New here, and finding a lot of good info I wish I had last year ahead of buying my boat. After a friend got his, I mentioned to my brother that I would start looking for one for this coming season. Well he got the bug and started sending me links for boats for sale. We found one that looked to be in great shape. The boat was cleaned up nice and looked ready to drop in the water. It was a 98 Larson 270 Cabrio with a Volvo engine and penta drive.
He wanted $26,000 we told him $18 and he came to $20. Problem 1, we based the $18 on Nada, and never having owned a boat, I was clueless to the potential hidden problems. Problem 2, this guy was moving at the end of the week, (was packing his moving van while we looked at the boat) and we needed to make a quick decision. We should have decided to low ball him further, but we were happy to be getting into the boating world.
We picked up the boat and brought it to a marina in Winthrop, MA to have it de-winterized, bottom painted, and set up for the summer. First problem, the boat had an aftermarket inverter system, running from 4 6 volt batteries which were being charged by an oversized alternator hooked up to the engine. Essentially they were trying to use the engine as a generator. The guy recommended replacing the batteries for the season. So we dropped $600 on batteries and another $2500 on everything else. But the boat was working so we were happy.
We were in the water a few times before we noticed the voltage meter started running in the 9's when idle, and would shoot up to the 13's at around 1300 RPM. Then my brother went out and couldn't get the up to any speed without causing the engine to race, like it was in neutral and you were giving it full throttle back to none. So we called a different mechanic having realized the first guy was a rip off when discussing with some friends the work he did for the $2500.
Before the new guy came to look at it, I noticed a faint oil/gas smell but nothing was building up in the bilge and I had noticed it before. It was faint enough that I took it as a basic engine smell, less than you would get walking into a garage. I took it out to see if I noticed anything peculiar with the engine that would cause the racing and had no problem at all. When I got back to the slip, I opened the engine cover and noticed the belt going to the alternator was bouncing a little, so I tightened it up and thought maybe that had caused my brothers problem.
I then made the decision, very stupidly, to take the boat from Winthrop to Duxbury MA for a weekend. The weather turned somewhat rough on the way down, and the boat was hitting some decent waves. I was half there already and the forecast was supposed to be better the next day so I pressed on. When I got to my friends place in the harbor, I was about to anchor when a friend that made the trip with me and has a boat of his own advised me to pull up to a mooring and he would tie me on. I knew the boat would bottom out at low tide, but no big deal. We made it to the party exhausted from the ride down. Had a few drinks and it started to rain so we head back to the boat and go to bed. At 3AM we wake up to the boat crashing onto shore. I carried my anchor out as far as I could, but it was too late. We were beached for the day, so I thought. I check my nav system to see we are about 3 miles from where we tied up. I check the line he tied onto the mooring with and he had done it completely wrong. We had no chance of lasting the night with no waves, let alone the light chop we were getting. I should have checked it myself when we got there. At 4:30 after trying to sleep a bit, i get woken up by my buddy who tells me he's got to go. He had called his brother to come pick me up and was planning to leave me there for the day. Great. I lock up the boat and take a ride back home to drum up some people to help get the boat off the beach and take the ride north with me.
I find someone, the first kids brother feels terrible about leaving me stranded so he drives us back to the boat, and we wait about an hour for high tide. At that point someone is walking along the beach and helps give a light shove off the beach and we are under way. Drive across the harbor to fill up, and we're off on the most pristine day of the season. Great ride all the way home. Wash up the boat and head home from a long day.
The next night I get a call from the second mechanic. He finally had some time to head to the marina to take a look at the boat, but couldn't do anything. The bilge had 4 inches of fuel under the engine. The gas tank was leaking. Great. I do some Google searches, and found out the tank had been recalled. I called the Larson dealer in Bridgewater and arrange to get the boat down to them. While they have the engine out the replace the risers and some other normal stuff and most of the labor gets billed to Larson. Good for me. They are also the least organized shop I have ever seen. They did one thing at a time. To the point that I had a ding on the prop I wanted straightened out and they waited until they had finished all of the work on the tank and the engine before sending it out. So what should have taken 4 -5 weeks took 10. I lost the best part of the summer, when all of the rain had stopped and the fishing would have been great. They charged me another $1500-2000 in parts and some labor.
I get it back from them, and take it out. It won't go faster than 5MPH. I call them, and demand they come to me since I had already taken it out of the water and trailered it 45 miles once. They take another week to come up and take a look. I think they slipped the prop on wrong, but they were never really straight on what they did.
A week goes by and I take some friends out to fish. We notice a burning rubber smell so we shut down the engine, and open the cover to see the alternator belt had worn through and snapped. Also there is a voltage regulator hooked up to the alternator that had fried. I called Sea Tow, best investment I ever made, and got towed into the slip. I called them and they told me they did nothing that would have impacted the alternator. At this point I was done dealing with them. I probably should have fought them for some money back, but I just want the whole electrical system cleaned out and rewired.
I found a guy recommended by a few other boaters. He has on site storage and at the start of the season is on the water, so I don't need to worry about trailering the boat (I don't have a truck so was relying on friends) of registering the trailer. He just sent me the bill, $3000 to rewire the batteries, get rid of the jerryrigged 6 volt batteries (for sale if anyone is interested), repositioned the boat batteries adding battery boxes, rebuilt the circulator pump and repaired or replaced most of the pulleys. The entire time he worked on it, he kept me informed of the work he was doing and answered the phone or got back to me every time I called. I never chased him down once so I have faith his work was good.
It is now wrapped up and ready for the start of the season and I can?t wait to get out there. The plan is to rename the boat with a full ceremony, but we?ll see what happens.
He wanted $26,000 we told him $18 and he came to $20. Problem 1, we based the $18 on Nada, and never having owned a boat, I was clueless to the potential hidden problems. Problem 2, this guy was moving at the end of the week, (was packing his moving van while we looked at the boat) and we needed to make a quick decision. We should have decided to low ball him further, but we were happy to be getting into the boating world.
We picked up the boat and brought it to a marina in Winthrop, MA to have it de-winterized, bottom painted, and set up for the summer. First problem, the boat had an aftermarket inverter system, running from 4 6 volt batteries which were being charged by an oversized alternator hooked up to the engine. Essentially they were trying to use the engine as a generator. The guy recommended replacing the batteries for the season. So we dropped $600 on batteries and another $2500 on everything else. But the boat was working so we were happy.
We were in the water a few times before we noticed the voltage meter started running in the 9's when idle, and would shoot up to the 13's at around 1300 RPM. Then my brother went out and couldn't get the up to any speed without causing the engine to race, like it was in neutral and you were giving it full throttle back to none. So we called a different mechanic having realized the first guy was a rip off when discussing with some friends the work he did for the $2500.
Before the new guy came to look at it, I noticed a faint oil/gas smell but nothing was building up in the bilge and I had noticed it before. It was faint enough that I took it as a basic engine smell, less than you would get walking into a garage. I took it out to see if I noticed anything peculiar with the engine that would cause the racing and had no problem at all. When I got back to the slip, I opened the engine cover and noticed the belt going to the alternator was bouncing a little, so I tightened it up and thought maybe that had caused my brothers problem.
I then made the decision, very stupidly, to take the boat from Winthrop to Duxbury MA for a weekend. The weather turned somewhat rough on the way down, and the boat was hitting some decent waves. I was half there already and the forecast was supposed to be better the next day so I pressed on. When I got to my friends place in the harbor, I was about to anchor when a friend that made the trip with me and has a boat of his own advised me to pull up to a mooring and he would tie me on. I knew the boat would bottom out at low tide, but no big deal. We made it to the party exhausted from the ride down. Had a few drinks and it started to rain so we head back to the boat and go to bed. At 3AM we wake up to the boat crashing onto shore. I carried my anchor out as far as I could, but it was too late. We were beached for the day, so I thought. I check my nav system to see we are about 3 miles from where we tied up. I check the line he tied onto the mooring with and he had done it completely wrong. We had no chance of lasting the night with no waves, let alone the light chop we were getting. I should have checked it myself when we got there. At 4:30 after trying to sleep a bit, i get woken up by my buddy who tells me he's got to go. He had called his brother to come pick me up and was planning to leave me there for the day. Great. I lock up the boat and take a ride back home to drum up some people to help get the boat off the beach and take the ride north with me.
I find someone, the first kids brother feels terrible about leaving me stranded so he drives us back to the boat, and we wait about an hour for high tide. At that point someone is walking along the beach and helps give a light shove off the beach and we are under way. Drive across the harbor to fill up, and we're off on the most pristine day of the season. Great ride all the way home. Wash up the boat and head home from a long day.
The next night I get a call from the second mechanic. He finally had some time to head to the marina to take a look at the boat, but couldn't do anything. The bilge had 4 inches of fuel under the engine. The gas tank was leaking. Great. I do some Google searches, and found out the tank had been recalled. I called the Larson dealer in Bridgewater and arrange to get the boat down to them. While they have the engine out the replace the risers and some other normal stuff and most of the labor gets billed to Larson. Good for me. They are also the least organized shop I have ever seen. They did one thing at a time. To the point that I had a ding on the prop I wanted straightened out and they waited until they had finished all of the work on the tank and the engine before sending it out. So what should have taken 4 -5 weeks took 10. I lost the best part of the summer, when all of the rain had stopped and the fishing would have been great. They charged me another $1500-2000 in parts and some labor.
I get it back from them, and take it out. It won't go faster than 5MPH. I call them, and demand they come to me since I had already taken it out of the water and trailered it 45 miles once. They take another week to come up and take a look. I think they slipped the prop on wrong, but they were never really straight on what they did.
A week goes by and I take some friends out to fish. We notice a burning rubber smell so we shut down the engine, and open the cover to see the alternator belt had worn through and snapped. Also there is a voltage regulator hooked up to the alternator that had fried. I called Sea Tow, best investment I ever made, and got towed into the slip. I called them and they told me they did nothing that would have impacted the alternator. At this point I was done dealing with them. I probably should have fought them for some money back, but I just want the whole electrical system cleaned out and rewired.
I found a guy recommended by a few other boaters. He has on site storage and at the start of the season is on the water, so I don't need to worry about trailering the boat (I don't have a truck so was relying on friends) of registering the trailer. He just sent me the bill, $3000 to rewire the batteries, get rid of the jerryrigged 6 volt batteries (for sale if anyone is interested), repositioned the boat batteries adding battery boxes, rebuilt the circulator pump and repaired or replaced most of the pulleys. The entire time he worked on it, he kept me informed of the work he was doing and answered the phone or got back to me every time I called. I never chased him down once so I have faith his work was good.
It is now wrapped up and ready for the start of the season and I can?t wait to get out there. The plan is to rename the boat with a full ceremony, but we?ll see what happens.
