Ordering Parts

Dont expect to walk into your local Marine Dealership and for them to know or have the parts you need. I am not knocking the Dealer but parts for the older boats are hard to keep up with. Some of the marinizers didn't even have a parts book.

If you want to order engine, transmission and drivetrain parts there are a few places online that are knowledgable. Try http://www.skidim.com/ for pictures and help to identify what you have.

Some manufacturers are still around and can help with older boat specific parts. When I refer to boat specific I mean Mastercraft seat skins, Correct craft glove box lids etc. Many of these parts are no longer available and you will be forced to try and match up or make due with whatever you can find.

A Quick Overview.

I started this blog to try and help prospective and current inboard boat owners. My experience comes from selling inboard boat parts for the last 7 years. Working for a very busy high volume online parts catalog I've learned allot about a wide variety of Inboards.

Inboard or tournament style ski boats have been around since the 50's. My experience covers the mid 70's and up boats. Prior to the 70's there were many cottage type companies building marine power trains and they didn't keep to many records. There were also many boat builders that grabbed what ever parts they could find at the time of build.

From 1971 and on the Ford Windsor 351ci and 302ci were the base engine of choice. This base engine was then "Marinized" to make it water ready. Also used but in smaller numbers were GM 305ci, 350ci and 454ci base engines. In 1994 Indmar went to all GM based engines, PCM used Ford's primarily until 2001 when supply ended. You need to know who made your engine water ready and is it Ford or GM based. I will list some in a chronological order.

1971 - 1975 "Waukesha" later bought by PCM
1975 current "PCM" Pleasurecraft Marine
1978 aprox "Escort" later bought by PCM
1979 aprox "Commander" out of business mid 80's
1975 aprox "OMC" not many used after 1980
1986 current "Indmar"
Beginning of time Mercruiser on and off

Transmissions were usually "Velvet Drive" with 1:1 or 1.52:1 ratios, your prop size will tell you what ratio 14X18 = 1.52:1, 13X13 = 1:1. In 1989 PCM also started producing their own transmissions 1.23:1 ratio and 1:1. You can also look at the ID tag located by the dipstick for the model number and ratio. Around 1996 Indmar started using Hurth transmissions.