My girlfriend and I have a young family and decided to buy our first boat this spring. After looking at half a dozen boats, we ended up finding a 1992 17' Larson All American with an 4.3l LX Mercruiser. I was very impressed with the condition of the boat compared to the others we had seen, as it was spotless with 413 hours on the motor. The only repair the previous owner had done was replace the exhaust manifold. It looked to be well maintained.
Being new to boating, we made the sale contingent on an inspection by a local marine shop. They checked it all out and gave it a clean bill of health, saying that we shouldn't have any problems with it. Ran it up in the tank, runs good, has lots of power. They charged us for 4.5 hours of labour, and a set of wheel bearings for the trailer. Apparently he had to chisle the bearing race of the axle, so it took longer than normal. We had to ask him specifically to check out the wheel bearings on the trailer, and after getting it home I discover that the surge brakes on the trailer don't work either, the master cylinder is pooched. Not all that concerned, it's not that heavy of a rig, and I'm pretty handy, so I'll fix that later. Anyhow, on to the real problem.
Yesterday, we take the boat out to sister in law's lake and launch it. Take it easy because we have 2 infants, a pre schooler, my girlfriend, her sister and sister's husband on board. Watching the guages everthing looks good, temp and oil pressure normal. Take off on 20 minute trip down the lake, stop for about an hour, turn around and come back. Still taking it easy, have it about half throttle, 3200 RPM, going about 50kph according to GPS. We get half way back and the sound of the motor changed slightly, I checked the guages, everything is normal, then right away it starts to get louder and louder. I chopped the throttle, and I can see steam or smoke coming from the engine compartment. I killed the ignition, take off the engine cover, and it's obviously hot. It sounds like it's overheated, making ticking sounds (engine off) like metal expanding or contracting. Turned the key back on to check the temp, it still reads normal. Pulled the dipstick, and it's about halfway up the stick, and is all creamy, so obviously full of water. There's more water / oil cream in the bottom of the boat, so it's pushed oil out somewhere. Tried turning it over, and it won't turn over at all. We ended up flagging down another boat for a tow back to the marina, and it's back in my driveway now. I turned the key this afternoon to see if it will turn over, and it will. It even fired, but I didn't let it start.
My questions are:
Any guesses as to what happened? My guesses are cracked block due to improper winterization (I'm in Winnipeg Canada, and it routinely gets to -40F here in the winter), or a blown head gasket?
What do I do now? Take it back to the guy who checked it over? There aren't a lot of marine shops who work on inboards here, and I can't help but doubt that he know's what he's doing. Is this something he could have found, by pressure testing the cooling system or something like that?
Any educated guesses what it is gonna cost me to get this thing back up and running, worst case scenario?
Being new to boating, we made the sale contingent on an inspection by a local marine shop. They checked it all out and gave it a clean bill of health, saying that we shouldn't have any problems with it. Ran it up in the tank, runs good, has lots of power. They charged us for 4.5 hours of labour, and a set of wheel bearings for the trailer. Apparently he had to chisle the bearing race of the axle, so it took longer than normal. We had to ask him specifically to check out the wheel bearings on the trailer, and after getting it home I discover that the surge brakes on the trailer don't work either, the master cylinder is pooched. Not all that concerned, it's not that heavy of a rig, and I'm pretty handy, so I'll fix that later. Anyhow, on to the real problem.
Yesterday, we take the boat out to sister in law's lake and launch it. Take it easy because we have 2 infants, a pre schooler, my girlfriend, her sister and sister's husband on board. Watching the guages everthing looks good, temp and oil pressure normal. Take off on 20 minute trip down the lake, stop for about an hour, turn around and come back. Still taking it easy, have it about half throttle, 3200 RPM, going about 50kph according to GPS. We get half way back and the sound of the motor changed slightly, I checked the guages, everything is normal, then right away it starts to get louder and louder. I chopped the throttle, and I can see steam or smoke coming from the engine compartment. I killed the ignition, take off the engine cover, and it's obviously hot. It sounds like it's overheated, making ticking sounds (engine off) like metal expanding or contracting. Turned the key back on to check the temp, it still reads normal. Pulled the dipstick, and it's about halfway up the stick, and is all creamy, so obviously full of water. There's more water / oil cream in the bottom of the boat, so it's pushed oil out somewhere. Tried turning it over, and it won't turn over at all. We ended up flagging down another boat for a tow back to the marina, and it's back in my driveway now. I turned the key this afternoon to see if it will turn over, and it will. It even fired, but I didn't let it start.
My questions are:
Any guesses as to what happened? My guesses are cracked block due to improper winterization (I'm in Winnipeg Canada, and it routinely gets to -40F here in the winter), or a blown head gasket?
What do I do now? Take it back to the guy who checked it over? There aren't a lot of marine shops who work on inboards here, and I can't help but doubt that he know's what he's doing. Is this something he could have found, by pressure testing the cooling system or something like that?
Any educated guesses what it is gonna cost me to get this thing back up and running, worst case scenario?
