1972 Bertram refurb. Has Merc 165 L6's. Introduction

[ttownthomas]

I guess an introduction is in order. I'm the new owner of a fairly well cared for somewhat un-mollested 1972 Bertram. I have been negotiating/waiting/surveying/buying it for 10 weeks but I finally made the 4 state trip this week to pick her up in Ohio and bring her back to NC. The boat has twin 165 horsepower Mercrusers. The blocks were replaced at some point in the last several years with Jasper remanufactured blocks. It runs pretty well now but as a precaution I pulled off the risers to look for evidence of water contamination. There were no rusty streaks running into the manifold but one of the risers was just about to rust through. It looks like I caught it just in time. It also looks like both shudders are missing. Below are boat, riser and upper bellows pictures. Since I've decided NOT to re-power and live with these engines and try to make them super dependable I thought this would be a good place to share my successes and failures. I'm planning at this point to replace both manifolds and risers.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Yep, replace the elbows. Had those same engines in my 24 Weekender (74) . with some very mild work you can be well north of 45 mph. A much better motor is the 300 inline 6 warmed up slightly and your at 270 hp

 

[Alumarine]

Welcome, nice boat! What length is it?
Those are very dependable engines.
You might want to remove the outdrive to fish out the remains of the missing shutters.
That will also give you a chance to inspect the bellows, ujoints, gimbal bearing and alignment.

 

[ttownthomas]

Welcome, nice boat! What length is it?
Those are very dependable engines.
You might want to remove the outdrive to fish out the remains of the missing shutters.
That will also give you a chance to inspect the bellows, ujoints, gimbal bearing and alignment.

Thank you, It's a 25 Bertram. Interestingly much of that work was done in late 2016 just prior to winterization, then the boat sat stored in a cold storage building for 2.5 years until I bought it. If I look inside the exhaust outlet on the drives with a flashlight I don't see any rubber parts floating around. On another note, Unfortunately, the stbd lower unit does have an old unrepaired broken/missing skeg and cavitation plate. Here is the receipt for the work that was completed.

 

[Bt Doctur]

sure hope those prices had labor included, the first 3 items are ridiculously high

 

[ttownthomas]

sure hope those prices had labor included, the first 3 items are ridiculously high

Prior owner paid it. Labor is one line item near the bottom.

 

[Scott Danforth]

remember, rubber parts work on calendar time and not use time. its still time to pull the outdrives and inspect all the rubber parts.

I would toss in new bellows and impellers myself.

 

[ttownthomas]

remember, rubber parts work on calendar time and not use time. its still time to pull the outdrives and inspect all the rubber parts.

I would toss in new bellows and impellers myself.

Fair enough. After getting the engines including "in the boat" exhaust and cooling parts up to snuff my next order of business is to re-wire the boat. Then on to the drives. Cosmetics are waiting until after it is good mechanically.