"George, the motor itself is a
"George, the motor itself is actually a Tohatsu painted black with Merc decals on it.
They are decently engineered and well built with no real issues.
However, it is a 4 stroke. That means you need to follow the maintenance schedule in the owners manual to a T or it will quickly turn into a paperweight.
Personally, I would change the oil/filter at twice the recommended interval unless the motor is run "alot" (over 200 hours of run time a year).
Since this is a "used" motor I would initially spend the money for a couple hours of service and have the valves adjusted (most likely never been done). They don't get out of sync all the time, but would normally recommend having them set after the second season the motor is run and then leave them alone.
With any used motor it's always wise to replace the impeller, change oil/filter and change the spark plugs. A can of Mercury "powertune" sprayed through the carb or some "seafoam" added to the gas wouldn't hurt either - gets all the "cooties" out of the system and helps remove any built up carbon in the cylinders..."