I see you did a few of the suggestions, but not all. Bill's post was spot on.
Quote:
DO NOT START THIS ENGINE USING THE STARTER. You could do serious damage to it. You could take a marginal engine and ruin it.
The first thing you want to do is make sure the engine hasn't seized. It's been a while since I checked on how to do this (I used to tinker with antique autos). But basically you want to make sure the pistons haven't seized in the cylinders, or the valves rusted solid into their seats. The safest way to check is to pull all the spark plugs, put some Marvel Mystery Oil into the open plug holes and leave it sit for AT LEAST a few hours. And consider putting some regular engine oil up into the valve covers if there's access ports. Then manually turn the crankshaft using a socket wrench. If it won't manually turn then the engine is seized. If it turns freely then at least you know the engine isn't totally screwed.
I've forgotten what's best to do next. Do some web searching on starting old cars. Most of the steps are going to be the same here. Steps like using a power drill down into the distributor shaft to turn the oil pump is one of them. That way you circulate oil without having the full force and heat of actual combustion. It's the initial starting effort that exerts the most wear on an engine. On a good engine that's normal but on one that's been sitting it could really make matters worse.
I think you are now looking to spend some $'s for a rebuild at least. Good thing you only spent $1K and some time working on the boat so far. Good Luck.
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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:2000 Four Winns 268 Vista
Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral
235 ssi cuddy
