Mercury motor

My brother in law got a “new” pontoon and 150 Mercury 4 stroke 2016
Is there some way to get the number of hours of use off of/out o the engine?

If it has a Mercury smart craft gauge the hours will show on that. You just need to scroll through until you find it. If it has an analog gauge you will need to bring it in and plug it in at the dealer and they can tell you. If you have to pay then get a motor report.

Someone here posted that commercial fisherman who use 4 strokes every day for 8-12 hrs a shot have calculated when to get rid of the motor based on the expense of repair. I do not remember the exact number but I do know that based on how much i use my motor I will need to replace it when I am about 120 years old. BTW I take mine out of storage in April and put away in November, in the summer I use mine twice a week, once the rest of the year (lucky that way)So I would not worry about hours too much. IMHO

He should download Mercury VesselView Mobile on his phone. https://www.mercurymarine.com/en/us/gauges-and-controls/gauges-displays/vesselview-mobile/

The dealer can check hours for you or like blackbay said you could buy the vessel view and see the same info you do on the smart craft gauge. I had a buddy get his hours checked a few years ago and the dealer charged him $40.