SV 211

[pokesgrad02]

Is there any reason I should pass on the Excalibur engine over a PCM? Seems like most Nautiques in the 04+ ranges have PCM. Not too often you run across an Excalibur. Just wondering if here is a good reason for it or known problem with Excalibur.

[OKWAKEBDR]

The Excalibur is a PCM.

[pokesgrad02]

Embarrassing...**** its even on there in English

[Fast351]

There are two engine choices though, the Excalibur and the ZR6. (Both PCM engines). I have the 330 Excalibur. They came out with the 343 the next year which I believe is just some computer magic to squeeze out another 13 HP. The ZR6 is a 375 horse. I will tell you I have never needed more power, but I'm usually not out with 9 people either. The ZR6s I believe are all closed cooling as well (although it's been some years since I've looked at the brochures).

[theskunk]

I have the PCM Excalibur 330, and I've loaded up with 7 people + about 2000lbs of surf weight - I sometimes wish I had a slightly different prop, but I also slalom ski, so it's not very practical. It does everything I want it to do, and has incredible reliability and fuel economy.

Honestly, though, you probably can't go wrong with either.

[pokesgrad02]

Have either of you had the exhaust develop a leak (hole)? Looking at an '06 that I was told to wait to come look at until they repaired the hole in the exhaust. Boat seemed pretty new with low hours (300) to have already rusted through.

[pokesgrad02]

Found out it was where the exhaust manifolds connected to a fiberglass tube before dumping out of the boat. Is this fairly common?

[nukemustang]

Common? depends.... I mean if you think about the exhaust manifolds, you have very hot, raw water being pumped out the exhaust manifolds, so I do think they take a lot of wear and tear from a metallurgical standpoint. The manifolds are not made of stainless steel or anything, so it is just cast metal. But I don't know if it is "common" I have seen boats develop leaks from the lower to upper manifold at the gasket, so from the manifold to fiberglass is possible if there were a slight leak and it wasn't corrected, it may corrode pretty quickly. (the boat is going on 10 years old)

[theskunk]

^ What he said...

[pokesgrad02]

10 years old with 300 hrs. I have a 21 y/o boat with over double the hours and have had zero problems other than normal routine maintenance. Just seems odd to me, then again I have never had an inboard, that a boat with so few hours would have issues. Granted maybe this one was trailered a lot and thus caused more vibration etc. had not seen anyone post one here about that particular problem. Was more worried about a bigger issue if I end up with the boat and this is a warning sign of how it was cared for. I understand a boat 10 years old with have a few issues. Just want to cover my basis and try to avoid major issues without dropping more money than I am comfortable with into a boat (newer).

[nukemustang]

Hours on a boat don't necessarily matter when it comes to corrosion, remember it just takes water, a ferrous metal and oxygen to cause corrosion and a lot of times high humidity is enough to supply the "water" to that equation.

It becomes worse when you add the galvanic corrosion due to the numerous different types of metals in the raw water side of the motor/exhaust combination. I haven't really seen sacrificial zinc anodes on your typical inboard (unless they are rigged for salt/brackish use) like you typically find on an inboard/outboard or a straight outboard that usually has a zinc anode on the outdrive somewhere.