Buying First Boat Chris Craft Scorpion 230

[Ust2010]

UPDATE: Boat is sold, thanks for your help everyone.



My friend and I want to buy a new boat to head out on some local lakes here in Minnesota. I have sailed quite a bit when I was younger and am pretty mechanically inclined. We found a great deal on what seems like a pretty decent boat. Could someone please toss us a little advice? I know a hell of a lot more about cars than I do about powerboats but I think my attention to details and two years of mechanical engineering should help quite a bit. Here are the details:

1985 Cris Craft Scorpion 230 wit EZ loader trailor. Runs excellent, fully new bellows, complete biminy cover and trailer cover as well! Comfortable cuddy and new sound system. Dual battery system. This boat has been in storage for 2 seasons but has been started and winterized each year to protect seals. The gimble unit should be looked at and I don't have time to do this work otherwise it would be in water NOW!!!! 2000 or best offer AS IS.






We are going to take a look at it this evening. Thought? Recommendations? Advice? What should we be looking for?

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: Buying First Boat Chris Craft Scorpion 230

Welcome to the Dry Dock,

27 year old boat, would take some serious looking at. Check for soft spots in the deck (anywhere in the deck). Check out the hull good for damage or apparent repairs.

Check out the bilge area for any signs of wood rot, (poke around with a screwdriver of somthing) You said it runs great, so I assume you've been in the water for a trial run already? If not don't take the sellers word for that, take it to the lake for a real test. Just starting it up on land to me doesn't tell you enough. Good luck with her.

CW

 

[Pmccraney]

Re: Buying First Boat Chris Craft Scorpion 230

First off, I love Chris Crafts! If you are going to get a boat that is a good "name" to have on it IMHO... (join us on the Chris Craft page, see link in my signature, if you end up buying it).

However, what CW says ^^^ is correct!

I am by no means a boat expert or surveyor, but here a few things you can do to check it out:

1. Transom: This is the back of the boat where the outdrive sticks out. Make sure its nice and solid. That's a "mission critical" part of an i/o boat and you can't be driving around with a soft/rotten transom. Give the drive some tugs and see if you've got any flex back there. Tap it with a screw driver. See if there is any evidence of rot, especially around the key-hole.

2. Lift the dog house and inspect the engine carefully. Make sure there are no visible cracks in the block or the manifolds (if you are a car guy, the engine should look familiar to you - its probably a chevy small block. Inspect it pretty much the same way you would a car engine. Use a stethoscope or broom handle to see if you hear any rattling or knocks. check compression if at all possible.

3. Take it for a sea trial. If you hear any groans or grinding (especially when turning), you likely have a bad gimble bearing. Fairly easy to replace, but that can be a sign that water has been in your u-joint bellows, etc.. check the water levels in the bilge and ski locker while underway and while re-trailering the boat.

4. Inspect the hull carefully. Tap all over it. Make sure they are no "patches" that would indicate that boat has ever been grounded hard or wrecked.

5. Check the rub-rail - A lot of times folks crash into the dock without fenders and that can cause some fiberglass damage and leaks.

6. Check the deck and sub-structure as much as possible. See if the ski locker and bilge are holding a lot of water. Tap on any sub structures (stringers and bulk-heads) that you can access to. Bring a flashlight. If the deck has any soft-spots that it is usually pretty good evidence of rot underneath. Utlimately, that is a huge DIY job or cost-prohibitive shop job to gut the boat and re-do transom/stringers and refoam the boat.

7. The trailer appears to be a nice double axle trailer.... However, I would make sure the the rims, hubs, brakes, coupler, swivel jack, etc... are all in good shape... You have to have reliable transport for your boat and adding up all of the little "fixes" can cost you a few duckets on top of the boat work.

8. Outdrive... check out the prop and skeg to make sure they are not beat to death... Run the tilt motor up and down several times and make sure it works good. I can't really tell from the picture, but it looks like you might have an OMC Cobra outdrive. That is sort of bad news, because they don't make those any more. Parts can be tough to find and spendy. A merc outdrive is generally preferred by most folks on the forum for that reason. If that's the case, I would use that as negotiating leverage to get a better price.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ust2010]

Re: Buying First Boat Chris Craft Scorpion 230

UPDATE: Just called them and it looks like I'll take a peek at it on Saturday. They said everything was Merc. Any way to confirm that when I get out there this weekend?

Thank you everyone what has chimed in! This should help quite a bit when looking at this boat. How much would any of you be willing to pay for it?

The seller listed it with the gimbal in need of replacement already. Is there a diy anywhere on this? What else should I replace while in there?

Are outdrives for the most part swapable? I was told to stay away from OMC so if I could easily swap this out for something better/more reliable I would gladly do it.

Do I need a screw driver or can I knock with my knuckle?

If the Gimbal is bad, can we still take it for a wet run or will we damage the boat further?

 

[Ust2010]

Re: Buying First Boat Chris Craft Scorpion 230

Anyone know how much it would cost to replace the gimble bearing myself? Or How much to have someone else do it? Is there a diy anywhere?

 

[Pmccraney]

Re: Buying First Boat Chris Craft Scorpion 230

Since you are in a bit of a timing pinch, I will jump in and try to help out again.

New gimble bearing costs about 35 bucks. Its a pretty simple process, although you do have to remove the drive (put the motor in forward, undo 6 bolts and retract it). The gimble bearing should stay in the gimble housing when your remove the drive (unless, as in some case - like mine, its actually rusted to the yoke - which will make the drive hard to pull off). You can pull it out with a bearing puller and I think I have seen some folks use a a slide hammer just to bang it out. Buy the new one, line up the holes for the grease fitting, lube it up, and punch it back in.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercruiser-..._Accessories_Gear&hash=item335ef7e4c7&vxp=mtr

Once you have the the drive off, you can inspect your bellows (if there is water or junk sitting in the u-joint bellows), you have a leaky one (supposed to be dry as a bone in there). If they have recently been replace and you don't see any tears or holes, then you can leave them alone. However, its recommended that you replace them routinely (100 hour service I think). You can buy a bellow kit that includes the the gimble bearing and the replacement bellows/seals:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercruiser-..._Accessories_Gear&hash=item20c10f6a27&vxp=mtr

Just make sure you have your serial number and model when ordering these parts, so you can make sure you are getting the right ones.

As far as DIY, I know Jasoutside (22' Starcraft Islander thread) has some videos of himself doing a bellows job and gimbal bearing replacement. So, you can check those out for a quick walk through.

Its probably not going to hurt the boat to run with a worn gimble bearing. I wouldn't go nuts with it, but certainly a sea trial (if you have the opportunity) is worth it in my opinion.

If you have a Merc, great. If its on OMC (which hopefully its not), then you can convert the transom assembly on some later models (Cobra) with a conversion kit. If its an older OMC, you have to rebuild your transome (not fun, I just got through doing it). If its already a merc set-up, you can switch among alpha models fairly easily, provided the drive has the right gear ratio for your engine.

 

[hnt]

Re: Buying First Boat Chris Craft Scorpion 230

I refurbished a 1982 Scorpion 230 in the earely 1990's New paint, interior, and repowered. It was a great boat but.....Just as I finished mine I learned that there were serveral instances of the Scorpion 230s having major structural problems. It was a result of poor workmanship after Chris Craft was sold and not caused by rot. If I remember there were problems with stringers popping loose from the hull under the floor and cracked hulls. After investigation I learned that mine (1982) was made by the old company and was fine. I think the problems were associated with the the 1983 model year and later. I would have the boat checked out with a survey to be sure. If I recall the problem was pretty well documented.

As I said it was a great boat, very nice ride, fast and had great balance. Mine had a 350Mag with alpha drive.

Just make sure you check out the hull.

Cheers

HNT

 

[jkust]

Re: Buying First Boat Chris Craft Scorpion 230

What lakes here in MN do you plan on frequenting? Cuddy's, here in MN, are on the bottom of the demand list because most lakes don't accomodate them practically. I really can't discern the actual condition based on those pictures but looking through the pink hugh it looks to be clean.

 

[Ust2010]

Re: Buying First Boat Chris Craft Scorpion 230

Unfortunately for me the boat was sold for $1500 before I could take a look at it!

Thanks for your help everyone. Hopefully this will serve as a pretty good guide for anyone buying their first boat in the future!