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Buying Your First Boat on a Budget : Part V
This is another Part in our detailed guide to buying a pre-owned boat on a budget which started here at Part I. We have gone through quite a bit of the process but we are now at the inspection.
We looked at the motor and the trailer and the hull. Now it's time to go on to other aspects.
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Inspecting the Floor
I forgot to mention during the inside check to check the flooring. Get inside the boat and start from the back and move forward. The first thing you'll want to do is walk around the inside of the boat. Take your foot, especially in the middle of the boat and between the seats, and push down with your foot.
Does it move? Does it crack when you push up and down on it? If so, the floor is going to have to be replaced. It’s dry rotted and there is a good chance the stringers under the floor, that support the hull and the floor, may be rotten. There's no way to tell until you cut the floor out.
If you cannot do the work your self, then you're done. It's very expensive to get new flooring done on the inside of a boat. It has to be completely gutted.
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Flushing The Boat
Before going out, you should ask the seller if he has a flush kit. If he doesn’t have one, then stop by the store and buy one. It’s also a good idea to bring your garden hose when viewing boats, as the owner might not have one to go with the flush attachment. It'll be a good investment.
Never under any circumstances start a boat or try to start a boat without the flush attachment hooked up and fresh water circulating to the engine. If not, you will destroy the pump by geting the engine hot. This will cause damage depending on how long you run it.
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Getting it Started
Okay, we're finally here. Let’s fire this puppy up and check it out! You attached the flush attachment to the drive. Now, turn on the water to the boat.
Make sure the drive is completely down and that the bottom of the drive is resting on the ground. If you try and start the engine with the drive up, you'll damage the drive because the cv joints will bind up and could damage the transom mount.
You can either have the owner get in and start the boat, or you can. If the boat has been sitting a long time, it’s going take a while to pump the fuel up to the carb to get the engine cranked over and started.
While we are on the fuel, you'll want to take the fuel cap off and give it a whiff. Does it smell and is it varnished up? If so, there's a good chance you'll have to have the tank pumped out. Again, this really depends on how long the boat has been sitting Running the engine will give you the tell tale sign on what condition the fuel system is in.
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Now that you're inside the boat and getting ready to start it, pull off the dog house on the engine and set it aside. Go up front and hit the blower switch for the engine. Does it work? If so, you need to run the blower for a minimum of four minutes or more before trying to start the engine.
If the battery is low, you may have to get one of those jump packs for jump starting engines, or bring your truck over with a long set of jumpers and jump the battery.
Make sure to run the blower first before attaching any cables. A spark from the cables being attached to the battery may cause an explosion if there are any gas fumes down in the bilge area.
There is a separate control on most control boxes called the throttle up button. This button bypasses the natural safety switch in the control box. This allows you to push the throttle control handle forward to open up the throttle for cold starts without putting the control into gear.
Check the fuel gauge to make sure you have fuel and that it works.
On a cold engine, you really do need the throttle up button engaged to get the engine started. The reason being is the engine is cold and the choke is closed. If you try to start a cold engine without opening the throttle to allow more air and fuel into the carb, the engine more than likely will flood out and won't start.
You really need to engage the throttle up on the control box. There are so many options on control boxes to engage the throttle up option it would be impossible to go through every aspect of every control box made through the years.
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This is where you ask the owner how to engage the throttle up button for cold starts. Most inboard engines have a button on the middle of the pivot on the control handle. Push that button in and hold it in. Then, take the handle at the same time and go back and fourth to squirt fuel into the carb.
On inboard/outboard configurations, the push button will be on the bottom of the control box handle. Outboard engines have a throttle up lever on the control box. You'll see the lever on the top against the inside panel of the boat.
For now, let's just stick with inboards. Push the control handle forward slightly and reach down and hit the starter.
If the carb is empty and has fuel, then it will take a bit to get the engine started. Don’t panic if it doesn’t start right away. One thing I'm going to add here is when cranking the engine, don’t keep cranking if it doesn’t start. If you keep cranking, you'll burn up your starter.
Constant cranking on the starter, with no time between cranks to let the starter cool off, will smoke the starter windings or armature inside the starter. Crank for about two minutes and then let off on the starter. Now, take the handle, push in the throttle up button again. Go back and fourth with the control handle to squirt fuel into the carb.
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Better Boat Lower Unit Gear Oil Pump
You may have to do this about five times depending on how long the boat has been sitting. If, after that, it still hasn’t started, you're probably going to need some starting fluid. You'll need a wrench or socket to pull the flame arrestor off the carb. Once you pull that off, open the choke plate and spray some ether down the carb.
IMPORTANT NOTE: NEVER START AN INBOARD WITHOUT THE FLAME ARRESTOR ON. THE ENGINE CAN BACKFIRE AND CAUSE A FIRE OR BLOW UP.
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With the control lever slightly forward, the engine finally fires off. If the engine RPM is really high, back a little on the control handle to about 1500 RPM if you have a tach. If not, then a little above idle.
You want the engine to run smoothly above idle to warm up the engine. Does the engine run smooth or does it run rough? Do you see black smoke coming out of the engine?
Keep running the engine until the choke opens up. After that, does the engine smooth out? If so, then the choke is gong to need adjusting.
I want to add that right after you start the engine, you need to check that water is circulating through the engine. With a dry engine and no water in the block or heads, it's going to take about five minutes or less to get a discharge of water out the back of the boat.
If you look right under the drive, you should see water coming out of the discharge. After the thermostat opens in the engine, it should be a steady warm stream coming out.
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After five minutes, if there's no water coming out, place your hands on top of the exhaust manifold. It should be warm to the touch but not hot. If it gets hot really quick, then you have an obstruction in the cooling system. This will be either from the water pump in the drive or up in the block or heads.
Sometimes the water pump impeller comes apart from wear or age and goes up into the cooling intake tube in pieces. This can plug the inlet tube or part of the cooling system inside the engine. Shut the engine off because you will damage the engine and over heat it.
Our next part is the lake test. In the meantime, let's outfit that boat you're getting with our boat supplies.
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