remove thermostat for winter?

avenger79 · Jan 6, 2011

is it normal to remove a thermostat for winterizing a boat? thinking about looking at a used 1995 245 sundowner. owner says he removes the therm for winter and replaces it in spring every year. does that seem right?
has an OMC drive that was just rebuilt. wanting $9500. looks like a very clean boat with trailer. price sound fair. can't test drive now of course which concerns me. why sell in winter unless boat has issues that would be apparent with a ride.
thoughts?

Bondo · Jan 6, 2011

Re: remove thermostat for winter?

has an OMC drive that was just rebuilt. wanting $9500.

Ayuh,.... Removing the T-stat is Not normal winterization....
And,...
Buying a boat with an obsolete drive, by a defunt manufacturer is a Big Gamble....
So the price should reflect that,....
10 Grand for a 16 Year old boat,.... Don't....

keninaz · Jan 6, 2011

Re: remove thermostat for winter?

I cannot imagine why he would remove the thermostat other than he is trying to make sure there is no vacuum created and he gets all the fluids out of the motor?
If that's the purpose just warm the boat up and it won't be an issue when you drain the coolant.
As far as price boats can be had for pretty cheap prices today in this economy. I am not familiar with that model but many people are just trying to get rid of their toys.
Complicating that is that many banks and lending institutions are not loaning money on toys anymore or so it seems.
And just my thoughts~I buy nothing without a ride.
It's been awhile but in the 70s OMC outdrives were pretty bad. My father had one and it stripped and broke gears on him twice for no apparent reason. In the 80s they wanted some $1500 tod to do a repair. I have the skills so I overhauled the entire unit at that time for around $350 in parts. He then got rid of the boat right away as that was the 2nd time the outdrive went out.
At that time many thought the OMC outdrives should have had zippers on them for easier repair.

paultjohnson · Jan 6, 2011

Re: remove thermostat for winter?

The person didnt give you a reason why ? I cant see any need for it. Unless he fills the engine with antifreeze, But then I would pull the stat, fill the engine, reinstall the stat and button it up. Hmmmmmmmmmmm......................

ziggy · Jan 6, 2011

Re: remove thermostat for winter?

agree w/others ^^^

myself, i pull the tstat to introduce anti freeze at winter layup. but like paultjohnson. i put it back where i found it after it's full of anti freeze.

replace the tstat every year???? i've no idea of a reason to do that.

i listened to folks like Bond-o when i was buying my boat. omc fitted boats weren't on my look at list. no matter how cool the boat was. boats are hard enough to keep alive w/o the obstacle of dealing with a obsolete mfg.

avenger79 · Jan 6, 2011

Re: remove thermostat for winter?

he did say he pulled it in order to put in antifreeze. also the outdrive has just been rebuilt to the tune of $5000 with receipts. has only 3 hours on rebuild (that concerns me) thanks for the input so far, keep 'em coming.

avenger79 · Jan 6, 2011

Re: remove thermostat for winter?

Bond-o said:
Ayuh,.... Removing the T-stat is Not normal winterization....
And,...
Buying a boat with an obsolete drive, by a defunt manufacturer is a Big Gamble....
So the price should reflect that,....
10 Grand for a 16 Year old boat,.... Don't....

thanks didn't realize they were out of the game entirely. I knew they weren't the desired ones.

swl · Jan 6, 2011

Re: remove thermostat for winter?

HURRY!!!! somebody please buy my boat before it blows up again!! definitely odd... why would anyone dump that kind of coin then sell the boat so soon after? But then again, I'm skeptical about anything...

keninaz · Jan 6, 2011

Re: remove thermostat for winter?

swl said:
HURRY!!!! somebody please buy my boat before it blows up again!! definitely odd... why would anyone dump that kind of coin then sell the boat so soon after? But then again, I'm skeptical about anything...

Simple, they did not like the cost of the repair, can't figure out why it broke in the first place, and want to dump it.
I have seen this many times. In fact I have bought some nice boats to repair for myself just his way from people that could not afford to repair them.

shrew · Jan 6, 2011

Re: remove thermostat for winter?

This sounds like 'Seller/Owner's Math":

1) value of boat = $5,000

2) Cost of recent repairs (Out of Pocket) = $5,000

Sell price for used boat = $10,000

The owner forgot that 'zero is greater than a negative number'.

Dave1251 · Jan 6, 2011

Re: remove thermostat for winter?

1995 was the time frame when OMC and Volvo had a joint venture and Volvo had redesign the drive. For this model, Vovlo supports the drive and parts or service are not a problem.

As for the asking price, the average NADA retail for the boat is $8,600.00 for the base boat, so depending on condition and options the price might be about right. But becuase of the age of the boat, you really need to boat checked out by some who knows how check the transom, stringers, and drive/engine. To have a dealership do this and to rewinterize the boat should cost about $250/300.

I would not worry about taking the thermostat removal for winterization - Many people do strang things when they winterize their boats.

cribber · Jan 6, 2011

Re: remove thermostat for winter?

$10K may be a little steep but not far off from other 24 footers of the same age. Was it rack or trailer stored? What repairs were made for $5 large? How many hours on the engine? There are a lot of questions that you need to get an answer for and don't buy it unless you can take it out for a sea trial. If it is in excellent condition NADA says $8630 average for this boat stock.
http://www.nadaguides.com/Boats/1995/FOUR-WINNS/245-SUNDOWNER++-24/Standard-Equipment

avenger79 · Jan 6, 2011

Re: remove thermostat for winter?

here are a couple pics he sent me. is stored on trailer, has 350 hours on eng. comes with VHF radio. cockpit sink is inop.

Bondo · Jan 6, 2011

Re: remove thermostat for winter?

Ayuh,.... She's a Purty boat, but still OMC powered.....

avenger79 · Jan 6, 2011

Re: remove thermostat for winter?

Bond-o said:
Ayuh,.... She's a Purty boat, but still OMC powered.....

you have a way with words. LOL

Don S · Jan 6, 2011

Re: remove thermostat for winter?

Bond-o said:
Ayuh,.... She's a Purty boat, but still OMC powered.....

It's a 95, Very good chance it has the Volvo/OMC SX Cobra. Which is the Volvo drive, and therefore makes the boat up to date. Since all of the parts and manuals come from Volvo.

As for the thermostat. Who knows why the PO pulled it. I had a customer that did his own winterization but couldn't figure out why the engine wouldn't crank over in the spring. Turns out he pulled the risers to put antifreeze in the manifolds. No one told him not to get AF in that big hole in the center of the manifold.

RickJ6956 · Jan 7, 2011

Re: remove thermostat for winter?

avenger79 said:
... comes with VHF radio ...

Although that's a nice thing to include in the sale, it adds little or nothing to the sale price. Resale values of electronics drop to nearly nothing within a couple of years. You can use this to your advantage during negotiations: Ask what value they're placing on the electronics (it will usually be close to their cost) and then deduct that amount.

remove thermostat for winter?

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