Looking for a boat downriggers fish finder like a Turn key boat I am not ritch like most on here just want a good reliable boat to go out and fish

[brutus]

Makes me less happy when you word it like that hahaha but none the less no complaints

Ya well replacing an I/0 crate package Motor and lower gears and assembly is probably close to 40 k

 

[kaelc]

I would hope that replacing an old tired I/O motor with a $45,000 replacement would be the best thing that happened to your boat.

Too soon! If I remember correctly it wasn’t old.

Are we still waiting on a beachcomber budget for @Releck or did I miss it?

 

[bryce]

Too soon! If I remember correctly it wasn’t old.

Are we still waiting on a beachcomber budget for @Releck or did I miss it?

I believe it was directed at me and I honestly wouldn’t wish an I/O on anybody especially just getting into boating waste of time and money and will eventually drive people out of boating I don’t know how many people I know that take there inboards out on May long weekend and get them back for labour day … sad vicious cycle

 

[ship happens]

you got upgraded to junk, if you had the 383 you would still be a inboard guy. lol

Well roy is kinda correct on that. Volvo does not backup their product. That is 100 percent true.

Not saying they make a bad product... but they are the most difficult OEM to deal with hands down. Don't even get me started on their gas engines. F@#$#@#@.! If I see one more roll through the shop this year I'm going to quit and go start a flower shop.

 

[wolf]

So to clear story went with a brand new package 300 hp volvo with DPS after 160 hours oil pump blew up and killed motor VOVO bascially said too bad . next motor pacakge blew again at 170 hours said thats it, VOLVO as a acompany SUCK A$$ complete morons .
The compamy where I got the outboard gave me a VERY good trade in for the used leg and the brand new crate leg plus the parts etc towards the brand new zuk. I came out very well and YES made the boat 100% better id do again in a heart beat.

 

[Irishwolf]

If you want a relatively cheap boat buy a 14 ft aluminum. With a 20hp outboard min. Outside of needing an odd hose down, the hull needs zero maintenance. Motor will need maintenance but it’s minimal. And sips gas.

You will be confined to inshore fishing on calm days tho although some tinny guys will venture further out depending on conditions. Just bring lots of sunscreen and a good hat

 

[Foxsea]

There is no such thing. Whatever you do don't get an inboard boat. Look for a later 17ft boat with older outboard.

And your going need at least 2k for safety gear and electronics etc if it doesn't come with it.

Beware of rotten floors and unmaintained motors.

I have a sterndrive boat and yes, they can be a pain. However, due to the popularity of pods and outboards, they sell cheap. I bought my boat and galv. trailer for 1/2 the cost of a 300 h.p. outboard, alone. I'm old and I grew up with sterndrives, 350's and 454's so I do my own repair and maintenance. I actually find that enjoyable, too.

 

[wolf]

I have a sterndrive boat and yes, they can be a pain. However, due to the popularity of pods and outboards, they sell cheap. I bought my boat and galv. trailer for 1/2 the cost of a 300 h.p. outboard, alone. I'm old and I grew up with sterndrives, 350's and 454's so I do my own repair and maintenance. I actually find that enjoyable, too.

I used to think that way ... older 350 yes , and i had 3 spare legs just incase and kept rebuliding them, il be honest dont miss those days!!
When I get to the last year of warrenty on this motor ill trade it in on a new one so I have another 6 years or whatever it will be by then, cost of doing business.

 

[Foxsea]

I used to think that way ... older 350 yes , and i had 3 spare legs just incase and kept rebuliding them, il be honest dont miss those days!!
When I get to the last year of warrenty on this motor ill trade it in on a new one so I have another 6 years or whatever it will be by then, cost of doing business.

Yeah, makes sense with a business. I'm retired so maintenance gives me purpose. I hate golf and have filled my Spring tag.

 

[seahorse]

Here’s another story, me and a buddy had 14 ft tin boats back in 1999, over beers I say I going to look for a newer 18 ft boat what should I buy, he says whatever you do not get an inboard. I buy a 2000 542 Campion with a 2000 F100 Yamaha. A year later he buys a Bayliner with a 3 liter Mercruiser inboard. On at least 6 trips he is broken down and comes home on his kicker, he spent over $4000 on that inboard. 3 years later he sells the boat at a huge loss and buys a 622 Campion with outboards, I’m not sure why he went against his own advice. That 2000 F100 is still running strong, I passed it at the Nootka lighthouse last month, bullet proof engines. The only money I put into the F100 in 10 years of ownership was a rectifier and regular maintenance, maybe $1000. But my 2012 DF250 Suzuki just cost me $1000 for the trim motor and relay.

 

[Releck]

Oh

If someone else is supplying the boat, truck, gear, doing all the maintenance and paying insurance, offering half fuel is a kick in the balls. Don't kick the boat owner in the balls. Buy all the fuel for the truck and boat, bring Subway and hop to like you are the owner of a business and this is your job, clean up the fish mess, get ready to dock the boat, be a good hand.

lol true story

 

[Releck]

Here’s another story, me and a buddy had 14 ft tin boats back in 1999, over beers I say I going to look for a newer 18 ft boat what should I buy, he says whatever you do not get an inboard. I buy a 2000 542 Campion with a 2000 F100 Yamaha. A year later he buys a Bayliner with a 3 liter Mercruiser inboard. On at least 6 trips he is broken down and comes home on his kicker, he spent over $4000 on that inboard. 3 years later he sells the boat at a huge loss and buys a 622 Campion with outboards, I’m not sure why he went against his own advice. That 2000 F100 is still running strong, I passed it at the Nootka lighthouse last month, bullet proof engines. The only money I put into the F100 in 10 years of ownership was a rectifier and regular maintenance, maybe $1000. But my 2012 DF250 Suzuki just cost me $1000 for the trim motor and relay.

Yes inboards seem to break down all the time but Volvo is way better then merc !!

 

[Foxsea]

Yes inboards seem to break down all the time but Volvo is way better then merc !!

Poorly maintained inboards break down. As for Volvos, very expensive or NLA (no longer available) parts will quickly take the blush off that romance.

 

[SpringVelocity]

Here’s another story, me and a buddy had 14 ft tin boats back in 1999, over beers I say I going to look for a newer 18 ft boat what should I buy, he says whatever you do not get an inboard. I buy a 2000 542 Campion with a 2000 F100 Yamaha. A year later he buys a Bayliner with a 3 liter Mercruiser inboard. On at least 6 trips he is broken down and comes home on his kicker, he spent over $4000 on that inboard. 3 years later he sells the boat at a huge loss and buys a 622 Campion with outboards, I’m not sure why he went against his own advice. That 2000 F100 is still running strong, I passed it at the Nootka lighthouse last month, bullet proof engines. The only money I put into the F100 in 10 years of ownership was a rectifier and regular maintenance, maybe $1000. But my 2012 DF250 Suzuki just cost me $1000 for the trim motor and relay.

Sounds familiar. My absolute favourite still has to be the broken starter where the bolts that attach to inboard sheared off. The entire motor had to be taken out flipped over and helicoils put in to reattach. That was just one of the many breakdowns.

 

[Fishing?]

There are reasons most older boats are inboards. Engine cost. Repair availability. The amount of stress on an outboard transom is 10 times that of an inboard, if an outboard transom fails it can be fast and catastrophic. Inboard transoms get flexible and leak long before failure. Not many inboard transom fails on the internet but a few outboard transom fails.

A mercruiser inboard has had, for the most part, 80+ years of ironing out the bugs with the same design. The old saying, if ain't broke don't fix it. They just refined.

An inboard is essentially a car engine and most use a GM type engine. If purchasing stick with a common engine, not one designed for a boat. An inline 3.0 engine was not used in cars very long due to issues whereas since 1955 GM has basically the same designed V8's

The old legs, Alpha still I think, have issues. But the newer Bravos' are almost bulletproof. They shift differently too, the older engines needed a cutoff switch when shifting. A momentary engine cutoff to take pressure off the lower gears to make the changes. These were often an area of problems.

Newer exhaust manifolds with full fresh water closed cooling systems need almost no winterizing and don't crack as much as they used to.

I also like the lower center of gravity adding to stability and less porpoising, a draw back is sometimes the engines are placed under the deck to make more room and freeboard is farther from the water.

A leg can be re and re in 1 hour or less and engine can be done in similar time, maybe a little longer if the wiring package isn't on the engine, there are 4 bolts holding it in, hire a tow truck to come and do the lift if necessary.

A 300 hp Yamaha costs; F300. MSRP $36,611.00 - $43,628.00
5.7L Mercruiser 350 GEN+ 325 hp Marine Crate Engine - LIST PRICE: $6,607.94 TODAY'S SALE PRICE: $5,913.54
Mercruiser Bravo 2 drive - $14,507.56 Cdn But Bravo 1 and 3 both will fit.
Alpha 1 Gen 2 - $5247

Brand new inboard and stern drive around $21,000.00, outboard, $36,00.00 a difference of 15K, that's a lot of gas and enough for another brand new engine or complete rebuilds years down the road.

Inboard shifting issues and the leg gets changed, engine ditto, an outboard the whole unit needs to be worked and then the wait time for parts.

Also the inboard transom hasn't had all that stress of 300+ hp pushing on it or holding up that weight of the engine that an outboard does. The engine sits on the bottom of the hull stringers spreading out the stress of weight and propulsion. Think of how a lever works and then think of how an outboard sits of the rear transom, that's a lot of stress.

Interchangeability, costs and availability.

Outboard engines are becoming much more reliable, powerful and economic than in the past but are still unique to everything else, interchangeability issues causing added costs.

No matter how you go, just look at the number of older outboards available vs the number of older inboards.

20' cuddy cabin, 5.7 liter, bravo leg preferred but alpha for under 20K. Lots out there.

Where you going with it, how many on board, towing, storage, a little mechanically inclined?

 

[Aces]

Klysons said:
If someone else is supplying the boat, truck, gear, doing all the maintenance and paying insurance, offering half fuel is a kick in the balls. Don't kick the boat owner in the balls. Buy all the fuel for the truck and boat, bring Subway and hop to like you are the owner of a business and this is your job, clean up the fish mess, get ready to dock the boat, be a good hand.

This is how you get invited back. All my regular fishing partners have owned boats at one time (or still do ) and do this without prompting

 

[Rain City]

Klysons said:
If someone else is supplying the boat, truck, gear, doing all the maintenance and paying insurance, offering half fuel is a kick in the balls. Don't kick the boat owner in the balls. Buy all the fuel for the truck and boat, bring Subway and hop to like you are the owner of a business and this is your job, clean up the fish mess, get ready to dock the boat, be a good hand.

This is how you get invited back. All my regular fishing partners have owned boats at one time (or still do ) and do this without prompting

Best comment of all time.

 

[brutus]

There are reasons most older boats are inboards. Engine cost. Repair availability. The amount of stress on an outboard transom is 10 times that of an inboard, if an outboard transom fails it can be fast and catastrophic. Inboard transoms get flexible and leak long before failure. Not many inboard transom fails on the internet but a few outboard transom fails.

A mercruiser inboard has had, for the most part, 80+ years of ironing out the bugs with the same design. The old saying, if ain't broke don't fix it. They just refined.

An inboard is essentially a car engine and most use a GM type engine. If purchasing stick with a common engine, not one designed for a boat. An inline 3.0 engine was not used in cars very long due to issues whereas since 1955 GM has basically the same designed V8's

The old legs, Alpha still I think, have issues. But the newer Bravos' are almost bulletproof. They shift differently too, the older engines needed a cutoff switch when shifting. A momentary engine cutoff to take pressure off the lower gears to make the changes. These were often an area of problems.

Newer exhaust manifolds with full fresh water closed cooling systems need almost no winterizing and don't crack as much as they used to.

I also like the lower center of gravity adding to stability and less porpoising, a draw back is sometimes the engines are placed under the deck to make more room and freeboard is farther from the water.

A leg can be re and re in 1 hour or less and engine can be done in similar time, maybe a little longer if the wiring package isn't on the engine, there are 4 bolts holding it in, hire a tow truck to come and do the lift if necessary.

A 300 hp Yamaha costs; F300. MSRP $36,611.00 - $43,628.00
5.7L Mercruiser 350 GEN+ 325 hp Marine Crate Engine - LIST PRICE: $6,607.94 TODAY'S SALE PRICE: $5,913.54
Mercruiser Bravo 2 drive - $14,507.56 Cdn But Bravo 1 and 3 both will fit.
Alpha 1 Gen 2 - $5247

Brand new inboard and stern drive around $21,000.00, outboard, $36,00.00 a difference of 15K, that's a lot of gas and enough for another brand new engine or complete rebuilds years down the road.

Inboard shifting issues and the leg gets changed, engine ditto, an outboard the whole unit needs to be worked and then the wait time for parts.

Also the inboard transom hasn't had all that stress of 300+ hp pushing on it or holding up that weight of the engine that an outboard does. The engine sits on the bottom of the hull stringers spreading out the stress of weight and propulsion. Think of how a lever works and then think of how an outboard sits of the rear transom, that's a lot of stress.

Interchangeability, costs and availability.

Outboard engines are becoming much more reliable, powerful and economic than in the past but are still unique to everything else, interchangeability issues causing added costs.

No matter how you go, just look at the number of older outboards available vs the number of older inboards.

20' cuddy cabin, 5.7 liter, bravo leg preferred but alpha for under 20K. Lots out there.

Where you going with it, how many on board, towing, storage, a little mechanically inclined?

Not sure where you get your numbers, but 6 k for a new crate engine ?? I don’t think so, a reman yes maybe. And they blow up at any time just like outboards, and everything attach to the engines craps out all the time too. The reason they sell for cheaper is because you need a breakdown budget to keep them running. I got beat up by I/0 for a long time, swore I would never do it again, now my outboard blew up lol, the good is my outboard was old and still manage 5 years without issue till this season, boats are not cheap to keep running period, all I know for a fact is to keep my I/o running I spent a lot more money and time fixing them

 

[Fishing?]

Not sure where you get your numbers, but 6 k for a new crate engine ?? I don’t think so, a reman yes maybe. And they blow up at any time just like outboards, and everything attach to the engines craps out all the time too. The reason they sell for cheaper is because you need a breakdown budget to keep them running. I got beat up by I/0 for a long time, swore I would never do it again, now my outboard blew up lol, the good is my outboard was old and still manage 5 years without issue till this season, boats are not cheap to keep running period, all I know for a fact is to keep my I/o running I spent a lot more money and time fixing them

I just type 5.7 mercruiser for sale on the internet as I was posting and that came up, those are the words on the website.

I raced these engines for decades, often well over 6500 rpm for 2000 laps then "freshening". Even stock they red line at 6500 - 7000 in a car.

They are cheaper because there are millions of the things out there, how many Yamaha F300txr's are out there? Will the head fit off a 2012?

What went wrong with your I/O? What engine? What cooling system?

I have never had an engine failure in an inboard since 1972. A couple of old alpha issues, a manifold crack but never an engine failure. They have all been 350 - 5.7 v8's except the first one it had been left in the weather and was a 165 hp, 230 cu in inline six cylinder that I paid $50 to buy a replacement at a "u pull it".

I could see the old pre alpha legs being a problem but the Alpha 1 and especially the gen2's are much better. Still a pain in the butt changing a water pump but then going to a thru hull supply.

So far my 1993 Bravo 2 was recently looked at and described "as new" internally.

 

[Rain City]

I just type 5.7 mercruiser for sale on the internet as I was posting and that came up, those are the words on the website.

I raced these engines for decades, often well over 6500 rpm for 2000 laps then "freshening". Even stock they red line at 6500 - 7000 in a car.

They are cheaper because there are millions of the things out there, how many Yamaha F300txr's are out there? Will the head fit off a 2012?

What went wrong with your I/O? What engine? What cooling system?

I have never had an engine failure in an inboard since 1972. A couple of old alpha issues, a manifold crack but never an engine failure. They have all been 350 - 5.7 v8's except the first one it had been left in the weather and was a 165 hp, 230 cu in inline six cylinder that I paid $50 to buy a replacement at a "u pull it".

I could see the old pre alpha legs being a problem but the Alpha 1 and especially the gen2's are much better. Still a pain in the butt changing a water pump but then going to a thru hull supply.

So far my 1993 Bravo 2 was recently looked at and described "as new" internally.

F$#k I/Os. They can eat s#$t and die. They don't belong in the chuck and have no business pushing big boats. And they're annyong to fix on a smaller boat. Inboard with shafts, maybe in a 40+ with a legit engine room. This isn't even a conversation worth having. I hate you all.

PS, my accountant just gave me my annual boating total for 2022. Maybe I'm triggered.