Power boat guys - need a consult please

I've been surfing CL and dreaming about a boat for a while now. I was planning on waiting till next spring and dropping about 10k on a nice skiff, but this just popped up on CL about 4 blocks from my house:

http://macon.craigslist.org/boa/5701887980.html

From the add: 15' Chaparral Boat with 85 hp Evinrude motor and trailer --- new floor, new carpet, new seats, new battery and recently installed steering cables by Bass Pro; Lowrance Elite-4X Color Fish Finder; two 6-gallon gas cans; 4 adult life-jackets; one adult and one children's water skis; 2 tow ropes

All for the price of $1500

I went and looked at it today. It's old but solid. Oxidized gelcoat, no evidence of past damage anywhere. Solid floor, solid transom, new seats, ok trailer.

I have some questions, mostly about the motor - It's the original '73 Evinrude 85HP Starflite. No tilt/trim. Prop is rough - has a couple dime size chunks out - but the skeg is not damaged. Prop is original aluminum. This is verified b/c he's the ORIGINAL OWNER.

I know tilt and trim is critical for best performance, and I'd like to tilt the motor up for shallows and transport. Can anyone give me an idea how hard / costly this is to retrofit?

Prop damage - I'm estimating that it's about a 13" prop, and seeing replacement AL ones for $100 - $120, used and new. If we trailer store it but run it in salt a couple times a year (docked overnight in the water, say) is a stainless prop an absolute necessity?

More importantly - is it okay to run one with a slightly damaged prop until I hunt down the one I need?

We ran the engine for about 15 minutes - a little cold natured but good once started. Good water flow, good forward and rearward engagement. The motor was professionally tuned up and gone through 2-3 years ago, including water impeller change. The compression was checked and it was "almost as good as a new motor." (no documentation) I'd have the thing tuned up by the local shop and a new water impeller done, then change the foot oil myself.

I like the boat. Given the updates I think it's worth the money, but I want your input on how much I should brow beat on the prop cost. I see this as a way to try running a powerboat at reasonable cost, even if I have to buy a used motor at some point. I like the layout. I know it will pound in chop, but I'm in shore and not really interested in speed. I know it's a gas hog. I know it's brown, and not even sparkly.

If I really like boating, maybe I buy something nicer in a couple years. If I don't, I'm not out much. Same if I do something stupid and submarine it.

Okay, tell what a dumb idea this is...

So, go buy it. It's fifteen bills. You can't even get a decent Rolla for fifteen bills today.

as long as the boat has no soft spots on deck or the cockpit floor.. it should be a solid buy. As far as props go.. I have seen stainless and aluminum used in Saltwater. Most people use Stainless in areas where the prop may hit stuff as it is more robust than the aluminum.. however, stainless gives no warning before sheering off like aluminum does.

A dinged up prop, as long as massive amounts of metal are not missing, should not be too big a deal as long as it remains within the tolerances of balance

I didn't feel any vibrations when we spun it up for testing. The whole boat felt very solid.

Take it on a test drive.

Looks like a decent beater at a decent price. A lot of the typical old fiberglass speedboat E36 M3 half of them need is already taken care of on this one (floor, seats, steering cable).

Sea trial and then buy.

I'd love to do a sea trial but it's an hour drive to the nearest lake. Hard to talk a guy into that for $1500.

Any thoughts on the necessity of tilt and trim?

Not even a hand tilt? All yuu need is a way to lift the motor. An 85 should come up with a good heave. Trim... just get a fat friend to move around until she trims out and then put a sand bag there.

There is trim,its just manual via the pin.

It's solid, you like it, it's only $1500.

Its cheap enough I would do it, those older motors are simple and pretty bulletproof.

As to the prop, al is fine in salt, you get a little more efficiency with stainless, thinner blades. You dont want to run too long on a damaged prop, it will put some wear on the bearings in the lower unit.

Those tri-hulls don't like rough water. They will really pound the occupants.

Other than that, it looks like a cheap way into boating.

NGTD wrote: pound the occupants.

i giggled...

Is the engine electric or cable shift? They use different fluids so make sure you get the right one, and the electric shift lower units do not last long if they get water in them.

The prop is most likely a 13 1/4 x 17, that's what I had on a similar Glastron with an 85hp Johnson. It should be stamped into the prop between the blades or on the end of the spline behind the prop nut.

The best way I know of to add power trim and tilt is to get a newer engine with a bad power head and move your motor to the transom mount from the newer engine. I've done it with a good 1969 85hp Johnson and used the transom mount from a blown 1981 85HP Johnson. It was mainly bolt on, except the shafts the motors pivot on for steering were different diameters so it took a couple bushings to adapt the shaft size to the transom mount.

Dumb newbie question, can you usually adjust the manual tilt while in the boat? I didn't really look at that

You should be able to raise or lower the motor from in the boat.

These motors are heavy so it can be a challenge to lift, I used to have to stand on the transom to get enough leverage to tilt it up and out of the water using the hand hold on the engine cover. When lowering the latches can be awkward to reach depending on the transom height/design, but definitely doable.

The manual trim setting needs to done from outside the boat and isn't adjustable while underway.

Any boats show up in the Challenge yet?

You mean besides the Aristocrats last year?

jmthunderbirdturbo wrote:

NGTD wrote: pound the occupants.

i giggled...

Must be an inside joke. . . . . I don't get it.

We have a similar tri-hull with an 85hp Merc on it. We picked it up from the original owner for $1000 but it needed new carpet and some other minor cosmetic work. We picked it up because we live a few minutes from a large lake and we wanted to do some exploring and fishing. We only get out a few times a year but I'm glad we have it. For the price you can't go far wrong.

ultraclyde wrote: Dumb newbie question, can you usually adjust the manual tilt while in the boat? I didn't really look at that

Depending on how deep the transom is, yes or no, I could on ly last boat, just dont drop the pin!

You can get one of these that make lifting the motor up easier.

Adding power trim is either expensive or stoopid hard to do. The older OMCs used a completely different transom plate, so you'd need the junkyard unit, then take the motor off the pin and replace the whole transom plate. Then you have to reset jack depth and redrill the transom for the different bolt pattern. You'd honestly be better off just getting a similar used motor that already has PT.

But as long as your back is in good shape you can hoist it up just fine. Manual adjustments can be done from inside without a problem. Lift motor, move pin to a different hole without dropping it, and drop it back down. In your case, you'll find that one pin setting is a fine trade off for all use. With that hull you won't be worried about performance. The exact trim might net you 2 mph over the wrong trim.

On my tri-hull, I use the trim primarily for comfort and for shore docking. If the chop comes up, I trim it down to try and bury the center vee in the chop to smooth it out. I can trim it for where the weight is in the boat, and its nice when I pull up to a shore I can just hit a button to get it out of the water. But that boat had a 1968 Merc 65 on it for decades without power trim and it worked just fine.

But as far as power trim is concerned; don't get hopeful that its anything cheap or easy to retrofit.

Chaparral made a nice boat. Trailer looks a little undersized, but just don't go on cross-country trips with it. Fair price, runs well, new floor, I say do it.

jstand wrote: Is the engine electric or cable shift? They use different fluids so make sure you get the right one, and the electric shift lower units do not last long if they get water in them.

I'm pretty sure the last electro-shift was in 1967 or 68. They were such a terrible system that OMC ditched them. I have all kinds of fond memories of my Uncle with his 33-1/3 Johnson with electro-shift. At least three times a summer we would see him coming back to the dock in reverse.

ultraclyde wrote: Dumb newbie question, can you usually adjust the manual tilt while in the boat? I didn't really look at that

There are no dumb questions, just dumb people asking questions.

Kidding

The motor goes down and rests on a pin. By adjusting which hole the pin is in you adjust the trim. For that reason, the motor's weight can't be on the pin when you change it.

I would change the prop sooner rather than later. Even vibes you can't feel can start working on bearings and seals down there. Plus, with the cavitation around those nicks and chunks it will accelerate prop wear and off-balancing.

Don't spend big bucks on a prop. Stainless looks pretty and the blades can be thinner at the same strength which is why its a performance choice, but any good old cheap aluminum prop will do. Three blades, no cleavers or specialty shapes, just a standard cupped-blade aluminum prop. Use RPMs as your guide. I agree with Jstand; probably about a 17 pitch prop. Top end RPMs should be 5200-5500 for that motor. Its most likely correct, but it can't hurt to check it. If your top end RPMs are spot on (with just you in the boat), get the same prop. If not, adjust pitch up or down to get the RPMs right. Each inch of pitch is worth about 200 rpms. So if there is a 17p on it now and it revs at 5200, consider a 16p knowing that you could use that extra oomph to pull a skier or get 5 people up on plane.