1985 Bayliner 2750 Ciera Sunbridge Resto

eggs712

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 8, 2012
Messages
420
I spent a few days wet sanding and compounding the topsides. It will need a little more compounding annually for a while, but looks fairly glossy now (pics coming).

Next, I had some scrap sheets of 304 stainless lying around, and enlarged my trim tabs to 18"×12". I was able to stay on plane around 20mph with the previous 8"×12" tabs, but this big girl definitely needed more help. I may add drop fins in the future, but want to take this one step at a time to compare performance.

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Next, my trailer V-stop was too high, and I had to use a pry bar to get the bow eye over it. My current fix was to cut a little out of the C channel to drop it 2.5", then added a roller. I may beef this up a little if it works well.

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Next, the old, black, cracked non-skid to the walk-thru windshield looked horrible and was HOT barefoot. A heat gun wouldn't soften it at all, so it took a few hours with a razor blade to take it off and replace with EVA.

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I also finished stripping the blue paint on deck and patched a bunch of underlying screw holes.

I'll try get some pics when I launch this weekend, going to try a 16×17 prop. This will be offshore with more weight (people, coolers, and hopefully fish). I also have a 15×19 prop to try at the lake at some point.
 

eggs712

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 8, 2012
Messages
420
Well, the motor crapped out on me. Cylinders 4 & 6 were a little low to begin with, and 3 & 5 were a hair low too. The motor began to fall flat and died for good Saturday with no obvious signs of overheating, but I had to run it hard for an hour to keep on plane in a following sea after beginning to lose the top end.

Thankfully I was able to make it home on the trolling motor.

Cold compression was bad on 3, 5, 4, & 6, so I tore down to look at the heads. Cracks on head around the exhaust valves on 4 & 6, and 3 & 5 had cracked exhaust valves. There was excess milky oil in the valve covers, but the pan drained clean. All cylinders and pistons look surprisingly good.

I'm currently leaning toward cutting my losses with this old block and buying a new 5.7 vortec block.
 

eggs712

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 8, 2012
Messages
420
On the bright side, I ran out 25 miles last Friday in 4-5 foot seas. The bigger trim tabs let me stay on plane at 19 mph and the V hull cut through swells extremely well with a dry ride. The trolling motor has a deep enough shaft to spot lock well in rough seas.

We caught a bunch of snapper plus a cobia and amberjack.

I really like this boat and won't hesitate to repower.
 

redneck joe

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
Messages
15,836
parts availability. Mercruiser prob outsold VP 2:1 minimum over the years. You have an 85 model, that is 40 years, prob 20 of which no new parts have been made.

No makes new (aftermarket) VP's anymore. SEI and others make a mercruiser sterndrive that goes all the way back to the MC1 aka pre alpha.

There are threads here about changing out, if you are already deep into a block swap it is not much more work if the transom is in good shape and if not it need to repaired anyway and you appear to have the skill set to accomplish it.
 

eggs712

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 8, 2012
Messages
420
I actually just rebuilt the transom a couple months ago, but yeah you make some good points. I'm seeing that Mercruiser does sell an adapter plate for the larger VP keyhole. Bravo III dual props would no doubt push this boat better than my SP.
 
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