Looking at picking this up, it’s a 25ft 1978 Chris Craft Catalina. Anything I should know about them. Common issues, overall quality.

I bought my first boat about a month ago from a guy on Facebook Marketplace. Overall, it was a pretty good deal (or so I thought). It was a 18ft 2001 Sea Pro CC with a GPS trolling motor, aluminum trailer, and a Suzuki made Johnson 90hp for under $9K. Did compression and the motor ran great turning over first click. Bought the boat and took it out for about 4 hours and was good, ran smooth and actually got us up to around 32mph with two big guys on board. Took it out the next weekend and started up first click and ran great for about 30 minutes. All of a sudden we get a No Oil Light and look behind the boat and see a slick of oil. No oil on the dipstick, we troll back into dock and don't start it again.

Took it to a shop and they diagnosed it as a corroded power head in the water/oil channel and the water and oil are mixing and the oil is draining down the water column. Got quoted to do a full repower at ~$13k for a 140 Tohatsu or ~$15K for a 140 Suzuki. Just trying to figure out what my options are and if any of them are worth sinking more money into this boat. It's a nice boat and pretty good shape, but it's old and has some minor little issues and I don't really know if it's worth it to sink $15k into this and be in it for $25K total. I really don't even know how to go about selling this without a motor of if it's even worth it. Would it be smart to repower with a used motor and use it for a year or two and get out of it?

Just looking for some honest feedback on how to proceed. Can you really sell just a hull. Should I part out the trolling motor, GPS, trailer, etc and just try to get anything else and drop the hull off at the dump?

I’ve been considering dropping my boat into the Hudson for some sightseeing… then I saw this. Avoid the wet weather…

I picked up a beautiful 11' Super Sport today and was wondering where I can find a bimini top. Plenty seem to be available for 1991 and up, but nothing for the 84. Thanks!

I’m curious to know if any of ya’ll use night vision on your boats and what you use it for? I’m thinking of purchasing a FLIR thermal camera.

hey guys i have a 18' grew ski boat with a blown up 130 Johnson on it. ive alwats wanted to make a jet boat. should i use a BBC or an LS?

Hi, i was wondering if anyone knew where i could get a mini model of an Avon 4m Searider for my dad? he's obsessed with them and would love to get him a model for Christmas. Thanks!

It has been a little cold at night here, about 30 degrees.

I turned on the heat exchanger, and the water pump did not come on.

My mechanic said that sometimes when it is cold outside and the condenser is trying to pull heat out of the raw water the coil can freeze. I warmed the unit up with an electric heater and it is working now.

He also said that another way to get it to unfreeze is to put a heat gun on the temperature sensor to fool the system into thinking it is hot out, then switch the unit to cooling, and when the line is clear switch to heat mode.

Does this all make sense?

I would like to know how the system works and how to troubleshoot it.

Hello

I have a 75 mercury outboard. I am New to boating. It’s going to get a low of 27 and a high of 50 in GA tomorrow and Tuesday. After that we are back to low 40/high 70. I plan on taking it out fishing over the weekend. Should I be worried about freezing the next two nights? Do I need to winterize. I always run ethanol free and put an additive in it.

Thank you

I just purchased a 20’ Cobalt R5 and it has the easy flush system. I’ve drained the water from the engines cooling system. But is that all I need to do? It seems to good to be true.

I don’t winterize it because I use it about once a week but it’s been getting pretty cold. 20-30 degrees lately. Anything I can do during the week to prevent damage? Would some kind of insulated cover for the motor help at all?

What is the name of this part looks like there is some sort of electronics in it trying to figure out so I can buy a new one

P.S. i am new to fixing vehicles etc like this but 100% want to pull it apart myself and trouble shoot, as all shops have a logn wait time and i am looking to get back on the water for summer.

This engine was said to be fully refurbished just over 20 hours ago as read on hour meter, but unsure if it actually did due to the current problem. Does look pretty clean in general tho with some visibly new gaskets from first glance.

about 5 months ago i purchaed a boat with a 4.3ltr Mercruiser MPI raw water cooling (220hp)

after the second use, we had the boat out all day parking up for diving now and then, then steamed the hour back towards the docks, parking up just outside the harbour for another dive. when I went to turn the engine on, it tried cranking over and didnt start twice. A small fire then started on the large wire connecting to the starter motor which burnt out that cable. the boat would also not start anymore. I was towed back to port to fix on dry land.

I had been quite sick following and hadnt tried to fix it properly after not starting etc a few months back after a quick try. presently now pulling the spark plugs out i found water in the cylinders on one side of the engine with rusty spark plugs. I have sprayed insude with CrC to try help with any rust etc formed and left to soak for a while.

I am also unsure how to turn the engine over by hand (with a breaker bar) assuming it is now seized due to being hydrolocked, and wont start. I havent taken belt off the front and thought you just had to put the breaker bar on the big nut on the bottom pulley? but the nut just span instead of the belt and or pulley. do I have to take the belt and pulley off to spin it from something behind? Sparks where out while trying.

Am I right to say this could most likely be a head gasket? or a faulty Exhaust manifold (which are new)?

The starter was removed and checked, but unsure how to realign it properly? as you cant see into where it connects with the fly wheel and i am guessing it is just not sitting quite right.

any advice would be highly appriciated cheers.

Hello everyone, I purchased a 1977 Mercury 200 20hp 2 Stroke outboard and I’m having some trouble finding any free service manuals or even an owners manual. I have found some for sale on ebay and oldmercs.com but I’m not sure if they are accurate. I have the 1965-89 2-40hp service manual but it doesn’t provide in depth info like spark plug gap, compression, piston ring info, etc. Any help is appreciated!

Having trouble with the Navionics Garmin App. I am logged in (and I double checked) and up to date (I redownloaded the app) and it isn’t showing my subscription. Apple knows I have a map subscription but the app itself does not. The app has also removed my markers/waypoints. I’ve checked sync.

Any suggestions? Anyone else with this issue?

TIA ~ happy boating ⚓️🛥️🐟

It’s been 2 months since we’ve been out. I’m in a warmer area 60-78 degrees. It’s a 2 stroke Mercury18XD 80’s. I just got it this year, we’ve been out about 7 times since August. The last 2 trips, it’s been taking awhile to start it. I feel like I might be flooding it, so after another 5-10 minutes I can get it going.

This is the longest however it’s sat garaged. Do I need to put the engine in a bucket and get it going so it’s not as hard on the water?

Is there some sort of spray I can start using to get the engine firing up faster before flooding it? I can’t pull as much due to an injury rn, so I’m trying to make it as easy as possible until I can switch it for a 4 stroke. (This is an old pic, the seats and other parts were replaced right away and it looks amazing!)

Please take a look at linked images. This is left side driving country, I didn't mess it up! :D

Smaller white box is a size of the car in the image.

Bigger white box trailer is about 1.5x the size of the car and it's the trailer+boat. The dotted white box is where I'd put the boat. I do have enough space to rotate the boat based on my measures as the driveway is shared with house that is not in the image, but beyond that point

I want to get a 16ft boat and I wonder if I will be able to make the turn from the same side lane?

It's legal here to cross the full white line, and I assume that with crossing from the other side I so have enough space to align the trailer?

Edit: More info:

1. I plan to drive in car-first (no reverse as I know there is no way for me to do it)
2. I'm concerned if there is enough width to drive car-first and have trailer not hit the fence.
3. The last part of parking the boat will be done by hand using a motorized (or manual) trailer mover.

I recently bought a 24ft Bayliner, and I need to buy a trailer to move and store it. What is the smallest acceptable size trailer I can purchase to properly store and move the boat? I've been looking at ads on-line , and 22 seems to be the most common size close to my boat.

I need help finding a gift for someone who recently just fixed up their own boat. 20 Ft with steering wheel. Fishing. Science. Pictures. Oysters (no license) but interested in restoration projects.

So I got this boat almost free, and I need to change the floor/interior completely. I want to make sure the engine is okay first before proceeding with that much work, but I have no prior experience with inboard motors. I know it's an L drive and I do have the manual, but it does not provide much information on that.

It has been sitting for 10 years parked and the previous owner said it ran fine last time they tried. Where do I even start? Is there a way I can just make sure the motor is okay or not?

I punched a hole in my cowl last night when trimming it up too far. It hit the light. When I took it out this morning, it only ran at 5k RPM instead of 6.2k RPM at WOT. Speed is reduced by 10mph also. Runs a little rough. Any ideas what could cause that? Hard to think a hole in the cover would.

Thanks