1986 Merc 90 3 cylinder ?

First off this is my first boat purchase I bought a 1983 15 ft Rinker w/ a 1986 merc 90 on it for 400.00 the boat is in great shape but the guy I bought it from said he had a guy look at the motor because it was'nt running right they used it for pulling skiers and inner tubes and the guy who looked at it said he had a bent rod of some sort the motor runs but it sounds like there is some knocking going on somewhere. Would any of you knowlegible people out there maybe know what rod he might have been talking about? I am pretty good with fixing auto's but my know how on boats is a brand new thing to me, If possible I would like to try and fix this myself because the guy told the guy I bought it from he could have it fixed in a day but it would probably run about 3,000.00 to fix:'( Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Jtspapa

Re: 1986 Merc 90 3 cylinder ?

yes hes talking about the connecting rod that connects to the crank and piston. same terminology as in cars. You can fix this yourself if you have the time and knowledge and it wont be easy. first off, buy yourself a manual before you do anything. then get the parts and go from there.