Re: 5.0 L Mercruiser engine froze. HELP!!
In the case of the OP, he is planning on selling this boat. I believe it is not ethical to do such a repair on a boat and sell it.
In order for me to fully agree with this statment, it should end with "unless the repair is fully disclosed." In my mind, full disclosure would make the sale fully ethical.
I do very much agree with the spirit of your comment, and I'm glad you brough it up. I want to make it clear that despite my endorsements of these repairs which I still maintain CAN WORK VERY WELL...I will never encourage anyone to do such a repair and try to hide it when selling the boat. The JB-Welded crack on my Volvo was done for MY benefit on MY boat. And I freely acknowledge THIS WAS and STILL IS A HACK REPAIR!! And the patches will be clearly pointed out to any potential buyer in the event that I decide to sell. But that's probably 10+ year away when the boat will have little value anyway.
Same for my Silverado cracked block repair I discussed earlier. (But which I did NOT consider a hack repair in any way.) I did it for MY BENEFIT to save money, and no other reason. And after 10 years/75,000 proven miles, I sold it. And despite being 100% hidden, proven, internal repair, the full history was still fully disclosed to the buyer. And would have been disclosed even if it was NOT my buddy who purchased it. I'd like to think that all sellers, including the one who started this thread would be equally honest, but I'm not ignorant and I do know better...
And back to the original poster, he's asking about a 94 Bayliner here...not much monetary value to begin with. I think some rigs are good candidates for what some may consider to be "hack repairs" and others are not. The original poster was asking for opinions, and he's certainly getting a variety!
And to those innocent folks who stumble across and read this thread now and in the future, it should whole-heartedly reinforce the often repeated concepts of "buyer beware" and "get a survey" and "have the boat fully checked by a competent mechanic" before investing in ANY used boat. Cracked blocks/risers/manifolds due to freeze damage are equally likely on 2010 boats with 40 hours as they are on 1988 boats with 1,000 hours...EVERYONE needs to make sure he's fully understanding what he's buying BEFORE he buys. If this thread has proven nothing else, I believe we can all agree that we now know that there are a LOT of hacked boats out there which are running very very well...
Just because a boat runs great, does NOT mean it doesn't have a potentially serious and expensive problem covered up by repair methods that some find appropriate, yet others feel are questionable. I know mine runs showroom new and passes all mechanical tests with flying colors, and if I were a dishonest seller I could hide the patch with a bit of sandpaper and paint, then dump it off VERY EASILY as a non-cracked engine block to the average runabout buyer, and the buyer likely wouldn't know the difference until if/when the patch fails. But since I'm my own mechanic, it doesn't bother me one bit for MY boat...I had a choice of $6, 10 minute grey glob, or a $1,500 multiple-hour engine swap (with my own labor...probably $3,000+ if I weren't capable and I had to pay others to get my engine replaced). I chose the $6 option, and I'm awful glad I did. Original poster might choose the same, and I see no reason to discourage it one bit...
And to the guy who said something about Alaska...Would I be willing to take my Volvo out on the open sea in Alaska? Hell no! LOL. At least not without a backup engine with me! But I'll gladly take it out to the 3,000 acre high-traffic inland lake that my boat will probably never leave. And I'll bring an oar, an anchor, an orange flag, and a few extra beers to pass the time just in case my repair fails me someday...and my life will NOT be at risk in any way...
