[100MileGord]

Does anyone have experience with Doug's Boat Sales in Victoria? They seem to have good prices on used Yamaha's on the back page of the Boat Journal but no website. How's customer service?

 

[firstlight]

No experience with Dougs but i have dealt with Joe at SeaPro Marine in Surrey and he is a stand up guy in my books.
Bought a 150 Merc off him a few years back and it was a great motor for a very reasonable price. :thumbup:

 

[100MileGord]

Good to know, thanks!

Most of my experience with boat motors is in freshwater where with minimal maintenance a 2 stroke motor can work for 20 to 30 years.

Any ideas on how long the average working life of a modern 4 stroke motor is in salt water? How many hours of use is too many on a lease return or other used salt-water motor?

 

[bigjay]

I've had a two stroke Yamaha Pro 50hp since 1989 and it runs mostly. The power tilt kicked the bucket because of corroded solannoid (sp). The starter has broken off twince; the bolts sheared off. And when it was younger it went through a set of spark plugs every year or so - for some reason the gap would change and they would not spark. We put about 50 hour on it in a year with lots of starting up and stopping with little or no maintenance. For some reason when we winterized it it would not start the next year. It is now on it's last leg but I can say we got our moneys worth. It's still runs fine but every bolt is pretty much corroded shut.

I think if I were buy a used one I would try to get one run only in fresh water and avoid ones that have been used by commercial outfit.

Have fun, Jason