1988 Stratos 2000xls In too deep!

Tnstratofam

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Ok sports fans here we go!!

A little history first. My wife and I decided to buy a boat last year so we could have some fun on the water with our friends and our 14 year old boy. We did some looking at pontoons, bowriders, and cuddy cabins and runabouts. We decided on a bowrider and looked for something that would seat 6 to 8 people so we could have room for our friends in one boat. Anyway we started checking cl and found a couple of boats that we liked. So we called the owner up and headed over. We took my truck and the cash to buy it with us. Rookie mistake number 1 for those keeping count. This is what we found and came home with. This is her sitting in the driveway the day after we brought her home.









She is a 1988 Stratos 2000xls with a 350 chevy engine OMC cobra outdrive and through hull exhaust. Offcourse at the time I had no idea how much trouble just the brand of the boat and the outdrive would be.:facepalm: To make matters worse the two soft spots in the floor that seemed like an easy fix would after I did some research turn out to be one big a** can of worms.:faint2: She did run and in my zeal for pleasing the admiral I thought well we'll run her for the summer and then do a mild restore this fall and winter.
 
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Tnstratofam

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Re: 1988 Stratos 2000xls In too deep!

This was our first of many trips to the lake this summer when it wasn't raining. We've had a bunch of rain here in East Tennessee so we didn't get to the lake as often as we would have liked.

The admiral and her best friend.


My step son at the helm.


My step son's best friend asleep.



We bought her in April and it was still chilly at the lake. I think it was 60 that day.
 

Tnstratofam

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Re: 1988 Stratos 2000xls In too deep!

So like I said earlier we should have done much more research before we bought her. She's our baby now and we're in for a penny in for a pound with this one. Last night I tore into what I already new was a bad mess here is a little of what I found.

The left side of the dog house. Soft floor.


The Right side of the dog house. Soft floor.


The center floor/gas tank cover. The po said he just redid this piece last year. Allot of rot for a one year old piece of plywood.


The gas tank under the rotted floor cover.
 

Tnstratofam

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Re: 1988 Stratos 2000xls In too deep!

The floor under the carpet. All bad!!:blue:


Check out the po's repair for the soft floor under this seat. Gotta give him props for originality I guess.


Nice huh.
 

Tnstratofam

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Re: 1988 Stratos 2000xls In too deep!

Some more fun stuff I never imagined under that evil carpet.

This is a nail in what I think is an old deck redo.

This line is on both sides of the gas tank well at the back and they are even so I think this might be proof of a redo of the deck at one time.
 

Tnstratofam

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Re: 1988 Stratos 2000xls In too deep!

This is the ski locker and it has two drain holes one round one that goes who knows where and one opening that leads into the gas tank well. What a mess. Oh and it was carpeted too. We can't have our ski's uncomfortable now can we.
 

Tnstratofam

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Re: 1988 Stratos 2000xls In too deep!

The po did leave me some spare stuff behind the battery.
 

Tnstratofam

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Re: 1988 Stratos 2000xls In too deep!

The only thing I may have going for me is a big enough garage to take the mess in the boat and spread it out all over the floor.


Yes I have MBS and a split personality. That's my Starcraft in the background and She's a tinnie..








So this is going to be a long and drawn out process, but I know with all the great help on this forum We'll get it done. Stay tuned as I travel further down the rabbit hole.:lol:
 
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GA_Boater

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This topic is close to a year old and TN hasn't updated since last October. Wait until he breathes life back into the thread before replying. Thanks.
 

Tnstratofam

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I know it's been almost a year since my last post For those who don't know we had a few life changing events here at our house. I also put time into the Starcraft as it was a faster way to get the Admiral, and I back on the water. I've been contemplating where to go with this boat I really like her lines, and she was really stable and fun in the water. However after being on the water for this past summer in the Starcraft, and knowing this boat has an outdated drive setup I'm just trying to build up the nerve to get back into the tear down. Fear not though fellow iboaters I have every intention of putting some real time into her in the next few months. The Admiral has been very clear on the fact we are either fixing the Stratos, or moving on to another projecj. She does rule the roost ya know!:D
 
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