looking at a 150 Johnson. But....

[misery]

I have a chance to buy a 17 ft Doral with a 150 johnson for a smokin hot price. But there are a few things the seller told me that sent up some red flags.
He told me that he had running three weeks ago after it sat for more than a year, it ran for a minute then quit, I never asked him if he had muffs on it, but it is parked a couple hundred feet from his house and the trailer is sunk in the ground so unless he had alot of hose.... The other thing he said was that he had replaced the control box, and that after that the power trim would only raise and not lower. he told me that he had a "mechanic" check it out and that they got the motor to lower by reversing the battery cables.... Yes i said reversing the battery cables. My question is, what kind of damage would doing that cause to the electricals of the motor? The boat is in awsome shape and its sitting on a really nice galvanized shorelander trailer, so if the entire electrical system isn't pooched i think i'll get it. Because you can never have too much "misery" in your life.

 

[86 century]

Re: looking at a 150 Johnson. But....

What year is the eng.

 

[misery]

Re: looking at a 150 Johnson. But....

Not sure on the year but at a glance i'd say its a mid to late 80's vintage.

 

[mrcj001]

Re: looking at a 150 Johnson. But....

Reversing battery cables will fry the rectifier. It charges the battery.

When buying a used boat, be prepared to spend some money.

Before buying any engine, be sure to check the compression on all cylinders. They all should be close to the same pressure.

If the boat is cheep, well.......

Carb rebuild: $ 40.00
Water Pump: $ 50.00
New fuel lines,hoses,spark plugs, the list goes on and on..........

 

[jonesg]

Re: looking at a 150 Johnson. But....

Carb kits will cost $120 , DIY.
Yeh you will spend some money doing the maintenance, if compression is decent 80psi and up, all even, then its worth $1200 - $1800.
Thats beaucoup power on a 17'.

 

[keefallan]

Re: looking at a 150 Johnson. But....

I can't comment about the "frying the rectifier" statement. That is something I would have to come across in the field. I CAN comment on why he reversed the leads. Your trim motor operates by reversing the polarity to it. Up is one way and down is the other. The down relay is fried(most likely). So he manually changed polarity on the motor and pressed the up button on the trim and the motor went down!!! Sounds crazy, but I promise you it's the truth. I've had to troubleshoot many trim systems electrically, and they all are very similar. Its all based on reversing the polarity to the trim motor. If the relays are replaced, your system should be ok. But being an electrician by trade, I'd go over all your connections and clean or replace. Good luck.

 

[bkwapisz]

Re: looking at a 150 Johnson. But....

Thats beaucoup power on a 17'.

That's what I was thinking. Misery- might want to check the plate on the boat and see what the max HP rating is. Sounds like there's a lot on there to me.....