Last weekend I bought my first boat. It's a 1983 Sea Ray 210 Cuddy with a 260 Mercruiser.
Before we get into the boat, let me give some background information. I'm a pretty big car guy. I've built and worked on/ swapped engines and other things since I was a teenager, and since I've been out of college for a couple of years, I've had a little extra time and money to devote to more serious projects. I've been thinking about getting a boat for a while now, and was drawn to the sterndrives because of their auto derived engines.
The boat was advertised as having a busted block. Considering the condition of the oil, this is likely the case. The PO informed me that he bought the boat in was he thought was seaworthy (lakeworthy?) condition, and was severely disappointed. We figured the the guy he bought it off of did not winterize properly after moving up from Texas. I'm not sure how much due diligence the PO did considering the massive cracks in the manifolds.
It is my understanding that the mercruiser 260 is in fact a chevy 350, which is a good thing because I have a couple of 350 blocks in my garage. I'll need to pull the engine and see what, if anything is salvageable. I've considered finding a late Vortec 350 out of a junkyard and freshening it up swapping it in. Does anyone have any thoughts on that?
The rest of the boat seems relatively solid and the...interior? is in great shape, but I don't yet have the expertise to say for certain. I did find a soft spot in the deck, but the rot does not seem too extensive. I expect to find more as I continue disassembling the boat in preparation for the engine swap.
Overall I'm pleased with the condition of the boat and trailer for the price I paid. If it ends up being more work than what I want to put in, I think there's at least enough good on it for me to get my money back out of it.
I'll take some pictures in the daylight.
Before we get into the boat, let me give some background information. I'm a pretty big car guy. I've built and worked on/ swapped engines and other things since I was a teenager, and since I've been out of college for a couple of years, I've had a little extra time and money to devote to more serious projects. I've been thinking about getting a boat for a while now, and was drawn to the sterndrives because of their auto derived engines.
The boat was advertised as having a busted block. Considering the condition of the oil, this is likely the case. The PO informed me that he bought the boat in was he thought was seaworthy (lakeworthy?) condition, and was severely disappointed. We figured the the guy he bought it off of did not winterize properly after moving up from Texas. I'm not sure how much due diligence the PO did considering the massive cracks in the manifolds.
It is my understanding that the mercruiser 260 is in fact a chevy 350, which is a good thing because I have a couple of 350 blocks in my garage. I'll need to pull the engine and see what, if anything is salvageable. I've considered finding a late Vortec 350 out of a junkyard and freshening it up swapping it in. Does anyone have any thoughts on that?
The rest of the boat seems relatively solid and the...interior? is in great shape, but I don't yet have the expertise to say for certain. I did find a soft spot in the deck, but the rot does not seem too extensive. I expect to find more as I continue disassembling the boat in preparation for the engine swap.
Overall I'm pleased with the condition of the boat and trailer for the price I paid. If it ends up being more work than what I want to put in, I think there's at least enough good on it for me to get my money back out of it.
I'll take some pictures in the daylight.
