I have begun my first big boat project and will try to share it as I go along. To give a little history, I bought this boat about 6 years ago from a friend who had a stroke and couldn't use it any more. It is a 1984 model, 17 1/2 feet with a 1985 150 horse Mercury Black Max outboard. The first time I took it out and opened it up it scared my wife it was so fast. The seats were rough from sitting outside, so after the first couple of seasons, I took them out with the idea of replacing them with some seats from Wal-Mart until I could get what I wanted. Of course, when I took them out, the floor was soft in several spots, so I decided to have a closer look.
I tore out the carpet on the deck and some of the decking and found much rotten wood and stringers. I had the motor running pretty well at the time, having replaced the stator, coil packs, wires and rebuilt all three carbs. I decided to put it in an outdoor spot at the closest storage place with the idea I would work on it later.
Right after this my son bought a restaurant in town and my wife and I found ourselves spending all of our free time trying to help him make a go of it in this economy. Trips to the lake went by the wayside, along with thoughts of working on the boat. It sat there for about 4 years.
My mother-in-law has a house on Lake Nottely in north Georgia, and while we were there this year for the 4th of July, my wife and I got to talking about how we needed a ski boat to go with the pontoon and the jet skis. After we got back from vacation, I decided to go get the boat from the storage place and see what I could do with it, with the idea that if I could fix it up I could either sell it and put the money towards a ski boat(which is what my wife wants to do) or keep it and use it.
The attached pictures were taken after I got it to the house and had pulled off the railings and some other items. As you can see, I had grass and a small tree growing in it.
Since then, I have pulled the outboard and put it on a stand I built (pictures in the next post), taken out the big mess of wiring, the gas tank, the windshield and other assorted items. I am now ready to remove the cap, check on the transom (which appears to be ok at this point), and start tearing out the rotted stringers and old foam. I will try to keep posting as I go along, especially since I have a tendency to start projects and then lose interest. Of course, any advice at any time is welcome! I have been going through the posts and videos by friscoboater and some others and I believe they are going to be a great help. Best wishes to all and as they say, "Here goes nothing!"
I tore out the carpet on the deck and some of the decking and found much rotten wood and stringers. I had the motor running pretty well at the time, having replaced the stator, coil packs, wires and rebuilt all three carbs. I decided to put it in an outdoor spot at the closest storage place with the idea I would work on it later.
Right after this my son bought a restaurant in town and my wife and I found ourselves spending all of our free time trying to help him make a go of it in this economy. Trips to the lake went by the wayside, along with thoughts of working on the boat. It sat there for about 4 years.
My mother-in-law has a house on Lake Nottely in north Georgia, and while we were there this year for the 4th of July, my wife and I got to talking about how we needed a ski boat to go with the pontoon and the jet skis. After we got back from vacation, I decided to go get the boat from the storage place and see what I could do with it, with the idea that if I could fix it up I could either sell it and put the money towards a ski boat(which is what my wife wants to do) or keep it and use it.
The attached pictures were taken after I got it to the house and had pulled off the railings and some other items. As you can see, I had grass and a small tree growing in it.
Since then, I have pulled the outboard and put it on a stand I built (pictures in the next post), taken out the big mess of wiring, the gas tank, the windshield and other assorted items. I am now ready to remove the cap, check on the transom (which appears to be ok at this point), and start tearing out the rotted stringers and old foam. I will try to keep posting as I go along, especially since I have a tendency to start projects and then lose interest. Of course, any advice at any time is welcome! I have been going through the posts and videos by friscoboater and some others and I believe they are going to be a great help. Best wishes to all and as they say, "Here goes nothing!"
