Hi Guys,
Firstly, let me say hi and how are you all doing? I've been a lurker for a while. I've been mucking around with boats most of my life and used to have a 17' UK style speed boat, with a 90 V4 Johnson. It was a typical UK boat - narrow and fast with a deep V for cuttingthrough the chop here. After a few years, it got sold as I was away too much with the Army (served in the Engineers in Iraq).
Fast forward about 8 years and I'm married to a gorgeous girl called Kate and living in a little town on a beautiful river in the South West of England. Sooooo, the wife and I have decided a boat is totally neccessary and i've looked at loads, form outboard centre consoles to ski boats, and we eventually narrowed the choice down to a bowrider. I looked a couple, but they all had problems, rot, or trashed interiors, or just too expensive. Eventually I found a Searay 18 Seville, fitted with a 4.3 175 hp engine, fairly nearby, at a good price. I had a good look, and except for a some electrical issues, the boat was pretty good.
The hull was in pretty good condition, but needed a polish, the upholstery was soft and flexible but needed a good clean, and the electricals were a pretty simple fix. The engine started instantly, idled okay, pumped water and had clean oil. The skeg had a chunk broken off, but that was going to be an easy fix when the leg was apart, to have weld a new one on, over the winter.
After 2 weekends of work I was ready to splash. I had completly ripped out all the bodged in wiring and sorted all the guages except the trim guage. I also sorted the trim function, repaired the hole in the transom for the speedo wire - a bit of rot which will have to get sorted over the winter, repaired the trim sender including running new wires, new auto bilge pump and fixed the blower. I also did lots of detailing tidying the wiring every where, but especially in the eingine compartment. I also sorted mooring lines, fenders, anchor etc. It was meant to be a big day as my brother was back for the weekeend on his pre-deployment leave as he's about to go to Afghanistan for 6 months.
We launched and while he took the truck and trailer away, I motored up the river to the quay. The boat wasn't quite running right, needing a high idle but fine other than that, with a good temperature. We set off down the river, with the boat going well. The champagne cork was popped and we were all happy. bunnies. The girl's wanted the cork, so I spun round to get it, and when we slowed to collect it up, the engine died. I struggled to get it started, but managed to restart, but I did notice that the carb wa flooding a little, so made a note that I needed to do a rebuild. Further down the river, we slowed to let a fleet of racing dingies past and the engine died again. I checked spark - a bit weak, and fuel, too much and flooding. This time I couldn't get it too start again, flattened both batteries, and had to be towed to a mooring. To cheer ourselves up, we walked up to the pub and got stuck in to a few beers.....
Next day, I cameback with a fresh battery, managed to get started with a lot of Easy-Start and shot back up the river. As i got near the slip, the engine was sounding a bit rough, but the temp was only 60 deg C (don't know what that is in Fahrenheit, but it is pretty cool), and I knew that I couldn't stop, as I throttled back to come in to the slip, the engine died again, so I lobbed out the anchor, until I could get a tow in. At this point I was releived to be back, but pissed at not having a good boat, and alreay ordering the new parts to get it running properly.
I ordered plugs, leads, new filter seperator, fuel pump filter, carb rebuild kit, leads, distributor cap, rotor and coil. The following the weekend, I started the work. Instantly I was concerned when I found water in 3 cylinders when the plugs came out. I was going to do a compression test, but when I checked under the oil filler, I knew there wasn't much point, with a lot of mayo in there. When I opened the drain taps, no water came out until I broke the scale and sediment out of the manifolds and block - not good!
The following day (Sunday), I woke up early because I was so pissed and was at the workshop by 6.30 in the morning. By 9, the engine was out, and by 12, i had stripped the engine of all ancilliaries, removed the heads and was down to a short motor. Not good news with both head gaskets gone (a gap in the gasket about 3/4" wide between 2 and 4, and every other fire ring blown or on the way out). The other major concern was that the block was filled with sediment - this probably caused the overheating which led to the gaskets going in the first place - however long ago. I finished stripping the block and bagging every part for re-assembly, before taking it over to a mate for advice. (He runs a business perpping 1930's Grand Prix cars, so knows what he's talking about).
The decision has been made to completely rebuild, so I'm having the block and head acid dipped and cleaned, before machining for +030 thou pistons, with new valves, bearings, gaskets, coreplugs and seals etc. Luckily, the crank and rods are good to go, possibly with a little polish on the crank, but no more. The heads will be reworked, with the valve seats being recut, and the head/block being skimmed to ensure they are flat. All my parts have arrived, and I'm hoping to collect the cleaned block tomorrow, to drop it off at the machine shop. As soon as it comes back from there, I'll be on with the rebuild. I've set a deadline of getting the boat back on the water by the end of August so wish me luck.
There are a few good bits to this story - when I checked the leg, the oil was perfect, and it looks great with a fresh coat of paint. We will also have a boat with an engine that will be good for another 10 years.
I'll try and get some pics up, as I know that with pics, the thread is USELESS!
Mods, I've put this here, as I intend to keep this thread updated with the freshening of the boat - starting with the engine, before finishing the interior and a very thorough check for rot (I'm not brave enough yet...!)
Cheers,
Toby
Firstly, let me say hi and how are you all doing? I've been a lurker for a while. I've been mucking around with boats most of my life and used to have a 17' UK style speed boat, with a 90 V4 Johnson. It was a typical UK boat - narrow and fast with a deep V for cuttingthrough the chop here. After a few years, it got sold as I was away too much with the Army (served in the Engineers in Iraq).
Fast forward about 8 years and I'm married to a gorgeous girl called Kate and living in a little town on a beautiful river in the South West of England. Sooooo, the wife and I have decided a boat is totally neccessary and i've looked at loads, form outboard centre consoles to ski boats, and we eventually narrowed the choice down to a bowrider. I looked a couple, but they all had problems, rot, or trashed interiors, or just too expensive. Eventually I found a Searay 18 Seville, fitted with a 4.3 175 hp engine, fairly nearby, at a good price. I had a good look, and except for a some electrical issues, the boat was pretty good.
The hull was in pretty good condition, but needed a polish, the upholstery was soft and flexible but needed a good clean, and the electricals were a pretty simple fix. The engine started instantly, idled okay, pumped water and had clean oil. The skeg had a chunk broken off, but that was going to be an easy fix when the leg was apart, to have weld a new one on, over the winter.
After 2 weekends of work I was ready to splash. I had completly ripped out all the bodged in wiring and sorted all the guages except the trim guage. I also sorted the trim function, repaired the hole in the transom for the speedo wire - a bit of rot which will have to get sorted over the winter, repaired the trim sender including running new wires, new auto bilge pump and fixed the blower. I also did lots of detailing tidying the wiring every where, but especially in the eingine compartment. I also sorted mooring lines, fenders, anchor etc. It was meant to be a big day as my brother was back for the weekeend on his pre-deployment leave as he's about to go to Afghanistan for 6 months.
We launched and while he took the truck and trailer away, I motored up the river to the quay. The boat wasn't quite running right, needing a high idle but fine other than that, with a good temperature. We set off down the river, with the boat going well. The champagne cork was popped and we were all happy. bunnies. The girl's wanted the cork, so I spun round to get it, and when we slowed to collect it up, the engine died. I struggled to get it started, but managed to restart, but I did notice that the carb wa flooding a little, so made a note that I needed to do a rebuild. Further down the river, we slowed to let a fleet of racing dingies past and the engine died again. I checked spark - a bit weak, and fuel, too much and flooding. This time I couldn't get it too start again, flattened both batteries, and had to be towed to a mooring. To cheer ourselves up, we walked up to the pub and got stuck in to a few beers.....
Next day, I cameback with a fresh battery, managed to get started with a lot of Easy-Start and shot back up the river. As i got near the slip, the engine was sounding a bit rough, but the temp was only 60 deg C (don't know what that is in Fahrenheit, but it is pretty cool), and I knew that I couldn't stop, as I throttled back to come in to the slip, the engine died again, so I lobbed out the anchor, until I could get a tow in. At this point I was releived to be back, but pissed at not having a good boat, and alreay ordering the new parts to get it running properly.
I ordered plugs, leads, new filter seperator, fuel pump filter, carb rebuild kit, leads, distributor cap, rotor and coil. The following the weekend, I started the work. Instantly I was concerned when I found water in 3 cylinders when the plugs came out. I was going to do a compression test, but when I checked under the oil filler, I knew there wasn't much point, with a lot of mayo in there. When I opened the drain taps, no water came out until I broke the scale and sediment out of the manifolds and block - not good!
The following day (Sunday), I woke up early because I was so pissed and was at the workshop by 6.30 in the morning. By 9, the engine was out, and by 12, i had stripped the engine of all ancilliaries, removed the heads and was down to a short motor. Not good news with both head gaskets gone (a gap in the gasket about 3/4" wide between 2 and 4, and every other fire ring blown or on the way out). The other major concern was that the block was filled with sediment - this probably caused the overheating which led to the gaskets going in the first place - however long ago. I finished stripping the block and bagging every part for re-assembly, before taking it over to a mate for advice. (He runs a business perpping 1930's Grand Prix cars, so knows what he's talking about).
The decision has been made to completely rebuild, so I'm having the block and head acid dipped and cleaned, before machining for +030 thou pistons, with new valves, bearings, gaskets, coreplugs and seals etc. Luckily, the crank and rods are good to go, possibly with a little polish on the crank, but no more. The heads will be reworked, with the valve seats being recut, and the head/block being skimmed to ensure they are flat. All my parts have arrived, and I'm hoping to collect the cleaned block tomorrow, to drop it off at the machine shop. As soon as it comes back from there, I'll be on with the rebuild. I've set a deadline of getting the boat back on the water by the end of August so wish me luck.
There are a few good bits to this story - when I checked the leg, the oil was perfect, and it looks great with a fresh coat of paint. We will also have a boat with an engine that will be good for another 10 years.
I'll try and get some pics up, as I know that with pics, the thread is USELESS!
Mods, I've put this here, as I intend to keep this thread updated with the freshening of the boat - starting with the engine, before finishing the interior and a very thorough check for rot (I'm not brave enough yet...!)
Cheers,
Toby
