Hah - Spare,
I think you nailed it. I got the boat in '05 because it was doing
exactly what it's doing now - ran 20 minutes and died. We changed the fuel line ant it ran OK.
The guy who owned it before me was a complete non-mechanic (knew how to change the oil and that was it). He had lots of money and when he got frustrated with the V-20, he went out and spent $65k on a new 23' Striper WA and told me later that the V was a better boat in the ocean.
They were only going to give him $1700 trade-in for the boat and trailer and he said "no, I love my old boat and I'm not giving it away to a dealer". My daughter did some work for him and got the boat for me for my birthday with the assurance it was going to a good home. I've done a lot of work on it, but I see why he loved his old boat.
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Scott, Portland, OR '85 V-20 I/O, Merc 170