ken_23434
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2008
- Messages
- 313
Need some advice/opinions:
I sold my boat that had a 3.0 Mercruiser engine (mid 1980's boat/motor).
I last took the boat out about June 20th. Ran it up and down a local river w/ 6 of us on board (3 adults, 3 kids). The trip up river to the swimming hole was cruising about half throttle, the return trip (weather rolling in) was mostly full throttle. The boat was running great. No signs of any engine related problems.
We bought a new boat (pontoon) because we wanted to be able to have more people comfortably on the boat for fishing and such. The run-about was listed on Craig's List.
Well, someone called about it and bought it this past week. I cleaned it up a little and double checked the engine starting before he came out. The engine started immediately when cranked, oil pressure was good, temperature came up as expected (fresh water cooled).
About 5 hours after that run, the buyer came over to see the boat. Started it for him. Once again, it started right up, and ran like "normal". He paid cash on the spot and took it home.
He said his dad had a couple boats, but I felt like he did not have a lot of experience w/ them. He had to ask about how to raise/lower the outdrive and a few other things...
Well, I get an email today stating that he took the boat out Friday. "It took 20 minutes to start" and "the engine blew and threw a rod after getting out on the bay".
I feel bad for him, but I do not know how to respond.
I don't feel responsible but I can understand he will likely feel "duped". I have no idea if he was running it wide open, trimmed incorrectly and over reving the engine, jumped waves and over reved it etc... Then again, he could have been running it "normally" and it decided to let go (it is about 30 years old).
It would be different if it was low on oil pressure and knocking real bad, THEN I decided to sell it. To tell the truth, I would rather had that boat than the pontoon (it's slow). I trusted the old one and was not concerned w/ the reliability of the motor.
I sold my boat that had a 3.0 Mercruiser engine (mid 1980's boat/motor).
I last took the boat out about June 20th. Ran it up and down a local river w/ 6 of us on board (3 adults, 3 kids). The trip up river to the swimming hole was cruising about half throttle, the return trip (weather rolling in) was mostly full throttle. The boat was running great. No signs of any engine related problems.
We bought a new boat (pontoon) because we wanted to be able to have more people comfortably on the boat for fishing and such. The run-about was listed on Craig's List.
Well, someone called about it and bought it this past week. I cleaned it up a little and double checked the engine starting before he came out. The engine started immediately when cranked, oil pressure was good, temperature came up as expected (fresh water cooled).
About 5 hours after that run, the buyer came over to see the boat. Started it for him. Once again, it started right up, and ran like "normal". He paid cash on the spot and took it home.
He said his dad had a couple boats, but I felt like he did not have a lot of experience w/ them. He had to ask about how to raise/lower the outdrive and a few other things...
Well, I get an email today stating that he took the boat out Friday. "It took 20 minutes to start" and "the engine blew and threw a rod after getting out on the bay".
I feel bad for him, but I do not know how to respond.
I don't feel responsible but I can understand he will likely feel "duped". I have no idea if he was running it wide open, trimmed incorrectly and over reving the engine, jumped waves and over reved it etc... Then again, he could have been running it "normally" and it decided to let go (it is about 30 years old).
It would be different if it was low on oil pressure and knocking real bad, THEN I decided to sell it. To tell the truth, I would rather had that boat than the pontoon (it's slow). I trusted the old one and was not concerned w/ the reliability of the motor.