Jc77

Made a deal to buy this boat, but having second thoughts

2001 Spectre 30 (beautiful boat, extremely well maintained) with twin 300x motors. Starboard powerhead has failed 3 times. I have agreed to buy it this past weekend, but having second thoughts

1. original 01 motor went after about 200 hours
2. replaced with an 05 powerhead that lasted 100 hours before cylinder 1 piston ring failure
3. original 01 was then rebuilt (by boat owner, not a shop) lasted an hour before blowing apart the piston in cyl 6

My plan was to send it to Carson marine and have him rebuild both engines, and determine the source of the problem with the starboard motor. He has many years of experience building these engines, and an excellent reputation on screamandfly.

Am I crazy to consider buying this boat?

Griff

Sounds like there could be a possible delivery issue

Jc77

yeah, I'm assuming it shouldn't be that hard to diagnose. Injectors, fuel pump, etc something is causing it to run lean.

Twin O/B Sonic

I’m not a Merc guy but those are one of my favorite motors.

A buddy had one on his 19’ Mirage tunnel boat.
Key is (IMO) he bought it new, and took care of it.

It had been 120 before and ran 1400 gls of fuel through it w/no issues.

They do have a colorful reputation as being high maintenance.

Being a 2 stroke, they need cared for to live.

I know of Chris Carson and am a fan.
He has a very solid reputation.

I spent 9 yrs in Fla rebuilding every 200 hp+ JohnRude I could find.
Probably 50% had blown shortly after being rebuilt.

Almost always due to correcting the symptom (blow up) but not diagnosing the cause.

Injectors, fuel pump (‘s), fuel quality etc.

Chris will correct the cause and you should end up w/a killer motor.

I’d give Chris a call and discuss options but expect him to do a full autopsy which may change/update plans.

Twin O/B Sonic

Well based on your other thread, the above post was a waste of my time.