Sea Ray 240

[swamptiger]

Picked this boat up in Wisconsin last week. This will be a project boat for me when I retire in a couple of years or so, and I plan to use it in LOW and Rainy Lake. The boat is a 1974 model with a 225 hp Ford 302 Mercruiser I/O, and has spent its life in Lake Michigan up to this point. Hull, transom, and stringers are sound. The bottom hull could use repainting, and it needs some interior work and repair on the canvas. The engine is getting some water in the oil, so not sure if it has a cracked block from freezing or what the problem is, so I'm planning to remove the intake manifold and heads for a better look. I did notice the port-side exhaust manifold was cracked.

I will be doing most of the work myself, but this is my first I/O, so I'm wondering about sources for parts. Anyone know of a good outlet for new or used parts for vintage I/Os?

[MuskieJunkie]

The big online auction site and boat motor recycles in burnsville are good places to look for parts.

It sounds like it was not winterized properly. Those exhaust risers are EXPENSIVE so you may be better off buying a donor boat. If you can find a fiberglass boat with the same motor and outdrive that has rotten stringers and transom you should be able to pick it up cheap, sell the trailer, scrap the hull and come out way ahead on parts.

It looks like your winch stand does not have a bow stop.

[swamptiger]

Quote:

It sounds like it was not winterized properly. Those exhaust risers are EXPENSIVE so you may be better off buying a donor boat. If you can find a fiberglass boat with the same motor and outdrive that has rotten stringers and transom you should be able to pick it up cheap, sell the trailer, scrap the hull and come out way ahead on parts.

Yes, I've run across a couple of those already. I'll check out the place in Burnsville also.

Quote:

It looks like your winch stand does not have a bow stop.

The bow is secured with a cable that goes back and hooks to both sides of the frame. If you look close at the photo, you can see it. The vertical member down below and ahead of the rollers is actually the bow stop.

[boatfixer]

After you pull the intake, look in the valley under the push rods for cracking. If seen ford blocks crack internally more often than externally for whatever reason. (Gm's will pop ext and int when they freeze). So if that's the case you're looking at a block and the manifolds that you already discovered to be shot. You'll need to inspect the entire freshwater system. Good news is, with some research, you should be able to run down replacement parts.

[hydro]

Looks like a nice project. If it were me, before sinking a lot of money into it I would pull the engine, drive and transom hardware to closely inspect the transom for wet areas. It may seem sound but if it is wet now is the time to evaluate the costs of replacing wet wood inside the glass. It can be done but it is a big job. I just went through that on my boat (a '99 fish and ski type craft) and it would be a real buzz killer to find water in the transom after spending lots of $ on other stuff.

[swamptiger]

Did a compression test on the engine this past weekend, and found low compression in cylinders on both banks. Pulled the heads and intake, and found one of the rockers broken right out of the casting on the #6 cylinder head. No other cracks found. I believe the head gasket was bad on the right bank. Appears to be freeze damage on the left head and exhaust manifold only for some reason......strange.

[swamptiger]

Quote:

Looks like a nice project. If it were me, before sinking a lot of money into it I would pull the engine, drive and transom hardware to closely inspect the transom for wet areas. It may seem sound but if it is wet now is the time to evaluate the costs of replacing wet wood inside the glass. It can be done but it is a big job. I just went through that on my boat (a '99 fish and ski type craft) and it would be a real buzz killer to find water in the transom after spending lots of $ on other stuff.

Agree - that would be a pain, and maybe not even worth the effort. I have already checked it over pretty well with an ice pick and a hammer, but maybe I'll take your advice and pull the outdrive as well since it needs repainting anyway. I have the boat put away for the winter now, so won't be doing any more work on it until spring now.