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I started asking questions in the Volvo Section. Here is some additional info.
I have been searching for a boat and found a 21' Bayliner Walk Around Cuddy Cabin. This is a 1983 2060 Trophy with with the AQ125 aluminum head overhead cam closed cooling system engine. I just took a ride to see it and there was a lot I liked about it. First off let me say I am a retired master auto mechanic.
What I could see under the deck and bilge area looked really solid as far as transom and stringers. It has stereo, garmin GPS, fish finder and I am told the trim tabs and stern drive lift work good as well as bilge and blower. The cuddly looked real dry with useable cushions in decent shape. The current owners used it in a fresh water river above the dam. Never been bottom painted and the outdrive looks like it has little salt water use.
This guy had quite a few repairs planned so has a bunch of parts. For the trailer he has all the u-bolts and fasteners, new springs, shackles, bushings, rollers. It is the heavy Load Rite galvanized trailer and looks good except for the parts he already has. The tires are weather cracked so it does need 4 new tires.
For the boat he has new stern drive bellows, water neck, raw water impeller and a few other things I cannot think of at the moment. The oil pan has some rusty scale on it and he has a replacement although he said it did not leak. It has been sitting for three years and currently has no spark. I am going down again this week to see if I can get it to run. I am hoping to connect the fuel pump to a can file the points an see it run, (hoping). The engine was winterized and fogged before putting up. The engine oil is brand new and does not even need a change. The antifreeze nice and green with no oil. The hour meter was at 1700 hours. I have in my head that maybe I can get it running after cleaning tank and carbs, new batteries and bilge. MAYBE do a trial run if there is not anything that is keeping me out of the water. On a slip or mooring I could get the trailer work done. Then pull the motor, oil pan, reseal, check bearings, oil pump maybe do a head gasket and certainly the timing belt. All easy stuff when in an engine stand.
I have done little research on this engine but am very familiar with it from the 1980s Volvo cars.
What are the inherent issues with this engine?
It probably puts out around 120 to 130HP seems like a small motor for a boat this sized. The owner and I did talk about speed and what it takes to keep it up on plane. He said it does need to be wound up pretty good to stay on plane. Any thought on fuel efficiency or speed and staying on plane at cruise for this combination?
The V near the transom is not as deep as I would like to see but this boat is a far far better value than the 1970s Grady Whites I have been looking at. It is priced very very reasonable for what is there. It is sort of a wife says it has to go situation. It has poor photos and description online. I thought I was going down to look at a scow but glad I went. I want to grab this before I get scooped. Please give me your thoughts!
I have been there to look at boat again. Once I had a charged battery and the engine cranking I took a fuel sample. Found no water but certainly stale fuel. I did feel it would run with that fuel but not well. I initially had no spark and had no power to the coil. Filed the points, hot wired the coil and dumped a little gas down the carb. The engine wanted to start and finally did but was pre-igniting and cranking hard like the timing was too far advanced. The engine ran on all four cylinders and was not noisy. I did not run it long as the raw water was not pumping. The engine needs fresh fuel, a carb clean, points, condenser and one plug wire. The oil is so clean I would not even change it. My guess is it never ran well when these guys were using it. Certainly with the pre-ignition it would have had a hard start condition and probably pinging or detonation. I am pretty sure she will run well as it is all in the tune.
The wiring needs some attention as I do not like some of the prior work. It does come with a GPS, VHF, stereo and a fish finder all stuff he bought three years ago. He also has parts to do projects he was planning like trailer springs and rollers, the boots for the stern drive, the water neck on the stern drive, belts for the engine, 2 impellers and some assorted stuff the prior owner gave hime with the boat. All of this for $1500.
There is two spots on the hull that had me concerned. Where the front roller sets sit on the hull there is a depression on both sides at one of the rollers. The hull is pushed in 1/2" or more. Feeling around as I move my hand outwards there are some cracks. These cracks were not huge and I could not get a fingernail into them but they were there. It seemed like right where the stringer might be the hull was bent over the stringer and that is where the cracks were. His comment was maybe the trailer was never set up right. He was suggesting the rollers should be at the stringers which sort of made sense to me. On the front sets of rollers there are 4 rollers per side. In looking at the photo in my first post it does seem like there is a good amount of weight on those four rollers and one keel roller. What do you guys think about that? Perhaps it needs a different roller set front to spread out the load more or am I looking at a soft spot on the bottom of the hull?