Hello All,
My name is Jason and I reside in Fargo, ND. I have spent the last few weeks acquainting myself with as much knowledge as I can possible retain from this site. You guys are awesome, and very appreciated for sharing your trials/errors/successes. I have never owned any type of boat and with a recent sale of a spare car, had some funds to purchase my first toy. I was lucky to come across a bit of a 'barn find' in a 92' Glastron G1900 with the Mercruiser 4.3/Thunderbolt. The boat is truly a site to see, as it is in as much of 'mint' as possible (no fading, only 'damage' was the rear bench seat had a small tear and the keel had been rubbed lightly from beaching...but felt smooth to the touch, so no major issue). I have looked into a Keelguard and believe I will be installing one shortly as I camp a lot and would like to safely beach it (within reason).
All that aside, I have so much worry about buying a 20 year old boat, no matter mint or not. Especially one that has been sitting in a storage unit for ~2 years. I have a local marine shop doing a complete tune up on it (plugs/wires/fluid change/grease/waterpump/coil (the previous owner said it would lose spark after being on the water for a bit, but then come back to life after it cooled down...my research here found the most common culprit to be the coil, and the marine guy agreed). So my questions are this: If you purchase a boat of this age from a person you believe to have been anal about maintenance/winterizing/storage, is there any real reason to be scared to take it out and 'trust' it? The purchase of this boat is strictly contingent on a good running report card after the tune up, but after that fact is this something that is going to cost me a lot of money in the days/weeks/months to come? I do not have a lake home, so it will be loaded/unloaded every time I use it, which means a 45 minute drive to a lake to enjoy a day in the sun, only to deal with issues..... I guess I am asking about the Mercruiser 4.3L reliability in the long run. I know and understand that winterizing and general maintenance is key to longevity of its life, but do these nickel and dime constantly with its age?
Any helpful insight from someone with a few spare moments is greatly appreciated. Keep in mind I am very fresh to boating and just want to know what I am getting myself into.
Thank you so very much to anyone willing to offer any insight to the Glastron as a company, the boat in question directly, and the Mercruiser motor in it.
Happy Boating!
Jason
My name is Jason and I reside in Fargo, ND. I have spent the last few weeks acquainting myself with as much knowledge as I can possible retain from this site. You guys are awesome, and very appreciated for sharing your trials/errors/successes. I have never owned any type of boat and with a recent sale of a spare car, had some funds to purchase my first toy. I was lucky to come across a bit of a 'barn find' in a 92' Glastron G1900 with the Mercruiser 4.3/Thunderbolt. The boat is truly a site to see, as it is in as much of 'mint' as possible (no fading, only 'damage' was the rear bench seat had a small tear and the keel had been rubbed lightly from beaching...but felt smooth to the touch, so no major issue). I have looked into a Keelguard and believe I will be installing one shortly as I camp a lot and would like to safely beach it (within reason).
All that aside, I have so much worry about buying a 20 year old boat, no matter mint or not. Especially one that has been sitting in a storage unit for ~2 years. I have a local marine shop doing a complete tune up on it (plugs/wires/fluid change/grease/waterpump/coil (the previous owner said it would lose spark after being on the water for a bit, but then come back to life after it cooled down...my research here found the most common culprit to be the coil, and the marine guy agreed). So my questions are this: If you purchase a boat of this age from a person you believe to have been anal about maintenance/winterizing/storage, is there any real reason to be scared to take it out and 'trust' it? The purchase of this boat is strictly contingent on a good running report card after the tune up, but after that fact is this something that is going to cost me a lot of money in the days/weeks/months to come? I do not have a lake home, so it will be loaded/unloaded every time I use it, which means a 45 minute drive to a lake to enjoy a day in the sun, only to deal with issues..... I guess I am asking about the Mercruiser 4.3L reliability in the long run. I know and understand that winterizing and general maintenance is key to longevity of its life, but do these nickel and dime constantly with its age?
Any helpful insight from someone with a few spare moments is greatly appreciated. Keep in mind I am very fresh to boating and just want to know what I am getting myself into.
Thank you so very much to anyone willing to offer any insight to the Glastron as a company, the boat in question directly, and the Mercruiser motor in it.
Happy Boating!
Jason
