[brisboats]

That would be backwards.. Chrysler force motors had a removeable cylinder head as I stated above. Early mercury inlines did not but had the water jacket cover that probably would be prone to pinhole in a saltwater enviornment. Some of the best engines mercury made in my opinion were made this way. As for the OP question I think you could do worse than the 125Hp 2+2 motor but it all depends on price. If you like mercs you should be able to pick up a nice 2.0 liter 150hp merc V-6 in the 2-2500 range. The 2.0's are not to bad on gas, are loop charged and heck they even have removeable cylinder heads. FWIW Force was gone pretty much by 1999, I don't think there is any such animal as a model year 2002 Force outboard.

Brian