Way2slow

I meant the motor. You can expect to pay a few hundred bucks for a good trim assy. Power T&T was an option back then and a lot of motors didn't have it. You can go to BRP.com's parts lookup and see what you have and what's missing. I will say, you are probably beating a dead horse, or planning on spending a way more money than it's worth. Might want to check the floor of the boat and transome real good. I would think they are most likely rotted if the boat's that old and left for junk.

As mentioned, they are not universal, need a make, model and year. Also, before spending money on expensive parts, I hope you gone through the basics of getting the thing running and making sure everything else works. It's extremely easy to spend more on parts to get one back together than the thing would be worth when done.

It's built into my Javelin and Stratos

Speaking of professional, I should mention, about the only place you are going to find the 3M buffing compound (that I forgot to mention you have to use after sanding and before the glaze) and the glazes are going to be at a place that sales paint and body supplies. These are professional products and probably not going to be at your local parts store.

From what you are describing, and from my past experience with older boat, what you have is too far gone to make look new again. If the boat has metal flake, I'm sure if you rub you hand over the faded/worn areas they will feel very gritty. This is the metal flake you are feeling and as soon as you do anything, it's going to take the color off them and make little silver spots where every exposed flake is now. Now, with that said, the only way you are going to get a smooth shiney finish is wet sanding and buffing it out. This will get you a good shine, with a lot of little silver specks in those rough areas. Start by wet sanding with 1,200 grit, then 1,600 and finish with 2,000. Just remember, you have little to no clear gel left already, so don't go crazy with the sanding. Next, you are going to need a good, VARIABLE SPEED, buffer. DO NOT try to use a standard 7" side grinder or anything that's going to spin over approx 1,200 rpm, you WILL burn what gel you have left. You will also need to spend the few extra bucks and get the the 3M Machine Glaze that comes in the black bottle. If you can't get your hands on a buffer, get the 3M Hand Glaze. If you have to do all the sanding and buffing by hand, be prepared to be thinking your arms are going to fall off before you get done. A couple of coats of a good polish and your done. You will get a fairly nice shine, nothing like new but a respectable looking boat. The shine is not going to hold up like new, so you will have to apply another coat every few months. As for covering, I always stick a little 6" - 8" fan in the rear splash well blowing toward the front and fix me a little duck/cover that keeps the boat cover lifted off it so air can be pulled in and blown through the boat. I make me a vent at the front around the trolling motor so there is a good exit point.

Take one of the bearing covers off and measure the outside diameter of it. As for installing the new Bearing Buddies or what ever brand, You will just tap them in, just don't beat the crap out of them and dent the outside of it all up. I use a brass hammer, because I have one, but you can can tap them in with a regular hammer if you be gentle. You can also place a piece of 2x4 over it and hit it with a larger hammer. Just be sure you don't get it cocked to one side, it has to go in evenly or it will get stuck and if you keep trying to drive it in cocked, you will just beat the crap out of it. Go ahead and get new seals and pull the wheels off, remove the bearings, clean and inspect them. If there is any pitting in the races or bearings, replace them. Actually, you can buy the bearing kits so cheap at Wal-Mart, Northern Tools, etc, it would probably pay you to get two kits and just replace them. Since it seems you have never done this, it might help to get with someone that knows how, so they can show you how to get the races out and install the new ones. when you install the nut, DO NOT tighten it down. Snugg it up and then back it off approx 1/8 turn. You should be able to feel a very small wiggle/movement in the tire when you move it side to side. This is so there enough space between the bearing and race for a grease film, it will overheat and burn out the bearings if theres not a small clearance for the grease film.

First thing you need to do is determine if it's ignition, fuel or compression. After doing a compresison test that shows all cylinders good, having sat that long, the first thing I usually do is pull the carbs and clean them, BUT! it doesn't cost me $450, most of the time just a few hours of my time. Before forking out $450 for a carb cleaning, I would like to know for sure there's not something with the ignition system causing my problem. I would hook a spark checker to it, and make sure it's firing on all cylinders while cranking it over. If that's good, I would take it to the lake, leave it strapped to the trailer, back it in until the anticav plate is about an inch above the water, have someone put it in gear and momentarily apply power while I took a plug wire off and see if that made a difference, I would do this for each cylinder, but do not keep the power applied while you try to check all of them, have the wires loose so they come off easy, pop it off and see if motor changes, let off the gas, shut it off, put that wire back on, start it back up and try another. If you don't mind getting your eyeballs lit up, you can try to putting it back on while it's idleing. Then you need to make sure the motor is firing on any cylinders that don't change when you pop the wire off by using a spark checker and do the same run up, but not take the wire off. Now, if I'm not over your head on troubleshooting your problem and you do try this, do not do this standing in the water behind the boat, sit on the back and reach over or around. For one, several thousand volts is going to hurt like h*** if you are standing in the water and two, that prop is moving a hellavalot of water and can easily suck a foot/leg into it. One novel thought, have you even looked that the plugs to see what they look like, if you are running the gapless plugs those motors normally run, they foul pretty easy and it would would make you feel kinda stupid it you spend hours and bunches of money just to find out the plugs are fouled.

Now, before you get too excited about the hp gains out of the johnnyruds, understand, I'm strickly talking about the 2.7L, 3.0L and 3.3L "loopers". Those were the 200, 225's, 250's and the HO's made from 1985 on. All the other 90 degree motors are Cross-Flows and the will not give you the power gains you see from the loopers, plus, they are pretty much like the merc's, any additional hp you get it from increasing the rpm. Doing this, you get back to having to rob Peter to pay Paul. Anything you gain in top end horse power, you will loose in bottom end hole shot, so it's not pratical to start trying to modify one for a heavy bass boat. Plus it boils down to the plain old simple fact, it takes cubic inches to make bottom end power/torque. That's why a 2.4L formula one engine turning 18,000 rpm can make 800 hp and needs 16 gears to get to approx 1,300 pounds to top speed, and a 5.6L Nascar engine turns 9,000 - 10,000 rpm, makes 800 hp and only needs four gears to get to a 3.400 pound car to top speed. A standard saying in racing, there is no substitute for cubic inches. If you ever look inside a 3L looper, you will see why they leave so much power on the table. The ports are extremely, poorly matched, casting slag and glue lines all through the motor and closes off half of some of the ports, plus some of the port angles are wrong and lets a lot of fuel bypass right out the exhaust port. When I get through with one, mid range fuel economy will be as good, if not better than some of the DFI motors. They used a big block, they could easily mass produce without having to get critical about internal specs and still make the advertised HP.

Well, I'm not a merc guy but I do know, the 2.0s didn't have much extra power left on the table. The motor to build in the merc's is the 2.5's. Some guys are building the Merc 3.0's and getting pretty good hp and getting them to stay together. Modified 2.5's are not ideal for heavy bass boats because to get the extra hp from them, you turn a hellava lot more rpm. A stock 2.5, 300hp has to turn approx 8,000 rpm and has to have new rings every 100 hours. To do this, they have to run such high ports, a big boat like a 201 would have a very bad hole shot. Now, with the OMC/BRP 3.0's, they left so much horsepower on the table when they build them, 300 hp @ 6,200 rpm is no problem at all. The only difference between a 3.0 200 and the 3.0 250 is the carbs and size of the exhaust port. Take that same 200, put 225 carbs on it, widen the exhaust port .160" and raise them .100", a little port cleanup and matching (by someone that knows how and where, which I do) and you have motor that's putting out 300 hp @ 6,100 rpm and 295 ft#'s of torque @ 4600 rpm. Being able the keep the rpm down on them, the rings last hundreds of hours, I've got one I built for a friend tournament fisherman (club stuff) that has over 700 hours. It looks like the totally stock 200 we started off with so no one knows it's makes over 300. A stock 225, 3.0 can me made a 300 for just the cost of new gaskets, and about 30 hours of die grinder work. That's why I'm and JohnnyRud guy. Get into the 3.3's and they make mountains of power, I know one drag racer that's getting almost 600 hp from one. I had a friend took his 300 Merc race motor of and installed a professionally modified 3.3 on his Allison and it had so much power, he was scared of it. He ended up putting his Merc back on.

In parallel, I would not worry about any kind of swithing. While it's recommend the batteries be the same, it's not necessary in parallel (it is a must when in series). I parallel, the batteries only see the voltage of each battery and only supplies the current to support that voltage. In series, both batteries see the same current. If one battery is a lot stronger than the other, it overloads and damages the weaker battery. Sometimes to the point it will actually start boiling the electrolite. You will also get more run time in parallel vesus trying to run one down and then switching to the other. In parallel, you are cutting the current draw as much as in half, (with matching batteries). Doing this, increases the Ah capacity under a load, thus giving you a longer run time.

Depends on the size charging system you have. Many of you older and most of your smaller motors only have a 16 amp or so, charging system. I think it would be a waste of money with those small charging system because they will barely keep the cranking battery charged. If you have a 35 amp or larger charging system, you might see some gain, but if you only make a lot of short runs, you probably won't see any gain with the larger charging systems. I don't have the Trollbridge but my my onboard charger will switch over and charge the TM batteries once the cranking battery reaches about 90%. It's very seldom I see any gain on my TM's percent of charge unless I make a long run. My motor has the 35 amp charging system. I also have a Curtis, Digital, Battery Charge Indicator (BCI)that shows battery charge level on my TM batteries.

A remaned power head from a reputable company is going to cost approx $3,500 plus close to another K to have it installed. Now, you can find a lot of people that will claim they can do it for a lot less, but then you are taking a gamble on just what you end up with. Now, if someone honest did a rebuild, it's a good chance you could get away with boring it, installing new pistons, gaskets and lower main bearing (replacing that is a must). Crank seal rings my need to be replaced but those are not overly expensive. Usually a couple of the recirc valves need to be replaced and a few other items, like a water pump and carbs rebuilt. This can be done for around $2,000 but like I said, there are not many mechanics out there I would trust. A lot of is going to depend on what kind of shape the boats in. Wouldn't make much sinse to spend a bunch of money on the motor when the boat is used up. A bad transome can cost as much as a motor. Wholesale cost to build engine is: $200 to bore it $450 for set of after market pistons $200 for gasket set a couple of hundred for other items, so you're looking at $1,000 - $1,200 for wholesale parts and 8 - 10 hours labor. The rest is going to depend on how much the mechanic marks them up and how much labor he charges. It cost me about $1,200 to rebuild a 3.0 powerhead and about 30 hours labor because I do a little extra, but when done, it's about 325 hp at 6,200 rpm and will push that old, heavy Stratos about 80 mph with two people. I've done a 90 and 94 201 with 3.0s and both ran almost identical 80.4 mph and jetted a little richer to run 78.6 mph.

Most likely, you will need to remove the flywheel. I would install a new set of points and condinsor and both plug wires. Points should be set so a .020" feeler guage will slide through them on high cam and have a small drag but not open the points any when inserted. Coil should should be gaped at approx .008" with a brass feeler guage. Usually when plug wires go bad, they will idle and run at mid rpm fine but start breaking down under a load. It would probably pay you to do a compression check also. I think those run approx 135 pounds. A linc and sinc should be done also and check the timing. If all that fails, you might want to consider a new coil.

Dream on Alice, you're in Wonder Land Now! The old Bomber style bass boats are so out dated, almost no body wants them and you will be lucky if you can get $800 - $1,000 for the motor, if it's in excellent condition. Average value is actually much less. Even if you figure another $1,000 for the boat and trailer, that's still a long way from $3,000 The only way to find it's real value is put it up for sale and start adjusting the price. If you think it's worth $3,000, start there. If you don't get any hit's, drop it $500 and try again, keep dropping the price until you start getting hits. The only problem with this is, if you wait too long to drop the price, people will quit looking at it.

It's not going to be very practical to start just swapping parts. They are very expensive and you can go through a lot of other peoples thoughts and still not get it running right. Have you check the simple stuff like making sure the throttle is opening all the way and the timing is advancing properly. When you start getting to indepth trouble shooting, you will need the computer software and connector cable. Very good change it will tell you what the problem is. A misfiring cylinder drops about 1,000 rpm. I've never worked on a four stroke but I know a two stroke can be down a cylinder and you may not feel it, just the drop in performance

Boats only get to be money pits when you start wanting to faster than you can padle. The faster you want to go, the more it cost.

It may pay you to contact Stratos directly. They gave a very extensive warrenty on those hulls. I know when they first came out, they had to swap out a lot of the hulls because of a serious handling problem. As for a large plug missing out of the hull, if it's on the pad where the boat is running at WOT, it can cause some serious slow down. A blister like that is where water has gotten under the gelcoat and into the fiberglass.

Cold natured is just a term for a problem someone doesn't want to fix.

I might be able to help you out but since my crystal ball's in the shop for repair, I'm going to need you to try some things and this will not be an instant diagnoses, because it may take a couple of trips to the lake. The first thing you need to check is to see if the primer is working properly. So, the next time you go to the lake I need for you to try something. Pump the bulb is up nice and firm just before launching the boat. Take the engine cover off and find the little red lever on the side of the primer solenoid and rotate it 180 degrees to manually open it. I would say until it's sticking up but not sure which way the solenoid is mounted on that motor. After doing this, squeeze the primer bulb two or three good times, rotate the red lever back to it's closed position and pump the bulb again to firm it back up. Back the boat in and see how it starts. Note, the normal closed position for the manual primer lever is pointing in line with the solenoid and pointing toward the longest part of the solenoid. If you have this same problem starting it in driveway on a hose, you can try it there. Too many time though, one starts a whole lot easier on the hose than in the lake because there is no back pressure being put on it by it sitting a couple of feet down in the water, so one may start at the touch of the key in the driveway and not start for he** in the water. That's why it idles about 500 rpm higher on the hose also.

I wouldn't go so far as to say I wouldn't buy it, if I was young, on a limited budget and wanted a boat. Sometimes these old boats are great deals, and you seem to be going about it in a smart way. I've bought a many a one through the years because I could do all the repairs myself. Yamaha is a good motor and if it's not used up will make you a good motor. The first thing you need to do is a compression test. If that's good, take the bottom plug out of the lower unit and drain a small amount of oil. It should be black, unless it has just been changed, (then I would be very suspect) if any water or if it comes out with any signs of a milky substance, walk away from it. If the Lower Unit and compression check ok, take it for a water test. If it sounds good with no stange noises coming from the motor, anything else wrong with it can be repaired without breaking the bank. Now, if you do buy it, the first thing you want to do before using it is to replace the water pump, that's a must. About the only concern with the boat is the piece of plywood in the transome, be sure to check it. Tilt the motor all the way up, lock it in place and bounce up and down on the mid section a few times and watch the transome. If it's letting the motor move and it's flexing in and out, the wood will need to be replaced. There should be no movement, except the boat itself bouncing on the trailer. This is not an easy task in a lot of jons, and can be very expensive, more than the whole rig is worth sometimes. Now, if the motor and transome check out, just about anything else is considered normal wear and tear and can be fixed at reasonable prices. The more you can do yourself, the better the deal the boat can be, or the more you might be able to pay without getting burned. Plus, most of the other stuff can be done a little along so it's not a major expense right up front.

Why do I get the feeling the replies you are getting are upsetting you? The very first thing you have to look at is the year model, 1986. That's what, 26 years old and if that's you in the photo, you wasn't even a gleam in your parent's eye's when that boat rig was already well used. Break it down and the motor is worth about $250 The boat is worth about $600 The Trailer is worth about $150 All the other stuff has very little value, maybe $150, unless it's all almost brand new, then it might be worth a few dollars more Now, with that said, the only way to find it's real value is put it up for sale and see what someone will give. PT Barnum had one very famous saying, maybe you can find one and get some rediculous price. Now, if this is a boat you have just purchased, and you paid a lot more for it than what we are saying, I guess you must have felt that's what it's worth, and the person that sold it smilled all the way to the bank. Might want to go to NADA or one of the other guides and see what they might show, but it still boils down to what you can actually get someone to pay.

Absolutely no more than $1,000 and I would have to see it before giving that. I almost gave away my last boat similar to what you describe because it was so unstable, there was absolutely no way you could sit up straight in it.

I pay very little attention to advertising hype, numbers and words can be mixed and matched to make them say anything want and come out with most any conclusion you want. Advertisers are the worlds best at doing this. SeaFoam does what all the others combined do and then some. I've been using it for a lot of years and know a lot of people that have been doing the same. A few years back I found someone that sold me some for $24 a case, and I bought 20 cases, now it's almost $10 a can. I run it in everything. I put it in my backup generator that runs on gas and propane. Which I normally used on propane and had the gas as backup. The gas in the tank was two years old so I changed it out the other day and it still smelt just a fresh as the day I put it in. There was nine gallons and it's runs great in my lawm mowers, air compressor, pressure washer and everything else. I would not run it in a fuel injected automobile engine or one of my boats, simply because I would not want to take a chance gas that old, but all my other stuff is running just fine with that two year old gas.

About the only easy way to manuver a tandem axle around is with a ball mounted on the front of your Four Wheeler. You absolutely will not just swing the tounge from side to side in a close space to work it over several inches.

They are sending a high frequency, low voltage signal through the battery that's suppose to desolve sulphate crystal that have built up on the cells due to improper charging. There is some controversy about what frequency needs to be used. Some work, some do nothing. The BatteryMinder works pretty good, I've been using theirs for a number of years. It usually will not work on a heavily sulphated battery and it can take up to two - three months on a moderately sulphated battery.