New Member with new 60 Bigfoot with questions

I just took delivery of my new Whaler 150SS with 60 Bigfoot. I had the tach replaced with the Mercury smart gauge and will launch from my ramp on Saturday morning.

They filled the 19 gallon tank with gas but I am pretty sure it is not ethanol free. I guess I will slowly replace this fule with ethanol free gas to avoid any problems. Does the engine require any adjustments to run off of the ethonal free gas or is it ready to go. I suspect not but just checking.

I live in south Jacskonville on the St. Johns river where I will be doing most of my boating/fishing. Having owned up to a 36' SeaRay I am ready for a life of boating with less "responsibility". The Whaler fits in the garage with room to spare.

Any tips for the break-in other than what Mercury and my dealer has told me. Want this to last a long time but more than anything, want it to be trouble free. I will boat year around with the boat sitting for less than 30 days and more likely less than 20 at worst.

Any help for a new owner would be great! Hope you people do not mind me hanging out here, look like a great forum and great place to find both parts and information!

i am running a 3 year old 60 bigfoot i bought new...no problems...i run ethanol but i use two additives...both come from the merc dealer..one is a cleaner and one is an additive...they will run about 10-13 bucks each but last a long time..the motor took a little time to get used to as i was replacing a 90 2cycle and was used to the noise and torque being there in the high rpm range..but it comes out of the hole good and gets the rpms up there quickly..

your dealer told you about the great mpg on the 4 cycle engines..he lied...if you run it in the 5500-6000 range it will drink the gas...run it 4500 or below if that is important to you...there is absolutely no torque increase on mine between 5500 and 6000 anyway.so proper maintenance is key here...and pay particular attention to the gas...i have heard horror stories about water damaging the fuel pumps for example and the cost of the parts..

over all i am happy with the motor...

you will hear talk on here to have the valves adjusted at some very low hours...500 hours is the number the tech that i trusts gave me..

i assume your dealer installed a water filter in the gas line?

most of your experience working on 2 cycle will be wasted on this engine...it is computer driven and computer diagnosed..in fact the dealer techs make a remote hookup to the merc support center and the center tells them what to do...so you are at their mercy and they are expensive...

Thanks for your reply.

Not ot in the habit of abusing my stuff so the 4500rpm suggestion is understood with an occasion 5000.

I am am going to stick with the alcohol free fuel, it is just down the street from me and the extra cost is not that bad.

Put 5 hours on my new boat/motor today and all worked very well. Only problem I noticed is when I moved the control lever to drive or reverse there was some noise/vibration at the lowest RPM. Almost like it was not going all the way in gear. Happens in both forward and reverse until you give it a little gas to get it out of idle. After that is stops. Is it possible that cables need adjustment and are not getting the unit fully in gear or is this just a low idle speed noise.

Also so when flushing the motor Mercury provides a place to screw the hose in at the back of the power head were the pisser is located. The Maint guy at my dealer said he prefers to use the clamshell device that fit over the water intakes at the foot of the motor. Does one do better than the other at flushing the engine. The St. Johns is so what brackish and I want to make sure the motor is clean.

Thanks for your time and suggestions.

Anyone?

I think I will move on.

I will not forget the warm welcome I got here and hope you all have a great weekend.

Thanks again.

the vibration is normal at low rpm's in gear...goes away quickly with a little gas..

i use the clamshell...