What should I do? Repower

bullymadison

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Hey all 2004 Fisherman 222 Yamaha 225 original - less than 500 hours. Marina just let me know I have a corrosion hole in the engine block near the thermostat. They can patch and maybe I get a season or two - or it’s time for Repower. Honestly, I was thinking of upgrading but I’ll get nothing for the boat now. All new electronics including radar, new cushions over the past 4 years. What do you think? Have it rebuilt (any idea how much that costs?) buy a rebuilt? I can’t imagine spending for a brand new engine - I’ll never get that money back.
Appreciate your thoughts!
 

Emerin1

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Tough spot to be in..I was in a similar spot at the end of 2023 season. 1 blown powerhead and a 1 just rebuilt. I also wanted to upgrade (from Sailfish to Marlin).. My Sailfish had good hull and transom so I decided on twin 200 merc four strokes. I am close to retirement and my budget was under 70k I
could not find a Marlin (wanted 2004 or newer) for that price without old engines and run risk of being in the same situation. The new 200’s tun great and have a 5 year warranty. I don’t know enough about your situation to give you sound advice. If you are happy with the hull a new engine should give you a bunch of years of reliable boating! Enjoy your holidays.
 

Father's Day

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If you enjoyed your boat prior to your engine problems, seems to me like a new motor might be a good investment. It's not about you getting your money back. It's about you enjoying your time on your boat. Worry free.
I replaced the motor on my 192 Best thing I ever did for me. Now if your thinking about buying new that's another story, but if you're going to buy used ,new motor might be an option.
Good luck whatever you decide
 
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Mustang65fbk

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It honestly depends on how much money you've got into the boat at this point. As you mentioned, if you repowered the boat, you're not likely ever going to get all of that money back out of it again. I'd fix what you've got and sell, or see if you can part the motor out for as much as possible and put that amount towards a used/new outboard, etc, as you don't want to be completely upside down on the boat. Accessories and electronics like you mentioned can always be replaced and aren't as big of a deal imo, but a repower is something you're not likely going to recover/break even from, unless you plan on keeping the boat for another 10-15+ years. Which I guess would beg the question of, what are you planning on doing with the boat and are you planning on keeping her or are you thinking about selling for other reasons as well? If the former, then a repower could be a decent long term investment, but if you're looking at keeping the boat for 5 years or less, I think I'd just fix what you've got and sell it off. But, it all comes back down to how much money you paid for the boat, how much total you have invested in her, etc. If you have say $40k total into the boat currently and she's only worth say $35k, then I wouldn't go and put another $20k+ into her for a new motor. Just my thoughts on the matter, of course.
 
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family affair

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Don't buy new if you don't plan to keep it. Used would be the best way to go, but if you don't know engines, you might be digging a deeper hole. This could be a good option:

Cheaper than any other option and will make it easy to sell... If the engine has no issues elsewhere like exhaust corrosion.
 
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bullymadison

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It honestly depends on how much money you've got into the boat at this point. As you mentioned, if you repowered the boat, you're not likely ever going to get all of that money back out of it again. I'd fix what you've got and sell, or see if you can part the motor out for as much as possible and put that amount towards a used/new outboard, etc, as you don't want to be completely upside down on the boat. Accessories and electronics like you mentioned can always be replaced and aren't as big of a deal imo, but a repower is something you're not likely going to recover/break even from, unless you plan on keeping the boat for another 10-15+ years. Which I guess would beg the question of, what are you planning on doing with the boat and are you planning on keeping her or are you thinking about selling for other reasons as well? If the former, then a repower could be a decent long term investment, but if you're looking at keeping the boat for 5 years or less, I think I'd just fix what you've got and sell it off. But, it all comes back down to how much money you paid for the boat, how much total you have invested in her, etc. If you have say $40k total into the boat currently and she's only worth say $35k, then I wouldn't go and put another $20k+ into her for a new motor. Just my thoughts on the matter, of course.
Thanks - I was thinking of going newer in the next year or two. I wouldn’t want to sell it to someone with just a patch knowing it might fail in the next year or two. I need to find out how much to rebuild or buy used. Marina shop is closed until 1/13 so just looking at engines on FB.
 

Mustang65fbk

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Thanks - I was thinking of going newer in the next year or two. I wouldn’t want to sell it to someone with just a patch knowing it might fail in the next year or two. I need to find out how much to rebuild or buy used. Marina shop is closed until 1/13 so just looking at engines on FB.
If you're thinking about going newer in the next year or two and are going to sell the boat, then definitely don't sink another $20k+ into it. Either fix what you've got, if possible, look for another powerhead or used outboard. Or you could always put the boat up for sale with a price indicative of the fact that the motor will need some pretty extensive repairs to get it running consistently again.
 

billyttpd

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I bought my Grady with a blown motor (knew that when I purchased it) I repowered with a new Optimax. In hindsight I would have put a new powerhead on my 200 EFI because a few years later I wanted to upgrade to a bigger boat
 

seasick

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Don't buy new if you don't plan to keep it. Used would be the best way to go, but if you don't know engines, you might be digging a deeper hole. This could be a good option:

Cheaper than any other option and will make it easy to sell... If the engine has no issues elsewhere like exhaust corrosion.
The last statement is important. There may be other areas of corrosion. Is the leak in the block side or in the thermostat mounting flange?
 

bullymadison

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I bought my Grady with a blown motor (knew that when I purchased it) I repowered with a new Optimax. In hindsight I would have put a new powerhead on my 200 EFI because a few years later I wanted to upgrade to a bigger boat

helpful. Thank you!