Oh yeah. I'm screwed. But hello!

probablyhopeless

New Member
Mar 11, 2015
27
Oceanside, CA
Boat Info
1976 220 Weekender
Engines
Embarassing, but I don't know.
Soooo I'm the guy who was thrilled to find a 1976 SeaRay 220 Overnighter for $200 bucks that hadn't been run in seven years, and thought it was a good idea to buy it even though I literally just googled "how a combustion engine works". Yep. In over my head.

That said, I'm a somewhat smart guy with a decent amount of time on his hands, and a few friends who at least have some idea of what they are doing. I bought the boat a week ago, and am just getting started in even understand how much trouble I am in. I won't ask any questions yet without scouring the forum a bit first, but trust me, I'll have more than any of you want to answer :smt021.
 
You will definatly have some work to do, who knows naybe you got lucky, sounds like the right price, I just got $400 for a 1976 starcraft 19 footer that has been sitting for 2 years.
Good luck and welcome to csr.
 
Well look at the bright side....if the boat is a total piece of crap you could probably part it out and sell things like gauges, steering wheel, props, etc. for a lot more than $200 and by the time you got done parting it out you'd know a lot more about boats than you do now.
 
Welcome, and if the hull is solid, you may just have something that will turn out to be a fun project. Just get the checkbook ready!
 
Welcome to CSR. Pics will be great, especially for a project like you've taken on. Can't wait, all the best. There are plenty of brains to pick on this site. And pictures will be great too :grin:
 
MasterFab(Dale) is going to be your best friend in this. He has the same habit (addiction, mental instability?) you have, only much larger. And he blogs about it. Also, +1 for 1990-270-da-lover's comment about making sure the hull is good, if not, +1 to GFC's comment about parting it out. Good luck, and Mark pass the popcorn.
 
Yeap ... Pictures and play by plays would be excellent. Keep this group of experts (not me .. I'm like you ... a newbe) engaged and you will get allot of tips and opinion to help you on your quest.

As long as you bought this as a fixer project, how can you go wrong for $200, as long as you figured at first that you were going to be spending for parts and putting in time.
 
Welcome to CSR.
You may be in for a real adventure into boating for $200 it could be the best money you've ever spent. Whatever happens it will be a real learning experience either you'll learn a lot about how marine engines & components work or as GFC stated you can part it out & learn a lot.
 
All the best to you.
A member at our club bought a Bayliner 2755 at an online auction for under $1000. It was advertised as having a seized engine and needed full canvas. When he picked it up he found out that the trailer was only a couple of years old and in like new condition. There was a complete, new canvas set including a camper back rolled up and stored in the cabin. He replaced the starter and the engine started, purred like a kitten and has been running trouble free ever since.
You never know.
 
Welcome, and if the hull is solid, you may just have something that will turn out to be a fun project. Just get the checkbook ready!

Wow, thanks for such a warm welcome everyone! I thought I might be lucky and have a somewhat interested viewer when I woke up this morning, this is awesome!

The hull looks solid. There are two scratches on the bow where it seems to hit a rough spot on the trailer, but neither of them are very deep. From what I can see, there is virtually no damage to the fiberglass. Is it possible that there is damage I can't see from just walking around it?

The cabin and the wheelhouse are full of half rotted marine plywood, and decent looking teak.

There was black mold EVERYWHERE, but a few gallons of bleach later (and probably some rare form of cancer) it's fairly clean now. I'll post some pictures now of before I cleaned her up a little, and then go outside and take some of how she is now.
 
Yeap ... Pictures and play by plays would be excellent. Keep this group of experts (not me .. I'm like you ... a newbe) engaged and you will get allot of tips and opinion to help you on your quest.

As long as you bought this as a fixer project, how can you go wrong for $200, as long as you figured at first that you were going to be spending for parts and putting in time.

Pictures and play by play on the way!
Here's what I have done so far. (pictures to follow in a few minutes)
Removed both exhaust manifolds. One was quite clean, the other one was full of rust. Knocked it clean, soaked in CLR, I think its looking better, but again, I'll post pics.
Checked oil. Looks very good considering it has been sitting for seven years.
Turned her over manually. Using a torque wrench, I turned the engine over ten or so times. I could hear valves working, and it moved, so I'm hoping this is a good sign.
Removed (2) batteries, and attempted to charge them, refilled with distilled and all that. No luck, but I tried. First question: Will I later regret buying the cheapest marine batteries I can find?

Other than that, it has been mostly cleaning. BRB with pics.
 
Wow, thanks for such a warm welcome everyone! I thought I might be lucky and have a somewhat interested viewer when I woke up this morning, this is awesome!

The hull looks solid. There are two scratches on the bow where it seems to hit a rough spot on the trailer, but neither of them are very deep. From what I can see, there is virtually no damage to the fiberglass. Is it possible that there is damage I can't see from just walking around it?

The cabin and the wheelhouse are full of half rotted marine plywood, and decent looking teak.

There was black mold EVERYWHERE, but a few gallons of bleach later (and probably some rare form of cancer) it's fairly clean now. I'll post some pictures now of before I cleaned her up a little, and then go outside and take some of how she is now.

My 270 was, "is" a project that I bought after it had been on the hard for 3 1/2 yrs. The tops sides were black from mildew and the sides were green with algae from runoff from sitting under a tree. Took 3 times compounding the hull to get it clean. The interior was original and needed to be updated. We got the engine running and after a tune up and new manifolds and risers, is running quite well. I re upholstered the interior cushions and bolsters, and now am getting ready to do the exterior seats etc. It's been fun, but a lot of hard work, but I get a lot of satisfaction when someone walks by the dock and compliments the boat. Good Luck!
 
About to kill someone trying to resize these stupid pictures... I reduced them to 400 pixels and it is still too big, so now I have to resize the entire package... One by one... Again...
 
Donating to this site seems incredibly worthy anyway, but I'll pay whatever donation is necessary to not have to deal with this image resizing... Do I have that correct? If I donate to the site, I can upload any size images?
 
Donating does have its perks. This is by far the best site on the internet for all things related to Sea Ray & boating in general. Our donations is what keeps it up & running. It will be the best money you can spend on your boat. Guaranteed.

You should also set up a Photobucket account. Its free! Once you do that, uploading pics is "a piece of pie". Just copy the .img code from Photobucket & paste it into your post.

Again, Welcome to CSR!
 
Prob,

At least you started small. I have done a couple of projects like this over the years and I am currently restoring a 1895, 23' Cobalt. There are a couple of things that concern me and a couple of points I'd like to share. You stated, "....the hull "seemed" solid but, ....there was a lot of rotten wood inside. My concern is there may be rotten wood in the hull structure. You should "tap" the hull everywhere on the outside of boat paying really close attention where anything was bolted to, or screwed into, the hull. When you tap you are looking/listening for a nice sharp sound. If there is a bad spot the sound will be a noticeable dull thud and not the sharp rap. If you find the thud you need to methodically tap that area to determine the extent of the damage. I would pay particular attention to the transom starting from the outdrive and working your way out. I won't go into what to do if you find something until you do.

For the engine, I would change the oil, hook up a battery and check the compression. That will tell you quite a bit. Chances are you will have to rebuild the motor. Is there an hour meter on the boat anywhere? The problem you have is the lack of history so in this case you might as well just assume the worst. If that doesn't happen you get to be pleasantly surprised.

Plan on removing the outdrive and replacing all the bellows. Chances are you will need a new gimbal bearing. You may also need to replace the driveshaft u-joints. The water pump for sure and probably the water hose. If you have some mechanical aptitude, none of this is daunting. Check YouTube. There are step-by-step videos on virtually every aspect of what you are doing. A couple of years ago I refurbished a 1984 19' Sea Ray with a 140 HP Mercruiser. It needed the carb rebuilt. I have watched 50 carb rebuilds over the years but never did one myself. But I bought the kit, put my laptop on my bench and followed the steps in a video. The damn thing works perfect! How cool is that!

Bringing a boat back from the dead can be really rewarding. Just don't get in a hurry, try and not cheap out on parts if you can, (example, just replace the manifolds) and check Craigslist for parts....a lot. And post pics. As mwph said, set up the photobucket.com account. And lastly, don't worry about asking too many questions. The one thing this site has in abundance is people who love to help. If you are doing this to have a boat you can be proud of....continue. If you are doing it thinking you might flip it and make some money....I would start parting it out now.

Shawn
 
One other thing.... we really need to know what the engine/outdrive is. If it's black its a Mercruiser and that's good. If the engine is red and the outdrive is a light blue/green, that's Volvo and not as good but not a disaster. If the outdrive is white and says OMC on it anywhere, that is a huge problem as the drive was a POS to start with and parts are virtually non-existent.

If it is a Mercruiser it will help to know what motor. You said there were 2 exhaust manifolds. Is it a V6 or V8? Is the distributor on the front of the motor or the back. If its on the front and 8 cylinders it's Merc 888 with a Ford small block. In the back its GM either a 5.0 or 5.7.

One more thing on the taping....tap the stringers under the engine as well. The stringers are under the engine on either side and what the motor mounts are bolted to. Check YouTube.

Shawn

Shawn
 

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