Hi Everbody! Been lurking for a while, finally made an account! First off you guys have made an excellent site to reference; the new boat buyer sticky is great!
So I've been shopping around for a while now and I found a boat I'm waiting to go look at probably tomorrow or Monday. My limited experience is with aluminum fishing boats and small merc outboards. Think I'm ready to step up to an I/O, but not too sure what exactly to look for with them, and what are problem areas.
So what I'm looking at is '78 Fibreform 18.5" with a Mercruiser 140 sterndrive. Haven't seen it yet but looks good from the pics. Spoke to the owner, he's had it for a while, last time out it warmed up one day so he came back in and parked it. Sounds like it needs a new impeller, but it's been parked for the last two years as he's a small business owner without much time.
He's asking $1500 but I'm pretty sure I can get it for less, (This seems decent for my area, western Canada)
So my questions are what should I be on the lookout for especially? Anyway to tell if it got too hot? How are the old 140 Mercs? And how are the MC-1 outdrives? (That's what it would be, correct?) Any known issues to really check for? Or just check compression and that about it? 150 psi?
He said it was winterized before being put away, but if the impellor was an issue would the antifreeze have cycled enough to flush and protect? Best way of checking for cracks or winter damage?
He said he could start it up for me briefly so I could make sure it would fire but so far when I called him he said he couldn't get it to start, though I think it may just be stale gas from sitting.
So thoughts? If the boat itself is in as good a shape as it seems and I hope, what would you guys say on the motor? I can do basic tinkering, I've changed the impellor in my OB before and from watching youtube it looks fairly similar, no worries. I can do the maintenance but I have no interest in a full teardown, not looking for a long term project.
Anyways, hope I haven't rambled, let me know what you guys think
So I've been shopping around for a while now and I found a boat I'm waiting to go look at probably tomorrow or Monday. My limited experience is with aluminum fishing boats and small merc outboards. Think I'm ready to step up to an I/O, but not too sure what exactly to look for with them, and what are problem areas.
So what I'm looking at is '78 Fibreform 18.5" with a Mercruiser 140 sterndrive. Haven't seen it yet but looks good from the pics. Spoke to the owner, he's had it for a while, last time out it warmed up one day so he came back in and parked it. Sounds like it needs a new impeller, but it's been parked for the last two years as he's a small business owner without much time.
He's asking $1500 but I'm pretty sure I can get it for less, (This seems decent for my area, western Canada)
So my questions are what should I be on the lookout for especially? Anyway to tell if it got too hot? How are the old 140 Mercs? And how are the MC-1 outdrives? (That's what it would be, correct?) Any known issues to really check for? Or just check compression and that about it? 150 psi?
He said it was winterized before being put away, but if the impellor was an issue would the antifreeze have cycled enough to flush and protect? Best way of checking for cracks or winter damage?
He said he could start it up for me briefly so I could make sure it would fire but so far when I called him he said he couldn't get it to start, though I think it may just be stale gas from sitting.
So thoughts? If the boat itself is in as good a shape as it seems and I hope, what would you guys say on the motor? I can do basic tinkering, I've changed the impellor in my OB before and from watching youtube it looks fairly similar, no worries. I can do the maintenance but I have no interest in a full teardown, not looking for a long term project.
Anyways, hope I haven't rambled, let me know what you guys think