Looking at my first (real) boat

Carver121

Cadet
Joined
Aug 15, 2015
Messages
27
Hi Everbody! Been lurking for a while, finally made an account! First off you guys have made an excellent site to reference; the new boat buyer sticky is great!

So I've been shopping around for a while now and I found a boat I'm waiting to go look at probably tomorrow or Monday. My limited experience is with aluminum fishing boats and small merc outboards. Think I'm ready to step up to an I/O, but not too sure what exactly to look for with them, and what are problem areas.

So what I'm looking at is '78 Fibreform 18.5" with a Mercruiser 140 sterndrive. Haven't seen it yet but looks good from the pics. Spoke to the owner, he's had it for a while, last time out it warmed up one day so he came back in and parked it. Sounds like it needs a new impeller, but it's been parked for the last two years as he's a small business owner without much time.

He's asking $1500 but I'm pretty sure I can get it for less, (This seems decent for my area, western Canada)

So my questions are what should I be on the lookout for especially? Anyway to tell if it got too hot? How are the old 140 Mercs? And how are the MC-1 outdrives? (That's what it would be, correct?) Any known issues to really check for? Or just check compression and that about it? 150 psi?
He said it was winterized before being put away, but if the impellor was an issue would the antifreeze have cycled enough to flush and protect? Best way of checking for cracks or winter damage?

He said he could start it up for me briefly so I could make sure it would fire but so far when I called him he said he couldn't get it to start, though I think it may just be stale gas from sitting.

So thoughts? If the boat itself is in as good a shape as it seems and I hope, what would you guys say on the motor? I can do basic tinkering, I've changed the impellor in my OB before and from watching youtube it looks fairly similar, no worries. I can do the maintenance but I have no interest in a full teardown, not looking for a long term project.

Anyways, hope I haven't rambled, let me know what you guys think
 

64osby

Admiral
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Messages
6,799
Welcome to the site. :welcome:

There is a lot more for cooling in an I/O then just an impeller. Seeing as it has sat for a couple years you will be or should be doing all the general maintenance plus carb rebuild on top of fixing the cooling issue and issues that might have been created due to the overheat. Possible warped heads or cracked block or heads.

I once looked at a deck boat, the owner stated the head gaskets had just been replaced and the motor was in excellent condition. After a 10 minute test run the motor quit. Wouldn't start up. Looked at the oil and it was looking like a milkshake. Walked away from that one really fast.

A non running motor is about the same as a boat with no motor. You may get lucky and be able to fix it or you may have to replace it.
 

southkogs

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 7, 2010
Messages
14,784
Welcome aboard:

A non running motor is about the same as a boat with no motor. You may get lucky and be able to fix it or you may have to replace it.
That's it right there, Osby. When the boat doesn't work it turns into a gamble ... and you have to know how much you want to gamble.

For a guy who doesn't want to spend a lot of time in the garage, I'd be lookin' other places.
 

Carver121

Cadet
Joined
Aug 15, 2015
Messages
27
Thanks guys. Yeah Itook a look, it wouldn't start but he had left ethanol blended gas with no stabilizer in it for two years so I figured it probably wouldn't start at the least because of that. Thought if the engine looked good I might get it cheap and give it a tune and risk it.

I did a compression test and came up with ~150, ~145, 75, 25!!!

I walked after that.
 
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