Mercury Outboard Sales, Repower and Service

Mercury Outboard Sales, Repower & Service in Sebring, FL

Every new boat package on our lot runs a Mercury. We rig them, repower older hulls with them and service them in our shop on US 27 South, a few minutes from Lake Jackson.

McKibben Boating Center of Sebring is a Mercury outboard dealer at 7500 US Hwy 27 S, Sebring, FL 33876. Every new boat package we sell leaves here rigged with a Mercury outboard, and our shop handles Mercury service, repairs and full repowers for boats that were bought here and boats that were not.

That matters for a simple reason. The outboard is the part of a boat that decides if your Saturday on Lake Istokpoga happens at all. Hulls last decades if they are looked after. Motors need attention on a schedule, they need the right propeller, and in Highlands County heat they need someone who understands what ethanol fuel and hydrilla do to them.

This page covers the Mercury outboard families we work with, how to match horsepower to a hull without going over its capacity plate, when repowering an older boat is worth the money and when it is not, and what Florida conditions do to an outboard between services.

New Mercury Outboards for Sale in Sebring

Most of the Mercury outboards that leave here are already bolted to a new boat package. We also supply and fit motors for repowers. Ask what is available for your hull before you settle on a number.

Repowering an Older Boat: When It Makes Sense

We get asked this constantly, usually by someone with a sound hull and a tired motor. The answer depends on the hull.

Repowering makes sense when the boat itself is solid. That means a dry transom, sound stringers and floor, and a hull you actually like fishing from. If all of that checks out, a new Mercury on a good older boat can cost well below a new package and gives you a new motor with its own factory warranty coverage and modern fuel injection. If the transom is soft or the floor flexes, the money is better spent on a different boat, and we will say so.

A proper repower is more than swapping one motor for another. Newer Mercury outboards usually want matching controls, updated gauges or a digital display, new wiring harnesses, and sometimes a different steering setup. Ask us to quote the whole job, including controls, gauges and prop. The propeller also has to be chosen for the new motor, since the old one almost never suits it.

Horsepower has a legal and practical ceiling. Every boat carries a capacity plate stating the maximum horsepower it is rated for, and we will not rig beyond it.

If you would rather start fresh, every package in our TRACKER® aluminum boat range, the SUN TRACKER® pontoons, TAHOE® family runabouts, NITRO® bass boats and MAKO® saltwater boats comes rigged with a Mercury already matched to the hull.

Mercury Service and Parts in Sebring

Our certified marine technicians handle Mercury outboard maintenance and repair in our own shop: oil and filter changes, lower unit gear lube, water pump impellers, spark plugs, fuel filters and water separators, thermostats, anodes, steering and control adjustments, diagnosis and warranty work.

Mercury maintenance schedules are built around hours of use with an annual interval as a backstop, and the 100 hour service is the one most owners know about. Here is the catch. Plenty of boats around Sebring never reach 100 hours in a year, so the annual service is the one that actually comes due. Oil ages, gear lube picks up moisture and impellers take a set even when the boat sits. Check your owner's manual for the schedule that applies to your motor.

Two jobs we see constantly on Highlands County water. Impellers wear quickly on motors that spend time in hydrilla and sandy shallows, and a weak impeller shows up as a motor that runs hot on a July afternoon. Lower units come in with water in the gear lube after a fishing line has wrapped the prop shaft and cut the seal.

Our parts counter can supply Mercury service parts and order what is not on the shelf, so it is worth calling ahead with your motor's serial number.

Financing, Trades and Offers

Most buyers finance a new boat and motor package, and marine loans usually run longer terms than a car loan. You can start the application online before you visit. Rate, term and approval depend on credit and are not guaranteed in advance. If you are weighing a repower on your current boat against a new package, ask us to lay out both so you can compare the real cost.

Mercury runs factory programs through the year and they come with end dates. Rather than print one here that expires next month, call and ask what is live.

We take trades on boats of any brand. Bring the titles for the boat and trailer, the outboard hours and any service records. A motor with a documented service history is worth more at appraisal than the same motor without one.

Getting the Most From a Mercury Outboard in Florida

Pick the prop for the load you actually carry

A propeller that suits an empty boat on a cool morning will feel wrong with four people, a full livewell and a cooler on board in August. The goal is a prop that lets the motor reach its recommended wide open throttle range with a typical load. Too much pitch and the motor struggles out of the hole. Too little and it over-revs. Aluminum props are cheaper to replace after a stump strike. Stainless holds its shape better and often improves performance. We can test and adjust on the water.

Match horsepower to the hull and the capacity plate

More power is not always better. A motor near the top of the rating makes a heavy pontoon or a two-angler bass boat easier to plane and less work at cruise, which can mean less fuel, not more. A motor that is too small works hard all day. Read the capacity plate, then tell us how you load the boat.

Treat ethanol fuel as a Florida problem

Most pump gas contains ethanol, and it absorbs moisture. In a humid Highlands County summer a half-full tank on a boat that sits for weeks is the most common cause of hard starting and rough running we see. Use a fuel stabilizer, keep the tank topped up and change the water separating fuel filter on schedule.

Flush after salt, and watch the anodes

If you tow to the Gulf or the Atlantic, run fresh water through the motor with flush muffs or the flush port as soon as you get home, and rinse the lower unit and trim rams. Salt left in the cooling passages overnight starts corroding them. Sacrificial anodes protect the lower unit, so replace them when they are badly worn. On hot afternoons, watch the tell-tale stream. A weak stream means the impeller needs attention before the motor overheats.

Florida boater education

Anyone born on or after January 1, 1988 must complete a boating safety course and carry the Boating Safety Education ID Card from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to operate a vessel of 10 hp or more. Confirm current rules with FWC before you launch.

Serving Mercury Owners Across Highlands County

Our store sits on US 27 South in Sebring, close to Lake Jackson and a short tow from Lake Istokpoga, Lake June-in-Winter and the Lake Placid chain. Mercury owners bring motors to us from Avon Park, Lake Placid, Lorida, Frostproof, Wauchula, Arcadia, Okeechobee and Moore Haven, and from Lake Wales and Winter Haven to the north.

Anglers who fish Lake Okeechobee and the Kissimmee chain use us too, since both are an easy tow from Sebring.

Call 863.465.2814 before you drive in with a boat so we can plan shop time for it.

Mercury Outboard Questions We Get Asked

Written and reviewed by the sales and service team at McKibben Boating Center of Sebring.

Outboard availability, model details, pricing and manufacturer programs change. Contact us at 863.465.2814 for current options, follow your Mercury owner's manual for maintenance intervals, and confirm boating regulations with FWC. Last reviewed: September 2026.

Bring us the boat, or the question

New package, repower or annual service, stop by US 27 South in Sebring or call and tell us what the motor is doing.