That Regal looks promising. I’m guessing it’s the 5.0 carb, so 220HP. That’s enough for a 21, probably good for low to mid 40’s top end, maybe upper 40’s with the right prop. Looks like it was never stored in the water which is a huge plus.
If you do the basic work yourself, and you buy a boat that has been taken care of the expenses really aren’t bad, assuming you don’t want to store it in the water at a slip. If you’re going to slip it expect to spend a lot in maintenance because it’s just much harder on a boat if it sits in the water. Expect to get killed in maintenance if the boat has been abused.
Here’s my typical expenses. Gas I’ll just say a typical day on the water with a mix of cruising, fishing, tubing, skiing, swimming I’ll burn about 15-17 gallons. My 5.0 Volvo is the GXi, so it’s the fuel injected version making 270hp that wants 89 octane. I trailer so we always top it off on the way home and most of the summer I just run regular 89, but the last few trips in the fall switch to the expensive 91 ethanol free because it’s terrible to store your boat all winter with ethanol in the tank. I don’t worry about the ethanol in the summer because we’re taking the boat out once a week and burning it.
Yearly I drain and refill my lower unit. It’s about 3qts, 75w90 Lucas synthetic @ $50 a gallon. I drain it in the fall in case any seals have failed and water got in, then refill it in the spring. You could refill in the fall but I’m usually doing mine late enough that it’s cold out and I don’t want to. You need a basic fluid pump to pump it in the bottom drain until it comes out the top fill hole.
Yearly I change the oil and filter, always in the fall because I don’t want old, possibly acidic oil sitting all winter. 5-6 qts of whatever oil you like, not going open the “what’s the best oil” can of worms. I run Rotella T5 15w40. $40 oil and filter.
You’ll also need an oil extractor, since you can’t exactly pull the oil drain plug on an I/O without some crazy contortions and even then good luck getting a pan to catch it down there. $60 from Vevor.
Winterizing the engine can vary. A lot of people (and most marina’s) just open all the drains and drain the water out. I personally have never liked that because boat manifolds are cast iron, lots of iron block engines too, and I don’t like the idea of that sitting “damp” and rusting all winter. I bought a winterizing kit that consists of a 5 gallon plastic jug with a valve that I fill with the -60 boat antifreeze ($10/gal at West Marine, often with a $2-$3 per gallon rebate in the fall). I run the boat on my garden hose at high idle until it reaches operating temperature and then shut it off, quickly swap to the jug of antifreeze, and run it until it flushes the full 5 gallons through. Now my engine is protected against freeze cracking, plus all those parts that might rust are much better protected. I’ve done this for 25 years and never had an issue. I pull all my gear out and store it in my attic, open up all my seats/storage, and give it a quick clean to make sure there aren’t some snacks tucked in a pocket somewhere.
I love 303 Aerospace protectant for my interior. Their tagline is “sunscreen for your stuff”. Gets a full coat in the spring and a few touchups over the summer.
And that’s about it for a yearly. There’s some grease fittings on the outdrive steering that get some grease, I pull the prop every fall to make sure there’s no fishing line wrapped up because that will work it’s way up the propshaft and destroy a seal. Your trailer may have sealed or serviceable bearings, if they’re serviceable grease them once a year. Pull the drain plug if it’s going to be stored outside for the winter and use the trailer jack to get the bow up a little bit so water drains out if it gets in under the covers. Mine is stored in the garage in the summer, outside in the winter, under it’s trailer cover plus a storage cover. Remove the battery and toss it on a tender for the winter.
Every 3-5 years replace the water pump impeller assuming it’s not a newer boat with a closed cooling system and you’re just sucking up river water for cooling. $60 for the VP kit, takes about an hour on my VP now that I know what I’m doing. Some mercruisers are way easier. Tons of YT videos for your specific model. I had to do a set of plug wires on my current boat, but never had an issue in 15 years of ownership on my last boat. Drive and exhaust bellows every 5-10 years if you’re not storing in the water. Not a bad job, just have to pull the drive which is surprisingly easy. Grease the gimbal bearing every couple years. You can hit it with the grease fitting on the side of the drive, but I like to pull the outdrive and clean out the old grease. Plus then I can see the new grease coming through the bearing, turn it, make sure it’s all getting fresh grease and feels smooth. Perfect time to inspect the bellows too. I’ve had to replace the gimbal on mine, I suspect the previous owner was lax on greasing it. $100-$120 for a genuine VP one, pops out with a slide hammer and I just made a tool to hammer back in by shaving down some PVC to fit the bearing race perfectly.
I always run 4 blade aluminum props. Great mid-range, where you spend the majority of your time, and an aluminum prop is kind of like a shear pin if you fuck up. You smack a rock with an aluminum prop and the prop is going to fail and take most of the damage. You smack a rock with a stainless and you’re way more likely to damage outdrive internals and that’s HUGE money to fix. Not worth the risk to me for the extra 2-3mph of top end I could get with a stainless. My 21 with the 270hp will just crack 50mph on GPS with my 4 blade. I could probably see 55 with a 3 blade stainless. I give zero shits about top end out on the water. I’ve tried a few props and my favorite is the Turning Point Hustler 4 blade. I keep a spare and the tools/prop nut to replace it in the boat.
EDIT: I pay for a launch permit at Niawanda Park every year. It’s $50 or $60, can’t remember, I’ll be picking it up next week though. Has to be done in person at Tonawanda City Hall, they tie it to your tow vehicle’s registration and give you a sticker for the trailer. You can launch for free up the road at Isle View but that one gets crazy in the summer. Registration for boat and trailer. Boat is every 3 years, think it’s around $100. Trailer is yearly, around $35. Technically you’re supposed to get the trailer inspected but I never have. Trailers don’t have giant tattle stickers like cars and in my 31 years of towing trailers I’ve never had one inspected or been stopped about my inspection. I do make sure all my trailer lights are working.
