Merc has a deal going on till end of May ..  They will give you a free 4 yr. extended warranty and 200 off for a 9.9 horse.  So, I decided to upgrade my Crestliner 1850 Fish hawk to a 9.9.. They only gave me $700 for the 5 horse though . It has 282 hrs. on it . I put an hr. meter when I first got it. Never had a problem with it, but just a bit too small . I had to go half throttle just to get 3MPH. and wide open it only went 4.3 mph.. I am sure it is a much smoother outboard with the 2 cyl. instead of the one cyl.. Does anyone have a 8 or 9.9 Merc kicker? And how do you like it?