What are my options?

[Fishing_Pirate]

I am gonna try to give you guys the short version of this story so here it is...I have a bass boat that I boat that I bought used from a private seller(my friends dad). It had under 50 hours on it when I bought it. I fished all over with the boat for a couple years. It is my first bass boat. It always ran well. I decided I wanted to sell the boat as I was not using it much. So I decided to sell it on consignment. The boat was in good shape, all seemed fine....Then a buyer came along so the shop did an inspection and found out the outboard need to be completely rebuilt. The mechanic says it is due to a cross threaded spark plug from a spark plug change that occurred before I owned the boat. I was expecting good news and got bad news. So obviously the sale is out of the question. I know that this is boat ownership... I get that. I wasn't looking to make a ton on the sale, I just wanted to get the boat off my hands. So now for the financials... I owe about 8 grand on the boat. The outboard rebuild would probably cost about that much. I guess for now I am just going to try to pay it off as fast as possible and sell it as is and give the next buyer full disclosure??? What would you guys do, going forward? I have learned a few lessons on this one so no sense going back and explaining what I should have done differently...

[tinybounce]

If he charging you $8k for a rebuild you need to find another mechanic. has the boat ran fine? or have you been having problems?

[caddelma]

Why does it need rebuilt from a cross-threaded spark plug? What kind of motor? Would think they could either repair the threads and/or replace the head depending on the motor.

[Bob G.]

Fishing Pirate,

Have you ever removed the spark plugs when winterizing or did you have a shop do it?

[n_gong]

Get a second opinion.

Nelson

[Fishing_Pirate]

I was told that the crankshaft is bent and the flywheel has teeth missing, from the cylinder with the bad spark plug not firing. I have never even taken the top off of the outboard. I did have some trouble the last time I had the boat out, but they seemed battery related, as the boat was running it was showing low amps. It is a 2007 Mercury Optimax 150. It currently has about 100 hours.

[wmitch2]

You need to take it elsewhere !! That guy is trying to rip you off !! A cross threaded spark plug car be repaired without having to completely rebuild the motor. You didn't give much info on what this boat is, but please, take it away from where it is now !!!

[John Jackson]

A cross threaded spark plug CANNOT bend a crankshaft or knock teeth off a flywheel. This guy is a crook to the extent you better check the motor serial number to make sure he hasn't changed it.
A cross threaded spark plug will still fire. And the only time the flywheel teeth are touched are when trying to crank the motor, and that by the starter, which was designed to engage teeth.

[Guntucky]

I was told that the crankshaft is bent and the flywheel has teeth missing, from the cylinder with the bad spark plug not firing. I have never even taken the top off of the outboard. I did have some trouble the last time I had the boat out, but they seemed battery related, as the boat was running it was showing low amps. It is a 2007 Mercury Optimax 150. It currently has about 100 hours.

Holy Shit, back the truck in, hitch the boat and blow smoke getting it outa there.

[fastfiat]

Holy Shit, back the truck in, hitch the boat and blow smoke getting it outa there.

100%

[joexiong]

exactly what everyone is saying. A cross threaded Spark plug will not do that kind of damage. They sale Spark Plug Re thread kits fr like $15 bucks at a Autozone. You can do it yourself.

[skeeterator]

Go get the boat from whatever scumbag has it. Take it to a local lake and start it to see if it's running like it was before this person touched it. Pull the cowling off yourself and remove the flywheel cover and check it for broken/missing teeth. Etc etc etc

Should have just taken pics and sold it on here yourself, f that consignment shit. No way I'm letting someone else drive it or tear it down in a shop to check it out.

[Hez]

[Texas Rig]

You may want to post something in your state's forum to request honest good marine mechanic's in your area. You also may want to see if the crook you're dealing with is known by other members in your area. What boat brand/model is that Opti hung on?

[gdi]

Not sure where you have it but check out Hennipen they have dealers there I think or take it to Morris. Like to know where you took it. Thought those goes in that area also took good care of people.

[cwilt]

Listen to everyone on here! Your mechanic is not really a mechanic!

[greg88]

Second what everyone on here has told you run but please make sure everything is how you took it to that shop something isn't correct

[ST8Bugging]

Agree 100% with everyone above. Your about to get hosed.
Get your rig and get away from that place.

[Bass Junkie]

Everyone is giving you good advice here. Take it somewhere else, that guy is full of crap. Years ago my dad totally stripped out the threads installing a spark plug. It was a fairly cheap fix. Hell, it's pretty difficult to even cross thread a plug. That part may be a lie too.

[mactlman]

spark plug thread insert? fixed!!