2004 185 sport 4.3 engine

engine mount bolt will not tighten up.Any ides on how to fix or should i start looking for another boat.

Need a little more information. Which mount bolt - the front of the engine has mounts that are attached to the stringers with lag bolts and a center bolt that attaches to the engine - this is where you make the adjustment. The rear mounts to the transom assembly. Are you saying one of the lag bolts that holds the mount to the stringer is stripped? If that is the case need to pull the bolt out and determine why it stripped - could have been that way from the factory. Or there could be some rot in there - there is very little wood in those boats, but I am not sure about the stringers. Basically the engine is mounted on top of the stringers and the mounts are held in place with lag bolts and probably some 5200.

Looking at the engine it will be on the left side of the engine, and it is the lag bolt.I pulled the lag bolt out and ran a pick and a screw driver down inside the hole and it did not feel soft or like rotted wood would feel like. The other 3 lag bolts tighten up .The boat only has 165 hours on it and is kept inside a garage when not in use on the lake. I also check all the bolts that i can get to at the end of every season and this one would not tighten up.I guess I should not be such a maintenance freak but I try to the boat in top notch shape.

So based on what you described and the fact the boat sits on a trailer inside, I think you can rule out rot. I am thinking the bolt was somewhat overtightened when the boat was built, they are just lag boats and can be overtightened and stripped. Your checking the tightness on these every year might have contributed to this one stripping out (sorry). Checking bolts is not a bad thing, but on a lag bolt the periodic "checking" can lead to overtightening/stripping - I lag bolt should be a tighten once and leave it thing. Even on machine bolts, you should loosen the bolt first, then re-tighten to the spec using a torque wrench. I would rely on periodic engine alignment checks to detect any movement in the engine mounts. So now the fix - I would fill the hole with epoxy and re-drill / re-install the bolt and then leave it alone. I might give SeaRay a call and explain what you are seeing and see what their suggested for a fix would be, but I would bet they will say the same thing.

Thank you for your advise will give it a try but most of all looks like I will not be looking for another boat

Don't look for a new boat. I have the same boat is you and when I go to the boat show every year and look at the new sea ray 190's I can tell there not built is good "beefy" as our generation. The 04-05 model years are very sought after. KEEP YOUR BOAT

I just went to the local boat show, they had a 190 OB on display, there was less room in that boat than my 04 185, it is due to design of the boat. To me the OB version should have more room than tha IO version, but hey, I don't make the big bucks. MY choice is also probably different than the younger users today which means the design change to meet today's market.

midway said:

I just went to the local boat show, they had a 190 OB on display, there was less room in that boat than my 04 185, it is due to design of the boat. To me the OB version should have more room than tha IO version, but hey, I don't make the big bucks. MY choice is also probably different than the younger users today which means the design change to meet today's market.

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Hey Nolan. Don't you guys be poking fun at the 190 guys unless you want me to pull out my ruler and spec sheets. Hahaha... BTW the storage compartment on the OB version is not a bad trade off. I can fit 4 beach chairs, umbrella, table, life jackets and all the canvas in there. Leaving me all the other compartments for any other storage. Hope you all have a great Summer. Brian