NorthwestChap
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2011
- Messages
- 224
About 5 years ago my family decided to get a boat?
So, besides a few posts to one of Jay?s - Friscoboater threads asking a question, I haven?t posted anything, but, I have been a serious lurker. I have read and learned so much from all of your threads and posts. From, the afore mentioned Friscoboater (who I can very much relate too with his Sea Ray purchase fiasco), to the certifiable oops!, I read it all. Thanks to Bond-o, Don S., Woodonglass, Ondarvr, and even the evil fiberglass boat killing Jason (who likes to be outside)? and so many more of you for all of your contributions. Now it?s my turn.
Here?s the story. Be forewarned, it's long. For you men or women of few words, like Bond-o, Don S, etc., who appreciate brevity; skip to my next post for the short version.
After deciding on a larger bowrider to accommodate myself, my wife, and my three rapidly growing sons, we went boat shopping. I found a 1997 Chaparral 2330 with a Mercruiser 5.7LX (carbureted) and Bravo 3 on a galvanized Shoreland?r trailer that looked perfect. It had about 350 hours with a (supposedly) rebuilt engine, with new exhaust headers and elbows. The owner seemed like an honest fellow and seemed to know a bit about boats. He had it stored inside, next to his dad?s aluminum fishing boat. He told me that he had the engine rebuilt because his uncle left it poorly covered and water dripped on and damaged the engine. Everything seemed plausible to my completely novice boat mind. I insisted on a water test even though he did his best to dissuade me (my first mistake ? missing this huge red flag). But, the boat looked sooo pretty.
My next mistake was taking the whole family out on the test ride. Now, I had good intentions with this idea. I wanted a full load to see how the boat handled and performed. What I didn?t count on was how much they distracted me from what I should have been doing, paying attention to details. After launching and riding around for a bit (performed great), I asked to see the engine. The bilge had a lot of oily water in it. The owner?s explanation was that he added some water and bilge cleaner to clean everything before the sale (as I?m pulling two of my boys apart, unknown to me, a plane flies over my head towing a giant RED BANNER). I buy the boat.
I spent the next few weeks (not quite boating season in the NW at the time) completely going through the boat and making sure everything worked and was clean and shiny. Found that the radio and the warning (oil pressure, temp, drive fluid) alarm did not work. No worries, quick fixes. My wife and I go out the first time to familiarize ourselves with the launching, retrieving, and operation of the boat before the invasion of the wee lads. The launch goes well and we were halfway up Lake Washington when that brand new warning alarm sounds. I throttled back and a quick scan of the gauges showed the oil pressure approaching zero. Opened up the engine compartment and saw oil dripping into the bilge. I had to add over a quart of oil to get it back to the dock.
Back home, my buddy (who knew a lot more about boats and boat engines than me) and I found that oil seemed to be dripping from the plastic timing chain cover and the front of the oil pan. OK, so we dropped the pan, replaced the gasket, and put on a new timing chain cover. There was something weird about the cover, the new one had plastic pegs that looked like they should go into the block, but the old one looked like they were trimmed off. So we trimmed them off too (my Aha! Moment would come much later). Looked good on the muffs at idle. Time to try it on the water again.
My wife, my boys, and I took our new trouble prone vessel out for a day of fishing, cruising and lounging. It was a great day, the boys loved it. We caught some fish, ate lunch, and made some nice wakes for the jet skiers. But? there was still oil leaking, and I found some water in the bilge (more than expected). I also heard/felt grinding when turning sharply. Argh!
Back at the shop my buddy and I go through the entire engine (at least as best we could with it in the boat). We found the engine driven fuel pump loose and leaking oil, multiple hose fittings loose and leaking water, and that darn oil pan/timing cover junction leaking again. My buddy and I decide to go out one more time before pulling the engine. My family was going to spend a week on a lake in a few weeks with the extended family, a reunion of sorts, and I wanted it ready then. In fact, it was one of the reasons we got the boat.
My buddy, his family, and my family all go out to test the boat and make a day of it. Halfway down Alder Lake at cruise, the power and speed dropped off. My buddy and I gave each other the ?Oh Crap!? look as I throttled back, a by then, very rough running engine. We nursed it back to the dock. Time to pull the engine.
Back home, pull the drive, get the tractor, and yank the engine. We started tearing into the engine. As I?m pulling spark plugs from one side, my buddy is pulling them from the other. His ?OH SHOOT!! ?(actually, slightly more off color), had me looking up to see him holding what looked kind of like a spark plug, but only to the end of the threads. No electrodes, no ceramic, but yeah, it was a spark plug. We find another just like it. We pull the heads and find two cylinders trashed. Cylinder walls scored from the spark plug remnants and valves cupped and broken. There was water in the valleys and crevices and absolutely no indication that the block or heads had been recently machined. It looked like water had leaked into the two cylinders and caused pre-ignition, detonation, or both. The cylinders were hand honed. Rebuilt? My a_ _. Time for and new block.
But, it was also time to get divorced. So the boat sat. For some reason she didn?t want the broken boat? go figure.
A few years passed. I slowly started getting my head screwed back on straight, those who have been through a long marriage and subsequent divorce can relate. Those that haven?t? Don?t. I started reading this forum.
It was time to get that darn boat back in the water. It was going to be (as Trooper calls his) my therapy; bridging the two halves of my life to become whole again. It was a project that my rapidly growing boys and I could work on together. I planned to rebuild the block (if possible), paint the bilge, replace the gimbal bearing, and fix up the trailer. No problem, right?
I started to take the engine apart in order to take it to the machine shop. I hadn?t looked at it since the last time except to put everything back on for ease of moving. This is where that Aha! Moment comes in. I took a closer look at the block and see that there were two pins cut off of the front of the block where the timing chain cover seats. I took down the numbers from the block to do some research. As I suspected the block did not come off of a Mercruiser and was actually an older block most likely off of a truck. I learned that 1997 was a hybrid year for Mercruiser. This particular engine was supposed to have the newer block, but the pre-vortec heads. The newer block requires the plastic timing cover while older blocks used a metal timing cover... Aha! The SOB PO must have gotten a junkyard block and passed it off as rebuilt.
In the process of pulling parts out of the boat, I noticed that the carpet was coming up around the bilge. Being the type to not leave well enough alone, I pulled the carpet up some more. I found a few spots where the fiberglass was delaminating from the plywood. Of course, after reading many a horror story about deck, stringer, and transom rot, I was prepared for the worst. I also noticed that several of the helm seat base screws were not in sound wood. I cut and drilled into the deck and transom. Luckily, except for a small amount of oil soaked wood on the bottom of the transom near the bilge drain, everything below the deck was dry and solid.
Now for a plan?
So, besides a few posts to one of Jay?s - Friscoboater threads asking a question, I haven?t posted anything, but, I have been a serious lurker. I have read and learned so much from all of your threads and posts. From, the afore mentioned Friscoboater (who I can very much relate too with his Sea Ray purchase fiasco), to the certifiable oops!, I read it all. Thanks to Bond-o, Don S., Woodonglass, Ondarvr, and even the evil fiberglass boat killing Jason (who likes to be outside)? and so many more of you for all of your contributions. Now it?s my turn.
Here?s the story. Be forewarned, it's long. For you men or women of few words, like Bond-o, Don S, etc., who appreciate brevity; skip to my next post for the short version.
After deciding on a larger bowrider to accommodate myself, my wife, and my three rapidly growing sons, we went boat shopping. I found a 1997 Chaparral 2330 with a Mercruiser 5.7LX (carbureted) and Bravo 3 on a galvanized Shoreland?r trailer that looked perfect. It had about 350 hours with a (supposedly) rebuilt engine, with new exhaust headers and elbows. The owner seemed like an honest fellow and seemed to know a bit about boats. He had it stored inside, next to his dad?s aluminum fishing boat. He told me that he had the engine rebuilt because his uncle left it poorly covered and water dripped on and damaged the engine. Everything seemed plausible to my completely novice boat mind. I insisted on a water test even though he did his best to dissuade me (my first mistake ? missing this huge red flag). But, the boat looked sooo pretty.
My next mistake was taking the whole family out on the test ride. Now, I had good intentions with this idea. I wanted a full load to see how the boat handled and performed. What I didn?t count on was how much they distracted me from what I should have been doing, paying attention to details. After launching and riding around for a bit (performed great), I asked to see the engine. The bilge had a lot of oily water in it. The owner?s explanation was that he added some water and bilge cleaner to clean everything before the sale (as I?m pulling two of my boys apart, unknown to me, a plane flies over my head towing a giant RED BANNER). I buy the boat.
I spent the next few weeks (not quite boating season in the NW at the time) completely going through the boat and making sure everything worked and was clean and shiny. Found that the radio and the warning (oil pressure, temp, drive fluid) alarm did not work. No worries, quick fixes. My wife and I go out the first time to familiarize ourselves with the launching, retrieving, and operation of the boat before the invasion of the wee lads. The launch goes well and we were halfway up Lake Washington when that brand new warning alarm sounds. I throttled back and a quick scan of the gauges showed the oil pressure approaching zero. Opened up the engine compartment and saw oil dripping into the bilge. I had to add over a quart of oil to get it back to the dock.
Back home, my buddy (who knew a lot more about boats and boat engines than me) and I found that oil seemed to be dripping from the plastic timing chain cover and the front of the oil pan. OK, so we dropped the pan, replaced the gasket, and put on a new timing chain cover. There was something weird about the cover, the new one had plastic pegs that looked like they should go into the block, but the old one looked like they were trimmed off. So we trimmed them off too (my Aha! Moment would come much later). Looked good on the muffs at idle. Time to try it on the water again.
My wife, my boys, and I took our new trouble prone vessel out for a day of fishing, cruising and lounging. It was a great day, the boys loved it. We caught some fish, ate lunch, and made some nice wakes for the jet skiers. But? there was still oil leaking, and I found some water in the bilge (more than expected). I also heard/felt grinding when turning sharply. Argh!
Back at the shop my buddy and I go through the entire engine (at least as best we could with it in the boat). We found the engine driven fuel pump loose and leaking oil, multiple hose fittings loose and leaking water, and that darn oil pan/timing cover junction leaking again. My buddy and I decide to go out one more time before pulling the engine. My family was going to spend a week on a lake in a few weeks with the extended family, a reunion of sorts, and I wanted it ready then. In fact, it was one of the reasons we got the boat.
My buddy, his family, and my family all go out to test the boat and make a day of it. Halfway down Alder Lake at cruise, the power and speed dropped off. My buddy and I gave each other the ?Oh Crap!? look as I throttled back, a by then, very rough running engine. We nursed it back to the dock. Time to pull the engine.
Back home, pull the drive, get the tractor, and yank the engine. We started tearing into the engine. As I?m pulling spark plugs from one side, my buddy is pulling them from the other. His ?OH SHOOT!! ?(actually, slightly more off color), had me looking up to see him holding what looked kind of like a spark plug, but only to the end of the threads. No electrodes, no ceramic, but yeah, it was a spark plug. We find another just like it. We pull the heads and find two cylinders trashed. Cylinder walls scored from the spark plug remnants and valves cupped and broken. There was water in the valleys and crevices and absolutely no indication that the block or heads had been recently machined. It looked like water had leaked into the two cylinders and caused pre-ignition, detonation, or both. The cylinders were hand honed. Rebuilt? My a_ _. Time for and new block.
But, it was also time to get divorced. So the boat sat. For some reason she didn?t want the broken boat? go figure.
A few years passed. I slowly started getting my head screwed back on straight, those who have been through a long marriage and subsequent divorce can relate. Those that haven?t? Don?t. I started reading this forum.
It was time to get that darn boat back in the water. It was going to be (as Trooper calls his) my therapy; bridging the two halves of my life to become whole again. It was a project that my rapidly growing boys and I could work on together. I planned to rebuild the block (if possible), paint the bilge, replace the gimbal bearing, and fix up the trailer. No problem, right?
I started to take the engine apart in order to take it to the machine shop. I hadn?t looked at it since the last time except to put everything back on for ease of moving. This is where that Aha! Moment comes in. I took a closer look at the block and see that there were two pins cut off of the front of the block where the timing chain cover seats. I took down the numbers from the block to do some research. As I suspected the block did not come off of a Mercruiser and was actually an older block most likely off of a truck. I learned that 1997 was a hybrid year for Mercruiser. This particular engine was supposed to have the newer block, but the pre-vortec heads. The newer block requires the plastic timing cover while older blocks used a metal timing cover... Aha! The SOB PO must have gotten a junkyard block and passed it off as rebuilt.
In the process of pulling parts out of the boat, I noticed that the carpet was coming up around the bilge. Being the type to not leave well enough alone, I pulled the carpet up some more. I found a few spots where the fiberglass was delaminating from the plywood. Of course, after reading many a horror story about deck, stringer, and transom rot, I was prepared for the worst. I also noticed that several of the helm seat base screws were not in sound wood. I cut and drilled into the deck and transom. Luckily, except for a small amount of oil soaked wood on the bottom of the transom near the bilge drain, everything below the deck was dry and solid.
Now for a plan?
...
