Finally buying my own boat!

[saxrulez]

I finally found what I believe to be a decent boat for my needs.

Its a 1979 19' Century Bowrider.

The interior and floor is in amazing shape! The engine is now a chev. 350. converted from what looks to be an OMC V-8??

I'm not overly concerned with going fast, but am I right to think this boat is going to scream in the water? The speedometer isn't working atm and the owner doesn't know exactly how fast it'll run. I only need barely fast enough to ski, but anything additional is welcome!

Are chev 350's in boats pretty reliable typically?

 

[koko1]

Re: Finally buying my own boat!

You will have no problem skiing out of your boat.. I am not familiar with the weight of your boat but with that big engine on a 19' boat it should scream down the river...

 

[5150abf]

Re: Finally buying my own boat!

That is a 31 year old boat, make sure the transom is okay.

Finding a boat that old that doesn't need alot of glass work is pretty rare, you should be able to put your body weight on the outdrive, yes actually stand on it, and the transom shouldn't move at all or very little,1/8'' or less.

Check the floor for soft spots adn definately take it for test drive.

It woudl be money well spent to have it surveyed by a dealer or someone who really know what to look for in a boat.

A really nice interior won't mean much if you have to rebuild the transom and stringers.

And yes the 5.7 is pretty much the standard in I/O engines.

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: Finally buying my own boat!

The engine is now a chev. 350. converted from what looks to be an OMC V-8??

OMC used Chevy blocks (with marine specific items attached) and mated them to their outdrives. Only the outdrive, exhaust and engine mounts are made by OMC. The block and motor internals are from Chevy.

OMC drives in the 1979 timeframe are the old "stringer" drive.

You need to know more about what is powering the boat to understand what it is you are getting into.

OMC drives from that era are essentially obsolete and not supported well for maintenance or parts availability. If this boat has an OMC stringer drive I think most people would tell you to run away from this boat.

 

[saxrulez]

Re: Finally buying my own boat!

OMC used Chevy blocks (with marine specific items attached) and mated them to their outdrives. Only the outdrive, exhaust and engine mounts are made by OMC. The block and motor internals are from Chevy.

OMC drives in the 1979 timeframe are the old "stringer" drive.

You need to know more about what is powering the boat to understand what it is you are getting into.

OMC drives from that era are essentially obsolete and not supported well for maintenance or parts availability. If this boat has an OMC stringer drive I think most people would tell you to run away from this boat.

What is "stringer" drive? It does look like the outdrive/exhaust/engine mounts are OMC. I can send a picture of it if this would help clarify anything.


It seems that when looking at older boats, there is always something people want to run away from! Old mercruisers, etc etc!


Are there any typical trouble areas I should be looking at?

 

[saxrulez]

Re: Finally buying my own boat!




Anything I should know to look for on this?

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: Finally buying my own boat!

OMCs first commercially viable outdrive was developed and produced from the late 60s through the mid 80s. It was signicantly different than any other outdrive on the market.

The OMC required the entire engine/outdrive unit to move to adjust the trim angle of the drive. they had the ability to tilt the drive for trailering but the actual adjustment of trim while undeway required the entire engine to move. The entire unit was attached to the stringers of the boat and that is how it got its name. The front motor mount is where the trim motor was mounted and basically it raised/lowered the front of the motor to adjust trim.

Because this entire unit had to move, the hole through the transom was required to be pretty large. The seal around this hole to keep water out is a big rubber doughnut sort of thing. These seals can/will leak.

I'm not an expert on the stringer drive. From the pictures you posted, it isn't clear to me what you have....the exhaust manifolds are obviously OMC and are for sure from the stringer vintage. The motor mount visible in one of the pictures doesn't seem to be typical of a stringer. However, the picture from the top down doesn't give the full story.

A picture from the rear of the boat and from the of the motor would help identify what the boat actually has.

For a quick reference OMC stringer drives were typically painted white or light gray.

 

[saxrulez]

Re: Finally buying my own boat!

I dont have a picture directly from the rear at the moment. This is the best I have for that.



Thank you for your post, it was very helpful in understanding this stuff. I'm reading like crazy trying to take it all in right now. I'm very mechanically inclined(especially with cars), but haven't been around or worked on boats too much yet.

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: Finally buying my own boat!

I just took a closer look at the pictures.

It is a OMC stringer drive setup.

It looks like someone pulled a motor out of a truck and stuck it in this boat....while in practice that may work, there are some things that need to be done to make it work correctly. As an example, the alternator appears to be standard automotive style. That is a potential explosion hazard on a boat. The gas fumes on a boat get trapped under the motor cover and in the bilge. If these build up the spark from a non sealed alternator can ignite the fumes. Every year there are stories about this sort of thing happening.

In general, from the 3 pictures (very limited scope) my assesment of the boat is that it is in below average condition mechanically and structurally.

How much are you looking to spend on this boat?

Based on what I have seen I wouldn't want to spend more than $1000-$1500, assuming the rest of the boat is pristine....actually, I probably wouldn't take the boat for free. I have enough projects as it is. Taking this boat would be a burden. There would be very little potential for a return on any investment into it.

 

[saxrulez]

Re: Finally buying my own boat!

Sent you a PM. Very helpful posts!

 

[ECVCHAMP]

Re: Finally buying my own boat!

That is a 31 year old boat, make sure the transom is okay.

Finding a boat that old that doesn't need alot of glass work is pretty rare, you should be able to put your body weight on the outdrive, yes actually stand on it, and the transom shouldn't move at all or very little,1/8'' or less.

This test will not work on a OMC, the drive is not mounted to the transom. I would be concerned about the wooden block under the engine mount. It looks like it is not glassed in. Also just an FYI - I used to own one and parts are getting hard to find at a reasonable price even on ebay and there are fewer and fewer shops that will work on them, at least around here. Get a good book and read all you can in the outdrive section stickys. Happy boating

 

[ECVCHAMP]

Re: Finally buying my own boat!

One more thing - I think that is an Electric shift model made from 66 to 77. If it were an 800 made from 78 to 86(i think) it would have fresh water pick ups on the sides about 6 inches up from the bottem and it look like there are not.

 

[Philster]

Re: Finally buying my own boat!

Run.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Finally buying my own boat!

I agree. Although it may be an otherwise nice boat, that stringer is a deal breaker for me. I would only buy it if it was extrememly cheap and everything currently worked. If I needed to put any work into it to get it on the water....I'd rather do that to something with a non-obsolete drive.

You want to stick with Mercruiser or Volvo for I/O powered boats. The one exception being the Merc 470 which was a 3.7L 4 cyl. (it has other names but they are all 3.7L). For outboard boats anything is fine except Chrysler/Force again because of parts and service support issues.

 

[25thmustang]

Re: Finally buying my own boat!

You want to stick with Mercruiser or Volvo for I/O powered boats. The one exception being the Merc 470 which was a 3.7L 4 cyl. (it has other names but they are all 3.7L).

Oh boo...



I agree with the majority. Even being mechanically inclined, your looking at an item that parts aren't available, or at least are not easy or cheap to get. Take the $1000 boat, and your talking many thousands just to get it right, and on the water assuming there will be something amiss. Then your maintenance over the years...

I think in this market, you should be able to find something with a better motor/drive for a price your willing to pay.

My .02.