ehernandez1200
Cadet
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2009
- Messages
- 9
Hello All,
First and foremost I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Eric, I am 25 years old, and I am new to the world of boating. I purchased my first boat over the weekend. I've made a few mistakes already. The first & worst mistake was not test driving the boat. I settled for hearing the motor fire up, & running it for about 1/2 an hour on the trailer. My second mistake was trusting the previous owner when he told me that the boat was solid and safe.
After taking the boat out on the bay for about 10 mins, i realized that the boat is taking in a tremendous amount of water. The boat is a 1983 Searay 20' with a 1993 mericruiser i/o. I dont know the exact engine specs off the top of my head right now, but I will get the them off the motor and post ASAP. I may be new to this, but i know that the amount of water intake is not normal at all. After returning to shore, i pulled the drain plug and the boat took 7 minutes to drain all the water out.
I had a buddy look over the boat and he pointed out that my exhaust bellow is cracked on the outdrive (something i noticed when i did my walkaround of the boat. I mentioned this to the seller and he replyed that this was for the prop exhaust and its OK that its cracked).
My buddy says that this is probably the reason for the leak and I would need to replace the bellow, a few o-rings, and service the outdrive while the lower drive is removed. He quoted me a price of $500 for parts and labor. My problem is that I dont quite trust his word/work because he is not a true marine mechanic. I want to make sure that this is the only reason for the leak. I wanted to fill the bilge up with water and see if I can identify where the leak is coming from (on land of course). Are there any other ways to determine where a leak may be coming from? The fiberglass hull has no visible hairline cracks...
Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I have consulted an attorney and while the boat was sold to me "as-is", it is still considered consumer fraud. The seller told me the boat was safe and the bottom line is that it wasn't. Any suggestions / opinions / thoughts from you veterans? I really appreciate any feedback. Thank you.
-Eric H.
First and foremost I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Eric, I am 25 years old, and I am new to the world of boating. I purchased my first boat over the weekend. I've made a few mistakes already. The first & worst mistake was not test driving the boat. I settled for hearing the motor fire up, & running it for about 1/2 an hour on the trailer. My second mistake was trusting the previous owner when he told me that the boat was solid and safe.
After taking the boat out on the bay for about 10 mins, i realized that the boat is taking in a tremendous amount of water. The boat is a 1983 Searay 20' with a 1993 mericruiser i/o. I dont know the exact engine specs off the top of my head right now, but I will get the them off the motor and post ASAP. I may be new to this, but i know that the amount of water intake is not normal at all. After returning to shore, i pulled the drain plug and the boat took 7 minutes to drain all the water out.
I had a buddy look over the boat and he pointed out that my exhaust bellow is cracked on the outdrive (something i noticed when i did my walkaround of the boat. I mentioned this to the seller and he replyed that this was for the prop exhaust and its OK that its cracked).
My buddy says that this is probably the reason for the leak and I would need to replace the bellow, a few o-rings, and service the outdrive while the lower drive is removed. He quoted me a price of $500 for parts and labor. My problem is that I dont quite trust his word/work because he is not a true marine mechanic. I want to make sure that this is the only reason for the leak. I wanted to fill the bilge up with water and see if I can identify where the leak is coming from (on land of course). Are there any other ways to determine where a leak may be coming from? The fiberglass hull has no visible hairline cracks...
Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I have consulted an attorney and while the boat was sold to me "as-is", it is still considered consumer fraud. The seller told me the boat was safe and the bottom line is that it wasn't. Any suggestions / opinions / thoughts from you veterans? I really appreciate any feedback. Thank you.
-Eric H.
