Hey guys,
Just heard back from the service shop that my '88 120 Johnson supposedly needs 3 pistons. I haven't really talked to them about it, I didn't get the call, just heard 2nd hand. They want $2500 to do a rebuild or they can sell me something else for that price or more. Seems steep to me, but I seriously do not have the time or patience for ANOTHER project, plus it's June 17th and I can already see the first snow fall coming over the horizon. Anyway, I paid about $2700 for the boat 11-12 years ago from the original owner. It's in good shape for the most part, few ticky-tack things are wrong with it(speedo, depth finder, swim ladder falling off and a small round hole in the ski locker plywood from a mouse one season), but it just got "new" matching seats for the captains chairs(fold down ones) from another 160 and a new USB stereo. Floor is solid and the last time I checked the transom is solid as well.
What should I do? I recently just started getting more involved in the wake sports, so I would really like a bigger/more powerful boat anyway. The motor ran *ok* at the end of the season even tho it "needs" 3 pistons(compression was decent last year). Do I rebuild to sell or just sell it as is? I realize I'm probably going to struggle to get 1-1.5k for it as is, am I right? My next thought was to find a used motor for cheap, but there is nothing around that vintage for a good deal. I was able to find a couple mid-late 90s OMCs in the $1500 range with ****ty boats attached, but I'm not sure if it's worth dealing with a boat I want to throw away. The next, I was able to find a 1980 Johnson 175 semi-locally(about 3.5 hours away) for about $800. Could I even install that on my boat? The plate says "120hp max" but I know that's recommendation not an enforceable rule, depening on state. I pretty much just want to sell it and get the most money to put towards something better, but hassle sucks. Whats your take? I believe in karma very strongly, so I'm not about to not fix the boat and sell it "in water ready" condition to some unsuspecting buyer.
tl;dr 120 johnson needs 3 pistons supposedly, want bigger boat anyway, fix motor for $2500, buy used 1980 175 Johnson or sell as-is.
Thanks for the help!
Just heard back from the service shop that my '88 120 Johnson supposedly needs 3 pistons. I haven't really talked to them about it, I didn't get the call, just heard 2nd hand. They want $2500 to do a rebuild or they can sell me something else for that price or more. Seems steep to me, but I seriously do not have the time or patience for ANOTHER project, plus it's June 17th and I can already see the first snow fall coming over the horizon. Anyway, I paid about $2700 for the boat 11-12 years ago from the original owner. It's in good shape for the most part, few ticky-tack things are wrong with it(speedo, depth finder, swim ladder falling off and a small round hole in the ski locker plywood from a mouse one season), but it just got "new" matching seats for the captains chairs(fold down ones) from another 160 and a new USB stereo. Floor is solid and the last time I checked the transom is solid as well.
What should I do? I recently just started getting more involved in the wake sports, so I would really like a bigger/more powerful boat anyway. The motor ran *ok* at the end of the season even tho it "needs" 3 pistons(compression was decent last year). Do I rebuild to sell or just sell it as is? I realize I'm probably going to struggle to get 1-1.5k for it as is, am I right? My next thought was to find a used motor for cheap, but there is nothing around that vintage for a good deal. I was able to find a couple mid-late 90s OMCs in the $1500 range with ****ty boats attached, but I'm not sure if it's worth dealing with a boat I want to throw away. The next, I was able to find a 1980 Johnson 175 semi-locally(about 3.5 hours away) for about $800. Could I even install that on my boat? The plate says "120hp max" but I know that's recommendation not an enforceable rule, depening on state. I pretty much just want to sell it and get the most money to put towards something better, but hassle sucks. Whats your take? I believe in karma very strongly, so I'm not about to not fix the boat and sell it "in water ready" condition to some unsuspecting buyer.
tl;dr 120 johnson needs 3 pistons supposedly, want bigger boat anyway, fix motor for $2500, buy used 1980 175 Johnson or sell as-is.
Thanks for the help!
