Today I drove 3.5 hours each way to Fresno to see the Trophy. I'm gonna give the run-down...then start a new thread asking for help in finding another boat.
Real nice guy and easy to talk with. Let's just say, however, that my idea of "excellent condition and very clean" was slightly ambitious. Second owner, bought it 5 years prior and took it straight to his house in Mexico. He always used local Mexican captains to run his boat, wash/flush it, and store it. He said it had a full lower unit service 20 hours ago, other than that he had not done an impeller in 5 years of use!
The boat itself shows minimal wear/tear for a 9 year old boat. The custom T-Top that he had put on is fantastic, it has good looking electronics and is set up perfect for my tastes, needs one bilge pump under the port fish locker to be replaced as it is working intermittently. Trailer is in great shape with new tires and no rust that I could find. Forgot to check whether it was disc or drum. That's where the romance ends.
I went to turn the wheel and found the steering was seized. OK...been down that road before when my boat sat too long without any use. We freed that up with some WD40 and a hammer, greased it up proper, no sweat. Not a good sign though, IMO.
Attached a garden hose to the outboard directly, no rabbit ears since it has a hose attachment (150 Merc Optimax). It has a squeeze bulb to prime the fuel, which was not working properly cause the fuel line had a leak where it connects to the outboard causing it to lose it's prime.
Managed to get it started by having one guy pump the bulb while one turned it over, once it started it would keep going on it's own. Now...I noticed that there was water exiting the motor near the prop and above the trim tab area, but no water coming out of the upper "pee" hole that you use to judge the efficiency of your water circulation. It idled for few minutes before water started to exit the pee hole, and when it did it was intermittent like it had prostate trouble or some shit. I reached down to feel it and it was fairly warm, not HOT, but very warm.
Then the motor starts to stumble and it quits. Check the fuel squeeze bulb and it's empty. Figuring that leak in the fuel line is causing this I pull off the short 3' line while he grabs some hose clamps. I notice gobs of brown fuel varnish crappola in the line, another bad sign. He cleans out the line and we reattach it.
After pumping the bulb again (forever) and getting fuel to the motor, he tries to start it again. It almost starts again then it just turns over without even a hint of lighting up. Convinced that it is flooded he pulls a spark plug and it is soaked. We button it up and start talking about it all...
He swears that it ALWAYS run fantastic, starts right up, etc. He admits that it has been sitting for several months and should have been gone through by him prior to my arrival, he will put a new set of plugs in and it will be fine, he reminds me that I saw it run and there is no real problem.
I say that I am not comfortable with the situation, that maybe some of that varnish crap made it's way into the carbs, that the impeller performance seems questionable.
He offers to drop his price from $17.9K to $16K if I take it as-is and do the plugs/carb/etc myself. Also...there's the issue of it having no title for the last 5 years and trying to get that squared away and secure financing. I say I will consider it while he is in Mexico for the next 3 weeks while I look elsewhere.
Questions:
1. The "pee" stream on any outboard should be strong and continuous when connected to an adequate water source IF the impeller and water pump are operating correctly right?
2. Is there an internal fuel filter on that outboard? I did not see one under the cover, the line disappears into the carbureator area.
He says the 150hp gets it around just fine and that's it good on fuel. I agree, however, that 150hp is just not enough. I plan to have at least 4 guys and dive gear on board. I think even at $16K...I'm over it. Need to find another with a better motor.
Linear Mode
