get it :? ). I paid $250.00 (with all the controls & linkage/cables) for mine & it runs EXCELLENT! Of course, I ran a compression test on it 1st & looked it over real well before plunking down any of my $$$. For an extra $80.00 I also got the heavy duty 4 leaf spring trailer (held the old 16' fiberglass Glastron boat that 25hp was sitting on) plus anything I wanted off the boat (the guy was moving to Florida to shack up with his girlfriend & was scraping the boat anyway). SO..using my handy dandy Rigid reciprocating saw :twisted: (hey it was getting late & it was none too warm out to say the least ) I took/hacked off all the cleats, switches, the steering wheel & cable etc..(Freddy Kruger would've been proud! :lol: ). Anyway, the only thing I had to have done to my OB is the LU oil seals had to be replaced due to some old monofiliment fishing line that got wrapped around the prop (impeller was ok). Cost me little under $100.00 to have that done (that price includes parts). Imo $200.00 is/was a great price BUT, the additional $470.00 you had to spend to get the motor up & running correctly kind of puts a damper on that. Over all I'd say you got it for a fair price but, more importantly you gained knowledge & experience so IF there's a next time... :wink:

i am on the Eastern shore of Maryland.
I have never paid anyone to do anything before. I am a Mechanic and worked for GM. This is my first venture with Boating and i didnt want to miss something obvious to someone who had done this before. all future service will be don't by myself.

so far ya got 670 bucks in it. not too bad. being a mechanic I guess you already know a service manual would be your best friend I got one on every thing I own.

Not to bad of a deal. I paid $400 last spring for a 2006, 4 stroke 5 hp Nissan and had to pay another $65 to replace the impeller. I was very happy. I had priced an 80's model Yamaha 6 hp for$600 plus.

i already picked up a factory service manual while it was in the shop. thanks for everyones input