Mercury 15hp 2stroke

[Jerry]

I'm looking for a 15hp 2 stroke for my Aerotec and found something, but it's a bit strange. I thought that all of Mercury/Mariner engines which are newer than year 2000 had gear change in throttle. The one I found is Mariner 15M from 2004 and I can clearly see on the photo that the gear change is on the starboard side of the engine - and not in throttle. What is special about that particular engine?

[Fenlander]

You could buy the bits to convert and if it had been on remotes might have been left like that. Also I wonder about versions the RNLI used... others will know that I’m sure.

[samt]

Could be ex RNLI. Are there any white numbers stenciled onto the leg?

[Jerry]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

You could buy the bits to convert and if it had been on remotes might have been left like that

There's a few on Ebay for £1k which are on remotes. Could be an option to convert that, but I'd prefer to find something that's working well already.

Also I wonder about versions the RNLI used... others will know that I’m sure.

Can't see any unusual markings/numbers/carb drains on the pictures.

[Max...]

It's not a rare engine - I'd hold out for a well looked after all original leisure use example on gear shift tiller. Superb engines and perfect on the Aerotec.

[Fenlander]

Sorry Jerry I didn’t word that well. I meant the reason it might be like that could be someone had converted it because they preferred the side gear change. But like Max says look for a mint example which hasn’t been messed about if you are looking at £1000 plus. I’d want to find one with an almost unmarked cowl and no signs of spanner’s being used on the engine.

[69cmw]

This must be what Fenlander in meaning [emoji41]

[Jerry]

Originally Posted by 69cmw

This must be what Fenlander in meaning

Yeah, exactly ;-)
There is a number of these on Ebay, but each of them has one of the aspects missing. Either with side gear, or on remotes, or slight rust on the head, or replacement hood, or ...

Thinking about it, I can probably live with side-gear (at least I won't have a problem revving it in neutral), but mint condition is a must - these are over 10 years old, so if it's not mint then it will be a bag of troubles.

Spring is starting, so it better shows up quick!

[whiskylee]

I’ve got a Evinrude 15hp Short Shaft in excellent fresh water condition if your interested

[whiskylee]

Any good for you

[Max...]

Originally Posted by Jerry

Yeah, exactly ;-)
There is a number of these on Ebay, but each of them has one of the aspects missing. Either with side gear, or on remotes, or slight rust on the head, or replacement hood, or ...

Thinking about it, I can probably live with side-gear (at least I won't have a problem revving it in neutral), but mint condition is a must - these are over 10 years old, so if it's not mint then it will be a bag of troubles.

Spring is starting, so it better shows up quick!

Go for tiller gear - a joy to use.

Revving in neutral is not an issue IME, you have a control on the front to raise revs to an extent and and you can always pop the hood to manually rev higher if needed.

Don't expect a heap of trouble - most of them are super reliable and you cannot always judge a book by it's cover - a spotless cover, leg, skeg etc is desirable but most leisure use ones can still be expected to be in lovely working order underneath and should be reliable for decades to come if maintained.

Only issues I've had are the (brilliant) tilt trim mech needed the rod straightening and second the plunger under the choke control can get salt build up and get sticky but both easily resolved.

As always though give anything you buy a full, long test before buying.

[Fenlander]

Re not being able to rev in neutral it was the main downside for me of the combined throttle and gearshift. Over my ownership of three of these OB types there were several occasions I wanted to do that... and without taking the hood off. I have this gears on throttle arrangement on my Mariner 10hp but like all such models of the past ten years it has the linkage disengagement button to enable free revving.

So if I was offered one where it had been properly converted to gears on the side with OE parts I’d actually quite like it. But if buying one unmolested I’d not be that bothered to change it myself.

Otherwise as Max says these are great reliable outboards... I also very much like the Yamaha 15 2-stroke of the same era.

In truth absolutely nothing wrong with a clean Evinrude like Whiskylee’s above... just not quite as fashionable image.