CONTINUOUSWAVE

I may buy a 1986 MONTAUK 17 on a PACIFIC trailer with a 1986 Mercury 90-HP six-cylinder in-line two-stroke-power-cycle carburetor engine. The boat conditions are "mint" and "loaded." The asking price is $15,000.

The boat looks nice, other than that big black streak under the rub rail. That may be expensive to repair.

The black streak on the port side was me editing the photo to remove the [state registration number] for confidentiality.

Q1: are you referring to the black streak closer to the the bow?

At [first] glance the boat looks to be in very good condition complete with a somewhat rare OEM bow pedestal seat.

The Pacific trailer is also a plus. [I have owned] several Pacific trailers over the years, [and PACIFIC Trailers are] the best quality saltwater trailers I've seen.

The Mercury in-line six-cylinder outboard is a big negative in my view. Many of those engines had upper cylinder lubrication problems. There are two types of these "Tower of Power" Mercury outboard:

• the ones that have had a bunch of work done on them; and,
• the one's that need of bunch of work to be done.

And they tend to be gutless compared to the Johnson-Evinrude V4 and V6 engines of equal horsepower.

Count on re-powering that boat.

Shore wrote:The black streak on the port side was me editing the photo to remove the [state registration number] for confidentiality

Q3: what possible risk is there from showing the state registration number? There is no public look-up for private boat state registration numbers.

Shore wrote:Q1: are you referring to the black streak closer to the the bow?

No.

Sorry to be the naysayer.... nope.

The engine is over 30 years old, a 2-stroke with 3 or more carbs. Barely any shops will work on carbs and those that do throw rebuild kits at them. With labor rates where they are, the costs to maintain will be high.

When you do re-power, a 90hp engine will run you 13-14K. Now it will be a $29,000 boat. Not realistic.

A reasonable price for the boat as-is would be $8,000 to $10,000.

A 38-year-old Boston Whaler boat that has been carefully maintained in excellent condition: no problem.

A 38-year-old Mercury in-line six-cylinder two-stoke engine with multiple carburetors and very old-school electrics: maybe no problems right now, but if you need skilled technician support, all those techs that used to work on those engine are 68-years-old (or older) and probably no longer working.