Bozeman Bob

What about the points ? Sounds like there closed up. Also could be the shift interrupter switch not working, but if you were trolling along and it just died I would check points. I would also consider putting a Petronix Ignition system in the distributor to do away with the points all together. Can't tell by your post if you have points or not, you should be getting a good spark from the coil wire going to the distributor ,check that out without getting zapped. Then start looking into fuel delivery

If no one can help you here I would post your question in the Marine Electronics Forum at www.thehulltruth.com there very helpful with those types of issues, good luck ! Also Raymarine.com has a forum for there product, just takes a few days after you register and post to get a reply. The question is pre screened by them and answered by them.

A dinghy to carry everything that has been suggested.....

Not a bad idea for catch and release to have a Bogo grip handy. Put a line on it and when you catch a Salmon its best to lip her and let it drag behind the boat until it becomes feisty, then release it. Lakers don't really go belly up, along with eating up the bait salmon munch on, so if they do its no big deal, something in the food chain will take care of it.

What do you have for a engine ? Some of the 120's and 170's [ basically all the 4 cylinders] don't like to run smoothly at trolling speed. A trolling plate/ buckets/bags or electronic ignition may be needed ,just a heads up ! Trying to adjust your idle on muffs in the driveway isn't the same as it sitting in the water with back pressure on the exhaust. You usually lose 1-200 rpms from where it was set on muffs after you dunk it.

I could be wrong but once a boat is registered the numbers stay with it forever. So if you bought a Fla boat the FL numbers will always be the first 2 letters and they don't change with change of ownership. If it was documented that easy to trace through the USCG. Now if the guy lived in a state with fresh water and a ocean bordering it ,like NY, that will require a lot more looking into. Outboards or inboards/closed cooling system/ fighting chair plate/ outriggers/ any links to it ? What make boat is it ? some lower quality ones used cheap hardware to begin with. Any residue of salt on the blocks or anywhere else where it could stand and not be washed away?

I would guess there is a miniscule amount of boats that go through boatfax. Is there something your looking at the raises a eyebrow ?

Not sure how a post on a open forum wanting to know what is actually going on is hurting anything. They apparently have enough Teams and sponsors that they don't need anymore, judging from what I have read on FB. Good to see that you can presume I did not sign up or was in the process until I saw what the banter on FB awhile ago. Waiting to hear both sides of the riff to see if I am ill informed.

Shark v KOTL Seeing a few post on FB about this and IMHO it is the teams that enter that get screwed by not allowing them, Shark, to help sponsor a event . More sponsors translates to more swag for all teams that PAY to get in on the action. Who is the sponsor that is raising a stink about this ,Cannon ?. Competition is good for all, hell that's one of the reasons people enter these contest, to make you a better fisherman. The MFGs should treat it the same way if there are two companies selling the same type of tackle. Shame on any tournament turning down anyone willing to donate prizes/product to be used for giveaways for a tournament. More payback = more entries. Won't enter KOTL because of this.

Unhook the steering cable from the outdrive to confirm its the cable and not the outdrive seizing up.

I think one of the best views is on Three Sisters Islands which are on the west side of Goat Island. Amazing view of the upper rapids ,cant see the Falls from that point as your just above them. I think you would be scared #$6%66 less before you even got to the Power Plant, never the less the actual Falls,6 miles upstream from that. I would love to see that ranger go through some class 5 rapids or whatever the highest ranking is, can you say a 10 ' wall of water slowed us down ? Google kayakers Niagara Falls rapids to get a good idea what a couple hundred thousand cubic feet of water looks like when it is compressed into a portion of the river that is a couple hundred feet wide.

^^^^ Right on !!!! His system is open if it clogged up with Hudson sludge. So as you said, no pressure ,just water running through it. If it was closed the radiator caps are usually 7 lbs. Which isn't a lot. Worth a try in my book, cant hurt anything if you keep your eye on the temp. gauge for awhile after the job was done.. Dremel out the crack a bit and I bet it holds as long as yours did. It would buy him some time to build up the funds needed for a block [ if in the future he wanted to go that route ] and be able to keep the smaller boat at the same time. A no brainer in my book, just google it and I bet you get a bunch of did its and no problems. I did that on a chevy transfer case to save 1800.00 and its still holding up from a year ago.. Best reply yet ! wish I would of remembered that fix first,haha.

SO true and I am teaching my son to grab a wrench and fix things like this by himself. A manual/google/ forums like this and a little patience has that motor in and out for next to nothing. Its not rocket science when all your doing is unbolting parts off one block and slapping them on the other one that's sitting right next to it. The best thing is self feeling gratified when you hit that key for the first time. I suppose if you have deep pockets then paying the man is a lot easier. I am with PAP on this one fore sure.

BTW something doesn't sound right. If you pulled the correct plugs water should of drained out of the block, unless there was some crap that stopped the water from draining. The manifold plugs would not have any bearing on the block cracking. The plugs on the block are just above the oil pan mid section and water should of drained out when you pulled them. Did you take the boat for a test ride before purchasing it ?

Probably could upgrade it to a 5.7 ,[after doing a little googling] ,to make sure the heads ,exhaust/intake manifolds and fuel system are the same . If they are all you would probably have to do is change your prop to a higher pitch. 5.7 is a stronger plant with a great rep.

A 5.0 Volvo is a GM block with some Volvo specific add on's. I would think you could get a remanufactured 5.0 GM short block and put all the Volvo parts from your old engine on that block. Your not going to need heads/manifolds etc. I bet you you could pick one up for around 1500, from a machine shop. Don't think you even need bronze freeze plugs seeing that your using it in freshwater. That's what I would do, at least you would have a engine with new pistons , rings and crank which should translate to 3,000 hours of use. Heads are easy to get rebuilt and you don't have to pull the engine for that.

The hull and outdrive will transfer 95% of the surface water temperature to you block and keep it from freezing. Probably need 24 hours of 20-25 degree air temp to have any effect on the block freezing.

Most if not all are called Boga or Bogo Grips. I believe that is the name of the original MFG and they are all now called by that name.

A good example would be the OPs issue. A overpitched prop is like him pulling his boat up a steep hill all the time, he is working the hell out of that engine, which in the long run will prematurely wear the engine out along with using more fuel. Under pitched is like going down that same hill only your in 3rd gear floored , way over the redline, and still using more gas than if you were in 4th gear cruising.

They do not have a recommended pitch range, they have a recommended RPM range.. The MFG has no idea if your putting the motor on a 16' bare aluminum hull or a 19' fully loaded fiberglass hull. There is a huge difference in those two and they would not set themselves up for engine failure by suggesting a pitch without knowing all the facts.

60 lbs IMHO is not going to make any difference in your towing capabilities. Seriously if it's that bad I would be looking for another tow vehicle before I would be thinking this 60 lbs is too much strain on my car. What are you towing it with ? A Smart car ? Not trying to be a smart ass but your talking less than a total of 1,000 lbs on two wheels,I could pull that. Bad advice on prop change, your prop should allow your engine to hit the recommended RPM range for maximum fuel and speed efficiency. Otherwise your putting a load on the engine with too much pitch or letting it Rev too high and inefficiently as far as fuel economy goes along with the danger of blowing it up by being under pitched.

Picture shows a FB, unless I am seeing things. OP wrote he did not want a FB. It is a very nice looking boat , well powered , at a great price !

The OP. asked if it needed to be retimed. If it was timed correctly to begin with then there should be no reason to time it again. Its not a bad idea to check it every couple years as the timing chain may stretch or distributor gear wear a fraction. I am all for setting it up correctly from the beginning and timing would be part of it in my case, with or without points . It would not be a bad idea to time it and I should of stated it that way, my bad.

Wonder why with the Delco you have to buy a new distributor. Its pretty basic, gear on bottom attached to shaft that on top that "points" to the next plug that is to be fired. Electronic module now picks up the signal and fires it at correct time. I have used the Petronix complete system on several motors with the original distributor, no problems. Didn't notice any increased fuel mileage and with a carb, after sitting for a few days it takes a few cranks to fire. Then its a touch of the key the rest of the day. Its a pain to set the points correctly every couple years. Dwell meter ,vacuum gauge and feeler gauge is the correct way to do it, so carb and points are synched. No ,you do not have to retime the engine.