TOPIC: Low compression on 70hp

After buying a Craigslist special Arrow Glass listed as "lake ready", I discovered that it isn't. I took it to a local marine shop where they ran a compression test on the 1980 70hp Mercury outboard. The lower two cylinders (out of three) were way low on compression. The motor would idle and ran on a hose when I went to buy it, but when opened up on the lake, it just died.
My question is: What do I do about fixing low compression? Is there a reasonable fix that won't cost the price of another motor? I have a small amount of mechanical skill, but I know absolutely nothing about an outboard motor. Help!

Low compression can be from many things, most of which can be only cured by a complete overhaul. While I am not a proponent of silver bullets or snake oil cures I suppose you could try removing the spark plugs, tilting the engine up and dosing the cylinders with a generous amount of penetrating oil to see if that will free up the rings in the odd chance they are stuck from sitting, but I don't want to give you false hope. To be honest, I would go back to the seller, tell him what is going on and hope that he is an honest Joe who will step up and own this repair job. This should have been disclosed to you at the time of sale in my opinion, and could amount to a case of fraud.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I should know better than take a person's word on "Lake ready". It was advertised as recently tuned up, new spark plugs, new filters, and new water pump. He put a hose on it and showed me that it would start up and run. I was desperate to have a boat for Labor Day week so I could take my grandson on the lake. This fit all the criteria and I was excited to have it. However, that excitement turned to anger as I tried to open it up on the lake and all it did was die. I know it's "buyer beware" and all sales are "as is", but I think I have a case for small claims court. This was an absolute case of false representation. Maybe Judge Judy can work me in! LOL

You are not the first to get hosed on a boat deal. If the bill of sale does indeed specify as is where is you are SOL. But it is worth calling him on it politely and see how he reacts. Barring that, unless you are comfortable doing the work yourself it could run into a few bucks as they are a bit tricky for the novice to do. But, what the Hell? Get a manual and have at it, you have nothing to lose at this point and you might enjoy the process.