Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I need some help here, I purchased a new 18ft toon with a 30hp merc in may this year,[2010 mtr] since the day I bought the boat always clunks going into drive or reverse, yes I am shifting fast just like the dealer told me but it still has a nasty clunk, never put much thought into it till my recent vacation to the california delta, I rented a ski boat with a 2009 150hp evinrude, it goes into gear smooth and no clunk, is my motor clunk normal for a merc or is there a defect coming down the road, should I have the dealer check it out or is this a merc thing..

Note : my 30hp is a 4 stroke and the rental 150hp was a 2 stroke..

Every Merc motor I've had clunked into gear! Never liked it, but never had a problem either so keep on tooning! PS, I have a Yamaha now, no clunk, just saying!

all outboards need to be crammed into reverse. if you do it slow and hear the clicking noise, theat your motor eating the reverse clutch dog. i work on 150 evinrude etecs now and then, and theyve put alot of $$$ into making them smoth and quiet

I have a brand new Honda 150 on my personal boat, and two brand new Yamaha 150's on my work boat. They both clunk like you did something wrong going in and out of forward and reverse. I hate the way it sounds, and wish I had some kind of clutch I could use or something cause it just feels WRONG to do that to a new motor. But that is the way they are made. What you are hearing are called "clutch dogs."

I can tell you what you dont want to hear. NEVER ease it into gear softly and slowly trying to avoid the clunk (so that it grinds for more than a quick split second). Some people hate the sound so badly that they "ease it into gear" If you do that it is like letting two gear teeth grind against each other for a few seconds. Bad idea!

The real trouble is if you ever put it in gear, and still hear a clunking sound or grinding sound that persists after you are definitley past the normal "forward or reverse position". If you hear that sound...the lower unit or prop hub is probably shifted for the last time and has got no "shiftin" left! . ( I have had it happen to me 3 times in my boating lifetime). In most cases your forward will go out before your reverse (because you use that the most and the teeth on the shaft get worn). That is when you need to call your lake buddies for a tow because that means your toast!

So clunk away my friend! Happy boating (Sorry I went a little crazy with the AVATAR faces but it seemed like that kind of a morning!)

Yep, this is one thing that I had to tell the wife to make sure and shift quickly, and with authority into gear. Teaching her this, yet being smooth and soft on the throttle, took a bit, but she got it down pretty quickly.

Normal, Don't worry. That Dog can Clunk 1000's of times without damage.

check that your idle rpm is within spec.