Been thinking seriously about buying a force motor for my john boat. It's dang near brand new and a pretty darn good deal. My question is this.....
Anyone have any seriously unoperator related problems with these motors?
ANywhere i can find out more about them?
if I remeber right they are made from mercury, true?
Thanks and any input is appreciated
Cliff

Here is a topic from last week on Force motors - http://www.texasfishingforum.com/.ubb/Forum1/HTML/003444.html

try this http://www.iboats.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=33

These motors were made by Chrysler, Mercury and US Marine. I had one a long time ago, and it was a good motor. According to the guy I have work on my boats, they are just basic no frills motors, no oil injection, not really too much to break or go wrong. Just standard maint. and they seem to be good motors. I never had any problems with mine.

Cliff: What year model and horsepower is it. Just curious! You can't go wrong with a basic motor, that hasn't been used much. Looks like you found a good one. I go by Academy and walk by those new motors and look at the price tags and then think about my old 77 25 evinrude and my 88 9.9 Yamaha, and I just smile all the way home.

Jimbo , not sure on the year model but it has less than 20 hours on it according to the owner. It's a 15 hrse and buyer wants 500$. That's 9 more horsies than I got right now and I think it will push my 15 ft john all that I need.
Jimbo Be careful out at canyon today. those winds are gustting mighty bad!
Your friend Cliff

http://www.nadaguides.com has outboard motor values, but you'll need the model year. Regardless, IMHO any motor in good running condition ought to be worth at least $500.

If it's been stored for more than a few months you'll probably want to rebuild the carbs & replace the water pump impeller.

If you can't have an on-the-water test drive, then you will definately want do a compression check before you buy - a motor that runs fine hooked up to the water hose can be a different story under load. Look for a difference of less than 15% between the cylinders. Otherwise plan on joining the iboats.com forum to learn how to do a powerhead rebuild before too long.

good luck,
jtw

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You don't always get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get.

[This message has been edited by jtexas (edited 02-12-2004).]

15HP IS THE PERFECT SIZE FOR A 12 FT. JON BOAT. 14 FT IF IT ISN'T TOO WIDE.
IT WILL PLANE IT UP WITH A LOAD AND CRUISE AT A GOOD ENOUGH SPEED TO GET UP RIVER.FORCE ISN'T A GREAT MOTOR BUT I WOULDN'T BE SCARED OF A 500.00 MOTOR.
OFF THE STREETS AND ON THE CREEKS