identifying the V20

[wellcrafty]

Hi All,

Newbie, and MAN ... am I glad to find this site!

I have inherited my Dad's V20 Steplift I/O
and am having a very hard time identifying what year it is.
(no surviving paperwork or manuals)
The stamped (transom) hull ID - WELE2442M83J-V20

I KNOW he had this in the 1980's but he had the original
motor either replaced or rebuilt and that appears to be:

From the transom of the stern drive - S/N 0F308702
From the port side of the stern drive - S/N 0F172148

From the Air Filter – “Engine S/N 0F132266”
From the Air Filter – “Drive S/N 0F172148”

I found the manuals online (#14 and #18) which say
the SN should be on the motor near the starter and on a plate,
but NEITHER place can I find any S/Ns for the motor.

Secondarily, is finding a cover. Most don't list
this boat past 1987, and I'm pretty sure it's older than that
just based on memory of going out in it with my Dad.

Any help or ideas where to find these years out for sure would be greatly
appreciated.

I *THINK* this might be it but can't prove it yet ... (from wellcraft.com)

[cfelton]

Welcome to the site Wellcrafty. It looks ta be an 83 V. Got any pictures ta post up?

[rb437]

Welcome to the site.
I'm sure if you post pictures, someone here can help you narrow determine the year of your boat. Also check out the history section in the gallery and compare yours to whats in the catalogs.

[THEFERMANATOR]

That hull ID is definately that of an 83.

[wellcrafty]

Thanks guys!
Working on pics (and the boat) tomorrow.

It's got a Mercruiser 4.3LX V6 Alpha One (Gen II - apparently, circa 1995'ish based on the SNs I can find) in it which I believe is 262HP ...
but from what I read online the max hp rating for the boat
(1983) is 200HP. Hmmm.

Had it out yesterday for the first time .. the oil pressure seemed to
bounce around a lot. Dropped to the red line (but not into red) at times
while low idle. Local shop didn't seem too worried about it.
"Maybe bad guage?"
Wondering if others have seen this behavior.

Thx!

[wellcrafty]

Sorry, scratch that ... 262 is the CID.
Ugh. Time for bed.

[THEFERMANATOR]

Factory electrical guages are notoriously inaccurate, go down and by a mechanical guage(or borrow one) and see what it really is before you get worried. Also make sure your useing 15W40 ROTELLA or DELO 400 oil as marine engines work alot harder than there automotive counterparts. 220HP I wanna say is the max HP for most of the 4.3L's except MPI engines. The 200HP rating was for outboards, I/O's were 230HP up until 85 and then 260 in 86+.