Beginner Boat Shopping Eng Question

[Pintsize]

Hi,
I'm a complete beginner boat shopping. I went to view a bounty 27 recently, and owner took me for a spin. I noticed the temp gauge was bouncing quickly about every second between 70 and 90 degrees Celsius.

It's an old boat with a Perkins engine. What would you do? Would you walk away? Or Pay an engineer to do a compression test? Something else?

It's only the second boat I've viewed and im in no rush to buy, I'm thinking of walking away from this one, just don't know if I'm over reacting after researching bouncing temp gauges on Google.

[ranger58sb]

Could be as simple as a dodgy connection from sender to display, or a failing sensor, or a failing display.

I think I might be slightly more concerned if the gauge displayed 90C or above consistently (depending on maker's specs), but even then that could simply indicate the raw water cooling system needs a clean-out.

None of that would make me jump to compression testing in early stages.

It's sometimes easy enough to connect a stand-alone gauge directly to a temp sensor, see if results are the same or not, evaluate from there.

When you begin to home in on candidate boats, know that it's common to arrange a marine survey (hull and systems) and a mechanical survey (engine, maybe genset). Latter can sometimes include compression testing, but not always. Both often concurrent and both augmented by sea trials before, during, or after. (Usually more elaborate than "a spin" but your ride may count too.)

-Chris

[JoeRobertJr]

Hi, Pintsize, and to the forum!

I agree with Chris (Ranger58sb). With the temperature reading oscillating that quickly, I would expect a connection (most likely), gauge, or sender issue. The coolant that is being monitored by the gauge couldn't be changing temperature that much that quickly.

If that is the most concerning observation, then you found a great boat!

Being so new to boat buying, it is probably worth considering a survey. At a minimum, check out this to help get yourself up to speed: Marine Survey 101, pre-survey inspection. That will help you identify boats not worth spending survey money on.

[Lee Jerry]

It's definitely a gauge (or wiring) issue. There is no way the actual temperature is changing that fast.