Engine overhaul costs

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blackmagicthe1st

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I know this may be a bit of a crystal ball question but as some of you may be aware on here, I have my eye on a boat. 1973 Flybridge with twin 80hp ford diesels BUT it has stern drives. I've never really thought of a sterndrive being an issue but a mechanic friend said "twin stern drives on an old boat, you could become my best customer". Now I don't have a huge lot of cash at any given month, but I have a bit of a lump sum, and I was thinking, if I got the boat at the right money, I could maybe get the engines well serviced to give me the best chance of relative painless cruising for a season at least.

I'd really quite like to get my hands dirty and learn my own boat the way a lot of you guys do.

Any words of advice? Maybe a general budget I could be thinking of for each engine?

Cheers
 
I am not sure that there were many commercially matched outdrives with ford engines at that time so it is likely that this is a re engined boat so worth checking what drives you are looking at.
 
Outdrive possible things to expect,

We really need to know the type of outdrives and the age of the boat.Mercruiser or Volvo ?
Should be some sort of plate riveted somewhere or the colour of drive is sometimes a clue.Mercruiser normally black and Volvo usually white. Most outdrive problems can be sorted and fixed,as to costs it really depends on wether you are

A/Doing it (mostly) yourself
B/Getting a well recommended independant chap to sort it
C/Getting the number of your local VolvoPenta agency and extending the credit limit on your credit card on the second telephone call you will have to make.
 
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Life maintaining old outdrives will be expensive, even for the best DIYer. (and sometimes impossible)

The price of parts and the cost of lift out/in alone will not be cheap, and parts for some old drives not realistically available.

It is of course possible that the drives have been rebuilt in recent years and perfectly serviceable for a year or two yet, but I'd budget for a full rebuild or replacement with s/h recon units.

Even doing a lot of work yourself I could see it taking £5K to swap or rebuild them.
 
Lol, yes I take your points oldgit.

I don't know what legs are on the boat or the engine model numbers. I have asked for these details however the broker is telling me he doesn't think he'll get much info from the current owner.

I do know she was re engined 10 years ago, so scottie has a point on that. The boat has been laying up for 3 years and I have no idea if she was winterized properly.

My game plan is to go in with a stupidly low offer and if it's accepted, spend the remaining money to make sure the engines run.

Now given the age of the boat, 1973, I reckon I could be looking at a rewire which I think I'd actually quite enjoy, I enjoy electrics, just not overly mechanically minded but surely if I rolled my sleeves up I could get advice on here and learn as I go?

Do you think I could be biting off more than I might be able to chew?

Cheers
 
martynwhiteley said:
Life maintaining old outdrives will be expensive, even for the best DIYer. (and sometimes impossible)

The price of parts and the cost of lift out/in alone will not be cheap, and parts for some old drives not realistically available.

It is of course possible that the drives have been rebuilt in recent years and perfectly serviceable for a year or two yet, but I'd budget for a full rebuild or replacement with s/h recon units.

Even doing a lot of work yourself I could see it taking £5K to swap or rebuild them.
Click to expand...

5K each drive? if that's the case, I'll pass I think....
 
Sounds like it's been re engined with ford transit motors, which will marry up to the existing Volvo drive.

My late father had a p 33, if that's what you want id go for the planing hull version with the mermaid 140s in on shafts, they will give a good 24 knots.
 
This is a Sealance, not a builder I'm familure with.... Deep V hull. twin 80hp so don't see her doing much speed, but I don't want/need to be going fast anywhere.
 
"5K each drive? if that's the case, I'll pass I think"

Imagine would be for both drives.



At three years out of the water the old alarm bells start to ring very loudly indeed,possible that the owner may have either lost interest or have been faced with an unpalatable bill (poss drives ?) which lead to boat being laid up.
Even if you get the boat for nothing the prospect on spending a lot of money on the boat and it still not being worth much after all your time and effort at the end of it needs thinking about.
 
I think completely new drives for the engine power you are quoting will be available at less than £2k each, if you don't go for genuine replacement Merc or VP. If the current drives are enfiled, I understand there are some parts supply issues these days.

If your engines are Ford, then you could do worse than to contact Lancing Marine, who marinise Ford engines, and mate to outdrives.

Outdrives are not the spawn of the devil that some folk make out. If you look at new boats, more of these are being supplied with drives, as they provide more economical cruising, and free up space on board. They work well if maintained and serviced properly. There are some sharks out there whio claim to be "engineers", but have little clue about what they are doing. Note Gary's thread on his drive, which was serviced very poorly, prior to his purchase.
 
Thanks for the advice so far guys. I keep swaying between, "I'll take a risk" and reading the forum and problems with stern drives thinking, "I want to actaully leave the berth on occasion." From experience, stern drives, infact, boats in general, only seem to break down when the sun comes out and you really want to use it!

Oldgit, I have been hearing those very alarm bells for a few days now. I guess if I could actually get speaking with the owner and not the broker, who whilst he has replied to every e-mail I've sent and offered to pick me up from the airport to go see the boat, doesn't have very much information on it, its history etc. He says he has requested information from the owner but doesn't sound hopeful he'll get much.

My problem is, I've wanted a flybridge cruiser for years! I saw this at a price I could afford and then the broker tells me the owner is desperate to sell and he is open to offers. I ask my mechanic friend about the boat and he tells me with twin stern drives, I'll be keeping him in a job for years to come.

I tried to weigh it up thinking, if I get the boat cheap enough I could put the money I "saved" into a recon of the engines and hey presto, I now have my flybridge, clean engines and something to take pride in and over time renew the interior etc. but esentially get cruising!

Is my plan flawed?
 
All you can do is go and look at the boat and make your own assessment about whether the rest of it meets your expectations. My first inclination would be to run as fast as you could - obscure make, odd engines, lying around for 3 years are all negatives - but perhaps you owe yourself the cost of viewing otherwise you will forever think "if only".
 
blackmagicthe1st said:
This is a Sealance, not a builder I'm familure with.... Deep V hull. twin 80hp so don't see her doing much speed, but I don't want/need to be going fast anywhere.
Click to expand...

If i recall Sealance = long & narrow designed for speed, would have had twin V6/8s could be home fit out, not suited to twin 80hp diesels, it would need to be very cheap, even then any serious expenditure would be unlikely to be seen again on resale.
 
Blackmagicthe1st
Sealance were produced to be very fast cruising boats in the 70's. They were fitted with Petrols (I seem to remember that they were usually Mercruisers) and were advertised as having a top speed of 35 knots (very fast for the time). When I started boating as a youngster in North Wales there were a couple of them around but I never saw them moving - not sure if even back then the Petrol would have cost too much. I did hear that they weren't good sea boats but this might have been hearsay.
I don't remember them ever doing a Flybridge version so not sure if this was added later (having looked at the pictures it looks professional).
About a year ago there was one for sale at a boatyard not too far away from the one currently for sale. This looked like it had been ashore for a few years and was in a very bad state. If this is the same one then run a mile however from memory they were asking about half the price of the one you are looking at. I'll PM you the details I can remember.
Hope this is of some help.
 
It is out there you have just got to find it.

"Is my plan flawed?"


My honest advice....................
Many boat buyers lose all sense of reason when buying and pay far to much, normally when some sort of loan is involved,when it comes to sell they honestly think you are taking the p*** when you offer what the boat is actually worth.
Buy right and you can sell it on quickly when its time to move on or up.

Treat boat viewing as a day out/weekend away,a chance for a bite and a beer somewhere new or what ever,with the added chore of viewing a boat that may ....just may ....vaguely resemble the boat being described in the advert.
You of course WILL have to go and look at this probable pile of dogs just put your mind at rest that this is not the steal of the century that only you know about.
If its so good why have the locals not whisked it away from the owner.
Rule of thumb is the inverse square law The further way it is the bigger pile of poo it is..
There are decent boats out there at the right money but you have to look real hard to find them,out of 20 boats only one will be in the condition you want at the price you want to pay.
Walking away and shaking your head yet again at the sheer waste of time you have just looked at is just paying your dues in the boating world. :)
 
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rafiki_ said:
I think completely new drives for the engine power you are quoting will be available at less than £2k each, if you don't go for genuine replacement Merc or VP. If the current drives are enfiled, I understand there are some parts supply issues these days.

If your engines are Ford, then you could do worse than to contact Lancing Marine, who marinise Ford engines, and mate to outdrives.

Outdrives are not the spawn of the devil that some folk make out. If you look at new boats, more of these are being supplied with drives, as they provide more economical cruising, and free up space on board. They work well if maintained and serviced properly. There are some sharks out there whio claim to be "engineers", but have little clue about what they are doing. Note Gary's thread on his drive, which was serviced very poorly, prior to his purchase.
Click to expand...

My suggestion of up to 5K was for both drives. If you know of new ones for less than 2K then I'd be keen to learn. What I am thinking about is having to renew all hydraulics, rams etc as well as the actual leg and prop. Plus lift out etc.
 
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