Thank you fellow iboaters'

[gunsup007]

Hello Fellow iboaters'

I am new to iboats and this will be my first post. I wanted to start by saying ?Thank You? to all the members on iboats. I have learned a lot the last couple of months reading, who knows how many threads. I also wanted to send a shout out to friscoboater, wow what an awesome job you have done! I spent several days going thru everyone's posts and watching all his videos.

I will first start by a little introduction and background. I am a brand new first time boat owner, which is why this site is worth its weight in gold. I originally started looking for a boat back in August of this year, which is how I stumbled upon this site. I found a boat that was in pretty bad shape that had been abandoned by its owner. The storage facility that had it was looking to sell it to recoup some of their money. After more research and troubles, I was not able to acquire that boat due to me not being able to get it titled and registered in my name. I found this site from an online search I was doing for boat parts and found the boating forum. Several of your posts and restore stories gave me great confidence to fix anything that was wrong with a boat. Although, I am new to boat ownership, I am a do-it-yourself type person and don't believe there is anything that I can't do (with a little research and the ability to reach out to the experienced). So, I continued my search. Back in September I found an amazing deal on a 1994 Manta Ray 203 F/S that was in amazing condition for the price. It had everything I wanted. Like many of your experiences, it was supposed to be lake ready. The gentleman I purchased it from seemed extremely honest, and showed me that everything worked in his driveway. The 4.3LX engine ran and sounded perfect. I know, I know, I should have lake tested it before I purchased it, but for the price I would have bought the boat with a blown engine. So, after my first lake test I was checking over everything and pulled the dipstick to check the oil, yep water in the oil. And not just a little, it was about 1-2 qt. extra. I dove into this site to find out if maybe it was driver error, since I was a new boat owner. I was hoping it was just me. I did 3 oil and filter changes to get all the water out and headed to the lake to do another test run. Well, that is a story in and of its self that I will tell a little later when I get into my engine tare-down.

You guessed it, water in the oil again. Ahhhh, well so much for a lake ready boat. Winter is coming up so, although it isn't a huge project, I will be pulling the engine and trying to find out where the water is coming from. I might have tons of questions for you guys as I start this journey. I have rebuilt a couple of auto engines so, I feel pretty comfortable tackling this project.

I will hopefully, be posting pictures and videos as I go thru everything, if I can. I look forward to everyone's comments and advice. Thanks in advance.

Take care fellow iboaters,

 

[gunsup007]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

All right so, here are some pictures of my boat and my future engine rebuild project.

 

[gunsup007]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

Here are the after removal pictures.

 

[gunsup007]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

And now for my first video.

 

[gunsup007]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

So, on with the story of how I busted my skeg and prop. Once I finished all my oil and filter changes to make sure I removed as much of the water as possible, it was once again time for a lake test. Before I headed out to the lake I hooked the boat up to the water hose and ran it multiple times in the driveway, but never saw any water in the oil. So, I knew it needed to be tested out on the lake under a load. Being a little crunched on time before it got dark one day after work, I hooked the boat up and headed to the nearest boat ramp. It wasn't a ramp I was familiar with but it was close. When I arrived I couldn't believe I had paid to get access to this ramp, the only type of boat I would have launched off that ramp would have been a flat bottom or inflatable boat. So, I pulled up the lake on my phone to find the next ramp down the road. I rushed down there and when I arrived, I was relieved to see a nice two lane boat ramp. I started to back the boat into the water and had to keep backing up, and backing up, and backing up. I was getting a little worried. I had all four tires of my Jeep GC in the water and water almost up to my door seals. The boat still wasn't deep enough to float it off of the rails. Not only was the water level down at the lake, this boat ramp was definitely not steep enough. I thought, no problem I will just release the boat, put it in reverse and back this thing right off the trailer. Yeah, none of that worked. I couldn't get my boat to budge. So, this is when my brilliant idea came to me. I thought, I would angle the boat over the side of the ramp where it looked a lot deeper and drop it in that way. Well the trailer and boat definitely dropped in all right, and when it did there were some rocks right behind the out-drive. Well that is how I broke the prop and skeg. I know, I know, rookie mistake. I was so determined to get that boat in the water that night. Oh, and I had to get pulled out by another kind boater that was felt sorry for this rookie. It took me jacking one side of the boat trailer axle up and putting some rocks under the trailer wheel and then me in my Jeep and my new friend in his 2500 Chevy truck to pull the boat and trailer out. Ahh, what a night.

So, one of my first questions is: Has anyone ever tried or used one of those skeg-gaurds that you can attach over the broken skeg. If so, does it work well?

The other thing is: where is the water coming from that is entering into my engine?

After the compression test I did on the engine, all cylinders had a psi of 155-160 except for the #3 cylinder which only had around 115. I am thinking it is a blown head gasket. After pulling the risers off and looking down into the manifold I don't see any rust trails, or see any signs of water. Also, after pulling all the spark plugs there was no water in any of the cylinders either. I am hoping I don't have a cracked block.

What do you guys think?

 

[Pete104]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

What are you going to paint?

 

[Struc]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

The other thing is: where is the water coming from that is entering into my engine?
After the compression test I did on the engine, all cylinders had a psi of 155-160 except for the #3 cylinder which only had around 115. I am thinking it is a blown head gasket. After pulling the risers off and looking down into the manifold I don't see any rust trails, or see any signs of water. Also, after pulling all the spark plugs there was no water in any of the cylinders either. I am hoping I don't have a cracked block.

I think you'll know for sure when you pull that head off the odd numbered side. It still could be a crack in the block or head or a head gasket. The head gasket is more likely, but you don't want to rule out anything. Get the thing stripped down, and I'm sure you'll find your problem without too much trouble.

 

[gunsup007]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

Thanks for the vote of confidence Struc I'm hoping it's not anything major...

 

[Pmccraney]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

Great boat. Cosmetically, it looks in great shape. Great video.... It's clear you know you way around on the engine block.. I know you didn't want a problem, but you'll fix er up and be more confident in your driveline when it's done. Working on boats is great winter project anyway.

Keep posting, and glad to have on board.

 

[Pikey23]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

Check you manifolds for cracks! I thought that I had a blown head gasket and it was just a manifold. There is a sticky in the adults only section about manifold pressure testing. When I pulled my exhaust elbow off, my problem was obvious, I could see water sitting inside the manifold, it had cracked in the thin wall and leaked into the intake and exhaust.

 

[gunsup007]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

Great boat. Cosmetically, it looks in great shape. Great video.... It's clear you know you way around on the engine block.. I know you didn't want a problem, but you'll fix er up and be more confident in your driveline when it's done. Working on boats is great winter project anyway.

Keep posting, and glad to have on board.

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. I am honored that you have taken time to check out my post. I know you are up to your eyeballs in fiberglass in your own restore right now, good luck to you.

 

[gunsup007]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

Check you manifolds for cracks! I thought that I had a blown head gasket and it was just a manifold. There is a sticky in the adults only section about manifold pressure testing. When I pulled my exhaust elbow off, my problem was obvious, I could see water sitting inside the manifold, it had cracked in the thin wall and leaked into the intake and exhaust.

Thanks for that info. I will have to check that thread out. It could be a small crack somewhere because it only gets water in the oil under a load.

 

[Pete104]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

At the end of your video, you say that get it painted! What are you going to paint?

 

[gunsup007]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

Sorry Pete 104, I was talking about my outdrive.

 

[erwinner]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

Hey gunsup! You a Tech alum?
That's a sharp lookin' boat and I hope it's just a head gasket that your sweet rig needs!

 

[Pete104]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

If you want the compliments to keep coming, Do Not Paint it! Just clean the lime scale off. Any shower cleaner will do it. Lime-Away & so on.

 

[gunsup007]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

Hey gunsup! You a Tech alum?
That's a sharp lookin' boat and I hope it's just a head gasket that your sweet rig needs!

Erwinner, I am a Tech Alum. Get your "Guns Up" buddy. Thank for the complements!

 

[gunsup007]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

If you want the compliments to keep coming, Do Not Paint it! Just clean the lime scale off. Any shower cleaner will do it. Lime-Away & so on.

Man I wished that was all it needed, but it is down to the bare aluminum.

 

[Pete104]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

Well, it looks like it's in good shape in the vid. Except for the skeg. Doesn't have corrosion pits all over it.

 

[gunsup007]

Re: Thank you fellow iboaters'

Man Pete, you have a good eye! That was just lime scale... It still took me using lime-away and sanding some of it to get it off, but you saved me tons of work. Now I'll just have to do touch-ups...