therightfitz
New Member
- Oct 4, 2020
- 11
- Boat Info
- 2000 BR Signature Select
- Engines
- Mercruiser 7.4L MPI Bravo III
Hello everyone and Happy Thanksgiving! I purchased my 260 Signature Select Bowrider about 1.5 years ago knowing that I'd have to replace the exhaust manifolds on my MAG 7.4L 454 (with Bravo III DuoProp). I bought the boat and trailer during Covid for $16k and we've been able to put about 100 hours on it since purchase with relatively few issues. With the weather getting cool and the parts now available, I took the boat in for the manifold work. Well, suffice it to say, they had to basically break off the manifolds and found this engine has suffered from the same water intrusion that so many others have, and is not repairable. Soooo, it seems that the best options are:
- Rebuild the 7.4 with a new long block: My mechanic suggested this and the idea is to move whatever parts and pieces can be salvaged from the original motor to a new long block and buy whatever is needed to get the new block up and running. I'm worried about experiencing the same water reversion issues and the more I think about it, the thought of bringing over a few old parts and riding around on a semi-new engine--the cost of which is mainly in the labor to rebuild--seems less ideal than repowering with a brand new turnkey engine. Initial estimated cost: ~$16k.
- 383 Stroker: After reading and researching...Cheaper, less torque and may struggle to move the boat under load, etc. Should bolt in pretty easily. Seems like it may be perceived as underpowering the boat and therefore may hurt resale. We're 100% saltwater so it seems that going to the closed cooling is a smart upgrade that may lengthen the life of the boat. According to Michigan Motorz, this engine is roughly: $15,269 (before shipping and install)
- 8.1L: (More expensive but (more than) enough torque to keep the boat sufficiently powered. Seems like it would help with resale value. Going with closed cooling, based upon Michigan Motorz this engine is roughly: $22,495 (before shipping and install). I'm hoping it would bolt in and not require a new bravo drive/gears etc.
- Walk Away/Sell the hull/Find new boat: So I have to admit that I'm leaning towards option 3, but then the thought of putting $25k into a boat that is available on Pop Yachts right now (including a trailer) for $26k...is causing me to pause. I'd like to think that I could get most of my money back out of this boat if it had a brand new engine in it (if I really needed to), since the boat is in pretty good shape. We enjoy it, and I like the boat and think it's great for my young kids (10, 7 yo). I know that we want to be on the water, and have caught "the bug" for boating (we're out of St. Pete FL), and another consideration is whether we can get into a similar boat for the $25k I might put into this project. From that perspective, it seems that the $25k is the cheapest way to get back on the water and it'll be in a boat that I know well and would have peace of mind (hopefully!) with a brand new motor.