Purchasing a 242 Convincor sport 500hp what should I look for?

[kurt74]

About to buy a 24' 1998 Checkmate Convincor 242 sport with 233 hours on the 500hp merc. with bravo I, for around $29,000. What should I look for?

 

[Old Hickory]

About to buy a 24' 1998 Checkmate Convincor 242 sport with 233 hours on the 500hp merc. with bravo I, for around $29,000. What should I look for?

Welcome aboard; don't know anything about I/O's or Convincor's; gettin pretty good at tearing Checks apart; be patient; the guys here should start tossing you some pointers this weekend. Good luck w/ your purchase.

Hick

 

[Chris E]

you'll want to do some of the obvious things, compression, leak down, drive pressure test - both high and low - 15 psi and 6 psi.

check all the bellows for wear and tear - especially the tear part - have the drive pulled and check the u-joints and yoke and seal. gimbel ring and bearing also need inspection. the boat is at an age where the maintenance cycle starts to kick in.

sounds like a very low hour unit - so it shouldn't have anything major wrong with it. good luck

 

[175checkmate]

Welcome to the board. Good luck with the the new boat. Follow what Chris said as far as what to look for. I can't help much, outboard guy.

 

[JY]

Kurt: If you buy the boat and are looking for a brand-new checkmate factory full-length mooring cover for it, let me know. I\ve got one in purple that I'll give you a great deal on.

 

[Old Navy]

HP 500's are great engines. The only thing I can think of is that the original valve springs on those did not have a very long life cycle. Checkmates with Blue motors are rare and cool, should be a pretty fast boat.

 

[kurt74]

you'll want to do some of the obvious things, compression, leak down, drive pressure test - both high and low - 15 psi and 6 psi.

check all the bellows for wear and tear - especially the tear part - have the drive pulled and check the u-joints and yoke and seal. gimbel ring and bearing also need inspection. the boat is at an age where the maintenance cycle starts to kick in.

sounds like a very low hour unit - so it shouldn't have anything major wrong with it. good luck

Should I take it to a shop and have them check those things out, or is it something that I can check when looking at the boat. (Minus pulling the drive) How much should I spend for an inspection like that?

 

[mboger]

i have a 1997 242 with a 454 and procharger
love the boat nice and small enough to pull around easy and still takes the rough like a lot of the bigger boats
i ran with a 30 ft formula in rough water and stayed right with him, in fact he looked like he was getting beat around more then the wife and i
where will you be boating at

 

[reality check]

Got a blue motor in my checkie and called mercury racing...they said after passing a leak down test to change the valve springs at 500 hrs. About $800 or so for them to do the work. good luck!
oh and

 

[Chris E]

Should I take it to a shop and have them check those things out, or is it something that I can check when looking at the boat. (Minus pulling the drive) How much should I spend for an inspection like that?

a shop will probably charge you 2 hours labour - and at least you'll know where you stand - i think it's worth it - as long as they are a good shop anyway

 

[Budman]

I think you should look for a good time with that package. That motor is bullet proof other than the valve springs. I broke one but have a gazillion hours on the rest of the motor and it runs as strong as the day I bought it.