Moving up to 322 CR from 262 CR

[politby 0]

Greetings

 

After 3 great seasons with our '00 262CR we need (okay, I want ) something larger. I have found a 2005 322CR that I am close to making a deal on:

 

 

 

 

It is offered by a private seller. I would much rather buy from a dealer or broker because you can always get at them afterwards if the boat turns out to have hidden faults (my wife is a lawyer). Not so with a private seller. The boat has been imported from the U.S to Sweden so is is a U.S market model.

 

My 262CR has been virtually problem free so I'm not too concerned, but what should I be looking out for when I inspect the boat? The engines are Merc 350 MPIs, seawater cooled, with 670 hours on them. The boat has been run in a lake the past 3 seasons but I will be running it in the Baltic Sea which is brackish. My 262 has a fresh water cooled engine and I have always been leery of sea water cooling.

 

The only fault mentioned by the seller is that the ice maker in the cockpit is inop. I haven't seen the boat in person yet (I will on Monday). I am considering having it surveyed but the general opinion over here is that these surveys are rip offs and won't really tell me anything I can't discover myself.

 

Would appreciate any help from the forum.

 

thanks

[marfi 0]

Hi there,

 

Just to tell you something, i bought a seacore engine for other boat i have, and know i bought a monterey without seacore.

I have installed seacore in the Monterey boat.

YES, you can install that on an engine that is not seacore, you will spend about 5000€ per engine (have to replace the ECM, for europe is not included in the seacore kit and is expensive ask that in Brunwisck for your country)

And when they say seacore uses freshwater is really true.

BUT, the cooler system is from sea, so what is protects?????? it protects the inside engine, but the coolers uses sea water but more more cheaper to replace.

It 's like your car, it uses a radiator like the mercruiser engine those only the question is, your car uses the air and the vent to cool the water in the radiator, and in your boat? what will cool the freswater? THE SEA WATER.

As for the new boat, 670 hours on a 350 mag mpi engine i think it's a litle above what i could think, we are talking about 140 hours per year.

Contact your mercruiser dealer to go with you and check the engines ask him if you can take off the start engine on the engines to see if the engine wheel have any rust on them.

Check the wires to look for rust on them.

The last thing you would wont is a problem in any engine, for let you know when i buy the 4.3 mpi seacore engine for my 6,46 meters boat (not the monterey) that engine cost something like 18 000€ for me it was normal because we are talking about a boat from 1995.It was normal.

That's my advice be 100% sure that the engines are in good condition the other things you can put new ones if any goes off.

I go for your wife, she's got 100% reason, buying boats off the normal dealer can be something good or very very bad deal.

Heard people with lost off problems because off that, you will pay him, he will sell and if something goes wrong? what warranty do you have from him that he will replace it? In Portugal when you buy something in 2ª hand you have 6 months to give them back to the dealer if it is not in good shape, and have a 1 year warranty that is an obrigation from our law.

Please be carefull with that deal, try to see if a Monterey dealer won't pay that boat for you and you buy it to the dealer. At least is a Monterey dealer.

 

Best Regards

[Ian 0]

Hi Politby

A word of warning...... your boat can never be big enough...... next you will want a 360, then a 400

 

The boat you propose to buy is 5 years old and been run for 2 years in salt water and 3 years in fresh water.

 

I would suggest you at least talk to a Mercruiser dealer. If it was running in salt water all the time, the risers might be due for a change soon. Depending on what they say, it might give you a little more "negotiating space" in discussing the price. They could also give you an opinion on the legs.

 

A lot will depend on how the boat has been stored. Generally if it has been pulled out of the water and the engines flushed each time, then you wont have too many problems. The engine flushing technique in the Mercruiser manual is pretty much useless if the boat is left in the water.

 

You could consider having them retro-fitted with fresh water cooling but I believe it would be a waste of $ now the engines are 5 years old.

 

Remember, now you have 2 engines and 2 legs, everything for servicing becomes twice as expensive!

 

You don't mention any options but would be a good idea to have the genset inspected as well (if fitted). Last thing you want is water leaking into your hull.

 

If you have a water heater (electric) look at the internal anode and see if you can find out when it was last changed. The water heater should be checked for signs of corrossion as well. Again you dont want water in your hull.

 

Check the float switches on the pumps are working correctly - ive recently had to replace 3 of them on my 355 that is only 3years old

 

I would personally have the boat surveyed - at least it would give you an idea of how well the previous owners have maintained it. The survey will definately find things "wrong" with it, after all it is 5 years old - but as I said before, the report may give a little room for negotiating the final sale price

 

Good luck and happy "new" boating