[flyingfrizzle]

Congrats Don,
The mercury 3.0s have lower compression than the 2.5s so your numbers look really good for an outboard with those hours. The old 3 liters last forever and are fairly bullet proof. Far as the Hondas, I know the coast guard around here uses them also the commercial fish guys. I have seen the coast guards take offs on auction with 2000-3000 hrs on them and those are probably hard hrs at that. You defiantly wont know how to act with out the smell of oil in the air and all the quiet you will have. Not to mention that first time filling back up and seeing how much less gas you burn.