Hello everyone, total newb to the forum and the world of boating in general. And I think I may have gotten my first lesson the hard way. Long story short my son wanted a bass boat REAL bad so I looked around finally found an old procraft fish and ski (1986 ) with an 1986 mercury 115 "tower of power" Oh yeah we were both excited. The old man who had it was an avid fisherman member of bass club had fished numerous tournaments etc etc. He was the original owner of this rig bought it brand new in 1986. had all original manuals keys etc everything, took meticulous care of it. He was getting pretty old and had injured his ankle and just could not use the boat anymore. I think the boat had set for at least a year because the registration tags were from 2011. Anyway took it to the lake yesterday ran it around for a while and seemed to do pretty good. It kinda wanted to die everytime I tried to put it in reverse but I just attributed that to setting for a while old gas etc. He said it had been treated with sea foam. Anyway got her going pretty good and decided to see what the Ol Girl would do. Had her cooking along "oh boy Look at that Tower O Power Go! Then all of a sudden da da da da da da da dead. Uh oh out in the middle of the lake and ka put! Managed to get it to start again but sounded like the motor was knocking and everytime I went to idle to try to engage prop it would die. Got towed in by another boat and took her home with my tail between my legs and head down. Now I've gotten alot of great advice off these forums in the past on autos, motorcycles etc. Any words of encouragement from you guys? Or did I just probably get a good $2500.00 lesson in the world of boating? I'm not a great mechanic but I have done some engine work and if I had to guess I'd say probably a rod, bearing, piston etc. Probably fairly serious. Is there any hope for the ol merc 115?
