beakerguy6
Cadet
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2008
- Messages
- 6
I recently found a boat for sale a couple hours away from me. I stopped to take a look and a test drive. It is a 1973 Starcraft Holiday 18' aluminum boat with a mercruiser 140hp stern drive. I am not sure of the out drive.
The boat did not leak near the out drive when we took it out for a test drive. The only problem that he could tell me was that it would stall when putting it in reverse. It stalled when I left it idle without giving it any gas. The boat would shutter and shake at this very low rpm, but smooth out when given gas.
The boat was able to plane out and do about 28mph (2500rpm) and would bog/slow down when taking a sharp corner. From a stand still the boat would take off and plane out but took about 30-45 seconds before it would get a surge of power and sort of take off. The throttle cable appears to need adjustment as it needed to be pushed almost 90 degrees before the engine would respond. The boat also started to back fire as we drove back to the boat landing. The boat had not been run in 2 months or so and had old gas in it from last year(with stabilizer). We didn't run it for a super long time, but it remained at the low end of the temp gauge for the 15 minutes we were out there.
The owner had not performed any maintenance on it aside from changing the oil every season, fogging the cylinders and draining water for winter. The plugs could very well be 2 years old, the wires maybe older. I'm not sure of the lower unit oil. The plugs were dark but not oily.
I did a quick compression check and the cylinders were about 90/110/110/110. I say 'about' because I was trying to do it quick and have not done a compression test before. The gauge may not have been the most accurate as it was a rental(I was told they can vary by 20psi even with identical gauges). I was told it is important that the cylinders are close to one another.
I am just nervous about purchasing my first boat and a 35 year old one at that. I am just wondering of this would be a good purchase. I am not afraid to do maintenance or repair work on anything. So I am looking for feedback on whether this is a good starter boat for me to clean and tune up.
The boat did not leak near the out drive when we took it out for a test drive. The only problem that he could tell me was that it would stall when putting it in reverse. It stalled when I left it idle without giving it any gas. The boat would shutter and shake at this very low rpm, but smooth out when given gas.
The boat was able to plane out and do about 28mph (2500rpm) and would bog/slow down when taking a sharp corner. From a stand still the boat would take off and plane out but took about 30-45 seconds before it would get a surge of power and sort of take off. The throttle cable appears to need adjustment as it needed to be pushed almost 90 degrees before the engine would respond. The boat also started to back fire as we drove back to the boat landing. The boat had not been run in 2 months or so and had old gas in it from last year(with stabilizer). We didn't run it for a super long time, but it remained at the low end of the temp gauge for the 15 minutes we were out there.
The owner had not performed any maintenance on it aside from changing the oil every season, fogging the cylinders and draining water for winter. The plugs could very well be 2 years old, the wires maybe older. I'm not sure of the lower unit oil. The plugs were dark but not oily.
I did a quick compression check and the cylinders were about 90/110/110/110. I say 'about' because I was trying to do it quick and have not done a compression test before. The gauge may not have been the most accurate as it was a rental(I was told they can vary by 20psi even with identical gauges). I was told it is important that the cylinders are close to one another.
I am just nervous about purchasing my first boat and a 35 year old one at that. I am just wondering of this would be a good purchase. I am not afraid to do maintenance or repair work on anything. So I am looking for feedback on whether this is a good starter boat for me to clean and tune up.
