Posting this in the main forum as a public service announcement: If you own a pre-2014 75-115hp Mercury four stroke, pull your cowling off and check the condition of your foam air filter/silencer. Between the last time I serviced my outboard in April and October my foam air filter disintegrated completely. Some of this foam had to have been sucked into the intake and other chunks were spread around the motor housing. This is apparently a known issue to Mercury and they changed the filter design to a rigid metallic mesh sometime in 2014. $90 later for a new filter and I'm back on the water. Do yourself a favor and check the condition of your foam before chunks of it get sucked in and lodge somewhere they shouldn't.

What the filter originally looked like


What the filter looked like last week


New Mercury design