'69 Chris Craft Lancer 19

admsftw

Recruit
Joined
Nov 10, 2015
Messages
5
Hey guys, first post here. I hope this is the correct sub-forum... mods can move if necessary.

Was itching for a new project/toy after getting out of Jeeps a couple years ago. My fiancee grew up on the water and we are always out with her dad so figured it was a good time to pick one up. This will be a very mild repair/resto; the boat seems like it is in great shape and really just needs elbow grease (and some hardware) more than anything. It's a 1969 Chris Craft Lancer 19 that was owned by the best friend of a longtime family friend and neighbor. He bought the boat a couple years ago from the gentleman who has owned and babied it since 1971, and after having a couple great seasons on the water it was winterized two years ago and never brought back out... so I got into it for a song and dance. It's my second boat, my first was some old junker tri hull I had in high school. I have my future father-in-law helping out, who has years of working on boats under his belt. On with the pics, boat is still sitting at the guy's yard until this weekend. Trailer frame is shot, I already pickup up another off of craigslist and will be swapping the boat over to that one before bringing her home.

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The cover ripped and blew off this spring, so it hasn't been out in the elements long. But like I said, just some elbow grease and that stuff is free. It was repowered I'm assuming in the late 80s/early 90s after some quick google-ing, and has a Volvo 275 outdrive. My neighbor is one of the best mechanics I know, he always maintained this thing and assured me it runs great. After cleaning it up, I'll throw some new seals on the outdrive gear and exhaust (excuse my lack of boat terms... all my experience is on cars) before dropping her in the water this spring. I'm looking forward to see how well she cleans up. For now, plans are just cleaning and safety stuff (new lights, make sure wiring is ok) and covering her until winter is over. If all is well and good, she gets stripped down to the floors and I'll see what it looks like under there before moving onto new a seating arrangement and modernizing it. A resto-mod if you will.
 

Rick Stephens

Admiral
Joined
Aug 13, 2013
Messages
6,118
Nice little boat. Should be a lot of fun. You will need to drill some sample holes in the transom and stringers to check wood condition before assuming it just needs elbow grease. At that age, stored outside, it could easily have mud inside the stringers instead of structural wood. Can be important. Nice amount of power as long as it can be applied to the hull without tearing something loose.

Others with LOTS more experience than I will weigh in, but in my opinion you'll have to do the sampling holes before you actually know anything.


RIck
 

Woodonglass

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
25,924
Biggest areas of concern for I/O's are the outdrive seals and the motor mounts. If that's all good to go and there are no Major soft spots in the decking you may get off lucky. Chris Crafts are the Cadillacs of Boats
 

admsftw

Recruit
Joined
Nov 10, 2015
Messages
5
Thanks guys. The floor seemed really solid, but it is 46 years old. If the boat cleans up well and the motor and outdrive have no issues when the season starts I have no problem ripping up the floor and replacing stringers. I'll know for sure once she's home.
 

admsftw

Recruit
Joined
Nov 10, 2015
Messages
5
Overdue update-

swapped her onto the new trailer, brought her home
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scrubbed her up real good
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Dumped some startron into the fuel tank, tried to start her, motor was stuck. Pulled the plugs and filled the cylinders with PB Blaster, broke her free in the morning. Started up pretty easily, but wasn't sucking in water, this was why:

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Replaced that piece, the hose it connects to, and both bellows with all new Volvo OEM parts.

Ran her again, carb is DUMPING fuel. Cleaned it up real well, used my buddy's ultrasonic cleaner but mostly the old fashioned way

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Filled up the tank with fresh 93 and more startron, put her in the water

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She FLIES. Holy crap. Immediately on plane without hesitation. Steering is pretty tight/hard at low speeds, probably just a gunked up cable. Ripped up and down the river for a couple minutes with another boat following me just in case. Hit 35 when the ignition started breaking up pretty bad with a lot of motor left. She quit and wouldn't restart at the dock. Dug into the spare parts I got with the boat and replaced the points, and picked up an Accel coil off the shelf and new plugs from the parts store then spent all morning trying to get her running again when I tested the new old condenser and it was bad. Tossed another on from the parts pile and she fired right up. At that point I didn't want to spend a couple more hours launching and possibly having to get towed in so I winterized her.

Already have thoughts all over my head about what I want to do, from the dash to flooring, to seats... But I'm getting ahead of myself. In the spring first thing after firing her up will be spending the weekend compounding, polishing, and waxing the hull back to life.
 
Last edited:

sphelps

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 16, 2011
Messages
11,429
Very nice ! Looks like the gell is in pretty good shape ... Should polish up nicely !
 

Ned L

Commander
Joined
Sep 17, 2008
Messages
2,266
Yep,.. Nice boat. C.C. Of that era built a real good boat, and the Lancer is a desirable model.
Nice find!
 

admsftw

Recruit
Joined
Nov 10, 2015
Messages
5
Finally unwrapped her and started cleaning her up (again). Spent a good chunk of change on polishes from the chemical guys and went to town. You can see the line in the first pic.

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That's after just the heavy compound. Still have to due the whole boat again with polish and then a layer of wax. Ordered a DUI distributer and new wires to replace the points junk, I'll have that this week and see how easy she fires up. Also have new cowl vents and a new fuse box and wire and all that to start re-wiring it because it's like an old car under there and scares me. I do a lot of low voltage at work so I kind of enjoy it.
 
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