Should I stay away from this boat? (Sea Ray)

[UtahBoating]

If you read my other thread last week you may know I am in the market for a new(er) boat. I found a boat I really like. It is a 1990 Sea Ray with the 4.3 mercruiser. 18.5ft bowrider. 460 hours. Excellent condition. Looks like it has really been cared for. I went over every inch of the boat very carefully. There is only one part that I am concerned with and it could potentially be a big problem. The first pic shows the skeg is clearly bent - is this a big deal? The 2nd pic you can see when the outdrive goes down it is obviously scraping something hence the bare metal. I have compared other outdrives and they don't seem to scrape to the point of removing all the paint.

My concern is it looks like he may have hit something hard and possibly bent the entire lower unit, hence all the scraping now when put in the down position.

 

[drpepper68]

Skeg guard being bent is no big deal, I recently bent mine and hammered it back in place then put on a skeg guard for $80.
The scraping, I have the same on one side of my stern drive but it drives fine and checked out by the shop. Now I wonder about that since you mention it.

 

[drpepper68]

Did you check the bellows and make sure no tears or anything? I didnt know to do that on mine and had to pull and replace gimbal bearing and all that due to water getting in there.

 

[drpepper68]

I found this post which says its normal due to prop pushing thrust that way...


http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...7475-uneven-wear-between-gimbal-ring-outdrive

From Don S...

Re: Uneven wear between gimbal ring/outdrive

It's normal. The prop torque pushes the drive against that tab while under load. Using the trim causes wear. The Gen II drives have a plastic wear plate there to prevent the metal wear of the older style.


Like I said mine has the exact same thing on the starboard side which is what a RH prop would push to I believe.

 

[UtahBoating]

I found this post which says its normal due to prop pushing thrust that way...


http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...7475-uneven-wear-between-gimbal-ring-outdrive

From Don S...

Re: Uneven wear between gimbal ring/outdrive

It's normal. The prop torque pushes the drive against that tab while under load. Using the trim causes wear. The Gen II drives have a plastic wear plate there to prevent the metal wear of the older style.


Like I said mine has the exact same thing on the starboard side which is what a RH prop would push to I believe.

Thanks for posting that. I may use that, along with the dinged up prop, and the bent skeg to try and lowball this seller. It is a car dealer of all places, they took the boat in on a trade towards a car. Also going to see if I can take it up to the lake this weekend and give it a real test.

 

[dpoff]

Make sure to do a sea trial!

 

[GA_Boater]

Also going to see if I can take it up to the lake this weekend and give it a real test.

Don't try - Do it! If the car dealer balks, say good bye.

 

[UtahBoating]

I took the wife to look at the boat and didn't really care for it, so the search continues. So then we went and looked at a 92 sea ray that we both like and it is excellent shape for the year, has a 5.7 mercruiser which is a plus. The owner said he is willing to meet us at the lake with the boat to test it out.