Who here would buy a boat with 1400hours on a 454 mpi?

[stresspoint]

my mate sprayed / drowned his painted steel trailer in some fish oil stuff , that thing is probably still like new and that was 15 or so years ago used in salt water ,left wet , and no care taken not to scratch it.

trim and stuff is personal choice , i tidied up the trim in my Maxum as it was a bit sad when i got the boat , we have grand kids that think the boat is a trampoline (family boat) so the trim was not really an issue to have looking flash so long as it is tidy.

all said and done , go over the boat you are looking at purchasing , if it ticks boxes for your needs and the price is right then bite the Bullitt and buy it , you can always trade up later, the engine should be fine , do your tests and take it from there ignoring the hour meter.

 

[Lou C]

Would a leak down test let you know the condition of the heads? And I agree about adding closed cooling. The risers and manifolds look almost new.
Just witnessed the first start of the year,, after sitting 8 months,,, started quick with no smoke and idled nice with no shakes or noises. So I’m feeling better about the engine.

A leak down test will tell you if the rings/cylinders and valves are sealing well. However, it will not tell you how thin the cast iron is getting from raw water cooling. That's the big concern in salt water but this being a fresh water boat, it is not so much a concern. There really isn't an easy way to judge this, besides removing the thermostat housing and looking inside at the intake manifold, that can tell you if there is a lot of flaking cast iron. The other way is to remove the front circulating pump, you can see the cooling passages in the block that way, but of course an owner is not going to allow a prospective buyer to do these kinds of inspections.
Compression test, leak down test and oil analysis are very good tools to judge engine condition, as is listening to it for odd noises, oil leaks and looking for water in the oil. Take off the oil fill cap and look inside, sometimes when the water starts getting into the oil it doesn't show right away on the dipstick but it will for sure show up inside the valve covers. Causes of that include bad head gaskets or intake gaskets, leaky exhaust elbow gaskets, or rust though of the elbows, manifolds or cylinder heads. Also cracks from a lack of winterization.
Always run the engine with a load on it, get it up on plane, let it get good and warmed up. Then when you slow down and stop, listen for any change in sound, and let the engine cool and check the oil again. Look under the oil fill cap. See what you have there.
Running the engine at idle, no load on it, either on the water hose, or on the water, is not enough, you must put a load on it. That will show potential problems.

 

[Kola16]

I agree with others. 1,400 hours would not scare me away, but I can work on engines okay. If you are scared to do minor engine work, you should pass.

No way I would buy it without a full testing of the engine, eg. compression test and leak down test to start. You can get the tools to do it at O'Rielly, Autozone, etc. for free to rent if you bring the tools back.

Check all the spark plugs after running it to make sure they all look the same and that all cylinders are firing.

Check the oil after running it for 10 miinutes to makes sure there is not metal or water in it.

If it has a fuel water separator (which it should), dump that out into an empty clear mason jar to check for water.

That sounds like a lot of things to test, but really it shouldn't take more than an hour even for the less experienced people like myself.

You can have the trailer hot dipped for around $1k. Do that BEFORE putting it in salt water. Not that it is absolutely necessary there are mitigations you can do like mentioned above, but it is amazing for your peace of mind, and if you are saving money on the rig, factor that into the cost. Or sell the trailer and buy a galvy. That is more cost effective if you arre not in love wiith the trailer it's on.

Do NOT run raw water cooling in salt, period.

It sounds like you already bought it no?

 

[04fxdwgi25]

Nice! Did you find your high hours effect your selling price compared to similar boats with lower hours?

It was a slower sell, due to the hours, but the buyer appreciated the maintenance and condition and has zero regrets. Plus got a good deal on a lower price than the lake boats that is in much better condition than crappy maintained lake boat..

 

[chartersj]

I managed to get 5 years of salt use with a painted trailer. rinsed the trailer with salt-away every time. however after 5 years, anything that was supposed to roll.......didnt.

Upholstery will need attention. after 2004, the threads, vinyl and foam no longer carry arsenic as the anti-microbial. because of that, the new forumulations are not as good as they used to be so they rot faster now and degrade by UV faster.

yeah I know how steel trailers last in my parts lol
Boat is a 2000, and well used, a couple spots I can do some re-stitching to buy a little time,,, the rear has foam exposed so will have to do something sooner with that one....Dont want anything too fancy that the kids will make a mess of anyways

 

[chartersj]

my mate sprayed / drowned his painted steel trailer in some fish oil stuff , that thing is probably still like new and that was 15 or so years ago used in salt water ,left wet , and no care taken not to scratch it.

trim and stuff is personal choice , i tidied up the trim in my Maxum as it was a bit sad when i got the boat , we have grand kids that think the boat is a trampoline (family boat) so the trim was not really an issue to have looking flash so long as it is tidy.

all said and done , go over the boat you are looking at purchasing , if it ticks boxes for your needs and the price is right then bite the Bullitt and buy it , you can always trade up later, the engine should be fine , do your tests and take it from there ignoring the hour meter.

Maybe I can get a couple years out of it while I look for another trailer.

My current boat has all new interior and im always cautious of it,,, I don't mind well broke in interior so i'm not stressing over it.

 

[chartersj]

A leak down test will tell you if the rings/cylinders and valves are sealing well. However, it will not tell you how thin the cast iron is getting from raw water cooling. That's the big concern in salt water but this being a fresh water boat, it is not so much a concern. There really isn't an easy way to judge this, besides removing the thermostat housing and looking inside at the intake manifold, that can tell you if there is a lot of flaking cast iron. The other way is to remove the front circulating pump, you can see the cooling passages in the block that way, but of course an owner is not going to allow a prospective buyer to do these kinds of inspections.
Compression test, leak down test and oil analysis are very good tools to judge engine condition, as is listening to it for odd noises, oil leaks and looking for water in the oil. Take off the oil fill cap and look inside, sometimes when the water starts getting into the oil it doesn't show right away on the dipstick but it will for sure show up inside the valve covers. Causes of that include bad head gaskets or intake gaskets, leaky exhaust elbow gaskets, or rust though of the elbows, manifolds or cylinder heads. Also cracks from a lack of winterization.
Always run the engine with a load on it, get it up on plane, let it get good and warmed up. Then when you slow down and stop, listen for any change in sound, and let the engine cool and check the oil again. Look under the oil fill cap. See what you have there.
Running the engine at idle, no load on it, either on the water hose, or on the water, is not enough, you must put a load on it. That will show potential problems.

I did take the oil cap off while it was running and couldn't feel any air blowing out. It is due for a full service for sure, Impeller as well but was pulling water good from the hose and not overheating

 

[chartersj]

I agree with others. 1,400 hours would not scare me away, but I can work on engines okay. If you are scared to do minor engine work, you should pass.

No way I would buy it without a full testing of the engine, eg. compression test and leak down test to start. You can get the tools to do it at O'Rielly, Autozone, etc. for free to rent if you bring the tools back.

Check all the spark plugs after running it to make sure they all look the same and that all cylinders are firing.

Check the oil after running it for 10 miinutes to makes sure there is not metal or water in it.

If it has a fuel water separator (which it should), dump that out into an empty clear mason jar to check for water.

That sounds like a lot of things to test, but really it shouldn't take more than an hour even for the less experienced people like myself.

You can have the trailer hot dipped for around $1k. Do that BEFORE putting it in salt water. Not that it is absolutely necessary there are mitigations you can do like mentioned above, but it is amazing for your peace of mind, and if you are saving money on the rig, factor that into the cost. Or sell the trailer and buy a galvy. That is more cost effective if you arre not in love wiith the trailer it's on.

Do NOT run raw water cooling in salt, period.

It sounds like you already bought it no?

I can do all the maintenance and pull engines/drives in and out and strip them down. My skills would stop at anything internal. Still not mine but looking like its going to happen soon.
Any chance a fresh water cooling system off an older 3.7 mercruiser would fit?

 

[Bondo]

I can do all the maintenance and pull engines/drives in and out and strip them down. My skills would stop at anything internal. Still not mine but looking like its going to happen soon.
Any chance a fresh water cooling system off an older 3.7 mercruiser would fit?

Nope,....

 

[chartersj]

Nope,....

Frig

 

[Scott06]

Frig

the conventional wisdom is to not add closed cooling to a used engine as the scale inside even a fresh water engine will plug the heat exch.

 

[tpenfield]

Don't tell anybody, but I added closed cooling to a pair of engines that had 740 hours on them. Fresh water hours, so there was very little if any scaling inside the cooling system. I also did an acid flush of the cooling system to get rid of the small amount of rust that existed in the block.

 

[flashback]

Don't tell anybody, but I added closed cooling to a pair of engines that had 740 hours on them. Fresh water hours, so there was very little if any scaling inside the cooling system. I also did an acid flush of the cooling system to get rid of the small amount of rust that existed in the block.

How did that work out for you?

 

[tpenfield]

How did that work out for you?

I put 300 hours on the engines over 9 years of ownership, never looked back. No issues.

Sold the boat and the new owner put another 150 hours on the engines.

 

[flashback]

So there are exceptions, good to know...

 

[Scott Danforth]

I put an HX on my 900 hour fresh-water only motor before it went in the brine

The motor was pulled and the water jacket was flushed and mechanically cleaned to prevent the HX from getting plugged.

Stayed on the SBC for 3 years then I put it on the BBC