Discouraged boater... need advise...

[G. Arruda]

Here's the story... 2nd season of power boating, and I love it, even the family likes it (tough to do w/ 2 teenage daughters)! Mid last season bought a 88 4Winns 160 OMC 3L , nice shape, mantained by the same inland marina I bought it from got it for what seems like a good deal $3K. I have also followed all the rec. maint. BUT... have the boat on the lake for a week of vaca, and start to see all sorts of problems. <br /> 1st ! a 2" crack in the block, external no water in oil (JB weld saved Vaca) holding so far. Get it home water in the outdrive, no obvious leaks, and just to top it off the seal at the oil drain tube is leaking! The upside... the boat appeers to be in good shape, runs well.<br />So I need sage advise... do I put serious $ it to it (new motor) and fix the other stuff , or cut my losses and save for somthing newer. I don't mind keeping up with all ness. maint., but I want to enjoy the boat not just fix it !! Is this what I should except from an I/O new or old or is this just an age thing or would an O/B be a better choice ? <br /> Thanks for any advise. Gary

 

[KRS]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

I can lend you a sympathetic ear.... I have a 1987 Ebko Marine 16' 2.5liter mercruiser open bow. I traded a '77 Toyota Landcruiser FJ40 for it. I had to put $3,200 into it after 4 months, and as much as that sucked, it runs well and we have fun. This forum has helped me tune and repair it.<br /><br />Anything... and I mean ANYTHING is better than making payments for the next 72 months on a newer boat that might not be made as well.<br /><br />My vote is fix it... but get some help from these guys on your specific ailments.<br /><br />Best of luck and happier boating... IT WILL COME!

 

[prockvoan]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

If you are handy with tools,go for the repairs yourself.If not,send it down the road.<br />As for as the engine,run it till it dies.The outdrive,sounds like its time to go in and rebuild it with all new seals and gaskets.Buy yourself a shop book,that will help you a very long way.

 

[Lakefisher420]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

I have come to relize any boat new or old has problems. I have a 1994 bayliner 3.0 and I have problems but the family still has fun and all of friends have boats so we can use other peoples for skiing and what not and use ours as a floating dock when not running good.<br /><br />I have a friend that has a 2005 maxum with less then 20hr and he is having all sorts of problems with it the marina has been to our lake about 4 times to fix stuff on it so dont feel so bad it happend to the best of us. Just like AZFYRFTER69 said "Anything... and I mean ANYTHING is better than making payments for the next 72 months on a newer boat that might not be made as well.'<br />In my fiends case he is paying 280.00 for the next 10 years.<br /><br />I say buy the book (the best 35.00 I have spent on the boat so far) and try to fix it your self and call your local marina's and ask a ton of questions they will help you as much as they can over the phone.

 

[thunderroad]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

If you took all the boats that have a patched up crack in the block off the water, the lakes and rivers around here would probably look a little empty. As for the outdrive, when I first got my boat I changed the oil in the outdrive. Checked it after the first time out (2 hrs) and it had water in it. Changed it again, couldn't see any obvious problem. Got water in it again. Checked the lower housing closely in the light and found a crack. Drained, flushed, roughed up the area with a 4 inch grinder a little, sanded, sprayed with brakleen, put on JB weld, sanded, put on more JB weld. 3 months gone by now, no water in lower housing. Total cost..under 15 bucks. Sure it's not like new but it's workin fine and I'm gonna keep my eye on it and keep runnin it.<br />My vote.....fix what needs fixing as you go along and enjoy it in between. Workin on it yourself is pretty rewarding too.

 

[G. Arruda]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

Thanks for the encouragement ! Does anyone have an opinon on the reliability of O/B's strickly from a maintainance view, are they more likely to just run. <br /> The motor, when is the boat as a whole (or "a Hole") not worth a new motor. I guess if I new that the 2 grand or so in a new motor would give me serveral more years of "trouble free" boating, I'd do it, but not if I'm going to be working on it instead of playing with it. Anyone got a crystal ball I could use?<br />Gary

 

[gspig]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

It's totally up to you. You could put a long block in and replace the outdrive. You should be guarateed not have problems for many years. How much do you like this boat? Could cost up to $6000 to get it that trouble free. You could also do like many of us poor boaters do, just battle the problems as they come.

 

[vipzach]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

What plug, you are asking a tuff question about the reliability of an O/B and if is better, everybody here will have an opinion on that and the guys in the o/b area will have different opinions. I personally don't like them as much and think they are more expensive to work on....just my opinion.<br />If the motor is running good, I would leave it alone. It could last you several years. There are guys here doing the exact same thing and have for awhile.<br />The outdrive probly just needs new seals put in it and will be just fine.<br />I personally would probly get the drive fixed, do the yearly stuff on it and enjoy the boat. Good Luck! Zach

 

[pine island fred]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

Just checked my crystal ball and it said cut your losses now. Have had the oppertunity to get up real close and personal with some older i/os and it is not a plesant experience. Good friend got a real nice early 90s CHAPARRAL for 5,000 with a volvo DP. So far he has got another 10,000 dropped into it and its coming back to my lift again for trim cylinders and hoses. He dont want to talk about it. He wishes he never had it. <br /> Here in the sound and gulf outboards out number i/os at least 40 to 1, addimitally most boats are center consols and need an o/b. The i/os that do work are new but after some time the owners admit they will never have another one. <br /> Yes i am talking from a distance and dont know your boat but my advice is to stop putting money into NOW. Sometimes it is tough to walk away from things but the problems with i/os just keep coming. just my opinion, regards fred

 

[KRS]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

is an OMC 3L an outboard engine, or is it an I/O sterndrive (engine inside drive hanging off the back of the boat)?

 

[thunderroad]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

A new motor doesn't guarantee you will be trouble free but it does guarantee that your wallet will be a couple thousand lighter. On the other hand, a patched crack in the block doesn't guarantee that you're gonna have problems with the present motor. I'd get the drive resealed and run the boat a while before I made any big decisions. It might last for years with only routine maintenance. You might be ready to move up to a newer boat in a couple of years or you might be saying "ok, boating was fun, now what do we want to do?" yaneverknow

 

[salty87]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

a 2" crack in the block, was that there when you bought it? how many hours have you put on it?<br /><br />with a sketchy block and now drive issues, i wouldn't toss any good money into it. see what it takes to just get back on the water and go from there.<br /><br />if that crack was there when you got it, perhaps the marina would be sympathetic to helping in some way. be polite and ask, you never know...they may have some parts laying around or something.

 

[MRS]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

I have a 120 cruiser 1970 I have been running with J.B. weld on the block for three maybe four years now not a problem.You can change all the lower seals on the outdrive fairly easy I did but the upper takes a few special tools I am going to yank upper off thats easy to do and take it in to have seals changed will save a ton of money and shop can usalley get it done pretty fast when they do not have to take it off the boat them selfs.

 

[rbezdon]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

If you dont have water in the oil and the engine runs fine ile to WOT there is no reason to change the engine. I ran mine for almost 14 years with several cracks in the block which I had welded and had no engine troubles related to this. Water in the outdrive means a reseal job, not the end of the world. I think I saw another posting where some one took off the drive and brought it into a shop and got it resealed for around $300. If you are a little mechanical this isn't too bad and there is a lot of support through this site!! Lets you do some things you wouldn't other wise try.

 

[G. Arruda]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

Thanks Gang. I guess that's the thing, I can see where it goes w/o putting a lot of money in it. I feel comfortable about doing some work on the motor, but the drive is a different beast. But if it's a couple hundred $ to get it sealed, that works. As for the crack, the marina did all the winterizing on the boat for most of it's life, do they hold any responsbility for it? Is there any other way for a block to crack? I guess it makes some sense to play it out for awhile, see what happens (I can't aford a new boat anyway). Selling a boat with a cracked block fixed or not, is basicly giving it away I would imagine. <br />Thanks for the the response.<br />Gary

 

[MRS]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

One more inportant thing if temp frezzing in winter you must make sure and drain manifold and engine block I do mine every October. If not it will recrack block for sure.......

 

[thunderroad]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

I wouldn't think that a patched block would require "giving away" a boat, if the rest of it is in good shape. If I were looking at a boat with a patched block I'd probably try to play up the damage to the seller as much as I could but if it appeared to be patched ok, seemed to be holding and priced right, it wouldn't necessarily be a deal breaker if I liked what I saw of the rest of the boat. <br />You might run it by the marina if they indeed have been the only ones to work on the boat. I wouldn't expect the moon and stars out of the deal, however. Not likely to happen.

 

[rbezdon]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

If the crack is from bad winterization and you paid them for a good winterization, I think you have a good cance to get something. The problem is that it is likely the crack was there before you bought the boat in which case you bought the boat with the crack and now you own it (the crack) along woth the boat. I agree with you however, selling a boat with a cracked and patched (even sucessfully patched) block is TOUGH. You might be able to sell it to some of the guys here on the site, but just being on this site makes them somewhat informed and they knoiw running a patched and cracked block is possible, OK and even common. The majority of the public (from where your buyer will most likely come) is not so informed and there for unwilling to buy a boat with a damaged engine (in their mind).

 

[lakelivin]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

What Plug- are you using it in fresh or salt water? And same question w.r.t. the previous ownres. I bet you'd get some different input based on which it is.<br /><br />Three suggestions if you keep it. <br /><br />1)Buy the OMC OEM Cobra Service Manual & the OMC Parts Catalogue instead of a Clymer's or Seloc manual. Will cost a bit more, & you probably will need to get them off eBay, but you'll be glad you spent the extra $. (I have a Clymers & bought the OEM one; wish I'd have saved the money I'd spent on the Clymer's and bought the OEM one right off). <br /><br />2)If you do winterize it yourself, make sure you ream out the manifold drain holes (use wire, a narrow screwdriver, whatever) as it drains. These get clogged pretty easily on a boat that old & you may get some water out, think you've got it all, and crack the manifold because there is alot still in the manifold that isn't drained because the hole is plugged.<br /><br />3) Take a look at the folllowing site & bookmark it. Great info on the history, issues, and solutions to the OMC Cobra drive.<br /> http://www.hastings.org/~stuart/cobra/index.html <br /><br />Whichever way you go, good luck!

 

[G. Arruda]

Re: Discouraged boater... need advise...

Thanks for all the comment. It's a lake boat, swimin, fishin,& tubein. I have a seloc man., where can I get a OEM man. I guess tallying the thoughts, it comes to, hope the JB holds get the drive sealed and see what happens. I'll pose the bigger question when it comes time to remotor or not. One last ? How responsilble is the shop for the winterize? Is there any other way to crack a block? <br />Thanks for all the help!<br />Gary