Nice! Sorry if I missed it, but what engine?
Sea Ray makes a nice strong hull. Nice riding boat too. How's the floor and transom?
Sea Ray makes a nice strong hull. Nice riding boat too. How's the floor and transom?
New to Me Boat
- Thread starter JBRIII
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Thank You. It's a 5.7L Mercruiser. It was kind of buried in the initial post. Everything is solid. it was never stored in the water for any extended period. Except for some rub rail scrapes and a missing snap screw or two, you would think it's new.
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I would use some like Rotella 15W40 gas rated oil.
Pull the outdrive, check gimbal bearing, bellows and grease the u-joints.
Looks like it's only been used an average of 15 hours/year. Maybe have carb rebuilt over the winter.
I would consider pulling the manifolds and risers and check for corrosion. If they are good you can acid clean them and reinstall. Remember most marine engines ingest water before they wear out from old age.
Mercruiser Premium gear lube for outdrive. Check old gear lube for water or metal bits.
Replace the impeller in outdrive.
Pull prop and grease the prop shaft.
Pull the outdrive, check gimbal bearing, bellows and grease the u-joints.
Looks like it's only been used an average of 15 hours/year. Maybe have carb rebuilt over the winter.
I would consider pulling the manifolds and risers and check for corrosion. If they are good you can acid clean them and reinstall. Remember most marine engines ingest water before they wear out from old age.
Mercruiser Premium gear lube for outdrive. Check old gear lube for water or metal bits.
Replace the impeller in outdrive.
Pull prop and grease the prop shaft.
AZjeff
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^ Is this maintenance list a one time thing to baseline it or is it yearly? Sounds expensive if you aren't a DIY mechanic.
Except for carb rebuilding everything is on a maintenance schedule. Manifolds & risers need to be checked every few years in salt water, maybe every 10 in fresh. Pull outdrive every other year in fresh and every year in salt. Impeller the same.
Some things like changing impeller and pulling the outdrive are done half to grease or change the maintenance part and half to get sections of outdrive apart and put back together. So they are not a bear to get apart when maintenance is really needed.
An Alpha One is not an expensive outdrive but still good maintenance is called for.
A VP or Merc duo prop drive is in the $10K to $12K range so lots of money if you let maintenance go.
And lastly during the pandemic you want to keep everything well maintained so no repair parts are needed. Some parts can take months or the whole summer (ask me how I know) to come in.
I’m a maintenance fanatic so don’t worry. Already have my list together. YouTube has a lot of good info. The risers/manifolds were checked and GTG. I have paperwork on that and only like a year ago.
Been ruining Mercruiser engines/outdrive for 4+ decades (gulp) as well as friends and family members in Sea Rays too from 18 feet to 28 feet.
If you want the simple no thought solution that will keep your boat in its current spectacular condition use the recommended Mercruiser 25/40 oil.
Same goes for the outdrive, use the specified Mercruiser outdrive lube.
Make sure to buy the proper lube for Mercruiser, they also have products on the same shelf in stores that is made for their outboards and it looks similar, read the bottle.
Looks like a nice lake, Mercruiser lubes are second to none in a salt environment which was my whole life up until 15 years ago. I used their stuff exclusively, they have a lube for everything including the splines on the shaft and gimbal bearing.
Try to wash off their gear lube from your hands with soap and water, then do the same test with another brand like Penzoil and that is all it will take to convince some one.
In a salt environment their corrosion guard is second to no one and even sprayed my engine and all electrical connections here once or twice but world of difference with fresh water as it’s not as harsh.
I’m the last person on earth who is brand loyal except with Merc stuff. Every time I tried a different product I saw the difference, keep in mind this was salt water, fresh is light years more easy on things but I saw first hand the difference….
I’m a maintenance fanatic and so was family and friends, we pulled our outdrives every season just to grease up the spline shaft plus mid season oil changed ect ect
I wouldn’t be comfortable with a 5/40 anything in a marine engine. 15/50 or 15/40 if looking to save money but 5/40 never. At least in the conditions we ran and run in now with our downsized lake boat and Volvo set up for a first time in my life.
Hope this helps … great boat, good luck with it.
If you want the simple no thought solution that will keep your boat in its current spectacular condition use the recommended Mercruiser 25/40 oil.
Same goes for the outdrive, use the specified Mercruiser outdrive lube.
Make sure to buy the proper lube for Mercruiser, they also have products on the same shelf in stores that is made for their outboards and it looks similar, read the bottle.
Looks like a nice lake, Mercruiser lubes are second to none in a salt environment which was my whole life up until 15 years ago. I used their stuff exclusively, they have a lube for everything including the splines on the shaft and gimbal bearing.
Try to wash off their gear lube from your hands with soap and water, then do the same test with another brand like Penzoil and that is all it will take to convince some one.
In a salt environment their corrosion guard is second to no one and even sprayed my engine and all electrical connections here once or twice but world of difference with fresh water as it’s not as harsh.
I’m the last person on earth who is brand loyal except with Merc stuff. Every time I tried a different product I saw the difference, keep in mind this was salt water, fresh is light years more easy on things but I saw first hand the difference….
I’m a maintenance fanatic and so was family and friends, we pulled our outdrives every season just to grease up the spline shaft plus mid season oil changed ect ect
I wouldn’t be comfortable with a 5/40 anything in a marine engine. 15/50 or 15/40 if looking to save money but 5/40 never. At least in the conditions we ran and run in now with our downsized lake boat and Volvo set up for a first time in my life.
Hope this helps … great boat, good luck with it.
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The worst thing you can do to a boat is put it in the water.
I think I’ve come to the same conclusion. Going to get the Quicksilver 25w-40. Should I go with the semi synthetic or just the regular?
A 5W40 and 15W40 will have the same viscosity at at engine operating temperature.
I doubt you can go wrong with either and is a personal decision. (ps I see my typo in the other post about "ruining Mercruiser engines" *LOL* gotta love spell check)
Conventional or Semi (not full syn) ... your decision, both good. Normally when I had the merc's conventional was the most available and all I used and would stick with it but if semi makes you feel better its fine too... after all its a 25/40
(I see the other remark about 5/40 and 15/40, no desire to get into that. Merc specs 25/40 not 5/40 not 15/40
Merc 25/40 from what I understand is more like a 40 weight, no viscosity improvers to shear down.
Boats dont have wheels, the stress of pushing a boat through water on an engine is a thousand times greater then a vehicle with wheels.I remember my brother, this was a LONG time ago, used Castrol 20/50 in his twin engine 270 Sundancer, we came back from a run out in the ocean by the time we got to his dock, the valves were clattering like crazy, changed out the new Castrol 20/50 the next day, last time he ever tried to save money by not getting the proper 25/40 and never happened again after that.)
Im not promoting or discounting anything, just my experiences and what works for me, I am sure MANY successful engines run with other oils.
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What ever choice ,,, just change it sooner than later.
I've got the 4.3 4BBL version, it's a 96 Wellcraft and I've always ran either Rotella/Mobil or RP HPS in it as some of the present oils weren't around back when the boat was new. It has M1 Euro 0-40 in it now.
Bellows, gimbal bearing and U-joints wouldn't be a bad preventative maintenance change.
I always ran Delvac 15w-40 in my marine machines
We got out last Saturday and had a blast. Hopefully another time or two before I have to winterize it.
Is that Lake Murray? My daughter is a Senior @ USC
Wow, yeah, As posted we are done now, going to change the gearlube today and wash it down at least my intention, also need to cut the lawn, ect, ect. We keep it in a storage place, literally minutes from our house so easy to get and return, can not leave boats in our community for more then a couple days, right now its in our driveway, most likely will take it to storage this afternoon or Saturday and finish up the winterization sometime in the next few weeks.
Oct is a tricky month here, once in a great while you can get a hard freeze at the end of the month so I like to get everything done sooner rather than later.
Lake Murray!??!?! Yes!!! Very cool! That is our boat in the photo, now that I have an iPhone XR, wife iPhone 11 they are water proof and take my phone on my float all the time without a concern of getting it wet, there is a concern of dropping it in the water though. *L*
A USC student, you must be proud of her. Small world huh? We came from the Northeast, god, 15 years ago, seems like yesterday. Long Island NY, boated the Great South Bay and Ocean outside of Jones Beach and fishing outside of NY Harbor and Atlantic Highlands my whole life.
Lake Murray was appealing to us, fresh water for the first time, no salt corrosion, its amazing to us, the salt water of the coast just kills boats.
Sure sometimes I miss the diversity of life in the bays and ocean for sure, as well as destinations but it is what it is, cant have everything.
How did you guess Lake Murray? Did your daughter go out on it during the Summer? There is a place there called Sandy Beach, all the college kids/young adults ect, young people and older people like my wife and I (and some other older people *LOL*)go there because we like all the action/activity of the place. This time of year its dead quiet, the photo you see in my post is not far away from Sandy Beach called Spence's Island, also another at times active place, they have a concert there every year and 4th of July fireworks. Spence's Island in pretty much in the middle of the widest part of the lake surrounded by up to 200 feet deep water. As you go towards the western end it gets more narrow and honestly its prettier and more rural, really nice but we dont get up that was often.
Anyway, that is one reason we settled here, its a huge lake, 41 miles long, 5 miles wide at its widest point and VERY deep.
With that said, once in a great while, I miss the salt water for its diversity of life on the Great South Bay, but I hated the weather and sometimes short season to boat.
(BTW my daughter went to Clemson, now has a great job up in Charlotte NC, but that is ok, half her friends went there and the other half to USC. As you know the rivalry between the two. Since moving here, we taken a likening to college football, find it more exciting then professional but that is a while other subject.
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Lol, I saw you were in SC and guessed. We rented a house there for Freshman Parent Weekend. It’s a beautiful area!! Glad you guys are enjoying it.
Good looking boat. Sea Ray IMO has the prettiest lines and age very well when taken care of. Sadly I don’t think they make cruisers anymore.. You got lucky finding a cream puff.
I will always have a place for the brand in my heart. Here’s the family boat. The ‘rents had plans to sell the lake house so they sold the boat while the market was hot. Basically sold it for what they paid for it.
I will always have a place for the brand in my heart. Here’s the family boat. The ‘rents had plans to sell the lake house so they sold the boat while the market was hot. Basically sold it for what they paid for it.
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