Wayne.B wrote:

On Tue, 04 Nov 2014 16:35:34 -0600, "James"
wrote:

Hi Group, I'm presently looking at a 1977 28' Bayliner with a 350
Chevy OMC engine and Volvo 270 drive. The owner says he has the
same engine in his tournament ski boat which is a Mercruiser
engine. I don't know if he's referring to the fact that they're
both 350 Chevy's or Mercury built the OMC also. I haven't gone to
see the boat yet. The picture of the engine shows that it's
definitly a Chevy and OMC. Jim

===

Jim, I appreciate the fact that you are trying to find a bargain boat
but trust me when I say that the purchase price is just the tip of the
iceberg. When you buy a boat of that type that is 30 or 40 years old,
it is a project boat at best, and without doubt a money pit. I owned
a 1978 Winner 24 for a while that I bought back in the 90s. It had a
350 cid Mercruiser engine and outdrive. I got a few good years out
of the boat and had a lot of fun with it, but eventually had to get
rid of it because of perpetual maintenance issues.

You can buy these boats for pennies on the dollar because their best
years are behind them, and the current owner is no longer happy with
their investment. Unless you are a marine mechanic with good access
to old, obsolete spare parts, I'd look for something easier to
maintain - maybe an outboard in the 17 or 18 foot range.

Actually I'm a pretty good boat mechanic having owned and maintained a
28' sailboat which we trailer sailed. It had a Volvo-penta in it and no
one around here could work on it so I learned how. Got to be a bit of
an effort to step the mast as we got older so we decided to switch to a
cabin cruiser. Chevy's are defiantly easier and there are a lot of
boats with Volvo outdrives around here and several good dealers and
mechanics. We're land locked so it has to have a trailer and will live
at our house. I'm well aware that it depends on upkeep and maintenance.
In some cases the boat is being sold because of too many boats, the
owner moved up or down or has to move out of the area. Besides I like
old boats and if I could afford it I'd buy a classic wooden Chriscraft
runabout or similar but I'd hate to hang downriggers and rod holders on
it. Jim