Used boat advice asap

Just looked at a decent fishing boat with a 2009 Merc 4 stroke. The boat hadnt been used much and the the motor idled for a few seconds, died and he couldnt get it restarted. Everything looked very clean and he said it worked fine last week in his driveway. The gas tank was nearly empty with old gas in it.

I left and he said he would have it looked at. His boat guy is tied up for months and he offered to lower the price an additional $300 from what we had agreed to.

I told him I would be back at 3pm to pick it up. Am I making a huge mistake????

I’m not going to be much help but did you grill him at all about regular maintenance? How he does it, how often, etc.

If he’s done the typical stuff like lower unit oil without seeing water in the oil, crank case oil changes, impeller replacement.

Just expect a carb cleaning after you buy it. Make sure you use a reputable mechanic.

If he’s done the regular maintenance without seeing any warning signs of trouble, I wouldn’t be too worried. Make sure the price is right because you’ll have some work to get her running right.

He said he did all the maintenance and had extra oil around for it.

I’d just grill him a little about it. As him how the oil looked, what color. Ever see any leaks.

See if the motor has any signs of someone loosening and retightening screws and bolts. A good sign he’s had trouble with it.

As far as the idling/starting issue, I’m far from a mechanic and never owned a 4 stroke as a main motor. I have no idea what it’ll take to clean the carbs or get it running good again.

I’d have a pretty hard time buying anything that doesn’t run. If his boat guy is tied up for months then offer to take it to your boat guy to have it checked out. If he doesn’t go for it then walk.

And whose mechanic is tied up for months to the point that they can’t work on your stuff? Pretty sure I’d be finding a different mechanic.

My point is I think he’s full of it.

shamus wrote:

I’d have a pretty hard time buying anything that doesn’t run. If his boat guy is tied up for months then offer to take it to your boat guy to have it checked out. If he doesn’t go for it then walk.

I would NOT buy until I saw a computer read out on the engine…and had it analyzed by YOUR choice of Merc tech.

Check the compression on each cylinder and check for spark. If the compression is good and there’s good spark to each plug, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s just a common carb/fuel related issue. But even those cost time to chase down. Either way, the fact that the motor isn’t running and he’s already knocked off $300, I’d make him knock off more. Would assume “his motor guy” is either a family member or friend that is over booked because he doesn’t charge friends or family members for working on their stuff, very common and these types of people are not use to having to pay going rates for anything. Then they get the yipp’s when anyone suggests they take it into a person or place that only accepts cash money, credit cards or checks; and not chickens, eggs, iou’s, future favors or thanks you’re the best slaps on the back. A none running motor on a boat will bring in types like me that aren’t giving the guy much of anything for it and are only looking for a dirt cheap project.

take some fresh gas with you. A motor that new should not have any issues. what size motor is it? are you handy enough to fix it yourself? fuel issues are an easy fix but can add up if you have to pay a mechanic to look at it.

Agreed, bring fresh gas and check the primer bulb, make sure it’s hard. It should run. You said fishing boat so i’m assuming 60hp or less.

I would ask the seller what he was using for gas. If he was using gas with ethanol I’d steer clear unless he used an additive every time meant for that purpose. The starting problem is probably a gumed up fuel system due to old/bad gas but it could be a sigh of bigger problems. I’d find a merc. mechanic who could work on it next week, tell the seller to take it in and get it fixed to your satisfaction or walk.

The motor is a 25 hp 2009 Merc 4 stroke. He was using last year’s gas with Stabile in it. Then he went and got fresh gas and that didnt make a difference.

Fresh fuel rarely fixes a gunked up carb. Only thing that fixes it is a tear down/clean/rebuild.

I will offer this thought,if the boat is what you want and it is in very good condition,offer him a thousand bucks less than what he is asking that way you can afford to have the motor fixed and still be at the original asking price.
that is if the motor hasnt been over heated,run lean,no regular maintenance etc.

I doubt the motor is hurt very bad,but as has been said the first order is to check the compression and spark and go from there.
now,if the motor is junk,you have a thousand bucks to spend on one that runs.

good luck and let us know!!

Well, it is in the garage and my dad was sure he could get it purring. Hopefully I dont have too many regrets. 2009 boat, motor, trailer, bow mount, graph and some other stuff for $3400 I think I did ok

We will see, thanks for the advice everyone!!!

Good luck, sounds like a good deal if you get it running-thought the larger 4 strokes were injected -carb rebuild is about 500 per cylinder but that would I suppose be the worst case senorio. Could’nt hurt to throw some Yamalube and Seafoam into the gas. A car is about 10x more complicated than a boat but for me the boat thing is more stressful.

sounds like you got hosed Dave, I’d dump it on me for $3000…

It sounds to me that you did ok Dave, but that’s from my point of view because I work on all my motors myself. Heres what I would do first, Empty the float bowl by turning the nut on the bottom, not removing it completely and let the gas drain out then retighten the bolt. Check the spark and while your at it clean and regap the plugs then check the spark again.

If it doesn’t start and may not because of the old gas still in the gas line and fuel pump in the motor, not the line coming from the gas tank. If you can undo the gas line at the carburetor and with new gasoline in the tank turn it over or bulb prime it so that the new gas pumps all the old gas out of the fuel line and fuel pump. Re attach the fuel line to the carb and try to start it then without chokeing. If it doesn’t want to start by starter or rope pull, choke it and see if that gets it to run even a little bit. If it does, try to keep it running, in a water tank or with muffs on the water intake ports down by the lower unit. If it runs but runs rough its more then likely a fuel related issue or a dirty carburater. Then its check the valves in the fuel pump or take the carb apart and clean each piece and put it back together.

Heres the important thing to do, if there is one or two air mix screws, turn them all the way in until they bottom out or stop turning and remember that amount of turns in 1/8ths of a turn, so when you put the carb back together you can return the screw(s) back to where they were. Let us know what Happens and if you can get it running.

Most of the time its maintainence that needs to be done that hasen’t been done yet, in any motor. When you get it running remember to disconnect the fuel line from the motor and let it run in the water until the float bowl empties and motor stops running, that way when you bulb prime the motor next time you’ll be pumping in new gas. If you fish with it atleast once a week you don’t have to let it run until it stops because the gas will still be fresh. Letting the gas sit in a rubber gas line for a couple months in the sun especially, doesn’t do it any good when you go to start your motor.

I have an electric fuel pump in my gas line and I turn it on while sticking a Phillips screw driver in the end of the gas line and that will pump the old gas out of the fuel line in a few seconds and I’ve got about 10′ of gas line to clear. My motors always start that way.

I had the same problem with my skeeter bass boat+175yamaha, a new filter and some seafoam did it for me. Runs perfectly now.

Success! The old man has the motor purring already. That is a big relief. Electrical next, shorten the trailer and I could be fishing by tomorrow.

$4200 if anyone wants to buy it.

Add a fuel/water separator to the gas line. You will never regret it if it doesn’t already have one.

Small amount of water can cause a whole lot of grief.

Glad your new motor is running again!

Everything on the boat working great and it catches fish on Pool 2 as well! If you see a black Sylvan say Hey!!

Upstream at 20-25mph and 1st fish pictured.

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DaveB wrote:

Everything on the boat working great and it catches fish on Pool 2 as well! If you see a black Sylvan say Hey!!

Upstream at 20-25mph and 1st fish pictured.

what kind of stuff are they are they putting in the water that you caught a walleye at 20-25 mph???????????? lol

when ever I troll that fast,all I get is fish lips!!!!
nice rig by the way!! glad the old man got it running for you,that deserves an atta boy!!

Having met your dad, Dave, I had no doubt he’d get it running!

belletaine wrote:

Having met your dad, Dave, I had no doubt he’d get it running!

I think he actually enjoyed working on it!

Congrats!!! Care to share what the issue was?

Well, it was a number of things:

He wasn’t sure what was wrong with the motor, ripping apart the fuel injection system and cleaning some crap out of there fixed that. A screw and spacer was missing making it really tough steering to one side, so he machined a part to fix that. He changed all the oil, plugs and lubed everything.

Electrical from battery to box was a bad wire under some storage so he ran a new wire to control box

Trolling motor they had it set up wrong so the pins couldn’t release, it might have never even been used

Trailer had mice chew wiring down one side and the tongue lights, so that needed to be restrung

Trailer had a 4-5′ of extra tongue, so he cut that down about 2′, drilled new holes and moved the hitch stuff down. He also move the back rollers up a bit so we saved about 3′ of length and can now fit in a single car spot in garage instead of taking up both sides.

Boat and motor had a ton of yellowish hardened scum that he was able to polish off some work.

One tire was like new, so he got another new tire and bracket so I have a spare and two new tires.

I am sure I am missing a few things! Next step is remounting the front seat and rod holders. IDK how clear it is, but they had a seat mounted in front of the bench. There is hardly room up there for anything with a seat post up there, trolling motor and control pedal…very odd.