Thanks Noli

The 350s (Racing) are good engines. They had a few difficulties, but most are owner related.
The 350s REQUIRE premium fuel. They don't have knock sensors like the 300s... so, put cheap gas in them and you WILL blow them up. That was the case with many of them in S Fl. FYI- 90 octane is not premium fuel.
They don't take well to being overpropped. Top speed may be a bit better, but they will knock and burn down if not let to rev freely.
The air intake is aggressive... It needed to be. But, that lets water in. Put them on the back of a fish boat with leaky levels and you will buy new engines....
They always had a different lower unit.. The 350 lower was the one that drove Merc into fixing the issues with the 300 and smaller verados.
The transom bracket is stronger and has guides to steady the engine. Yes, it has solid mounts and shifts harder than a 300.
The 350s came from Racing, the 300s come from Mercury.....just as the 1350 comes from Racing and the 496HOs came from Mercury.
No, the old generation 350 is not the same as the new "350". No, the new 350 doesn't run as strong as the old "Racing" 350.
The new 350 (Mercury) and 400 (Racing) are a completely different engine than the 300...

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is the new Mercury Verado 350 fish motor (released at the Miami show Feb 2015) a detuned 350SCi or a detuned 400R?

It would be wise to have a Merc dealer run the serial number of the engines - it will pull up work / repair / warranty issues that has been done along with Merc service bulletins that hopefully were recified by whomever.

Again I am not trained on Verado nor work on them - they are not popular in my area inland.

I do know this, there is a lot of service bulletins on the Verado's some will apply to the 350 and some WILL NOT. I do know some of the common problems / issues with verado's from mostly the east coast techs that see them.

The powerhead bolts can break

earler verados with lower units problems and was a waste of time rebuilding them because they would fail again

Some had some steering fluid leaks

Huge problem with the oil coolers rotting out - verado L6 intergrated oil module inspection and repair SB 2012-04

Verado L6 shift bell crank replacement - the bell crank stud would break and or rot out SB 2011 -03 not an easy replacement - now you do not have to remove the powerhead to do this common repair. this was common problem

remote water fuel water separator problems

ignition pencil coil troubleshooting SB 2011-15

corroded key switch incorrect install SB 2006-16

pcm recal SB 2007-03 135 thru 275 hp

power steering pump module electrical troubleshooting SB 2009-03

And the never ending FSM fuel supply module with fuel related problems and even lift pump problems -along with the never ending float switch problems here is a SB on top of. .

http://www.marinemechanic.com/merc/d...leshooting.pdf