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reckedracing

reckedracing

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anyone here know much about boats?

me and a buddy were looking at an 85 bayliner, but its got a volvo engine
people are saying avoid the volvo engines, anyone have any info?
 
Seeing as how we are on a Honda site .. I'd go with one with a Honda engine :ph34r:.

I don't know shit about boats.. or sweeds (sp?) for that matter.
 
volvo is a big boat motor supplier. there's a huge vovlo marina just up the street from my office.
 
I've always heard that bayliners suck. My Grandpa who has been into boats since he was young has always said never buy bayliners.
 
bayliners are fun, but useless...I'm looking into them them as well, but for me, Id rather have room to move around on the boat and fish and drink...so I'm looking at pontoons. Nothing better than kicking out with buds and BBQ'ing and drinking while fishing as the dog plays in the water.
 
I totaled a sailboat once :D

Volvo is fine. Take good care of it and it'll take good care of you. Its these asshats that don't winterize their boats or prep them for storage, ignore basic maintnence, etc that have problems.

But, boat parts cost twice as much as they should, and volvo parts cost double that.
 
The Volvo Penta drive was the top of the market in the world awhile ago. The motor isn't a factory motor, the Bayliner came with a Force motor.

Bayliners are "good" quality, but are widely regarded as "My first boat" grade. the fiberglass isn't meant to last the years.

A WellCraft is prolly a better used boat to get into.
 
i'd go outboard vs. inboard, personally. and i'd steer clear of bayliner. my family bought stratos. high quality takes a beating, 20+ years now. 200HP Mercury outboard. our friends bought the same boat/motor combo and had exactly the same great experience. :shrug2:
 
i am a boat mechanic by trade. bayliners are crap, and volvos are a pain in the ass to work on, get parts for, etc. most of my work is on outboards (primarily yamaha) and mercruiser sterndrives. i can tell you that outboards in general have far less problems than any inboard gasoline engine. mercruisers and volvos require a lot of maintenance to stay running, whereas i see outboards abused for years with nothing more than changing the plugs occassionally. not saying you shouldnt do more maintenance than that but a lot of people are too lazy, too cheap, or just dont know.

oh yeah, and try finding someone to work on a volvo drive.... if you do, it will cost you. if there is anything more specific you would like to know, just ask.

keep in mind that my experiences here in saltwater with year round boating south florida may differ with a boat kept exclusively in freshwater. from what i hear inboards fare better up north in all freshwater. i dont care what they do to upgrade these chevy engines to make them into volvo pentas and mercruisers, they still corrode and rust away. in addition to that, they eat ignition parts, have lots of overheating problems, and generally require a lot of maintenance to stay running. i look at it as job security!
 
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My dads first boat was a brand new 28 foot Bayliner Cabin cruiser. The day it was ready to be put into the water, the dropped it in and it sank to the bottom of the marina. Stay far away from Bayliners. I grew up on boats.

Are you looking for a cabin cruiser or open bow? How many feet. There are alot of good boat manufacturers out there, Sea Ray comes to mind, Four Winns, Cris Craft, Baja, Fountain, Stingray etc....

I would stay away frm boats that old unless you can fix them yourself.

What are you looking for?
 
we have a friend that has an 18' kobia
we have a 77 starcraft 18' with a blown 1400 merc outboard
#3 piston is in a million pieces
rebuild kit for that motor looks to be over 1000 without machine work

so we're trying to find a cheap boat to just go out and have some drinks on, something we can go on the water with our friend

i was thinking I/O would be better because its 4 stroke
new boat we're looking at is an 81 or89 starcraft with an OMC 140 I/O
 
I know that the value of your hoes should be greater then or equal to the value of your boats
 
unless there is more support for them up where you live i would stay away from any OMC i/o's. they are so uncommon down here that its hard to find parts or anyone to work on them.

why are you thinking a 4 stroke engine is better?

and virtually all modern outboards are 4 stroke anyways... which is unfortunate because they are much more complicated and thus have more crap to fail. a 2 stroke outboard is the least maintenance and least problems compared to all the other engine types.

why dont you just pick up a used motor to re-power that old starcraft? if the boat is worth saving, then just repower it. its not cost effective to rebuild that ancient merc.

and one more thing... if you cant fix it yourself ANY old boat is probably going to be an expensive headache
 
reckedracing said:
anyone here know much about boats?

me and a buddy were looking at an 85 bayliner, but its got a volvo engine
people are saying avoid the volvo engines, anyone have any info?
Click to expand...



My dad has a late 80's or early 90's Bayliner Trophy cabin cruiser of some sort and he loves the thing. It has the volvo engine and he never had any real problems with it either before or after he rebuilt it. Only one thing is kind of annoying, if you are idleing it will hunt from left to right a lot.

basically just like this
NEILSBOATLarge.jpg
 
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a lot of deep v i/o boats wander at slow speed...... in fact some very deep v outboard powered boats do as well
 
id go Four Winns, SeaRay or Chris Craft. excellent manufactured boats.

my parents had a Four Winns boat when i was in school. really good quality boats. stay away from the Bayliners. they are cheaply made...
 
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