Pending Purchase- 2004 Meridian 411

[Brad Fausett]

Boat: 2004 Meridian 411 6bta 370hp

1200hrs

Boat has been freshwater last few years, previously salt. It is moving to large freshwater body.

I flew down to the boat and met with my surveyor today. I think all in all things went pretty well. There are about 100 small things (typical maintenance items, some deferred maintenance and some previous salt water related items) that need addressed but I negotiated a great price in advance. I went there to find big ticket items or something that said run away. I wanted to know if the motors ran well, are they making full rpm, top speeds and are the temps correct.

During our departure out we noticed a noise from the port drivetrain in gear. The noise disappeared once we went to neutral. We cruised out into the lake and brought rpms up to 2200 rpms. At this speed we recorded 16mph on GPS. We then moved the throttle to WOT and recorded a top rpm of 3100 on Starboard and 3000 on port side. We recorded at WOT a top speed of 27.5mph then i noticed the starboard temp start creeping up, at this time the surveyor comes up from bottom and says slownit down. The starboard belt started to smoke and we had a squealing noise. I suspect the water drive cooling pump is bad, impeller is bad or something along those lines that is restricting the water flow and reducing the rotatational speed of that devices on the belt. This is a theory, but it all seems to make sense to me ( i only have gas motor experience).

We proceeded to have the boat lifted and found the cutlas bearing for the port side locked up, this explains the noise in gear. The starboard is looking bad so both are being replaced.

The owner is willing to have both motors cooling systems gone through and is wiling to replace cutlas bearings on both sides. The props on the boat are 24×24´s and the spares are 24×26´s. Which did the boat come with? Have the current ones been repitched?

Both turbos have black soot on them near a flange on the top looking down. Is this normal? Is this a gasket that needs serviced?

Starboard trans seems to have a small oil leak.

Aft Cabin AC is toast, other three seem to work well although one produced 32*, one 55* and the other 58*. I assume the latter two are on their last years.

Other than that a very lengthy punch list of typical stuff.

Based on the info above, if they repair the cooling system and prove engines maintain proper temps, do these speeds with low fuel and half water, 4 guys and fully loaded with normal gear seem about right?

Topic

[Rob Schepis]

Just squeaking out is better than not even close just make it right in due time.

[Brad Fausett]

Thanks for the advice!

Joplin, we spoke recently on the meridian forums. We too have some overheating going on and new impellers are going in tomorrow.

What do new cores cost? I am hoping this boat does not offer up lots of problems to start. We could use a break from problematic boats as we have owned one perfect one and one problem prone one. I wouldn’t mind spending my weekends enjoying the boat vs having to turn wrenches all the time.

Rob, I also suspect that we are just squeaking out the top rpm. I plan to get the boat loaded up, fueled up and then do some assessments. Unfortunately i don’t suspect the seller will be paying for much. I negotiated a great price and did not plan to ask for much other then it properly running at this time. I will make adjustments over time. I need to address alot of issues, i have never lived on salt water or owned a salt boat. There are a lot of rust / corrosion issues that need cleaned up. Luckily my new marina has a 60* heated storage building that will allow me to work on boat during the winter. I plan to start with the survey list and work my way through. I just want to get through the end of this season without any immediate repairs.

[Rob Schepis]

These are mechanical B’s so the WOT rpm is your “prop load gauge”. The engines need to make 3-5% over the 3,000 rated rpm at WOT when the boat is fully load with fuel, gear and crew and it needs to turn that number easy.

As Phil stated, get a photo-tach on her and verify those tachs. Can be done at the dock at ~2,500rpm or so.

Would have been nice to have done this before she was hauled. It seems as if she may have been propped down once already since the current props are 2″ less pitch than the spares. Do not go back to the 24×26’s, that would be going in the wrong direction and adding more prop load. The current 24’s likely need to be pitched back but if she is squeaking out rated rpm’s it is unlikely any prop tuning will come at the seller’s expense unless perhaps you can find damage on the props… That brown (heat) colored air pipe is indicative of being propped on the edge and running at high load.

The engine room otherwise looks pretty decent overall..

[Michael Joplin]

Make sure they read the protocol for the aftercooler service here and do it right. We are closing on an ’04 411 with 6BTA/370’s in a week and a half. Had some overheating issues on one engine and ended up with new impellers, new aftercooler cores on both engines and exhaust elbow cleaned on one.

They most likely had not done the aftercooler service correctly in the past and paid for it via having to replace both cores.

Our boat is coming with 24/25 props. No idea if that was the original prop size/pitch as they’d been overhauled in 2012. Seems to be hitting the numbers well as far as WOT and speed.

Best of luck with the new purchase!

[Philip]

No comment on speed but a couple of observations.

1. How did you measure rpm? If you were using the boat tach’s there is no way to know if they were accurate unless verified with laser tach. Only then will you be able to know rpms.

2. Speed vs rpm doesn’t matter as the engine doesn’t care what speed the boat is going. Only rpm vs fuel burn matters to engine life and I don’t see those numbers mentioned in your post. This info is a must if you want to know if your doing your engines right.

3. Whats the aftercooler service history? When the owner agrees to service cooling system, exactly HOW is that going to be done? Done properly means taking fuel cooler, aftercooler, and heat exchanger off the engine, disassembling where applicable, and servicing per protocol posted on this site. Anything less and your not doing yourself or your engines any favors.

4. Regarding belt slipping, it could be pump or any other spinning thing on the front of the engine. You have idler pulleys, fresh water pump, and alternator. Every one of those needs to spin freely with no wobble or play or grinding.

5. The turbo to exhaust gasket usually is the culprit of exhaust shooting but hard to know without pictures. Occasionally the bolts that hold exhaust to turbo can be stubborn to remove. Replace both gasket and bolt/washers using a high temp anti seize.

Your on the right track and in the right place if you want to do it right and ensure trouble free engine life.

Phil

1 user thanked author for this post.

Brad Fausett

[Brad Fausett]

I am wating on the surveyors photos but one other area of concern, both turbos have black sooting on the top looking down near the forward flange. That is the best i can do in explaining, is that common? An exhaust leak / blown or worn out gasket?

[Author]

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