"Just drop in the engine you want"

[jumpjets]

Despite the good advice here on iBoats, I sold my boat a couple months ago, and I immediately regret it. I should have kept it. My wife has 2 foot-itis though, and we've been online shopping for something 2 feet longer. All the boats I've found are pretty nice, but they have 5.0s or 5.7s, and I want a 6.2 or 383. I told my wife this, and she blew my mind. She said: "just buy the boat we both like, and drop in the engine you want".

I'm blown away I have permission to do this, and now I'm curious about the logistics of it. How much might it cost to have a marina pull a motor? How much might it cost to have a marina re-install a new motor? I'm thinking about buying a boat with a Merc 5.0/BIII combo, having a shop pull the motor, and then I buy a 6.2 or 383 long block, then swap the accessories and MPI fuel injection onto the bigger block, buy a performance engine computer, then have a shop reinstall the turnkey motor.

Thoughts? I like to go fast, and I like wrenching on stuff, but I don't have a gantry or crane to do the engine pull myself.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Turn your own wrenches and save thousands.

If you buy a boat with twin 5.7's, it's cheaper and easier to have them modified to 383's vs replacing the 5.0. The 5,7 already had the correct block, heads, and outdrive gear ratio

 

[megamark]

You can easily build a wooden gantry from 2x4 and 2x6 yourself, I?ve made the I beam with 2x6 web and 2x4 top and bottom plates screw together that have supported big blocks with gearbox attacked without a problem, cost should be under $50 with a box of 3? screws. Goggle you will see plenty of ideas, good luck with your project, you?ve got the hard part already done!!! Permission.

 

[SeaDooSam]

Personally, I would move up more than 2 feet. I have heard 4 feet is when you start to feel a difference

Other than that, fulfill your need for speed. Although, you will probably not get the money you put in out of it if you sell it. Then again, do you ever with a boat lol

 

[airdvr1227]

Get the boat you want with the motor you want. Why make things harder?

 

[frantically relaxing]

If you're moving up, why settle for a 6.2 or 383? Many a boat the size of your Rinker is running an 8.1. My last boat of 5 seasons ('03 Chap 262ssi) had one, and 3 of my dock friends have 8.1's, all are Chaparrals, 1 Volvo (mine) and 3 Mercs... None of these 4 boats over 4 seasons (5 for mine) ever had a single engine-related issue.

Just keep an eye out in the want ads...

These are before/after shots of my 8.1, the day I bought it, and the day I sold it...

I'm not a particularly fastidious person, but this engine bay was a snap to keep looking like new...

Playing with engines is okay, but a turnkey boat = way more boating time and way less in-the-shop time...

 

[Scott06]

The gantry suggested or have a tow truck come, you can find videos of either on you tube.

Unless you really love the boat and Or it has decent value I can't see paying to have this done make sense. If you can do the work yourself and work through issues it can be a fun and fulfilling project.

I repowered a sea ray 200 from a 4.3 (cracked block) to a 5.0, previous owner gave up when he got an estimate for almost $11 k to replace the engine with a Mercruiser factory reman. I spent less than half that for a new partial engine which left me all in for about 60% of blue book value for the boat.

I think center state sells reman 383 long blocks for $3500, but drive ratio as mentioned is probably an issue. I would just make sure that when it's all said and done you're actually saving money vs buying it how you want it.

 

[Scott06]

Forgot to mention you have a keeper if she told you to drop in the engine you want. Not many admirals think this way.

 

[harleyman1975]

Gotta love her attitude!

 

[Blind Date]

Forgot to mention you have a keeper if she told you to drop in the engine you want. Not many admirals think this way.

I suspect she has no idea how expensive doing something like this is.

The people telling you to just buy the boat you want with a big motor already in it are giving you the best advice. Even if you were to do this all yourself it would be very expensive and time consuming. Dropping the boat off and paying someone to do it is literally flushing money down the toilet. If you can afford to do that you can easily afford to just buy the right boat with the right motor in the first place.

 

[gddavid]

I agree with the others suggesting this is not a cost effective way to go. If you really want to go this route, look for a clean boat with a blown motor or cracked block due to lack of winterization. Call around to your local boat yards and they may know of a boat that needs an engine but the repair estimate was too high for the owner, you may be able to find a bargain.

 

[jumpjets]

Thanks for all the sage advice.

I'd love to buy a used Rinker 29' with a 496 HO or 8.1L already installed. The 26' Rinkers did not have big block power available, and almost all of them I've seen for sale online had 5.0L or 5.7L. I'm a little concerned with the ability of my truck (and myself as a driver!) to be able to tow a 29' boat.

I could buy a turnkey 29' Rinker with a big block, but I'll probably need a new truck to tow it. At some point, I've got to draw the line. I'm not the kind of guy who will daily drive an F-350 just because I want a big boat.
I could buy a 26' Rinker and easily tow it, but a 5.0 or 5.7 will NOT get it to 55-60mph. (I really want to go 60mph!) I think I would enjoy doing to engine swap, but it might be waaay more expensive than I anticipate.
I SHOULD HAVE just kept my 23' Rinker, which could run 55mph with it's 5.7L.

 

[jkust]

It's funny, when you are actually ready to buy you can't find the engine you want unless you shop nationwide and deal with travel or shipping. My size of boat, finding a 5.7 instead of the base 5.0 was a needle in a haystack. So few ponied up for the optional engine for which the upgrade cost is exacerbated by the accompanying bravo drive though some did still get the much cheaper Alpha. I'd start checking out some other brands as well.

 

[Silvertip]

And when you finally hit 60 mph with whatever you end up with, you will begin to wonder -- man I'd like to be able to hit 65!!! Every incremental increase in speed costs a bunch of money when you have that speed itch. It doesn't matter if its a car, bike, or boat.

 

[Maxum21]

you could obviously buy the boat you want and sell the motor and use that towards the new motor to offset 'some' of the costs. The key would be to sell the motor while its still in the boat to allow buyers to test it out. that said, i agree with the others to just find the boat/ motor you want to avoid any potential headaches

 

[frantically relaxing]

I'm sure there's others, but I know Cobalt put 8.1's in 22'ers. Don't need no wonton to pull those!

 

[bajaunderground]

I looked and looked for a 220 with the 8.1Gi...found one out of Kansas but the price was just to high for that particular boat. Ended up with the 5.7 and still want to go faster....In hindsight? If you decide to buy smaller and put in more HP, then go balls to the wall with it. Otherwise you'll want to pull it out every season and add goodies to go faster!

Is there a reason you're set on a Rinker? There are other good (worse and better) boats that will have the combo you're looking for?

 

[WIMUSKY]

Not to beat a dead horse, but I wouldn't be swapping motors either. Find the setup that meets your needs. There's plenty of boats out there for sale.