I thought I'd repost this from thehulltruth. I am the OP of the thread over there and am feeling a little conflicted. On the one hand I am ecstatic that I don't now believe my boat needs 6k in repairs. On the other, my inner paratrooper is mightily pissed at the idea that a jagoff technician tried to bend me over like I was one of Charlie Sheen's starlets just because I roll around with an oxygen tank these days. At any rate I'm only reposting the start and end of the the thread, but am posting a link to the whole thing. Since I haven't splashed her yet I can't say with certainty if my suspicions are true, but I'm definitely leaning in that direction.
Original Thread:
Pertinent Posts:
*the *91 was a typo. She's a '90. I use the numpad.
Some further information:
OK, that might make me feel a little better, but the tech said different. Keep in mind that I damn near lived on this boat from June-October of last year, ran it every day, checked the oil regularly, and never had a stitch of trouble out of it. She was a fantastic boat when I pulled her out of the water in October: steady oil pressure, good RPMs, no visible water in the oil. The only things she needed --as far as I knew-- when I took her in were a new prop, a new steering cable, and winterized. What else could have wrecked the engine?
And the update:
I thought I might give everyone an update. I picked the boat up two weeks ago and towed it back to my storage area. The first thing that I noticed after going aboard was that the starboard stern line which I had coiled in the fall was still lying in the same spot. Not a big deal except for the fact that half of the coiled line was on the aft deck and half was covering the bilge hatch. The line hadn't been moved.
I know this because dust had settled around the line over the winter. When I climbed aboard and moved the line (which I had coiled months previous) it left a perfect outline in dust which bisected the seam between the aft deck and the bilge compartment.
I took pictures.
I opened the hatch and found no obvious signs of anything wrong. I checked the oil. Not a single sign of water. Just nice brown engine oil. I examined the manifolds and found no rust, cracks or signs of water. I pulled the air cleaner assembly and visually inspected the intake manifolds and found nothing visually wrong. I couldn't turn it over because the battery switch was in the "both" position, as opposed to "off," but -I'm ashamed to admit- that's where I had left it when I took it in to get winterized (I assumed the tech would move it the right position during winterization).
I examined the outdrive and found no signs of cracking or oil leakage. I examined a twelve pack of Kokanee (good Canadian beer) in glass bottles which I had forgotten on the aft deck. No signs of freezing; all of the bottles were full. There was also a six pack of Sprite aluminum cans in the aft cabin which showed no signs of freezing; no bulges; no breeches.
In short the Patti-Kim (Horrible name, I know. Don't ask) seemed just as fit as she was when I put her on the trailer in October. All evidence points to the fact that the tech probably never even looked at her. I haven't been able to splash her yet because of other obligations, and the batteries are most certainly dead. But I am having the (not entirely unpleasant) feeling that when I drop her in two weeks she is gonna fire up and be the incredibly fine boat she was all last year. If nothing else I am nearly certain that she does not need a new engine. My biggest worry right now is the inch of rain in the bilge, which is the most water that has ever been in there. And that's not a worry.
Though the sunuvavbitch at the shop did keep her ignition key, and never provided me with even a matchbook's worth of documentation.
I guess I posted the follow-up in thanks for all who took the time to offer advice, and as a warning to others. I'm not an overly trusting fellow, but I do tend to assume the best of everyone. In this case I think someone planned, with malice and forethought, to screw me over. The only reason I haven't contacted the owner of the shop is because I haven't splashed her yet and made sure that everything is working. As soon as I do, and assuming all is what I think it is, I'm going to have a pretty big complaint to lodge.
At any rate I cannot thank the members of this board enough for their input.
I'll see you on the water.
Original Thread:
Pertinent Posts:
Hello everyone, I apologize in advance for the length, and thank in advance any sort of help or guidance.
Last year I bought my first boat, a *'91 Bayliner Cierra Sunbridge 2651. At time of purchase it had a recently installed (within the past three years) factory remanufactured Mercruiser 5.0 with about fifty hours on it (according to the guy I purchased it from). It certainly looked low-hours, started beautifully, and purred like a kitten.
In early December i took it in to have it winterized. I live in Eastern Washington and the winters here aren't terribly cold. We'd only had a night or two of near freezing temps, so I figured it would be OK.
The local marine service shop where I took it is generally well regarded, but I have heard more than a few complaints about customers feeling gouged. The tech told me he would call me in a couple of days when it was done. A month later, after I left numerous phone calls and messages, I was finally able to get him on the phone. He told me that he had been backed up, and that he had only drained the engine oil, but that it didn't look good. There was water in the oil, so he had just stopped, figuring that the block had cracked. I asked him to work up an estimate.
He finally got back to me a month later with an estimate of $6,000 to replace the engine with a rebuilt, replace the prop, and replace the steering cable. He would also need $3,500 up front to start work.
I don't have six grand lying around, so I've decided to just go pick up the boat and put it back in storage until I save up the required cash. But the more I think about it, the more I'd like to inspect the thing myself. The repair price is 3/4 of what I paid for the damn thing, and I've seen more than a few car engines with chocolate milk for oil that needed nothing more than an oil change. I'm suspicious that maybe the tech just got overwhelmed with other jobs and a little lazy and thought "To hell with it. I'll just slap a new one in and save myself some work."
So my question is, what should I be looking for? What should I inspect and how? Will I need to pull the engine? What about the outdrive? How can I check for possible damage? I'd like to gain either significant savings or a lot more peace of mind about shelling out that kind of cash.
Last year I bought my first boat, a *'91 Bayliner Cierra Sunbridge 2651. At time of purchase it had a recently installed (within the past three years) factory remanufactured Mercruiser 5.0 with about fifty hours on it (according to the guy I purchased it from). It certainly looked low-hours, started beautifully, and purred like a kitten.
In early December i took it in to have it winterized. I live in Eastern Washington and the winters here aren't terribly cold. We'd only had a night or two of near freezing temps, so I figured it would be OK.
The local marine service shop where I took it is generally well regarded, but I have heard more than a few complaints about customers feeling gouged. The tech told me he would call me in a couple of days when it was done. A month later, after I left numerous phone calls and messages, I was finally able to get him on the phone. He told me that he had been backed up, and that he had only drained the engine oil, but that it didn't look good. There was water in the oil, so he had just stopped, figuring that the block had cracked. I asked him to work up an estimate.
He finally got back to me a month later with an estimate of $6,000 to replace the engine with a rebuilt, replace the prop, and replace the steering cable. He would also need $3,500 up front to start work.
I don't have six grand lying around, so I've decided to just go pick up the boat and put it back in storage until I save up the required cash. But the more I think about it, the more I'd like to inspect the thing myself. The repair price is 3/4 of what I paid for the damn thing, and I've seen more than a few car engines with chocolate milk for oil that needed nothing more than an oil change. I'm suspicious that maybe the tech just got overwhelmed with other jobs and a little lazy and thought "To hell with it. I'll just slap a new one in and save myself some work."
So my question is, what should I be looking for? What should I inspect and how? Will I need to pull the engine? What about the outdrive? How can I check for possible damage? I'd like to gain either significant savings or a lot more peace of mind about shelling out that kind of cash.
Some further information:
Originally Posted by fishingfun View Post
Your problem has nothing to do with winterising.
Your problem has nothing to do with winterising.
I thought I might give everyone an update. I picked the boat up two weeks ago and towed it back to my storage area. The first thing that I noticed after going aboard was that the starboard stern line which I had coiled in the fall was still lying in the same spot. Not a big deal except for the fact that half of the coiled line was on the aft deck and half was covering the bilge hatch. The line hadn't been moved.
I know this because dust had settled around the line over the winter. When I climbed aboard and moved the line (which I had coiled months previous) it left a perfect outline in dust which bisected the seam between the aft deck and the bilge compartment.
I took pictures.
I opened the hatch and found no obvious signs of anything wrong. I checked the oil. Not a single sign of water. Just nice brown engine oil. I examined the manifolds and found no rust, cracks or signs of water. I pulled the air cleaner assembly and visually inspected the intake manifolds and found nothing visually wrong. I couldn't turn it over because the battery switch was in the "both" position, as opposed to "off," but -I'm ashamed to admit- that's where I had left it when I took it in to get winterized (I assumed the tech would move it the right position during winterization).
I examined the outdrive and found no signs of cracking or oil leakage. I examined a twelve pack of Kokanee (good Canadian beer) in glass bottles which I had forgotten on the aft deck. No signs of freezing; all of the bottles were full. There was also a six pack of Sprite aluminum cans in the aft cabin which showed no signs of freezing; no bulges; no breeches.
In short the Patti-Kim (Horrible name, I know. Don't ask) seemed just as fit as she was when I put her on the trailer in October. All evidence points to the fact that the tech probably never even looked at her. I haven't been able to splash her yet because of other obligations, and the batteries are most certainly dead. But I am having the (not entirely unpleasant) feeling that when I drop her in two weeks she is gonna fire up and be the incredibly fine boat she was all last year. If nothing else I am nearly certain that she does not need a new engine. My biggest worry right now is the inch of rain in the bilge, which is the most water that has ever been in there. And that's not a worry.
Though the sunuvavbitch at the shop did keep her ignition key, and never provided me with even a matchbook's worth of documentation.
I guess I posted the follow-up in thanks for all who took the time to offer advice, and as a warning to others. I'm not an overly trusting fellow, but I do tend to assume the best of everyone. In this case I think someone planned, with malice and forethought, to screw me over. The only reason I haven't contacted the owner of the shop is because I haven't splashed her yet and made sure that everything is working. As soon as I do, and assuming all is what I think it is, I'm going to have a pretty big complaint to lodge.
At any rate I cannot thank the members of this board enough for their input.
I'll see you on the water.
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