200 hp mariner

[wayneblevins]

I have a 200 hp mariner that is toast would i be better off having a rebuilt powerhead installed or buy a low hour used motor the boat has set for eight years and i am sure that i will find more problems along the way. the boat is a 1992 bass cat pantara classic that I am sure Bo has some experience with it used to belong to Kieth Testrerman but has since been through two owners. I am currently trying to restore the boat. 

[fishinwrench]

I'd have to check it out to be sure, but if there are no holes in the block and the crankshaft is still ok your best option (for quality of work and $$$) is to have it rebuilt by a reputable shop. 

The quality of remanufactured powerheads is always questionable.  There is seldom any attention given to tolerances and port tuning.  I only recommend a reman powerhead when the original one simply cannot be saved.

[WeekendWarrior]

I just put a reman powerhead from Mercury in my 200 HP Mariner at $5400 and breaking it in this week. Have a one year warranty. Time will tell, hope to get many years out of it. Better than $50-60K.

[fishinwrench]

The "thing" is.....if you just swap the powerhead (without disassembling and analyzing the old one) then you never really know for sure what caused the original powerhead to fail.  Powerheads don't blow all by themselves, they blow because something that was bolted onto them failed.   

So by simply replacing the powerhead, with no teardown/inspection and analysis of the old one you have a 99.9% chance that it will blow again.  The 1 year warranty isn't worth diddly if their analysis 8 months later shows a lean or overheated cylinder, or if there are any signs of detonation.  

Just keepin' it real.

[fishinwrench]

Just in case you're wondering why high volume dealers would rather replace a powerhead than rebuild one, take a look at the mark-up. 

30 seconds on the computer, and you just made 1800.00 plus sold 8-10 hours of labor to swap it out. 

Dealerships make the majority of their money selling parts. Repair centers do it by selling service/labor.

Dealerships hang lots of certificates on the wall and love to crow about "factory trained technicians".  More often than not their factory trained technicians are nothing more than "Parts Changers" who earned a certificate by sitting through a seminar in a far away town with a wicked hangover.  Those certificates are nothing more than attendance prizes, nobody leaves without one.  

[WeekendWarrior]

Well I HOPE it doesn't blow again but it may and if it does blow I hope it blows up within the one year warranty which I think it should if something is wrong cause I plan on running it often. They assured me it would be fine and if something were to happen and they didn't cover it well I guess it will be lesson learned and you will have a new customer ?.

[wayneblevins]

Sorry it took so long to reply the reason it blew was the oil line broke on the back of the buzzer so the alarm did not go off and it ran without oil

[fishinwrench]

17 minutes ago, wayneblevins said:

Sorry it took so long to reply the reason it blew was the oil line broke on the back of the buzzer so the alarm did not go off and it ran without oil

That's fairly common.  Odds are that the crankshaft is fine, and the cylinders can be repaired. 

For less than the cost of a reman powerhead alone you can overhaul that powerhead AND completely refresh the fuel, cooling, and ignition systems. Parts, labor, and machine work combined.

[wayneblevins]

Wrench I thank you for the info and will be getting in touch with you when I wrap up a few other things. I am working on this as I can afford to and need to sell my other boat first. I would list it here but I have a person who wants to lake test it in a couple of weeks. Also is bass cat carpet any better that lowes marine carpet

[fishinwrench]

I used Lowe's marine carpet on a Jon boat mod recently and although it was a bit stiff and hard to make corners with the finished project turned out fine.  

The adhesive is what always gives me fits.  I used to use Henry's outdoor/marine stuff but they have apparently altered the formula because the last can I got was terrible.  It felt different going on but I thought it was just my imagination.  The stuff dried, cracked, and let go after a few months of use and I had to redo the whole job with Gorilla glue and staples. 

Used Gorilla glue on the last job and as far as I know it is still holding fine. Less messy to use too.