Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

[egleas84]

For $2000? Good price? Run away? Appears pretty well taken care of, dealer states it runs well and has good compression on all cylinders. Carpet looks OK, the interior otherwise seems good.

Looking for opinions from people who have had experience with this boat & drive only please.

http://www.mwmarine.com/new_galleria.asp?pov=1767925

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

Looking for opinions from people who have had experience with this boat & drive only please.

Good luck with that ^^^

That thing is cherry for a the year and price. Looks like a diamond in the rough. Some wax, polish, vinyl cleaner and magic eraser and that thing could look like new.

I'm not a fan of an I/O in a 16ft but that one should be decent power for a boat that size.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

Looking for opinions from people who have had experience with this boat & drive only please.

Ayuh,... I agree ezmobee,.... Gittin' pretty darn Picky, eh,..??

If the hull, 'n it's wood ain't Rotten,...
'n the motor/ drive checks out Ok,...
It's probably a decent little barge, at a pretty decent price....

Those 120hp/ Ahplas are a pretty Solid little driveline...

 

[mhirsch05]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

i have almost the same boat and i love it. mines an 81 18ft with the same motor. hull holds up well. i recently stripped mine to the bones and found no rot. id go for it at that price

 

[DuckHunterJon]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

Looks like a nice rig to me. As always, take a close look at the floor and transom. If they are good and solid, try talking the dealer down some and go with your gut.

 

[egleas84]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

I guess people with the same boat from nearly 30 years ago was a lot to expect! Thanks for your thoughts, the back of the skeg and lack of trim tab are currently my only concerns...

 

[egleas84]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

The onlly caviat is that its winter in Wisconsin... can't test drive it. debated on waiting until spring to shop but I think if i hear and see it run and the prop spins before i buy it i should be ok.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

I guess people with the same boat from nearly 30 years ago was a lot to expect! Thanks for your thoughts, the back of the skeg and lack of trim tab are currently my only concerns...

Some SS props interfered with the trim tab. You can purchase an offset tab that will clear the prop. I would buy anything until I felt how it performed under power

 

[ziggy]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

to elaborate further

Some SS props interfered with the trim tab. You can purchase an offset tab that will clear the prop. I would buy anything until I felt how it performed under power

agreed, try it before ya do anything. and yes, there's an offset trim tab available or.

ya can just grind off what the original tab was. mine was the long one. w/ a different prop that interfered with the tab. a grinder got me the clearance i needed. this method is even described in one of the service manuals..

 

[scipper77]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

My good friend has a slightly newer (1987?) ss 176. Same power package. It's a pretty solid boat in my opinion. It's no speed demon but will pull tubes no problem, we never tried to ski with it.

At that price if you get 5 years out of it you have won the game!!

 

[egleas84]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

Would be a COMPLETE idiot if i bought it without a test drive?

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

For $2000? nah. Do a compression test on the motor, make sure it runs and shifts in and out of gear. Obviously it would be better if you could test run it but this time of year I see how that might be difficult. You may have to prepare yourself for the possibility that when you splash it, a vibration could pop up signaling some drive work needing to be done but hey, it's a $2k boat. I'm not sure if I/O's are like this but know that LOTS of outboards run great in the driveway but when you stick 'em in the lake with some backpressure on the exhaust and a load on them stalling and idling issues can appear. I would put it in the acceptable risk department especially if you do a compression check on the motor.

 

[Silly Seville]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

"Complete idiot?" No. Potentially ignorant of the realities of buying an old boat...yes. At the very minimum, I would suggest muffing or tanking the drive and getting the motor up to operating temperature for at least 15 minutes. Doing this can rule out a variety of major issues that you may have to contend with later on at wallet breaking expense. If this is your last $2,000 in the bank, I wouldn't consider a purchase without putting the hull in the water to check for sea worthiness. If, on the other hand, money is no object, just buy it and expect to replace items as they fail/need replacing. My boat is powered virtually the same as this Stingray, and I can tell you first hand that the Iron Duke is a tough little workhorse, and if treated with a modicum of care, will provide years of trouble-free and low-cost service. BTW, that appears to be an "R" drive. Also, don't worry about that tiny chip in the skeg, I have a chunk missing from mine and it doesn't affect the handling. Just my .03 worth!

 

[castaic piper]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

My uncle has a near idenical boat but 18' same 120 I/O. when we installed a new stainless prop it needed a offset trim tab on the outdrive. Fun little boat and sips gas. You mentioned it was at a dealership. See if you can have their mechanic run a compresion check, install a new waterpump impeller and pull the drive to check the bellows, gimble bearing and alignment. A little work and insurance for bargaining power.

 

[seaboo]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

I had not the same boat but the same power plant in a similar boat. LOVED that engine, not a speed demon but puled well and didn't care if you had 1 person or were overloaded, the engine still pulled at the same speed and never struggled. BULLET prof engine in my exp.

 

[egleas84]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

heard of any major complications for floor rot in these? It's absolute concrete in all but one area under the aft port side seat. Even that is not too bad, but its not SOLID like the rest. I can't find any areas in the boat to look under that spot to see. Since there is always a seat on top of this small area I could care less. by the time it actually decay's enough to kill the rest of the boat I'll probably have worn it out anyway. This thing is staying in my garage year round at least.

since i already bought it i'll just hope for the best.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

It's possible that your "not solid" section isn't actually rotted and spongy but just detached from the stringer a bit and springy in that section.

Congrats! Lets see some more pics! I think that was a good buy and I hope you have tons of fun with it.

 

[egleas84]

Re: Should I buy a 1983 Stingray 16ft w/ Mercruiser 120HP I/O?

Here's some "before" pics. needs some vinyl cleaner and some other touching up. Rear seats and engine cover off the boat right now to chase some stray wires for interior lighting... Cell took the pics, excuse the quality. Last picture is a side by side comparison to my last boat that I only paid $200 for and got 5 great years out of with no maintenance... the floor was rotted to the keel and the nothing worked except for the stereo, 85 HP Evinrude ran amazingly, pushed it around 32MPH (again this was the previous boat.)

The second to last picture is where my "flexing" is, the fiberglass is what's moving, there is wood under it that it seems to have seperated from--can't tell the condition of the wood beneath it. Since this is under a seat and the rest is sound I'm going to ignore until it needs attention; the alternative is to start cutting... not necessary at this point.