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All good info (from everyone), thank you.

Appreciate the 'tip of the cap' to OMC, but one thing that I've learned is every company makes good motors and bad motors. And last time I checked, Mercury is still in business, OMC went the way of the doe-doe. There are 'those guys' out there who will say brands other than what they like stink, I'm not one of them. I kind of think of those folks as boat/motor racists! (smile)

I think Merc, Yamaha, etc all have good products, but you'll also find experienced mechanics and service techs from those companies who can tell you which generations/models of their product weren't that good. I can tell you a few for OMC too. Get talking with some of the top techs/service reps from the companies bass boat lines, you'll hear some great stories from all of them on which motors are turds and which things the engineers insisted on incorporating, even those the service techs told them before they went to production they wouldn't work!

I've heard good things about the quicksilver line of props too, so I'll look into that. Good info on the mounting bolts. The last owner really cut corners on this boat, so I was planning on putting some thick SS or aluminum plating across the inside of the transom for both the top and bottom bolts once everything is re-situated again.

What is the deal with SS props and whalers I'm picking up as a vibe in this thread? Diameter and pitch is the same regardless of materials. What is the difference?

Again - I know I'm a 'newbie' to these forums, but I deal with other mechanic related technical forums where I usually deal with retired mechanics or service reps from the actual manufacturing plants...so when I ask questions it's to understand the technical side too...not just the application.

Thanks.