Your opinions on possible purchase

" Thanks in advance to anyone

" Thanks in advance to anyone who responds. I'm new here and really learn alot from reading all the posts.

Here's my situation.
I have found a boat I am interested in buying,
1985 ProCraft 1750V Fish-n-Ski, With Johnson GT 150 V6.

The body of the boat is in good shape, I will have to replace the floor in the boat and that is no problem as I will be changing the interior layout somewhat to more of a fishing boat than sking boat.

I know that checking the compression and the spark jump are important, and will do those things the next time I see the seller.

My question to any helpful sole is???????

What else can I do to increase my chances of knowing if this is a good boat and motor,,,,,or if it will be nothing but trouble.

I will certainly appreciate any information that will make me more prepared to make this purchase.
Again thanks in advance.

DogMan "

"Dogman.... You might want to

"Dogman.... You might want to look this list over.

(General Engine Checks)
First, check the compression. It should be approx 100+ psi and even on all cylinders. Next, with the s/plugs removed, check the spark. It should jump a 7/16" gap with a strong blue flame on all cylinders. (The s/plugs must be removed in order to obtain the highest rpm available)

Check the continuity of the ignition coils. Remove the primary orange wire from whatever it's connected to. It may be connected to a powerpack screw type terminal, a rubber plug connector, or ir may simply plug onto a small boss terminal of the coil itself.

Connect the black lead of a ohm meter to the spark plug boot terminal, then with the red ohm meter lead, touch the ground of the coil or the powerhead itself if the coil is still installed.

Then touch (still with the red lead) the orange wire if it's attached to the coil, or if it's not attached, touch the primary stud of the coil. You should get a reading on both touches (contacts). If not, check the spring terminal inside the rubber boots of the spark plug wire. Poor or no continuity of a coil is one reason for s/plug fouling.

Remove the carburetor face plate. Observe the carburetor(s) while you pump the fuel primer bulb. If fuel flows out of the carburetor(s), they will require removing, cleaning, and rebuilding.

At the lower portion of the lower unit, there will be a large slotted screw. Loosen that screw to see if the unit has good lube, and to check for metal filings and water. Small fuzzy filings are acceptable. Sliver and/or aplinter type slices/chips of metal are not! Water would indicate that the unit has faulty seals. The lower unit requires filling from that large slotted bottom screw until the lubricant flows out of the like screw higher up in the lower unit.

Check, while under way, that the engine engages both forward and reverse properly, and that the engine does not jump out of forward gear at a high rpm.

If the engine is on a boat, check the steering to make sure that the steering rod moves in and out freely, and that the engine swivels freely in even degrees in each direction.

When running the engine, pulling each s/plug boot terminal off of the s/plugs should result in a even rpm drop through out. (At idle on a flushette is okay... have the hose on full blast)

Check that the PTT assy runs the engine up and down smoothly... and that it doesn't leak down on its own.

(As I think of more, I'll tweak this list.. it's a start)

Joe "

" Dogman,

In complete

" Dogman,

In complete agreement with Joe, here's some more suggestions.

1. Have the seller leave the engine cold next time you go see it, and start it up yourself. Hard starting probably doesn't point to a major problem, but it's nice to know for sure before you get it home.

2. Check the electrical system in the boat, everything should be clean and neat. Look around the batteries and under the "dash" where the instruments around mounted etc.. The wire and terminals should be marine grade and well insulated. You should see very few splices and butt end connectors, if a bunch of wires are getting power or ground from a common lead, it should have been done with power posts/power bars. The batter(ies) should be marine starting or starting/deep cycle. If the wiring is a mess plan on spending a minimum of $200 to do it right, good batteries are a minimum of $60 a piece.

3. Check the condition of any glass on the boat, look around the edges for small stress cracks; plexiglass, which is the cheap alternative to safety glass or lexan tends to get brittle over time and crack. Plan on spending about $200 to replace a set (2) of 2 X 2 windows correctly (with safety glass or lexan).

4. This part is something I hate doing, but it does give you a better idea of the hull condition. Wherever you have access to the bilge, it's usually in the stern under the engine well somewhere, lay down and take a look in there with a flashlight. Check the condition of whatever bilge pump / auto switch is in there and MOST IMPORTANTLY, poke around and check to see if the fiberglass is still solid in there. The bilge is going to be the first place where things will soften up. It will be dirty etc, but wipe it away and you should feel is clean solid fiberglass. If any fabric is seperating or you see any strange repairs/supports be sure you know what you are getting into. The fact that the floor is soft is good reason to be suspicious of other areas.

5. Transom and Hull; you said the hull was in good shape, but take a hard look for stress cracks. The floor in a fiberglass boat often provides a degree of support, when it rots out
that support is gone. The transom should be solid, if you bang on it, it should have a sharp sound, like a dry block of wood. If it makes more of a "thud" than a "knock" or feels a little soft, that's a sign that the transom is rotting - this is a pain in the @ss on a fiberglass boat to repair and most often means junking it. There should not be any strange supports on either side of the transom (ie large block of wood), backing plates for the bolts holding the engine on are acceptable and neccesary, but a 2 foot chunk of half inch aluminum is suspicious. A thin "pad" between the outboard and the transom is OK. If there are holes in the transom from engines past, they should be sealed with some type of epoxy filler, and should not be exposed.

6. Check the hull for a "hook" or "rocker"; often thinner low boats, like ski boats or bass boats with outboards, get bent from not being correctly supported on the trailor. The stern of the boat needs to be supported well to hold that 450 lb outboard. A hook is a dent just forward of the stern caused by a "bent" boat, and a rocker is the same as a hook, except for it is a bump just forward of the stern. By looking down the whole length of the bottom of the boat and sighting it up like a shotgun you can detect these defects. Bothe a hook and rocker lead to poor performance, such as excessive chine walking, or porpoising.

Oh, and be sure you know what you are getting into with that floor.. Repairs like that are tricky, I would recommend using a two part epoxy resin for bothe sides the new floor, it's easier to work with and lasts more or less forever, well worth the extra $40 a gallon (not polyester,"fiberglass",or vinylester - they don't stick as well and allow things to rot as you can see). In addition, you probably should also be replacing the foam floatation under the floor at the same time, it often soaks up water and becomes heavy and useless - I have used pink foam insulation and "great stuff" spray foam before, but they actually do make foam just for floatation replacement purposes.

Hope this helps,

Jon "

Joereeves and Jon:
I certain

Joereeves and Jon:
I certainly appreciate you taking time to respond to my questions. I will be looking at the boat again this weekend and plan to check everything you guys have suggested.

Thanks so much for the help.

dogMan