What do you guys think? As you can see in the pictures the paint/coating is burning off and chipping off the manifold ports and they're already starting to rust. I kept seeing black paint chips in the bilge and finally found out where they were coming from. The engine (HO) is brand new purchased the end of July this year. 49 hours on engine. The engine temp has been fine so far at about 160 to 170. I've broke in and owned several Mercs but have never had the paint burn off and chip off the manifolds before.

The paint coming off of the bottom of the manifolds in that area is common. That part of the manifold does get hot as the water jacketed part actually starts a little higher up. Jamie / Lakeside

I've had the paint burn off all my Merc manifolds on the lower part where they bolt up to the heads. Very common.

I could also smell it while breaking in the engine but couldn't figure out what I was smelling until now. I haven't had this happen on the other new Mercs that I have previously broken in. I also hate to see the premature rust forming. Disappointed.
Thanks for the comments.

common

If you ever looked at the backside of any of your other Merc manifolds (cast iron ones) you would have seen rust as well. They all have the paint burn off on the lower part and backsides of the manifolds. Just don't look under there and enjoy!

P.S. Nice boat. Where did you pick it up at?

Why they don't coat the exhaust manifolds correctly is beyond me. I had taken the manifolds off, had them cleaned up perfectly and then used a high quality grade high temp paint.

Took a little time and struggle with the weight of them, easy job, they stayed perfect thereafter.... or better yet, dump them and put on some good aftermarket manifolds!

That would actually be my preference but then I would have the warranty thing to worry about if any problems show up on the new engine. I'd hate for Merc not to honor warranty work due to putting on aftermarket manifolds. Probably safer to wait until the warranty runs out after a couple years.