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Steve

Congrats on the new boat. Where in MA are you?

I had that same engine on my Montauk (slightly older, it was a 1988 88 hp). Plenty of power for that boat, and a fairly bullet proof engine. I have nothing but good things to say about it.

I bought the boat used, and the engine had lots of hours on it already. I put a lot of hard hours on it over a ten year period, and it still ran great when I sold it.

I did have a similar situation on my boat one year. I hit a rock at speed & ruined my prop. After replacing it, I had a noticable vibration at low speeds. Turned out that I had slightly bent my output shaft on the lower unit. My mechanic that diagnosed it told me that it would be fine as long as the shaft seal did not fail & let water into the lower unit.

I ran it well over a hunded hours that season; I just regularly checked my lower end oil to make sure it wasn't contaminated with water. My mechanic replaced it in the fall after the season was over. I would have to dig thru my old paperwork, but I don't recall it being that expensive a repair.