Looking at 1976 Catalina 27

[philwsailz]

I will add this. I'm dealing with it right now...

If you choose to spend some time trouble-shooting your A4, know in a C27 it is a pretzel-style contortionist's labor of love.

The motor is slid into basically a cave from the saloon, and access is either from quarter berth or cockpit lazarette. Get used to working with one hand through a small access port.

Despite those nasty negative comments, as of tonight I have through the engine access door and the access ports replaced stuffing box, prop shaft, shaft coupling and four new motor mounts. With patience, (combined with a good fan) you can service the motor despite poor access. If this is your first inboard sailboat dive in and embrace THIS boat. Every future boat will deliver a huge bonus in terms of engine access.

Your motor starts. That's relatively huge. My gut is you will probably be ahead financially if you repair what you have and make it reliable.

 

[jeepbluetj]

The A4 is a glorified lawn mower engine. (I have one in my C-30. I feel bad for the boat yoga y'all need to go through on a C-27) As a gas motor, you need compression, ignition, and fuel for it to run. Since it starts, you've got compression. That leaves ignition or fuel. Ignition is pretty easy to check - see if there's spark.

Betcha it's fuel. Maybe filters. Maybe a dirty tank. Maybe you need to turn the fuel valve on. Maybe the fuel pump (the mechanical ones were less than optimal). Maybe time to rebuild the carb. Maybe the choke came loose from the cable so you can't really choke it (that's happened to me). You can rule most of these out pretty quickly. If it's the pump, go electric.

I've got electronic ignition on mine - definitely nice to have.

Marine tech's wont typically understand this engine. If you need help you need to find some old guy that understands what "flathead" means.

 

[philwsailz]

I have to share my war wounds. Here is my right forearm from yesterday's work on aligning my A4 motor mounts.

I'll heal. To have a naked transom without outboard and bracket is worth it.