New to Me Boat

[alarmguy]

Just a small trailer tip.
I noticed the photo of the trailer just this morning, there is one important thing you will want to check on the trailer, if you haven't already.
I see it is a painted trailer, that means paint on steel.
You will want to crawl under the trailer and make sure those cross beams do not have corrosion on the bottom of them. Same goes for the axle.
They can look new from the top and be rusted out at the bottom.
If you notice rust, poke around with a screw driver and make sure its still solid.
If you have significant rust, good news is trailers are not all that expensive in the scheme of things, even if you go aluminum, more of a pain in the butt getting one then actually paying for it.

 

[RTexasF]

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.

1000% correct! Stepson had a four month wait for a 260 Mercruiser starter! He lost almost all of the boating season waiting on one part for one of the most common Mercruiser engines ever made.

 

[Donald]

1000% correct! Stepson had a four month wait for a 260 Mercruiser starter! He lost almost all of the boating season waiting on one part for one of the most common Mercruiser engines ever made.

I would have taken old starter to a local rebuild shop and had them rebuild it rather than wait for months. It's the parts inside the outdrive be it Merc or VP that can be hard to source.

 

[alarmguy]

I would have taken old starter to a local rebuild shop and had them rebuild it rather than wait for months. It's the parts inside the outdrive be it Merc or VP that can be hard to source.

Hmmm ... good point ... last I knew VP uses the same engine components and same engine blocks as Merc. Highly likely a VP starter would have worked if so.
I/My local dealer was able to get a brand new VP OEM upper case for our VP SX-A outdrive within less then 10 days in the early summer and had us on the water in about 14 days which was before Memorial Day weekend.

 

[BigCahuna]

The main difference between a car starter and a boat starter, is the boat starters have any where a spark can be seen, covered up. So if you have any gas fumes in your bilge, you won't blow up when starting. That, and a coat of paint to keep corrosion down.,,

 

[JBRIII]

I went OEM

 

[RTexasF]

I would have taken old starter to a local rebuild shop and had them rebuild it rather than wait for months. It's the parts inside the outdrive be it Merc or VP that can be hard to source.

Practical idea but not for everyone. The rear seats & frames had to be removed just to access the mid 1980's starter. Also living in a tiny town with no such rebuild facilitues means hours of driving. In this case a wrench in the hand of the boat owner is a dangerous weapon...he is mechanically declined .

 

[Jim K]

• half price, anyone looking for a boat.

 

[wpod]

Guys, We just picked up a Cherry 1996 Sea Ray 215 Express Cruiser with 320 hours. It was pretty much spotless, which sold my wife. It has been in one family its entire life and has been well maintained. My question being a member this forum for so long is "Which oil do i Need?" He has used Pennzoil Platinum 5w-40 for a while. I use the Ultra Platinum 5w-30 in my 3.6L Wrangler JKU. And love it. Should I stick with the 5w-40 or go to the Diesel 15w-40 T6? Does the 96 Mercruiser 5.7L need the high Zinc? I want to give the boat the best and keep it for a long time and keep that smile on my wife's face!

View attachment 72025

I came back and realized that the photo is what a boat should be about.

 

[JBRIII]

Got it done last weekend and all tucked away for Winter. Come on Spring!!!

 

[LouC]

Old post I know but if you need to replace a starter or alternator no need to get a Merc or VP one, ARCO makes excellent marine starters and alternators, I've used them for years, here in salt water Long Island NY. I do use the Merc/Quicksilver motor, oil filters and High Performance gear lube in the outdrive. If you have an I/O boat pulling the drive at the end of each season & checking the bellows for water, lubing the gimble bearing and u joints will make the whole drivetrain last longer. My OMC Cobra is 34 years old and it's mostly original, 20 of those years in salt water.

 

[Donald]

Old post I know but if you need to replace a starter or alternator no need to get a Merc or VP one, ARCO makes excellent marine starters and alternators, I've used them for years, here in salt water Long Island NY. I do use the Merc/Quicksilver motor, oil filters and High Performance gear lube in the outdrive. If you have an I/O boat pulling the drive at the end of each season & checking the bellows for water, lubing the gimble bearing and u joints will make the whole drivetrain last longer. My OMC Cobra is 34 years old and it's mostly original, 20 of those years in salt water.

I would still try and get the old one rebuilt.