Engine issues?
 

Hi all, we've got a deposit on a V-20 cuddy at an upstate marina. The hull is very clean, the previouls owner was as OCD as I am. The bad news is that when we went out for sea trials yesterday the engine kept stalling out.

The plugs were all oil fouled so the marina replaced those but that only seemed to make things worse. Then something in the starter circuit quit.

Net result is we haven't completed the delivery. The marina is asking that we "give them until Monday" to sort things out.

The engine is an '87 OMC 225hp V6 two stroke. I know nothing about these engines - I'm a rag boater who decided to go fishing. Help!

I'm told that it would take $10-12k to re-power the boat, which is way more than the marina says it is worth (although it's mint except for the engines - oh yeah, the 9.9hp kicker is kaput too)

The OMC outboard is mounted on a proprietary transom mount, so it's not a matter of dropping an new engine on the transom, I'd have to buy the mount too. Cha-ching! Not an easy DIY job either...

Am I walking into a mine field here? Anybody have any 411 on this OMC engine? I like the boat and I like what I'm reading here but I'm not up for replacing the engine.

Thoughts? Thanks!

Eric

[email protected]

First of all, welcome to the site.

If I am decifering you blow boat talk, I think you are saying that the boat has an OMC Sea Drive unit on it.

A couple of questions for you:

How much are they asking for the boat?

How willing/able are you to work on the boat?

You would have to replace the Sea Drive unit with a bracket, which are over $1k new but can be had for as low as $200-300 if you are patient.

If you repower with a new motor you could certainly spend $10-12K, but with a little searching and help from people here, you could do it with a used motor mounted on an outboard bracket for much much cheeper.

Maybe the motor isn't shot and they can fix her up.
I had a sea drive on mine, but changed it out in 2001 for a rebuilt used engine and new bracket, it wasn't cheap, but if I had this site back then I may have tried to do it all myself, and saved alot of $$$$$.
Good luck.

Yep the OMC's were called a SEA-DRIVE. The engine parts are readily available, but the bracket itself is almost IMPOSSIBLE to get parts for. Plus they are HEAVY! There's plenty of reading here in regards to the JOHNSON/EVINRUDES which are the same engine. Without more details on the stalling though, it would be hard to give you an idea as to why it's doing it. Could be a simple fix, or could cost some dough. Used brackets can be had for around $400-500 semi easily(the cheap ones are few and far between), and there are ALOT of GOOD used outboards right now on the market. Just be VERY careful of the transom in the boat, and also the stringers and floor. And tell the dealer right out that you don't have much faith in an engine package that MANY parts are no longer available for. Use it as a bargaining chip to drive the price down. As for the actual engine, I'm sure we can get you going again.

OMC Sea-Drive
 

Yes, it is a Sea-Drive. Bracket looks good and works fine to lift the engine. Actually the exterior of the engine is very clean, so I'm stumped as to why it won't run. Maybe it's flooding.

I can fix anything as long as I can get parts, so that's not the issue. I just don't want to buy an expensive lawn ornament.

Right now I'm paying $5k for a boat that is as clean as any 20 y/o boat I've ever seen. Seems solid everywhere, no "dismount" holes, everything works except the engines. Unfortunately the engines are a big deal on a power boat.

Maybe it knows I'm a blo-boater and I have to offer some sacrifice?

$5K is ALOT of money for a non-running boat, or even one with 20 year old power. There price sounds a bit high for this market to me with a SEA-DRIVE on it. The SEA-DRIVES themself are fine, but they do have some issues with virtually no parts availabilty anymore. OMC has long since been bought out by BRP, but even OMC quit making parts for em in the EARLY 90's. It sounds like an excellent bracket canidate with a nice used YAMAHA or MERC on the back in the 150-200HP range. That SEA-DRIVE weighs in close to 700 pounds in a V-6 configuration as a standard V-6 weighs almost 475 and the SEA-DRIVE mount alone weighs almost 250 pounds. Get a compression test on the engine to give you a baseline, and look to see if it looks like there has been any parts changers working on it recently. If in fact it is an 87, that is one of the better on fuel big loopers out there.

950 pounds of engine and bracket?
 

wow, now I know why the boat has trim tabs as well....

OK, we'll see what pans out on Monday. If it's a non-running boat then I can offer them $2k for it as is and go from there.

But I'm sure they are going to tell me to pick up the 1730 Trophy instead.

Time will tell...

650-700 is the weight on the SEA-DRIVE combo, but that is still heavy by any means. A bracket would weigh in around 100-150 pounds, and a good 150-200 would be close to 400. That would be a 100-150 pounds less weight right there. My V-20 has the small SEA-DRIVE(115HP), and even it is HEAVY! My boat really needed trim tabs when I ran it.