Another "Free" boat story...

well I seen this sitting somewhere and the guy was going to trash it, so I figured I'd have a look to see what I might be able to come up with. I've never messed with a boat, or fiberglass, or anything, so I'm looking for a lotta help to see if I can't make a boat outta this thing..






The floor needs to be gutted.. was thinking about trimming it and leaving an inch or two so I have something to screw, or glue too... guessing there arent many screws in boats.. lol



I have no controls, or anything, so everything will be custom from the start.. no big deal.. but wish I could find a 'kit' to help with things. But aside from Ebay and such, I don't have a clue where to look.


I am a car nut, and love my V-6 SHO.. kinda wanted to see if I could mount one of those motors in the boat, but I'm thinkin this boat is a little small, plus I'd have a hell of a time figuring out what kind of transmission / driveline I would need. Plus I'd be limited to a 2 seater boat as well..



Kinda big V-6 huh... Would look good in the back of the boat.. but not really practical.

Is there a place to find good used inboards? Or is that just more work than its worth for a boat this small?

Re: Another "Free" boat story...

that is a excellent 1st project boat. great design. you first project is to clean it out, and check for soft spots, rotted skeleton, and deck. not a bad (but dirty) project. a vintage nice 40 or 50 hp outboard is all it will handle. find a decent trailer $200. here are just 2 i have done.








also look at this http://70silverline.250free.com/Skankybeast.html

back in the the late 50's-60's that was top of the line.

Re: Another "Free" boat story...

Nice find, do a lot of searching/reading here on the forums for background, ask a lot of questions as you go along and you'll do fine. Nice lines on that boat, will make a good runner.

Re: Another "Free" boat story...

it looks like an old Larson.

Re: Another "Free" boat story...

Check Craigslist, local boat yards, local paper, and eBay for boat trailers and engines. Like TD said, an old Evinrude/Johnson/Mercury are fairly cheap and much simpler to work on yourself than newer engines.

Your boat look like a pretty good first project to me. Even if you have to replace the deck and transom, it's still not as complicated as doing it with an I/O engine.

It looks like the cable steering system is long gone. You'll probably want to replace it with a rotary or rack and pinion system. You can also use a cable and pulley system, but it'll be (IMHO) harder to find and harder to install.

Re: Another "Free" boat story...

Is that setup for an outboard motor or an I/O (inboard motor, outboard drive)?

I'm just asking because it looks like in the photo from above the truck roof the grey carpeted thing with a handle on it looks like a small dog house motor cover.

You can find most anything you want in the way of parts right here in the iboats mall. Its a good place to browse so you can get an idea of what parts are available and their prices. Like gauges, steering, anchor, gas tanks, navagation lights, motor controls and cables, trailer lights, safety equipment & PDF's (!!!), etc

Don't forget to take a boating safety course! It will save you from making about 60-80% of the mistakes that newbies who don't take it make. Some mistakes are very expensive.

Re: Another "Free" boat story...

did you get a title? You don't say where you are, but in my state it's way harder to get a replacement title for a boat than for a car.

See if you can find the manufacturers capacity tag. Also see if there's an HIN (hull id tag) somewhere on the transom, it'll id the manufacturer, and maybe the year.

Re: Another "Free" boat story...

Hey yea... it was setup as in I/O. I'll have to get some better pics later. The sticker I have says Steury on it. Can't find it at the moment.. but its around here somewhere. The floor is pretty rotted, and I was planning on tearing it all up.. not sure if I should leave anything in there or just gut it completely.

Re: Another "Free" boat story...

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=235232

http://forums.iboats.com/Steury_Boats

Re: Another "Free" boat story...

I'm surprised your truck wasn't doing wheelies the whole way home.
I had a sho back in the day....
ShoShop Valves and springs
ShoShop cams
Ported and polished heads, as well as all 19 pieces of the intake.....
ShoShop ECM.....
60mm Throttle plate...
VDO tachometer.... 15k rpms....
Custom true dual exhaust with flowmasters
engine in car dyno'd at 310 to the wheels... at 13.5K rpms....
0-60 in just under 4... but still in first gear (SHO's are geared like a truck)
when it would hook up...
Even with a quaffe diff it still understeered like crazy.
It was a fun car.... but a wallet buster.
Good luck on your boat.

Re: Another "Free" boat story...

Well the day I seen the boat, was the same day these guys were going to throw it away. I said wait a sec... just put it in my truck.. Actually its not too heavy.. I've had a lot more weight in that truck.

And wow.. an old Sho Shop guy huh..

Vadium and his crew split up a while ago, I still have some of those 'vintage' parts on my baby now. And ya had a quaife huh? Those are made of Gold these days... they just had a group buy a while ago for those $1500 IIRC.


And thanks for all the good links! Lotta reading I gotta do, should tear into the boat a little this weekend, and I'll get some good pictures then! Thanks a lot guys!

Re: Another "Free" boat story...

eric vervalin said:

Hey yea... it was setup as in I/O. I'll have to get some better pics later. The sticker I have says Steury on it. Can't find it at the moment.. but its around here somewhere. The floor is pretty rotted, and I was planning on tearing it all up.. not sure if I should leave anything in there or just gut it completely.

Click to expand...

that boat has a splashwell.......to my knowlage they didnt use splashwells on i/os......the boat is also very short for an i/o

td....you ever seen one?

i think someone has been playing....thats why it was gutted....someones idea.
a project in the works...then gave up on it.....i think youl find you dont have enough freedoard for an i/o......unless you glass the transom and build it up. if you dont the motor will stick uo too high.

more pics please...

and btw....that is a really nice lookin craft.

cheers
oops

cheers
oops

Re: Another "Free" boat story...

waiting for more pics. it is small for an i/o.

Re: Another "Free" boat story...

By the looks of the vent on the port side near the transom, it either did have an I/O in it, or someone was trying to convert it.

As someone else pointed out, be sure that you have a transferable title on this boat before you spend money on it. At one time, it was easy to register a boat without the proper paperwork as "homemade." That is no longer true, for the most part. Here in Louisiana if you tell Wildlife & Fisheries (they register boats in LA) that you made a boat, they will ask to see your bills of sale for all of the materials that you used in construction.

Re: Another "Free" boat story...

cool boat eric... looks like you're in for a cool project. Good luck.

Re: Another "Free" boat story...

Hi eric, Looks like a fun boat project you have there. I gonna do the same, find a hull thats ready for a junk yard and turn it into a new boat!!!

I had a 1994 SHO, bought it new, until some little punk ran a red light and my insurance declared it a total loss. It was my favorite car, I even had a 5.0 mustang, but I liked the SHO way better.