500 hour maintence at 980 hours

gordonhansen

New Member
Jan 16, 2007
5
Nashville, TN
I am close to buying 1990 310 Sun Dancer with 980 hours, kept in fresh water in Nashville. It has 454’s 330 hp Merc v-drives. The broker, of course, says the boast has been well maintained but the receipts for the work seem to be a bit evasive. I’m buying from a second owner.

So I’m assuming there was no five hundred hour maintenance done and if the survey works out I want to have some serious maintenance done at this point to ensure I get the most out of the rest of the time I own the boat as well as having the receipts for the next person.

It does have two year old bottom paint. It had an impeller kit, shaft and prop work as well as oil and filters done at that time too.

Other than oil, filters, plugs and the small stuff, what extras should I have done if I’m willing to spend about $1,500 total. (Yes, I know that will turn into $2,000) My local marina charges $80 per hour labor

Bye the bye, I just joined the site and have been reading for the last few days. What a great source of unbiased info!

There has to be a way to share a virtual cocktail with your fellow captains??
I’ll buy the first round, but only the first, I have this boat to pay for.

Thanks,

Gordon
 
Yeah, and some of us are right down the road.....!

You ask a great question. If it were me, I'd lay out the Merc owners manual and compare the 500 hour and all later service intervals. You should quickly see a pattern to the frequency of various items. I'd then make a list of everything from 500 hours forward and eliminate duplicates.....like you won't replace the impeller twice because it was scheduled for 500 hours and for 800 hours.....you'd only do it once.

From that list you can eliminate anything on your list where you find receipts showing the work has been recently done.

Welcome to CSR............
 
Gordon, welcome to CSR. Were here at your service!

I was in about same situation as you are now. I purchased my 1995 250 Dancer w/ around 950 hours on it. I was going to be the third owner and the receipts were not what they needed to be, but the sales guy was adamant about the maintenance and said he personally knew the previous owners and swore that the maintenance was keep up 100%.

Not really trusting him as I do w/ most sales persons, I had a mechanic give it a once over, change a ton of stuff and about $2500 later, it's a perfect boat. :thumbsup:

Good luck!

On a side note, I think Boat US should lobby to have mechanic hourly charges lowered (no offense to any current marine mechanics on this site, but
$75-$100 an hour is CRAZZZZZZYYYYY!) :smt101
 
slack250 said:
On a side note, I think Boat US should lobby to have mechanic hourly charges lowered (no offense to any current marine mechanics on this site, but
$75-$100 an hour is CRAZZZZZZYYYYY!) :smt101

Just had to respond to this............these people provide a service a lot of boat owners can't do, you must pay something for this service. They have overhead, insurances, jeez the list of expenses just goes on and on (trust me, I know). What do you think a fair hourly service rate would be.
 
If yu think $70-$80 is high try $100. However, I've yet to miss a day boating because service was too backlogged or some idiot installed something incorrectly. Most places around here won't pay and they have a difficult time finding and keeping mechanics.
 
Hey, how about finding a mechanic who freelances? If you can get a good one, that should save money. And while we're on the subject, if anyone knows a good mechanic in the Stuart to Vero Beach area of Florida, I'd like to talk to him.
 
First thing I would do is ask the seller when the oil was last changed and with what kind of oil. Then get an oil analysis. (00+ hour is not high for a boat this old but I personally do not trust hour meters. They are as accurate as the owner.

A buddy purchased a 2000 boat last year, only 500 hours on the engines. He just had an oil analysis done on both. Per the analysis and his discussion with the tech who did the analysis his starboard engine is wearing down fast and may not have much life left in it. This would have been valuable info pre sale.

We use Blackstone for our oil analysis.
 
Gordon,
Stray Cat has a solid point. If you aren't planning on having the boat surveyed, change your plan. A survey is the best investment you'll ever make regarding a boat purchase.
 
gordonhansen said:
So I’m assuming there was no five hundred hour maintenance done and if the survey works out...

I just re-read your initial post again...I should've said select a surveyor of your choosing versus the broker's.
 
Survey

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO A COMPLETE SURVEY ! ! I have a 1990 310 EC and had the hull survey but skipped the engine survey. The guy i bought the boat from was a broker in Ft. Lauderdale. He refurbished the interior beautifully and said the guy he bought he boat from did the engines and estimated about 75 hours since overhaul. :smt014 Naturally, there were NO receipts for this work, but hey....the engines looked like new :smt018 ! ! A couple of months later, i had a buddy help me replace the batteries ( pain to get at) and when we cranked the engines he heard the problems right away. Long story short, the only engine overhaul done was with a spray paint can. 2 engines and trans totalled $17,000......DO AN ENGINE SURVEY ! ! :smt021

Wanna buy a boat???????
 
2500 overhaul

slack250 said:
Gordon, welcome to CSR. Were here at your service!

I was in about same situation as you are now. I purchased my 1995 250 Dancer w/ around 950 hours on it. I was going to be the third owner and the receipts were not what they needed to be, but the sales guy was adamant about the maintenance and said he personally knew the previous owners and swore that the maintenance was keep up 100%.

Not really trusting him as I do w/ most sales persons, I had a mechanic give it a once over, change a ton of stuff and about $2500 later, it's a perfect boat. :thumbsup:

Good luck!
I am in the same situation as you. Would you share with me what you did to your engine? Thank you in advance.
Ian-

On a side note, I think Boat US should lobby to have mechanic hourly charges lowered (no offense to any current marine mechanics on this site, but
$75-$100 an hour is CRAZZZZZZYYYYY!) :smt101


I am in the same situation as you were. Could you share with me what you had done to the engine. 454 300 h.p bravo2 800 hours freshwater cooled. Thank you- Ian
 
$75-$100 an hour is CRAZZZZZZYYYYY!)

youre getting away cheap, we pay 189.00 per hour plus travel time. You get what you pay for and i'm happy to pay it. They dont call this the gold coast for nothing.
 
WOW! I do feel that I'm getting a bargain! And that's at MM! I did not mean anything negative toward mechanic, especially marine mechanics ... I guess I just hate having to pay someone for something I should be able to do myself....

Ian, I had the water pump and starter changed. The oil pressure gauge was not working, changed that... Had everything serviced (fluids/filters/lube), and had the bottom painted.
 

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