Mariner 2.5

Recipe for boating pleasure. Take one old, unloved Mariner 2.5, add ingredients of 2 days work, new factory gasket set, spark plug, water pump, some fresh gearbox oil. Remove gearbox, powerhead and cylinder head, clean out waterways, reface all gasket surfaces, recover all threads. Restore hone in cylinder, check piston and crank, strip, deep clean and rebuild carburetor. Strip saddle assembly, clean, grease, restore threads.Replace fasteners with stainless steel where needed.

Check gearbox oil seals, clean out water passage in gearcase, reassemble. Clean out fuel tank and filter, add fresh mix, put in test tank, start and run for 30 minutes.Tidy up paintwork, clean, add 1 year parts and labour return to base warranty. This little motor may be old (circa 1980), but it's now mechanically perfect, and if it gives any trouble in 2121, I'll put it right at my expense. Or, of course, you can pick up a cheaper one from classifieds board, good luck with that. This is a direct drive (no clutch) Mariner branded Tohatsu.

Single cylinder 2 stroke, 360 degree steering, weight 14 kilos. Standard (short) shaft, 16 to 18 inch transom. It has had a couple of little tweaks that result in a small power increase, it's closer to 3hp than 2.5 now. Corrosion levels in the castings were very low, I reckon this motor has many years of hard work ahead of it. Worth noting that I keep a pile of used parts for this model that I do not advertise for sale, they are purely to enable me to keep my existing customers motor's running at a reduced cost.

I genuinely believe I offer the best secondhand outboards in the UK. I take extreme care when overhauling them, being doing this for 45 years, and you simply will not find a better motor. This model is probably the best small outboard motor ever made by anyone. Tens of thousands are in use all over the world, and most outboard manufacturers gave up trying to compete with it, hence the brand names that appear on the cowl include, Force, Nissan, Johnson, Evinrude, Mercury, Mariner and Tohatsu.