No New Little Power-Boat For Us Tomorrow!
 

Current owner just called to suspend the sale. While he was looking for hull, engine and trailer numbers for us, so I could get the insurance going, he checked the oil. He found water in it :(.

I should have checked the oil, myself, directly after the sea trial. And I meant to. And I forgot. Remembered it later. Thought "Well, that engine looked and sounded so good, and ran so sweet, everything must be ok." Wrong!

Kudos to the seller for 1. Checking and 2. Telling us about it!

He's hoping it's just the manifold (he didn't say which one he was referring to).

Oh well, maybe next weekend.

Jim

Re: No New Little Power-Boat For Us Tomorrow!
 

Re: No New Little Power-Boat For Us Tomorrow!
 

Indeed it is! Somebody else might've just let it go, leave it to me to have found out at the next oil change.

Turns out it's probably not. Seller consulted with a friend that's been in the marine engine business for 40 years. Seller's friend says "4.3L Merc with no obvious issues and water in the oil? Cracked block." Turns out the water jacket walls on the 4.3L Merc are a bit on the thin side, according to this guy. Improper winterization can cause them to crack, without any external evidence.

Seller's replacing the block with a rebuilt long block his friend had in stock. He expects to have her ready by Wednesday. I asked him was he really interested in making that investment? He said he's got too much into the boat, and the rest of her's in too good a condition, to just give it up and scrap her. He asked us to help him out by agreeing to his original asking price, promising to stick to our original deal if we couldn't see our way clear to do that. After discussing it with The Admiral, we agreed. It's only $300 more, but it'll offset the hit he's taking at least a little bit, and we'll have, effectively, a new engine out of the deal. Just means I'll have to learn the new engine break-in procedures and baby her for a while.

So while he's got the engine out, and everything all apart, is there anything else we might ask him to look at? Maybe the exhaust shutters?

I'm also thinking of asking him how much he'd charge us to replace the impeller. We don't know when it was last done. That's something I'd normally do, myself, but while he's wrenching on her, anyway, perhaps it'd make sense to just let him do it? Maybe change the outdrive lube, too?

This boat was a trade-in to a dealership. He buys the cream-of-the-crop from the dealerships, who don't like to sit on them, anyway, does anything that needs to be done to make 'em right, if anything, and flips 'em. So we don't have any maintenance records, or know when the impeller was last changed, when the outdrive lube was last changed, etc.

He'd run her for 20 minutes on the muffs, originally, and not seen this problem. He says that, in all his years selling boats, this is a first for him.

Jim

Starting To Have Doubts
 

Ok, so tomorrow (Monday) the seller is going to begin working on replacing the engine. We stopped by the boat yesterday to inventory what she needs (bumpers, flares, throwable, etc.) and, in the process of opening the back hatch, the middle cushion falls off! :( Bolts holding it on from the other side of the hatch are thoroughly rusted, and I imagine the nuts behind the wood backing on that cushion are gone. (Why in God's name didn't they use stainless hardware in such an application? Perhaps Mariahs are of above-average build quality, but non-marine hardware on a boat is a big no-no.) "Ok," I said, "this is no big deal." Tonite, stopped by again to put the cover back on, as it's supposed to rain again. Now when we'd taken the cover off, yesterday, we first had to bail it out, as it was full of water, front and back, from the previous rain. It was stretched nearly to the cockpit sole in back! Well, I went to close the center window and it no longer closes! I'm guessing the weight of all that water has torqued the windows/frames out of position :(. (The seller had not closed the center window before putting the cover on.)

We really liked the boat, but I'm seriously thinking of calling the seller, telling him we're no longer interested due to one-problem-after-the-other-syndrome, and getting our deposit back.

Jim

Re: Starting To Have Doubts
 

I know how you feel, I had to replace the light switch on my Mariah when I first bought it. I went back to the marina about 3 times because the guy said they didn't make them anymore. It was one problem after another just changing the switch, but it payed off. Once your on the water, cooler full (or in my case the livewell full of beer and ice ;) ) and cruising down the lake, you won't think twice about the boat.

Just treat the boat as if it were yours now (shutting the windows, putting covers on with the middle pole's at the correct height ect.) I know my boat doesn't let a drop of water in with the covers on.

Good Luck, I'm sure she's a good boat.

Re: No New Little Power-Boat For Us Tomorrow!
 

Yeah, that's what I keep telling myself :p. So I called the seller and told him about the newest problem and he said "no problem," he'd take care of it. I told him I'd take care of the cushion, because I wanted it done "just so."

The boat should be finished tomorrow (save the cushion, of course), and I'll be starting my two-week-plus-a-day vacation on Friday, at which time we expect to take possession of the boat.

I'm going to pull the cushion apart to get to the inside surface of the backing wood, replace the rusted-out t-nut (which has to be the way it was done) with a stainless one, put the cushion back together, then replace the rusty bolts with stainless ones. Assuming that all works out, I'll do the same with the other two, before they too fall off.

Non-stainless hardware on a boat! :long_angry_rant:

Jim

Re: No New Little Power-Boat For Us Tomorrow!
 

Well, talked to the seller earlier this afternoon. New engine's in and he says she runs sweet! :) She's also got a new impeller and an outdrive lube change. (He said the old impeller looked brand new and the lube that came out looked like it'd just come out of the bottles. But now we know where everything's at.) He said that, in going through the outdrive, the whole thing looked almost brand new. He said he cleaned her up, and, with the new engine, etc., and as good as she looks, he was beginning to wonder if he really wanted to sell her! :) "But you already have four boats, and we only have one!" I protested. He laughed.

So tomorrow morning we're supposed to close the deal. Wish us luck! God willin' and the creek don't rise, tomorrow we'll be tasting the Dark Side with our very own little sti... er... power-boat :D

Jim

We've Got Our Little Power-Boat!
 

Well, we've got our Mariah! :D

Unfortunately, the Michigan Secretary of State offices are closed until Tuesday! So we won't be able to play with her until then :(. We did get to spend about an hour-and-a-half "taking the long way" from the launch to her slip this afternoon, on the dealer's sea-trial/test registration. (And wouldn't you know it: Passed county sheriff's patrol boats twice during that trip. Fortunately, they didn't give us a second look.) Sure was fun, scooting around the lake with her for a while :D.

Oh well, we have her and the re-built engine is running fine. The weather's supposed to hold well into next week and I've two weeks off from work. So we'll get our play time soon :).

Jim

Maiden Voyage A Roaring Success!
 

So, after fixing the bilge pump, courtesy lights and water-temp/oil-pressure alarm today, and applying the new registration stickers, off we were--with everything functional :wink_thumbup: and the boat legal. Went on a 2-1/2 hour cruise and she performed flawlessly. We had a great time :). That's 3-1/2 hours on the new engine. 6-1/2 more hours and I can start beating the new engine up a bit.

(The bilge pump and courtesy light problems were only mildly-corroded fuse block clips. I'm going to have to disconnect the battery, some day soon, and clean those up.)

Jim