Yes she is Beautiful. Welcome Back to ownership. Fine looking specimen too.
:clap:As to the comments about good peeps on here. :beer:

You did good, she looks great

Good looking V...congrats :party:

bradford's right about that being a clean motor. down here the steering arm would be a bar of rust by now.

I love unpainted hulls. She is simply beautiful. The best of luck with her. :beer:

Thanks to all.

If dreams come true this boat will stay on a lift somewhere in FL.

I've had enough winter for two life times.

Great looking boat!

Here is a thread about the poppet valve on a 1999 Merc....should be similar to your Mariner.

http://www.wellcraftv20.com/communit...ghlight=poppet

poppit valve
 

what is a poppit valve

It's part of the cooling system. When the RPM's come up above around 2000-2500, water pressure inside the engine gets high enough it pushes the poppet valve open which bypasses the thermostats to keep the engine cooler while running under a load. Many outboards run hotter at idle than they do when running to allow them to idle smoothly, but not overheat under load. Mercury used a poppet valve, and most of the others used a spring loaded t-stat that pushed open when water pressure went up.