My $500 270DA.

Warwgn - Now that I own one, I've come to really appreciate the older Sea Rays; this thing feels like a serious boat - not everything is laid out for you to be idiot proof like the newer "family friendly' cruisers in the more recent years, and they built they built these suckers big back then; I think my 27' would be probably be called at least a 30' today. Shes just BEEFY.
And yeah, they look dated, but that doesn't mean they;re ugly by any means... in fact I've grown to quite like her simple lines. Once I get her all sorted and back into her former glory, I think she will be a very pretty boat.
 
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That is really good to hear and very encouraging to me since I really want one. It will take some time but I keep looking and know the right one will pop up sooner or later and everything will fall in place. For now I am enjoying watching your build and learning from it.
 
great project, its he same thing I am wanting to do. my wife says I am ate up and obsessed with boating. I love my open bow, will be replacing some of the floor this winter, I bought it last year, she is all original, down to the upholstery. keep up the good work , I will continue to follow
 
So, here's a little update:

I found a mechanic on Craigslist advertising that he rebuilt carburetors. I called him, and he came out to my boat, we chatted for a bit, and I told him one of my starters was bad as well, so he went ahead and pulled it for me (for an extra $70, and I paid $150 for him to rebuild the carbs).

That was about 3 weeks ago. I've been calling and texting him nearly daily, often multiple times a day, to get him to come back and replace the starter like he said he would and give me my carbs back.
He's said he'd meet up with me 3 times now, and has stood me up each time. He always has an excuse.

So I gave him a call today, and got his voicemail (typical), which says "you've reached Michigan Mobile Electronics, blah blah blah". So I decided to google the company name and his name; lo and behold, I find a recent Craigslist ad from someone warning not to trust this guy and that he is a scammer; he has you pay, takes your parts, and you never see him again.

Unbelievable. Who the hell does that?
I'm now 3 weeks behind where I want to be in terms of progress, which has caused me to go past what I paid for to keep my boat where it is, so now I'm paying daily; and of course, I'm out two carburetors and a starter, not to mention the fact that he pulled the manifold to get to the starter, so the motor somewhat in pieces.

So, I called one of my lawyer buddies, and we have a plan to catch him.
I also called one of my mechanic buddies, who is a certified badass (served 2 duties as a Marine) and has lots of police hookups, and he told me just to give him his name and phone number and he can call his cop buddies and they can track the latest ping from his phone.

So I'm very hopeful we catch this guy, and I plan on doing as much as I can legally to just ruin the guy. Sue him for the money I gave him, the time I've lost, my parts, etc., and hopefully send his ass to jail.
I'm just hoping there aren't ways for him to wiggle his way out of it.

So unfortunately not a happy update, but that's what's going on right now.
 
Ck111484 said:
So, here's a little update:

So, I called one of my lawyer buddies, and we have a plan to catch him.
I also called one of my mechanic buddies, who is a certified badass (served 2 duties as a Marine) and has lots of police hookups, and he told me just to give him his name and phone number and he can call his cop buddies and they can track the latest ping from his phone.

So I'm very hopeful we catch this guy, and I plan on doing as much as I can legally to just ruin the guy. Sue him for the money I gave him, the time I've lost, my parts, etc., and hopefully send his ass to jail.
I'm just hoping there aren't ways for him to wiggle his way out of it.

So unfortunately not a happy update, but that's what's going on right now.
Click to expand...

I love this. I was gonna suggest a similar response for you but it looks like you got it covered. Don't forget to kick his ass first before sending to jail. Good luck. Keep us updated on this too....
 
I hate Craigslist, too many scammers. I hope he still has your carbs and didn't sell them to somebody else along with your starter. If he did, replace the starter and get a set of Edlebrock marine carbs and move on, the Edlebrocks are superior to the Q-jets anyway.
 
sorry to hear that, always best to take them to a place of business, but it sounds like your resilient and youll bounce back, good luck , and keep us posted
 
Really sorry to hear this! Good luck! You are resilient and resourceful! I'm sure you will be ok. If it doesn't end up working out I wouldn’t care to post a gofundme, or support you if you posted one to buy you some new carbs and help with storage.
 
the1andonlycmo said:
Really sorry to hear this! Good luck! You are resilient and resourceful! I'm sure you will be ok. If it doesn't end up working out I wouldn’t care to post a gofundme, or support you if you posted one to buy you some new carbs and help with storage.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I appreciate that!

I did end up getting the carbs back... hopefully they're rebuilt. They appear to be.
Still working on the starter... apparently it's still at the "shop".

By FAR my biggest hurdle right now is just getting time to work on it. As I think I mentioned before, I'm a mobile marine detailer, and this time of year is just non-stop.
The only thing I've really accomplished lately is ripping out the helm so that I can mount the captain's chair and the bench seat there.
Really hoping to work on the engines/drives today and tomorrow... if I'm not too tired because I can't fall asleep, AGAIN. ARGHHH
 
Well, not THAT juicy, but finally some progress...

I've got the motors back together.
Got the port engine started on starter fluid for a few seconds yesterday (it's not hooked up to the gas tank because I haven't drained the gas yet). It's not much, but proves it'll run!
I'm still just getting a click from the starter on the starboard motor. After talking to a mechanic friend of mine, he said to check the grounds and make sure that it's getting the proper voltage, and gave me some tips if the engine is seized (I'm hoping it's not).

Got both of my outdrive kits and pulled the starboard drive, haven't done anything to it yet though.
A little intimidated because I have almost no experience with Mercruisers (pretty familiar with my last boat's Cobra though), and have never replaced bellows, but I'm pretty mechanically inclined and am going to tackle it with confidence.

Ripped out the whole helm (pretty literally) since it was all rotted and installed my captain's chair:

p23vmsw.jpg


dUjQJ9j.jpg


No after pictures since my phone took a swim and I lost a ton of pictures, but obviously I cleaned everything up, and I LOVE how the new seat looks and feels :)
Haven't installed the bench seat yet, still need to order the base for it.

1PTTd05.jpg


And, it took wetsanding up to 2000 grit and some expensive compound, but I'm finally happy with the finish below the rubrail:

Q1x6385.jpg


So, being a marine detailer, I've basically just stopped scheduling myself on weekends and get up at 7am and head out to the boat to work on it all day Saturday and Sundays (and maybe some evenings if I finish early), since I have no other time to do it; next weekend, the plan is to get both the drives done, troubleshoot the starter, drain the gas tank and touch up the bottom paint. Maybe throw on a bottom pinstripe or two depending on how windy it is.
Really hoping to get it into the water within the next two weeks.
I'm full steam ahead on everything I need to do to get it sea-worthy, everything else (cabin, above the rubrail, etc.) is taking a backseat because it can be done with the boat in the water.

Any recommendations on where I could get a large drum that I could empty the gas into?
It's currently reading empty, but at one point it read a little under 1/4 tank, so I'm guessing there's at least some old gas still in the tank, and obviously I need to get it out.
 
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Try a local garage that buys oil in bulk, they may have a few empty drums you could buy cheap. A wholesale lubricants place may also have some empty drums. If you have any food processing plants in your area, they usually have a bunch of white or blue plastic drums around.
 
Juicy update! Love it! Wish you were local so I could come by and help! Keep on trucking man! Love the way those seats look!
 
I admire your perseverance on this project! You are gong to have one hell of a nice boat for a fraction on the dollar and you will have the satisfaction that YOU brought the boat back to life. In my opinion, one can' put a price on that.
 
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