Next door neighbor comes home with $800 1995 Bayliner 180 with 120 Force.
Knows the Force has problems. He is ex-Army motor pool mechanic. (Same Fort as my son, same age, Salute to their service)
Not a 2 cycle mechanic at all, admits that.
I go over to look it over and the inside is SOLID, I am very surprised. Has some upholstery problems but all fixable.
He keeps wanting to start the engine and show me what it does.
I say you have to have water going to the lower end, try to explain that, while the engine can run for a short time and not overheat but the impeller runnning dry not being a good thing to do, I can see he is not getting it.
The power head has been off, not all the bolts are in, so he removes it and shows me the pistons. One is melted on about 1/3 of it's circumference, probably the classic "leaned out burned the piston" scenario. He grabs his portable impact and puts the head back on, socks down all the head bolts then starts it. By this time the neighbor on the other side (very knowledgeable on boating) has come over and explained about the impeller again, then goes and gets his muffs. Meanwhile the head is socked back down and he keeps trying to start it. I had to leave for a while about then. They get the muffs going and it starts, but no water is coming out. We both say to him that is not good and shut it down and troubleshoot that. I go back home for the evening, I can hear him start it 2 or three more times.
We (other neighbor and I) had mentioned impeller, so he orders one online but takes the boat out to the lake before it comes in. They get it out on the water, engine overheats and stops and they get towed back in. I could not believe they took it out like that, but hey, I'm old I guess.
Before they took it out I recommended they wait and fix that engine or find another similar that has some kind of assurance that it is ok. I said minimum 90hp but the 120hp would be the best fun. I mean, they have a very solid boat (again, totally surprised how solid the interior is) and are only $800 in, a nice $1200-$1800 engine and boom they have a nice boat for less then $3k.
He removes bottom end and the impeller is just a hub, probably like that before he bought it. But now the pump housing is all scored, and plastic is melted, pieces of impeller who knows where. He said he found a bunch of pieces behind the water outlet up high, gets new stuff and puts it all back together, but he starts this thing 10 times a nite just to hear it I guess. By this time he has acquired his own muffs, and he has the water going to it I think, can't really see thru the fence, but wings it to WOT a few times. Younger guy, easy to talk to but still "youngdumb".
They take it out again, engine overheats and quits and they get towed back in.
He buys a smaller Merc, a 70, for $500 and mounts it but cannot get it to run. I think it was even a shorter shaft, by this time I can tell he is on a mission and any advice willl bounce off.
Gives up, sells it all to a bunch of guys pooling their money together.
Buys 2 amall ATV's for his boys, the guy is really into that so I can understand the "switch" from boating to offroading for the boys (4 and 6).
All this in a 3 week span
Knows the Force has problems. He is ex-Army motor pool mechanic. (Same Fort as my son, same age, Salute to their service)
Not a 2 cycle mechanic at all, admits that.
I go over to look it over and the inside is SOLID, I am very surprised. Has some upholstery problems but all fixable.
He keeps wanting to start the engine and show me what it does.
I say you have to have water going to the lower end, try to explain that, while the engine can run for a short time and not overheat but the impeller runnning dry not being a good thing to do, I can see he is not getting it.
The power head has been off, not all the bolts are in, so he removes it and shows me the pistons. One is melted on about 1/3 of it's circumference, probably the classic "leaned out burned the piston" scenario. He grabs his portable impact and puts the head back on, socks down all the head bolts then starts it. By this time the neighbor on the other side (very knowledgeable on boating) has come over and explained about the impeller again, then goes and gets his muffs. Meanwhile the head is socked back down and he keeps trying to start it. I had to leave for a while about then. They get the muffs going and it starts, but no water is coming out. We both say to him that is not good and shut it down and troubleshoot that. I go back home for the evening, I can hear him start it 2 or three more times.
We (other neighbor and I) had mentioned impeller, so he orders one online but takes the boat out to the lake before it comes in. They get it out on the water, engine overheats and stops and they get towed back in. I could not believe they took it out like that, but hey, I'm old I guess.
Before they took it out I recommended they wait and fix that engine or find another similar that has some kind of assurance that it is ok. I said minimum 90hp but the 120hp would be the best fun. I mean, they have a very solid boat (again, totally surprised how solid the interior is) and are only $800 in, a nice $1200-$1800 engine and boom they have a nice boat for less then $3k.
He removes bottom end and the impeller is just a hub, probably like that before he bought it. But now the pump housing is all scored, and plastic is melted, pieces of impeller who knows where. He said he found a bunch of pieces behind the water outlet up high, gets new stuff and puts it all back together, but he starts this thing 10 times a nite just to hear it I guess. By this time he has acquired his own muffs, and he has the water going to it I think, can't really see thru the fence, but wings it to WOT a few times. Younger guy, easy to talk to but still "youngdumb".
They take it out again, engine overheats and quits and they get towed back in.
He buys a smaller Merc, a 70, for $500 and mounts it but cannot get it to run. I think it was even a shorter shaft, by this time I can tell he is on a mission and any advice willl bounce off.
Gives up, sells it all to a bunch of guys pooling their money together.
Buys 2 amall ATV's for his boys, the guy is really into that so I can understand the "switch" from boating to offroading for the boys (4 and 6).
All this in a 3 week span
