Re: Does It Seem Reasonable??
It is reasonable. It may be a bit on the old side, but the year of an outboard is not nearly as important as how it was cared for. An outboard, often times, is not used that often in a year, so you could find an outboard that was made in the 60s with fairly low hours. I would also consider looking in the northern part of the country. Our seasons are rather short, so you could find an outboard with less hours than a southern outboard. Of course, the less hours, the more it is worth, so again it all depends. You can't go wrong with an older Merc or Johnyrude, just stay away from the the brands that have a less than stellar record. I have found great deals on motors from people who have upgraded to 4 strokes and was not going to get anything on trade-in so they just had them laying around. I don't think you will find many deals in your price range with motors that are much newer than early 70s. Also, you may have to buy an entire boat to get the motor, but then you have a hull and trailer to deal with, but you could sell them cheap or give them away. I originally bought my boat for the motor (a 69 Merc 1250) for $800, but decided to rebuild the boat. Now I have a good rig for about $2000. There is always a way.....
