couvmerk123
Cadet
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2012
- Messages
- 6
I have been quietly lurking through the forums for about 3 months now learning. Figured I would post of some pictures of my boat and share my current trials and tribulations with boat ownership.
First off I work on everything I own and I wanted something simple and somewhat current engine outdrive combo and I wanted an I/o because I can work on car motors all day and preferred something familiar for a starter boat(no omc) . Minimal project...price range was around 4 grand (anything less here and its a full on restoration of some sort,first gen alpha or worse some old stringer omc craziness). Long story short I saw some real heaps for 4000-5000 grand. I really wanted to stick to 4.3 or 3.0. I am actually glad I got a 3.0 because this thing has been very easy and intuitive to work on and packs enough juice for me. Evidently this boat is kind of rare...I don't know how I always get rare junk. So far I love this hull and the boat. Smooth in chop for such a small boat and it is very light(zippy for a 3.0) and fairly well built.
Things I have already repaired:
-new steering cable+assembly
-all new hydraulic lines for the power steering made by parker hannafin (60 dollars for all my hoses instead of 200+)
-Drained and filled the outdrive twice to clean it out. Lowered the idle down to about 700-650rpms to smooth out the engagement. So far the outdrive runs smooth as butter...no grinds and or odd sounds..knock on wood(preferably just stay away from wood all together)
-Changed oil and put in synthetic delo 400 10-40. So far so good. Everyone says good things about delo 400 in just about every application...my diesel loves it too.
-Speedo stopped working 2 trips ago...after some research I found out I had some wood stuck in my little hole in the front. It was very soft and I never felt hitting anything so i thought it was very odd. Used Air compressor and a paperclip to clear it out. Works great now.
-Replaced the shifter cable bellows-made my own 30 dollar tool to remove the lower shifter cable by welding a 9/16 deep socket on top of another deep socket...total cost maybe 4 bucks and some cursing to figure it out.
Checked the other bellows and they felt almost new... gimbal felt very smooth so I left the rest alone.
-Had the dreaded water jacket crack leak(newbie buying mistake)....ended up welding and running jb weld on top of the weld... Hasn't leaked once since and I have at least 10 runs now.
- Cut and spliced an extra foot or 2 to the fish sonar harness....was too short to reach the cockpit. Moved the fuel gauge down to make space for it. This way I didn't have to drill holes for the fish finder and I like non intrusive installs.
-Replaced 2 gauges (fuel and temp)
-New solas rubex 14x21 4 blade...a bit too much prop but I run a small crew and she will hit over 40 which is very impressive with me and 2 passengers(I compared my speedo vs gps and its dead on at 25mph ill verify top speed later this week).I have a 72inch tube that I pull it around or below 25ish mph and it will corner and do everything without dropping or blowing out.Very pleased with this prop would like to get a 14x19 for heavy load days.
-Took out my controls thinking my throttle cable was shot...ended up being the controls needed a good marine greasing and cleaning. Smooth now and easy to control the throttle...saved me 50 bucks. Btw this was one of worst jobs so far. controls were a real PITA.
-Put a skeg guard on the boat after a initial and very minor ramp drag....felt like an idiot and ruined my Michigan wheel 14.5x17 3 blade prop(still good enough to limp home on for now-its my backup )
To do list:
-Maybe redo the seats...or wait another year or 2. Passenger seat is tearing and showing wear.
Carpet is not the optimal color for me....I work on it and it gets very dirty fast. I have run my bissel in this thing several times now.
-I fell pretty hard and felt the wood crack on the drivers side...very back in the engine compartment inside the engine area(directly across from the bilge). I want to investigate the damage soon. I don't feel any soft spots anywhere besides where I mangled the wood in the back. (I was trying to get out of the boat with the cast iron exhaust/intake ...you know how heavy those things are so yeah another project)
-Fix some of the snap button things on the boat. Some tore out of the boat...winter project.
-probably replace the cursed points ignition system....I had a 1978 jeep j20 and it had electronic ignition (first year from the factory). It blew my mind how long they kept points on boats. I don't want to deal with the silly thing.
I think that's it for now...I am sure I am missing some stuff on the to do list ...as long as i don't run into anything or drop 50 pound cast iron anchor/intake...
Ill add a picture of my other money pit just for giggles...Where I do most of my fabrication/electrical/cursing.
Anyway this Is much longer intro than I anticipated writing so I may have mangled the English language a bit...
First off I work on everything I own and I wanted something simple and somewhat current engine outdrive combo and I wanted an I/o because I can work on car motors all day and preferred something familiar for a starter boat(no omc) . Minimal project...price range was around 4 grand (anything less here and its a full on restoration of some sort,first gen alpha or worse some old stringer omc craziness). Long story short I saw some real heaps for 4000-5000 grand. I really wanted to stick to 4.3 or 3.0. I am actually glad I got a 3.0 because this thing has been very easy and intuitive to work on and packs enough juice for me. Evidently this boat is kind of rare...I don't know how I always get rare junk. So far I love this hull and the boat. Smooth in chop for such a small boat and it is very light(zippy for a 3.0) and fairly well built.
Things I have already repaired:
-new steering cable+assembly
-all new hydraulic lines for the power steering made by parker hannafin (60 dollars for all my hoses instead of 200+)
-Drained and filled the outdrive twice to clean it out. Lowered the idle down to about 700-650rpms to smooth out the engagement. So far the outdrive runs smooth as butter...no grinds and or odd sounds..knock on wood(preferably just stay away from wood all together)
-Changed oil and put in synthetic delo 400 10-40. So far so good. Everyone says good things about delo 400 in just about every application...my diesel loves it too.
-Speedo stopped working 2 trips ago...after some research I found out I had some wood stuck in my little hole in the front. It was very soft and I never felt hitting anything so i thought it was very odd. Used Air compressor and a paperclip to clear it out. Works great now.
-Replaced the shifter cable bellows-made my own 30 dollar tool to remove the lower shifter cable by welding a 9/16 deep socket on top of another deep socket...total cost maybe 4 bucks and some cursing to figure it out.
Checked the other bellows and they felt almost new... gimbal felt very smooth so I left the rest alone.
-Had the dreaded water jacket crack leak(newbie buying mistake)....ended up welding and running jb weld on top of the weld... Hasn't leaked once since and I have at least 10 runs now.
- Cut and spliced an extra foot or 2 to the fish sonar harness....was too short to reach the cockpit. Moved the fuel gauge down to make space for it. This way I didn't have to drill holes for the fish finder and I like non intrusive installs.
-Replaced 2 gauges (fuel and temp)
-New solas rubex 14x21 4 blade...a bit too much prop but I run a small crew and she will hit over 40 which is very impressive with me and 2 passengers(I compared my speedo vs gps and its dead on at 25mph ill verify top speed later this week).I have a 72inch tube that I pull it around or below 25ish mph and it will corner and do everything without dropping or blowing out.Very pleased with this prop would like to get a 14x19 for heavy load days.
-Took out my controls thinking my throttle cable was shot...ended up being the controls needed a good marine greasing and cleaning. Smooth now and easy to control the throttle...saved me 50 bucks. Btw this was one of worst jobs so far. controls were a real PITA.
-Put a skeg guard on the boat after a initial and very minor ramp drag....felt like an idiot and ruined my Michigan wheel 14.5x17 3 blade prop(still good enough to limp home on for now-its my backup )
To do list:
-Maybe redo the seats...or wait another year or 2. Passenger seat is tearing and showing wear.
Carpet is not the optimal color for me....I work on it and it gets very dirty fast. I have run my bissel in this thing several times now.
-I fell pretty hard and felt the wood crack on the drivers side...very back in the engine compartment inside the engine area(directly across from the bilge). I want to investigate the damage soon. I don't feel any soft spots anywhere besides where I mangled the wood in the back. (I was trying to get out of the boat with the cast iron exhaust/intake ...you know how heavy those things are so yeah another project)
-Fix some of the snap button things on the boat. Some tore out of the boat...winter project.
-probably replace the cursed points ignition system....I had a 1978 jeep j20 and it had electronic ignition (first year from the factory). It blew my mind how long they kept points on boats. I don't want to deal with the silly thing.
I think that's it for now...I am sure I am missing some stuff on the to do list ...as long as i don't run into anything or drop 50 pound cast iron anchor/intake...
Ill add a picture of my other money pit just for giggles...Where I do most of my fabrication/electrical/cursing.
Anyway this Is much longer intro than I anticipated writing so I may have mangled the English language a bit...
