Daughter's boyfriend has new 90 on his 17' flats boat...it's a ZIP SLED!!
:party:

Sorry I got distracted earlier Reel.. Busy day. I hear all of the weight concerns loud and clear. Which is why I am attempting to buy the lightest weight 4-stroke motor made in 115 hp. This new mota at 2.1 liter is a lot of displacement yet 40 pounds lighter than the old 1.7 liter/115. Makes more torque than the old 2-strokes according to Merc.

This is the motor I originally tested on the demo boat. It is 10 pounds lighter than the 4 -stroke Mercury. http://www.outboard-engine.com/engin...p?recordID=238
They have made some inroads in the weight department.

Thanks Bradford for the congratulations;-) It will be my first new engine...
Hope I ain't steppin' up to be another guinea pig (read TEST BIT*H) for Merc.. NEW MOTOR AND ALL! OH good goodness, knock on wood! We will have EXTENDED Warranty and a full understanding of the lemon law before we initialize that final contract, just to be safe.

Update/Rant
 

Mercury spent a few hours testing this motor before release. They claim that the mid-hp motors are 30% of the outboard segment. They surely needed to get it right with such stiff competition from the Japanese. But did they?
Well, the motor is in (exactly when they said it would be) and I am still not ready. Still need to do some rigging and my new switch plate hasn't arrived yet. One of my delays involves a USPS delivery. The US mail cannot deliver a package to an address unless that address has a mailbox?? WTF? That is why UPS, FEDEX, DHL and others cost a tad more but your package will get there. Bear in mind this package will no way fit into a mailbox and the postage carrier must get a signature so they must go to the door. They never even tried. OK OK, I knew they wouldn't deliver here but I had no idea there was anyone that still used USPS to ship packages either.

Now is time for a plug for NEWWIREMARINE out of Charleston, SC. They do marvelous work with switches. They use the best switchgear and have some of the finest workmanship I have ever seen. Laser engraved backlit Contura switches are what lit me up, no pun intended. My hommemade switchplate wasn't up to the task, aesthetically. Yeah, I know skiffs ain't supposed to be pretty. If that motor had been here earlier I would have been fishing by now instead of spending dollars on switchgear...

Meanwhile, Instead of bringing back the Black Cloud Thread I thought I would inform you all, I am officially out from under that SOB... I burned up a lower unit Labor Day weekend and that was the end of the BAD LUCK. There I said it.. My health is also returning to normal. Thank you all for your prayers. It means a world to me to have such caring folks on here share their support and good wishes. I woke up this morning for the seventh consecutive day feeling good. What a struggle this has been. Haven't even been scalloping all year.

I know the feeling. I seen an NV for sale on CL the other day and thought of yours. Could have saved you a bunch of work for only $38,500, yep the bargain basement price of $38,500 for one redone with a newer engine on it.

As for scalloping, I haven't been either, but I hope to Sunday before the season ends. Been busy lately with a funeral, and the last few weeks has been getting ready for my son's 2nd birthday party we had yesterday. And good to here about your health, I know you weren't in the best of shape last time I seen yeah.

Holy smoke what a bargain. Just $38,500. On a serious note the last ones made had a full liner and a couple were carbon and kevlar, many rigged with towers.. Rare, only because there were so few built. Probably no more than 40 boats in all.

This one has a tower. Says it was an 07, but wasn't finished out until 2013. Could have saved yourself a bunch of trouble and just bought this one finished out.

http://tampa.craigslist.org/hil/boa/4662801292.html

That is a bunch of lettuce right there. Too fat for my wallet. I purchased in 1996 and gave $5400 for the boat and $2000 for the trailer. Rigged it with a used 90 hp for another $3k trolling motor $1k misc. rigging and I had about $12 k complete in 1996. I may spend that again refitting this old girl. Looking at $10k so far for: new 115 hp Merc, Trolling motor, depth finder/GPS combo, plus the misc. which always manages to break the budget.
I must say the rigging hardware that Mercury sent with their high dollar control box is nothing short of silly. It should be a 1/4"-20 size and they give a #8 screw and well nuts. Laughable. Then they give 40 feet of neutral safety switch wire and then I am looking at all the do-dads on this wire harness, holy. I need a computer geek and a Merc Master Tech. I wonder if the Geek Squad guys speak Mercury? It is all plug and play really, just finding a place to tie all the wires up is going to be interesting. I have zero hope for doing anything but a civil tie up job. Trying to make it look good would be time consuming while standing on your head under the way too small dash. I almost have a picture to share...:oh:

ridge, what lower unit do you need, i have 3 and looking to move all of my merc stuff. put money down on a new 150 merc 4s, let me know and i'll meet you in perry.

It is a 3.0Liter Torquemaster 25" that I just burned up. None of the 2.5 stuff works on it. SEI has them with a warranty for around $1K. I actually have one in the shed already, it just has the wrong length driveshaft in it. Should not be too difficult a fix, I found a man that can weld up or replace the shaft to make it whatever length I need.
Not to shoot you down at all. I am always open to suggestions/ looking for spares, so if you have something let me know and thanks. Vic

UPDATE:

The one holding the purse strings is the only one seemingly interested in getting this project done. Today is the fire up the peons day. Time to get something done once and for all. Waiting on a dealer to order a couple of critical items. Like a junction box for the Smartcraft Gauges and a couple of control cables. Then I am still having shipping issues on another item or two. Either the dealer will get the stuff I need today or I will just order it online and have it tomorrow or the next day from boats.net or iboats.com.

This project began three weeks before Labor Day. This waiting around is making me stir crazy.