My new toy, Caravelle 188 - Might need some help.

[rotozuk]

After a looking at a lot of sub par boats I finally found one I felt comfortable bringing home. She isn't perfect, but she should make a good first boat. The good news is that the floors are solid, and no mildew or soft spots anywhere. The interior is not that great, but with some cleaning she should look a lot better. Just waiting for better weather and the 303 products to arrive. There is a bit of hull damage on the bottom from beaching on rocks. Mostly gelcoat scratches, but 2 or 3 deeper ones I'll want to address. Why would anyone beach on rocks? Otherwise the hull is in great shape, just needs a polish.

Ok, onto the questions. I posted these back in the Caravelle section here, but I don't think anyone goes into that section much.

The front seat pedestals are not in good shape. the captains chair is actually busted off. The upper plastic assembly is the issue. I have attached some photos. Can anyone identify what brand these are? Would be great to get replacement parts rather than replace the entire pedestals. Also, these appear to be able to be slid fore and aft, but there does not seem to be any lock for this feature, and I am not able to get them to slide at all. Any hints?

I'm also trying to track down a set of struts for the engine cover. They were missing on this boat. I can probably just take my own measurements and figure out a new set, but just incase someone is reading this that happens to have a 188, can I get the measurements from your struts?

That should be enough to get me going. I'll have other questions soon. Did I mention this is my first boat? I've been reading a bunch here and it has helped with my search a lot! Thanks all.

-Wayne

 

[jbcurt00]

Hmm, i'd like to see some pix of the interior, and i'd bet the pedestal seats arent original...

Is the original deck solid, or is it a replacement deck?

I've never seen a seat base break like that, so it just makes me wonder about what cant be seen in the 1 exterior shot of the boat or below the deck.

 

[rotozuk]

Hmm, i'd like to see some pix of the interior, and i'd bet the pedestal seats arent original...

Is the original deck solid, or is it a replacement deck?

I've never seen a seat base break like that, so it just makes me wonder about what cant be seen in the 1 exterior shot of the boat or below the deck.

I will have to take some pics. It is the original carpet covered decks, they are solid. Original pedestals too.

-Wayne

 

[jbcurt00]

Learnin' somethin' ever'e day:

Still wonder WTH happened to break a seat base

What does the top of the pedestal look like? That ^^^ makes it look like there may have been a post sticking up out of the pedestal and whatever keeps the base on the post wasn't released before someone pulled the seat up off it.

Seat base is swivel and slide?

Is the pedestal captive in it's base, or removeable?

Shop around, thru the holidays, you may be surprised to find a seat base, pedestal and mount for about what just the seat base will run.

 

[Scott Danforth]

I know that both Springfield and Wise pedestals look similar

 

[JaCrispy]

Good luck with your new boat! For the struts, you can take a measurement between the pins with the hatch up. Any local auto parts store should have them.

 

[98Shabah]

What year is your new Caravelle? They started making them wood free around 2003. Here is a link to the Caravelle forum. ;-)

 

[81 Checkmate]

To add...on your struts they are also rated for weight/force when extending and when fully extended. They will come in the same lenghts but with a different weight ratio.

 

[rotozuk]

What year is your new Caravelle? They started making them wood free around 2003. Here is a link to the Caravelle forum. ;-)

Not sure they are maintaining that site anymore. I am not able to set up a new account there as the admins need to aprove all new accounts. Been days with no action.

-Wayne

 

[rotozuk]

No Title

To add...on your struts they are also rated for weight/force when extending and when fully extended. They will come in the same lenghts but with a different weight ratio.

Yeah, they don't need to be super strong, once open they are just resisting wind for the most part. I'll measure them up once the rain stops dumping here.

Here are some pictures of the same basic pedestal base I found from a different Caravelle boats posted online, mine has shorter posts. Doubt it helps any. The seat base that is damaged is plastic, and there are more plastic parts inside the pedestal that are also damaged. I suspect I may need to replace the entire pedestal to fix this issue. The passenger seat is pretty sloppy, so I think it is well along in the failure process.

Anyone have a favorite carpet supplier? The carpets in the boat are tired so I'm debating pulling them up, painting the floor and install snap in carpets or maybe Seadek. Not so sure about the Seadeck on my floors as they are wood cores. Not to excited about putting a giant foam sticker on wood cored floors.

-Wayne

 

[rotozuk]

No progress on the boat due to bad weather here, but I did clean the captains chair since I had it in the house. I used some 303 vinyl cleaner, and I have to say I am really impressed. The seat was not horrible, but it was not looking great either, I was not sure the cleaner would be able to do much, but I have grown to really trust the 303 products over the years. The seat nearly looks new. The rest of the interior should clean up really nice except for the sun deck that has a fair bit of sun damage to it, but I'll give it a try and see what it can do.

I picked up a new boat cover also. Haven't test fit it yet as the rain was dumping tonight. Should have clearer weather in a few days, looking forward to messing around with the boat some.

-Wayne

 

[rotozuk]

Nothing too exciting to report just yet, the boat has mostly just been sitting around the driveway until now.

The new boat cover has been working great. Boat has remained try inside despite some very damp weather.

Have cleaned up the interior as well as it is going to get. The sundeck and the carpet are going to have to go if I keep this boat, they are beyond cleaning.

When I was testing the boat at time of purchase I noticed a small water leak at the sea water pump. I thought the guy had failed to install the gasket, but opening it up I found it is an o-ring sealed pump, and the o-ring was in place. It was also noted that the new impeller was not properly installed with a couple of vanes pointing the wrong direction. So I'll be sorting that out as soon as the new parts arrive.

I have jury rigged the busted seat, I think it will hold together for a first trip out. Time will tell.

The weather is getting better and better, should be getting it wet very soon.

 

[rotozuk]

Due to work and travel schedules the boat has not been out in the water yet. I had hoped to get her wet this weekend, but I seem to have an issue with the impeller. I have installed a new impeller and 0-ring, and all looks good. I hook up some bunny ears, start the motor and I am not getting any water pumped through the system. I pulled the pump off again and inspected and the hoses were all dry, but pump looked great, and turning in the right direction. I assume it pumps up the the thermostat housing. Right? Does it wait until the thermostat opens or something? I'm afraid to run it at this point.

Yes, I am very new to boats. I have the Volvo 4.3.

Thanks for any insight you might have.

 

[Maclin]

How are you determining there is no water going thru the system? And what year same type of drive is this, might make a difference. 1993 and older white drives have a drain hole at the bottom of the drive that needs to be plugged when on the muffs..

The water will be drawn up and into the housing that has the thermostat in it, and when the thermo is not open the water just exits out the exhaust. Once the thermo opens then the water goes thru the engine then out the exhaust.

 

[rotozuk]

Yep, I decided to give it another try, and got her working. I was thinking it would dump all water through the center of the prop. My bad. As soon as she started dumping rusty water out, I knew we were good. Also, since it a drought in California, I was using rather low water on the hose. That was probably the bigger issue.

Now to get some fresh gas in her and see if she sinks.

 

[rotozuk]

Well, we decided to take the boat out to a local lake on Sunday. Temps were nice and high, around 100F. Should have been a great day on the lake in our new to us boat. Launched it without any issues, and started the motor and set up some shade for the wife and dogs. Motor warmed up for a few minutes while I was getting things ready. Temp was not showing but maybe 100 on the gauge. May have a bad sending unit as I have yet to see that show any temps. Anyhow, time to motor out, I pop it in reverse, it stalls and will not restart. No cranking, no click from the starter, nothing. Do some testing in the heat and some fellow boaters offer some ideas, but nothing.

We load it back on the trailer and go for a quick swim and picnic lunch instead. That swim felt great, but not as good as it would have been from the side of my boat.

When I got home and in a little cooler conditions I began testing the electrical. Ignition switch is good. Neutral switch is good. All fuses are good. starter relay on the motor is clicking, I plugged in another similar relay I bought at the local auto parts and it clicked also, but still nothing from the starter. I'll have to do some more testing when my wife or a neighbor can hit the key for me.

I have to say that I hate the SHRILL warning siren on the top of the motor. It sounds anytime you turn on the ignition to let you know there is no oil pressure. Duuh! When the engine cover is up that thing kills me. My wife doesn't even want to be near the boat when it starts yelling. Any options for a more relaxed alarm? The thing is like an over achieving smoke detector at 3am.

-Wayne

 

[rotozuk]

No Title

Finally got this boat out on the water this last weekend. Work and life had kept me from playing with it much. The starter issues turned out to be a bad relay on the starter. New wires, plugs and a quick tune up and she runs great!

After the good trip I rewarded her with a little polishing. She looks a lot better now. Heck, I thought she had a faded black stripe, but it turns out it is a dark green one. LOL

As you can see in the photo, I used an interesting fix for the busted drivers seat. Still looking for the right parts.

 

[rotozuk]

Thought I would post up as I was poking around the site for some info. The boat has been great. She starts right up on the first try everytime and has been pretty trouble free. I still don't have a captain's chair, but instead put an ice chest there and use that as my seat. We usually don't go very far under power, so this works fine. In fact I love pushing the ice chest out of the way and freeing up more floor space in the boat, especially when we bring the dogs.

going to use some SEM vinyl paint to clean up the whites on the interior as I do have some damage and mildew stains that will not clean. Should make the boat look pretty sharp again. Need to do a little trailer maintenance too, the wood is getting old.

 

[89retta]

Don't use the SEM vinyl paint. Will only last a bit then start to flake off.