1987 Forester 171 Phantom

[clubample]

So I'm not sure if this post belongs in this section but I thought I would share the purchase I just made and chronicle the progress I make on getting this boat back to respectable condition. This is my second boat... I had a 1974 Starcraft American which I loved but the floor and transom were toast and I couldnt see putting the money into it.

I paid $650 for the Forester boat.. Shoreline trailer.. and a Humminbird 997c si fishfinder w/ External GPS antenna.
The 125hp force motor had been overheated and the lower end removed. But it still had a good power trim. After doing some searches on Ebay and realizing the fishfinder alone is worth more than I paid for the boat... I'm pretty happy.

The bad... The interior it TOAST.. all the seats were cracked and even some of the foam deteriorated. The carpet was disgusting and actually had moss growing out of it. lol...
There is a tiny section of the floor with a soft spot on the port side about mid way... but the rest of it seems pretty solid.
The paint is oxidized beyond belief, but it looks like some coarse compound and a buffer will get it looking halfway decent again.

Here is the boat when I picked it up

 

[clubample]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

Here's some pics of the spent interior.

 

[clubample]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

Some progress... removed the blown Force and installed my 1998 Merc 90hp. Not as much power as the boat can take but it's good enough for me.. I should be able to get low to mid 30s.

 

[matt167]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

You need to check the floor, transom and stringers. Usually boats like that are pretty rotted. Soft spot means rot.. Vegetation means the wood is breaking down and able to provide nitrogen ect... which is great for plant life, but not for boats

 

[clubample]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

You need to check the floor, transom and stringers. Usually boats like that are pretty rotted. Soft spot means rot.. Vegetation means the wood is breaking down and able to provide nitrogen ect... which is great for plant life, but not for boats

The transom is very solid... I jumped up and down on the motor before I purchased the boat and it didn't move at all. The bees in the lower unit did though and I have a couple stings to show for it. lol One of the things I noticed with this was there had never been holes drilled on the top portion of the transom for the motor mount... the Force motor had a clamp style mount...so that no doubt helped reduce any water getting into there and rotting it. I had to drill holes to mount my Merc and the wood shavings were dry and normal looking. I'm no professional boat surveyor but everything seemed OK back there. As i said in my original post there was one small soft spot in the floor where the seat was screwed in... but everywhere else seemed pretty solid. I know there is some rot under that spot but it was not enough to put up a red flag in my opinion. Over the winter I will probably look into it more but it's not concerning to me to run the boat as is for now.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

If you don't hit close to 40MPH in that boat with your 90 than she's waterlogged. I'd be really surprised if it wasn't with the interior that bad.

 

[jmkrak]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

We just replaced the interior in a 89 Forester 166 I/O. Same as you the upholstery was shot and so was the carpet. The outside looked rough but buffing took care of that. For us there is one spot back by the motor that is a little weak. We replaced all the upholstery and carpet but did not touch the floor. Good news is it looks great. Bad news is we should have replaced the floor and looked at what was under it. The soft spot is getting slightly worse... so now this winter we will have to take the interior all back out.

 

[clubample]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

Some progress... removed the blown Force and installed my 1998 Merc 90hp. Not as much power as the boat can take but it's good enough for me.. I should be able to get low to mid 30s.

View attachment 204693

17 pitch prop

 

[clubample]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

We just replaced the interior in a 89 Forester 166 I/O. Same as you the upholstery was shot and so was the carpet. The outside looked rough but buffing took care of that. For us there is one spot back by the motor that is a little weak. We replaced all the upholstery and carpet but did not touch the floor. Good news is it looks great. Bad news is we should have replaced the floor and looked at what was under it. The soft spot is getting slightly worse... so now this winter we will have to take the interior all back out.

Do you have any pics of the project? I plan to get more into my floor over the winter but I'm going to use it as is for the rest of this season. I just put down some cheap carpet for now and I mainly use it by myself for fishing so I just have a temporary seat and won't have to remove much of the interior when it comes time to do that.

 

[clubample]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

If you don't hit close to 40MPH in that boat with your 90 than she's waterlogged. I'd be really surprised if it wasn't with the interior that bad.

Wouldn't the prop pitch have an effect on top speed. My 90hp has a 17 pitch prop which I think is never going to push any boat this size to its maximum speed... it's a low end prop and I think a 19 would be a better option. With my Starcraft 15' it topped out at 40mph yet had incredible acceleration, even between 30-40mph. That leads me to believe the 17pitch is way too low end of a prop for these size boats and hp combo.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

You size your prop so that with your typical load, your motor is able to reach is max recommended RPM range at wide open throttle. I think I have a 17 pitch on my 90 on my 18' aluminum so you'd at least be in the ballpart with a 17. I can just touch 40 with a light load trimmed to the ragged edge (and my motor is crank rated and probably not as strong as yours).

 

[clubample]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

You size your prop so that with your typical load, your motor is able to reach is max recommended RPM range at wide open throttle. I think I have a 17 pitch on my 90 on my 18' aluminum so you'd at least be in the ballpart with a 17. I can just touch 40 with a light load trimmed to the ragged edge (and my motor is crank rated and probably not as strong as yours).

What is the weight of your boat and is it flat bottom or V?

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

What is the weight of your boat and is it flat bottom or V?

Don't know. Maybe around 1500lbs? It's a V. Pretty standard bowrider actually, just aluminum http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/New Boat/IMG_1134-2-1.jpg

 

[clubample]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

Don't know. Maybe around 1500lbs? It's a V. Pretty standard bowrider actually, just aluminum http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/New Boat/IMG_1134-2-1.jpg

Nice looking boat. Unfortunately I do not have a tachometer on my boat as of now so I cant be sure of the RPM im running at.. I just know when I had it on my starcraft it pulled very strong and it was obvious the prop was pitched too low. I inspected the ski locker and things seemed pretty dry under there. I assume thats not the ultimate way to test for water logging but if it is.. it's going to have to stay that way until winter because I'm not tearing it up now. I did have the boat outside with no carpet or interior for 10 days in the blazing heat wave we just had... so hopefully that helped to evaporate a little. The boat is now stored in a garage so it wont be taking on any more water.

 

[jmkrak]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

I don't really have any great pictures of the project... It looked very much like your boat except the back end is a different design due to the I/O motor. The pic is what it looks like now...

We just put a 15 pitch prop on ours, it previously had a 13. RPMs are about 4200 and top speed is about 63 MPG... of course it is a very different motor

 

[jmkrak]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

The front of ours is exactly like yours... here it is now with the new interior pieces i made... sorry i don't have pictures right now without the people in them

 

[clubample]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

If you don't hit close to 40MPH in that boat with your 90 than she's waterlogged. I'd be really surprised if it wasn't with the interior that bad.

I'm on the lake as I type this. Hit 40.5 mph GPS. Much faster than I was expecting.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

I'm on the lake as I type this. Hit 40.5 mph GPS. Much faster than I was expecting.

Nice!!!

 

[clubample]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

The front of ours is exactly like yours... here it is now with the new interior pieces i made... sorry i don't have pictures right now without the people in them

Looks very nice... You did those interior pieces from scratch? They look factory.. I like the close tolerances... mine had a couple inches gap between each piece. You still have this boat?

 

[jmkrak]

Re: 1987 Forester 171 Phantom

I used the original interior pieces as templates both for the plywood bases and the vinyl. We still have the boat but it is stored an hour away. I will take better pictures when I am in the boat next time. I did not have to recover the motor cover or the main seats as they had been replaced by the previous owner. So i just did the entire bow, side panels and rear seats. It looks nice but there are a fee things in will do different with our new boat