Hello Glenn, and
"WELCOME ABOARD". You have an attractive model, and a great foundation upon which to build and sink lots of time and money into! I bought our 38 Express in Cincinnatti, at Washington Marine, Beechmont area. The boat apparently ran the Ohio River for quite some time.
I wouldn't be too anxious to get rid of perfectly good machinery. I say that not knowing ANYTING about your boat, but generically, there have been a whole lot of re-power jobs that represent "because I want to" instead of "because I had to" or "because it was the right thing to do". The basic rotating equipment and blocks are one thing, and all the ancillary equipment that makes a boat seem like it may need a repower are another thing. Even the best maintained motors can run like crap, and look like crap externally if they are not cared for. It's the internal condition we're concerned about, and we all hope our previous owners used good oil, and changed it frequently.
My 427 powered Express is a good example. Upon acquiring it going on 15 years ago now, one look at the 427 motors and I thought to myself, "ohh brother, these will need to come out". One of those motors had zero compression (valve set way too tight) and yes, I had missing sputtering and all the symptoms that made we yearn for the uncomplicated life with new motors. However, those motors are still running extremely well today, many years later, and all they really needed was a good tune up and general care.
You may have heard the story about the marina who talked the new widow into pulling out her recently lost husband's revered 427 motors because they were old. The marina probably sold those motors for a nice profit, and then charged her full price for the new ones too, and in some cases the new ones are not as good as the ones that came out of the boat. Sad but true.
So in my welcome to you, I'm just offering a bit of hope, that you will not really have to sink all that money and time in a repower job, whatever you may have in the boat at the time. I know guys who have done it, numerous times, but the cost and the hassle are always more than anticipated or denoted by the sales people.
Cheers! And yes, please do send photos, either upload em yourself and past the "direct link" here on the forum, or send em to me at
chriscraftcommander@hotmail.com and I'll post em for you.
Regards,
Paul