Looking at used boats - stay away from used Sea King outboards?

[olympic]

Hi. I hope I'm posting this in the right forum.

I am in the market for a used boat and some of the ones under consideration are a bit older (late 60s early 70s) and some have Sea King outboard motors. A local repair shop said I don't want to own a Sea King outboard because any major issue and might not be able to get parts.

I wanted to see if that is the consensus. After doing some searching I do see that parts might be tough to come by. I just wanted to get some thoughts from those on here whether I should in fact stay away from boats with a Sea King on them.

I suspect to replace a ~50HP motor even with a like older used 2 stroke is going to be somewhat expensive. Are the throttle and shift linkages on a Sea King in the 1970ish era interchangeable with any other brands of outboards?

Thanks!

 

[JB]

Re: Looking at used boats - stay away from used Sea King outboards?

Sea Kings made by the Gale division of OMC use the same parts as JohnnyRudes of the same vintage. Parts are readily available.

You got good advice on Sea Kings made by other manufacturers.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Looking at used boats - stay away from used Sea King outboards?

The only "downside" is their age however, with proper maintenance they will keep on running.

 

[popsmazz1]

Re: Looking at used boats - stay away from used Sea King outboards?

later sea kings were chryslers, still can get parts, not as good as johnyrudes in my opinion, only my opinion.

 

[olympic]

Re: Looking at used boats - stay away from used Sea King outboards?

Here's the deal with one I'm looking at. It's a 50HP Sea King. Model is vwb19091a. I think it's a 1966 West Bend (Chrysler) version of the motor. Seller says it was running great. He then had some troubles with the choke cable and says he switched it to electric choke and put an electric fuel pump on. After that says can't seem to get it started. Past mechanic that worked on it said he saw it running awhile back (last year?). He said challenge will be finding anyone to work on it, as well as parts if say the carb needed something. Tempted to find another boat given the cost of outboards.

 

[tazrig]

Re: Looking at used boats - stay away from used Sea King outboards?

In this economy there is a huge supply of boats out there. Do you have a particular budget you're looking to stick to?

 

[olympic]

Re: Looking at used boats - stay away from used Sea King outboards?

In this economy there is a huge supply of boats out there. Do you have a particular budget you're looking to stick to?

Ideally less than $2k given this is just a small starter boat. Looking at 16 ft +/-. I don't want to dump a lot into a boat until I find out how we really use it. Liking tin boats for relative simplicity. Kids want something that has ability to pull a tube. Wife just wants a comfortable seat if she's going to join us in the outing.

Can find bench seat boats pretty easily up to 14' often with only up to 15HP engines. Thinking that a 16' with a 20HP or 25HP would be enough to pull tube if its a bench seat boat...or maybe 50HP+ if it's a windshield boat (or open bow) with seats etc.

Many boats in this price range are 40 years old along with the motor. Given that I don't know it's going to be "the boat" I keep forever, resale is a consideration.

Long answer to your simple question...

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Looking at used boats - stay away from used Sea King outboards?

In this economy there is a huge supply of boats out there. Do you have a particular budget you're looking to stick to?

He's got another thread about the boat here:
http://forums.iboats.com/boat-topic...uminum-boat-use-1000-acre-lakes-633911-2.html

Let's keep this thread about motors so we don't end up with a duplicate......

 

[limitout]

Re: Looking at used boats - stay away from used Sea King outboards?

Here's the deal with one I'm looking at. It's a 50HP Sea King. Model is vwb19091a. I think it's a 1966 West Bend (Chrysler) version of the motor. Seller says it was running great. He then had some troubles with the choke cable and says he switched it to electric choke and put an electric fuel pump on. After that says can't seem to get it started. Past mechanic that worked on it said he saw it running awhile back (last year?). He said challenge will be finding anyone to work on it, as well as parts if say the carb needed something. Tempted to find another boat given the cost of outboards.

you cant use a fuel pump on a system like that because it will just flood out all the time.

you cant put an electric fuel pump and pressurize a fuel system that is designed to be an unpressurised suction type system, it has no way to hold back that pressure and keep from constantly flooding out.

if he is "jerry rigging" things you need to make damn sure you know what else he has "rigged" on it.

 

[olympic]

Re: Looking at used boats - stay away from used Sea King outboards?

you cant use a fuel pump on a system like that because it will just flood out all the time.

you cant put an electric fuel pump and pressurize a fuel system that is designed to be an unpressurised suction type system, it has no way to hold back that pressure and keep from constantly flooding out.

if he is "jerry rigging" things you need to make damn sure you know what else he has "rigged" on it.

Great information! That does make sense and could certainly be why after making the changes they can't get it to start. Thanks.