when wiring your engines do we have to use the small starter relay or can i just go direct to the starter? seems alot easier without the 50amp circuit.

You need to use the remote relay. The fairly small gauge wire (about 18 gauge) in the Merc harness that runs to the dash is not large enough to carry the current load to the starter. I have tried it on a few occasions and the starter would work intermittently.
The only way to do it is to run a larger dedicated wire from the starter up to the key switch. However, that's a bunch of work and much harder and more time consuming than just using the remote solenoid.
Eddie