svonmiller

Greetings,

I've got a 1991 IMP 26 footer with twin 5.7s. The starboard engine is out and being rebuilt. Today I was working on the port engine and noticed the motor mount had a bolt backing out. I tried to tighten it, and it just spins. In fact, all of the bolts spin on both sides. They're not loose, but they don't tighten. There is no way to access the other side of the bolt as you can see from the pictures. The other side is completely enclosed.

My question is, how worried about this should I be, if at all? I don't know anything about engine mounts.

The first picture you can see the cross bar (don't know what it's called), that the front mounts go on. This side is okay. The second picture is a closeup of the starboard mount, this side is okay too (although none of the bolts can be tightened, they just spin, as I described above.)

The last picture is the port side where the bolt has backed out some and is at an angle.

Crossbar:


Starboard (okay):


Port (the one I'm most worried about):


Any advice is much appreciated!
Stan

brian41

iTrader: (1)

They are most likely lag bolts and the wood is soft.

wtfo

are you sure those have nuts on the back and aren';t lag bolts screwed into wooden stringers (that are now rotten...).

The gtood news is that engine mounts do not do a lot more than support the weight of the engine, the torque is mostly absorbed by the transom assembly and transom. The bad news is that if your stringers are rotten and wet, there is a very real possibility that the transom is as well.

I'm sorry if that's the case - either a major expense or a fair amount oif hard dirty work. Look on the bright side, if you've got a rot problem (VERY common in a 20 year old boat), you've already got the engines out. Much better to find it now rather than when you smoke a coupler or worse...

Good luck with it!

Ted G

iTrader: (1)

Back one out and if it's a lag bolt you have rotted stringers and they will need to be addressed.

svonmiller

Thanks to all for the comments/advice. After I posted this, it occurred to me that they are almost certainly lag bolts. I don't know how else they could put it together. I'll be able to get back in there later this week and pull a bolt to see.

I'm sure you guys are right, it's most likely rotted stringers. This boat has been pretty well taken care of, but I'm sure they're still rotted as old as it is. I don't want to believe the transom is rotted. I doubt it's wet, it's been on a trailer sitting for the last three years (motor went out, I lost interest). But, if I'm going through the massive effort to replace the stringers, I may as well do the transom at the same time.

I really would like to get the new engine back in, and get it back on the water for a few runs to decide how much I love this boat. If it's a lot, I'll go through the rebuild. If not, I'll start looking for another boat. I can't afford these kinds of boats new, so I have to buy them aged. It's a mixed bag for sure.

Ted G

iTrader: (1)

I don't want to throw a really wet blanket on your party but I gotta say this. An IMP is not a really sought after boat, even in great shape. And there are so many smokin hot deals out there right now on really nice boats that putting all that time and effort (and cash) might not be a good path. OTOH it would make a nice project and you would derive a huge sense of satisfaction when it was all done.

svonmiller

Yeah, that's been my thought process as well. If it were even in the top five brands, it'd be worth it. And there are other issues too. The starboard engine is in the machine shop. The port side engine might have a cracked block. If the port side engine is okay, maybe I can bailing-wire this thing together for a season. A new boat purchase (used) isn't in the budget until late next year. If the port engine needs a rebuild, I'll be faced with a number of decisions, one of which is just getting rid of it. I have to imagine it would be extremely difficult to sell this boat in non-running condition for more than about $2000, which is about what I'll have in the rebuild. It's worth way more than that, but I just doubt someone will buy a non-running boat. I see them on CL all of the time. I'm starting to think I'm throwing good money after bad.

Before this stringer discovery it seemed to make sense to rebuild the motor (even both if they needed it). I guess I'll wait to see if the port engine will need a rebuild too. Perhaps that'll be where I make my decision about whether to move forward or stop altogether.