need honest educated opinion..

[mopower440]

I am looking for an inexpensive used bowrider to take the family out on the lake. I found an extremely clean and nice 1986 bayliner capri with the volvo (gm) 5.0 v8 engine and the price is right..We took it out on the lake for about 40 minutes and it was flawless! Ran smooth and temp stayed steady at 160 the whole time. Ididnt buy it, yet, and heres why: The man selling it bought it from a bank repo back in january and he didnt know if it was winterized or not. He just bought it and has took it out to the lake a few times and it did fine and thats all he knows about it. So, im scared to death to buy it because of not knowing if it was properly winterized or not and am afraid that it may not have been so there could be a cracked block. My question is, if it had a cracked block would it have shown up today when we were driving it? It did not run hot, stayed at a steady 160 degrees the whole 40 minutes we ran it. It started right up quick every time and just ran very good and smooth. It was low on oil when i pulled the dipstick but didnt have any water in the oil pan. What do you think?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: need honest educated opinion..

If it ran for 40 minutes with no issues it is probably ok but there are a couple things you can do.

1) Lift the engine cover, start the engine and watch carefully for any external water leaks.
2) With the engine warm but shut off, pull the dip stick and check the engine oil. If the oil looks like a frothy Mocha then there is water in the oil. Oil on the dipstick should clean just like it came from the container, or if it hasn't been changed recently it may have a slightly dirty appearance just like the oil drained from your car.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: need honest educated opinion..

The power train is solid and as good as it get's. Have a marine survey done for a true opinion. It will cost 300 but that is chump change in a boat...do not have a local marina do it.... someone who is a indepent party.

Marine surveyor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's not a yacht but who care's.....you do.

 

[tazrig]

Re: need honest educated opinion..

Spend for an independent professional marine survey before you buy anything. The floor could be rotted, the electrical system on its way out or the engine (even though it ran great when you test drove it) etc. For the short money it costs for the survey you can't go wrong. As far as just the cracked block issue goes if you were out that long and it didn't overheat, the oil isn't milky or way overfilled on the dip stick than as Silvertip pointed out you are probably good. The only way to know for sure is to pressure test the block.

 

[JaseBosto]

Re: need honest educated opinion..

I support the before mentioned marine survey. Me, I haven't done that but I am pretty good at going through a boat. No expert by far but I am good mechanical. If you are not familiar with boats, and have an idea what to look for, marine survey.