1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

[Daniel75]

Well, I have acquired a 1 owner 1965 Alumacraft. This boat belonged to my wife's great aunt and uncle. Man the stories I have heard about skiing and cruising the water on this boat. My wife and I decided Sunday to go and retrieve the boat from out of the boat house it been in since the 70's. Best of my knowledge it has not been in the water since 1987, story has it that uncle Bud decided to buy a new motor for it and never finished hooking it all the way up. Guess the 4 other boats he had back then were distracting. After ratchet strapping the trailer to the boat, we pushed it down the boat ramp to see if she would still float. (Oh yeah failed to mention the boat house in under the lake house with it's own private ramp) The neighbor next door pulled the boat around to the other loading ramp and I backed my car trailer in the water and loaded it up for a 3 hour ride to the Green. I am still kicking myself for not taking pictures before I got it home. I got it in the garage at the house spread-ed the canvas boat cover that came with the boat in 65 on the floor to maybe vac-um 20 years of dust off of. and here's what I got.



I am amazed at how clean this boat is after 47 years. The seats don't even have cracks in the leather other than a little fade on the paint I am overly excited about working on this boat.

Monday, I couldn't wait to get started hooking up the cables and wiring to see if the old motor may have some life. Didn't take long to figure out that even a new engine not running over 20 years can cause the rings to cease. Well I am in those waiting stage of seafoam now hoping it works. Oh yeah next time I'm at the lake I will post some pics of the original aluminum skis that came with this boat. The cooler that was giving to them when they bought it and the original motor, is still stashed in the corner of the boat slip. I can't wait to cruise the water on this OLE BOAT.

 

[Daniel75]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

I got home last night and sea foam did the trick. Motor is spinning good.So, my next step is trying to find a key or changing the ignition. I have the throttle box apart and thought I had a serial number but the people at the boat place in Huntsville told me I had to bring the ignition to them and they could try keys until they get a fit. I may just go with the new switch. Well, I got to find some new tires and regrease the bearing so I will have to get started doing something.

 

[Daniel75]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

Well, been a long weekend and didn't really do alot. Got it vaccumed out and went ahead and pulled the control box out. so, I can get a key guess some time next week I can find out if the old motor purrs. That's it for now

 

[Daniel75]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

Ok, I got new battery cables for the motor today. I planned on trying to here that motor purr this weekend, but hit a ran ashore. The Mercury dealer didn't have any keys. The neighbor at the lake house is going to check for the key and mail it to me if he finds it or I may just have 1 made tomorrow. I read this sometimes and realize I will never be an author, but I believe it will be a good journal for my restoration project. May my next thread include the smell of gas fumes and the purring of that 65 mercury thunderbolt.

 

[Daniel75]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

Had some good news, got the key mailed to me and I got it yesterday. got the throttle box hooked up started hooking the battery cables and noticed some broken wires. Dang get 1 thing out of the way and find another. Oh well, I got everything stripped back to good wire and I'll get to work on the rewiring next. If anybody has the wiring diagram for a 65 horse mercury thunderbolt let me know. I'll post some pics I've taken tomorrow of some of the adventure of restoring

 

[TruckDrivingFool]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

Welcome to iboats Daniel!

Nice score on a good looking old tinny. That thing should fly with the 65 on it.
Figured I'd post up since the rest are being so quiet. I think they just aren't used to seeing something that's not neglected and rotten. It's nice to see an example of what keeping a boat indoors can do to keeping a boat in good condition.

 

[Daniel75]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

Thanks, it has been a lot of fun working on it so far. Fixed those broken wires, (WOW at the dry rot on a few) and my father in law came over to help me crank this thing up. The gas tank wouldn't hook up because it had an old style connection. We decided to start checking for fire on the plugs and didn't get a spark. That kinda a sucked, so I started taking the rectifier loose and the jumper wire to the coil crumbled into pieces. I wanted to see if that would fix the spark so I put 2 ends on a piece of 10 gauge wire (going to try to round up a permanent solution. LOL) and the plugs were jumping. My uncle happened to have an old style fuel hook up and I changed it out and hooked up the gas. When pumped the bulb, SQUIRT gas went everywhere. We took the fuel filter off and noticed the line running to the carb was rough shape too. I never would have guessed you had to pull a starter off to change a fuel line. A trip to the part store and tightening a few bolts back I was ready to make some noise. Seemed hard to crank at first, pulled the cold crank and BooM she fired up. It seems to be running a little rough right now and I figured out that I must have hooked something up wrong in the control box, because when I tried to put it in gear It didn't seem to rev up. Guess, I will break it back open and try to figure out what I did wrong. All the jets were shooting water good so it looks like the pumps are still working. So, after I figure out what I did to the throttle I am going to try to run it a little bit to see if she will smooth out. I hope that fresh gas will maybe flush a clogged up jet or 2. If not, I know the next step will be working on the carbs. Sorry, I got pics on my phone I just to get them off there so I can download them.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

As old as that motor is and as long as it has been setting up unused it would be best to change your impeller (water pump). It's probably as dry rotted as some of those wires and fuel lines and could disentigrated at any time.

I'm sure your carb(s) will need cleaning/rebuilding too.

You'll also want to change the lube in the lower unit, look for metal shavings and milky old fluid.

Old motors that have been setting up or neglected will run with the bare minimum effort, but won't be reliable and willl probably leave you stranded further away from home than you care to paddle.

That boat is a sweet find, and with some work she'll be a real jewel.

 

[Lwp1945]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

Hi Daniel. Just joined the iboats forum because I saw your post. We just bought the blue version of the 65 Maracaibo. Call her Pocket Change. Love this little boat! Good luck with your project and keep us posted on your progress.

 

[Daniel75]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

Wow it's been a while. I have some pics I am going to post and update on the restore. I took her for a spin a couple weeks ack. runs like a new one. I will feel everybody in on the progress on my next post.

 

[Daniel75]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

OK, Summer has being going well. Have been plenty of miles on the old boat so far. The family and I take out on a regular basis. I wished the lake house wasn't 3 hrs away. Motor runs like a new 1. changed the cable and pulley steering system out to the new push rod steering, it works great. I don't have to worry about the cable coming off and losing control of the steering. On the better note I was able to keep the original steering wheel. I have her cleaned up back in the boat house and thinking about adding a Bimini top. I bought a new air compressor to fix the air horns but will probably wait til winter when I bring it back home from the lake. Thanks for all the help and I sure have enjoyed the work so far. I am not done with her yet but enjoying the smile it puts on my kids face when they ride.

 

[Daniel75]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

I hope you enjoy yours mine has been a lot of fun. It is kind of funny the first time I took it out for a long ride a guy from the top of his deck was yelling just to find out the year. I have noticed that Old Boats turn a lot of heads.

 

[Daniel75]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay



The launch from the boat house. now the boat ramp is project that I get to enjoy come Oct. when they lower the water level some.

 

[Daniel75]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

Building FAMILY Memories.
You only get so many chances in life to leave your mark on this world. So, Enjoy every moment and leave memories your kids can look back on and smile.

View attachment 206553View attachment 206554View attachment 206555View attachment 206556View attachment 206557

The Osprey had just had about 4 babies, their nest is in eye site from the house. Water Life is great

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

Congrats on a good summer's use of the Alumacraft already. Enjoy!

 

[bonz_d]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

Daniel, I'm jealous! That is one beautiful old original boat.

 

[Daniel75]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

Thanks I look forward to cruising the water on the weekends. It sure is a fun ride, but in my mind I am anticipating buffing it out this winter to see how that original paint will Look. LOL

 

[bonz_d]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

I don't know how you're going to make it any better, that thing looks terrific!

While looking over the photos it at least appears to me that, that hull design is exactly the same as the 1988 Classic 16 I have. WoW at least they are very simular. Building boats the same way for 20+ years. Amazing!

 

[Daniel75]

Re: 1965 Alumacraft Maracaibo restore naming it Miss Fay

Thanks, I'm just interested in seeing if the old paint will shine a little better.

 

[outdoorsman1962]

No Title

I'm so happy to find this because I just bought a 1964 maracaibo this week. I am going to try to posty pics and have a few questions. Main question is what is the red thing on the dash behind the piece of clear plastic?