[ramblinwreck]

Hey everyone. New Member of the Aristocraft family (thanks to my neighbor--Mr. Aristocraft himself!) Since they have moved in I have been looking for a nineteen. It is a perfect all around family boat as you all know. I have looked at countless nineteens all over the southeast, but none were really good for a project boat. So many were just left outside to rot over the years.....then i got a reply from a craiglist posting in Saratoga Springs New York. They guy sent 28 pictures of the boat. Scott his father and I all looked over the pics and after talking to the owner decided this may be the boat. I negotiated a price of $750 and was off. Left at 3am on Thursday drove straight from Atlanta Georgia to Saratoga Springs (15 hours or so). I only was out of the car for a total of eight minutes to fuel up and and hour and a half for checking out the boat myself. Hooked a battery up and it cranked first turn! The trailer was in good shape, despite having one 13" and one 14" tire, but oh well. Back on the road and after a total of 23 hours I stopped at 2:30 am in allentown penn for some sleep. Then straight back to atlanta. For two days I survived on pnut butter honey and red bull, but I got home with a beautiful red/white nineteen with all guages working, trim perfect, and engine runs like a champ! We had the boat on the water that Saturday.
The special thing about this boat is the owner was actually the third owner of the boat, and he had every bill of sale, every repair reciept, everything, from the purchase of the boat to now. I mean he had warranty cards, the sales brochure where the dealer had penciled in a quote for the extras, everything. I even have the install manuals for the engine! Needless to say we couldn't be happier with the boat, and I will be posting before and after pictures during the restoration, but I am proud to be in the family! Thanks to Scott and Bill!!

[ziggy]

wow man, your trip sounds longer than mine even. and i took longer than you did. did my run in 2 and a half days i think. i went from lincoln, ne. to rapid city, sd. (only 550 miles round abouts) stayed in a hotel overnight. looked my soon to be boat over the whole next day. looked it over real real good, tested this and that, a 2 hr sea trial and the sale. like yours, i needed tires but i went directly from the previous owner to the tire store for new wheel brgs and tires. then i hit the road. made it all the way across sd before i was out of the game. think i just pulled into a rest area and slept till i woke, got up and came home. interesting that they're pretty similar story's i thought. anyways, congrats on your new boat. man, how lucky can ya be than to live next to mr. Aristocraft himself. not many folks got that benefit. my neighbors is just another typical, unemployed US citizen....
sure looks like another sweet nineteen, . hope ya post up all the nitty gritty as your doing your restore. bet even iboats won't be able to compare to having the oem as your helper/guide... i'm envious.. iboats may be a good resource for the mechanical s though. i've had extensive help from folks over on the i/o part of this forum. many good minds over there that have helped me a lot.

real good to have ya on board here rw. there's getting to be quite a few aristocraft owners here which is way cool i think.. so what year is that one? what'd ya get for an engine/drive package? what ya gonna be doing for the restore? got more pics? tell us more...

[ramblinwreck]

This 1977 had the 120 mercruiser engine and outdrive. eventually will be repainting and reupholstering with the gold/white scheme. But I am going to have to pace myself on the repairs to spread out the $$. Lime Time is an awesome boat- I have heard a lot about it! I will post some new pics this week. I am looking forward to the project and hope to have something worth showing at the end. This week going to add a fuel filter, try to fix the horn, and start filling the pressure cracks around the engine box and d rings in the back. Next month may tackle contact paper on dash and new cigarette lighter. Baby steps...baby steps.....

[ziggy]

This 1977 had the 120 mercruiser engine and outdrive

sounds like a good combo to me. ya probably got the same drive i got on mine. a 1 drive. don't know if the i/o forum adults only sticky still have them. but they have had links to the oem service manual, pdf. get one if so. if not. get one anyways in book form. i ended up with #2 from ebay for 25 or so bucks. best money you'll spend on your boat. the factory service manual.

eventually will be repainting and reupholstering with the gold/white scheme.

so does Scott have some oem upholstery for you? in another thread he'd told me that the upholstery was most important to keep in good condition. i must say, there isn't anything around that is like aristocraft upholstery that i've found. the logo + the seamless seats are too cool.. mine's only in fair condition, but i'm trying hard to keep the 303 on it to keep whats left pliable. did some 303 on my top this weekend. sure didn't hurt it and brought some of the color back for sure.

This week going to add a fuel filter

add a filter? i'd think your 120 would be similar to what i got for filters. one in the fuel pump. + a screen right at the carb inlet. keep them two clean and i've not had issue with my fuel. though i've thought about adding a fuel/water separator. many say that's the way to go, but since i've not had issue w/water in the fuel. i've left well enough alone. i did have to go through a few filters in my fuel pump though. i had a shade of rusty's in my fuel tank when i got it. choice was to remove the tank and clean it, or, run though a few fuel filters. i chose the latter. i seem to have gotten most of it (the rust) as i'm down to changing the filter once a year now. i do keep a spare onboard though just in case...

try to fix the horn

yep, been there, done that.. might be a question for Scott. i've seen many different horns on nineteens. i wonder if they didn't come w/o. mine had this ugly black rectangular shaped horn mounted just starboard of the ft. nav. light. man, was that ugly + it didn't work. i ended up with a horn off a different boat, era appropriate and mounted it on the starboard side in ft. of the windshield. i had to take it apart and clean it, but it works good now and looks proper too. i had to uncluster the horn wiring too. i used a separate fuse block to power it. the separate fuse block i got has 6 individual circuits. i've used up 4 of them. one was for the horn.

start filling the pressure cracks around the engine box and d rings in the back.

can ya elaborate? i've got a few cracks, but nothing i've tried to repair. a couple i might if i thought there was a way..

and new cigarette lighter

funny. that's one of the few mods i've done to my nineteen too. i wanted it for a spot light. i put mine on the dash. if ya want a pic i can get one for ya. i guess so far, i've been happy with my placement. i use it to light ciggs too, but if i weren't a nasty ol smoker, i may have considered a different location to mount the 12v if it were only gonna be a power supply. my only other mod is a stereo. i had a 8 track player w/4 6 1/2'' speakers when i got it. replaced the speakers w/better modern quality + got a cd player now. had to cover the holes that i didn't cut in with something...

Baby steps...baby steps.....

yep. the only way to go... don't forget to use it too while your updating it though. that's the real fun part for sure.. anything i can do to help. let me know. will be hard to help out more than the oem that's your neighbor though...

keep the pics coming. love them pics....

[aristocraft]

Ahh, the ghost made it aboard!

Its a great boat, and was a fantastic buy. Get some more pictures up here showing off all the hard work you have put into it already!!!

Ziggy, I dont have factory skins For him, but we still do have them made. But they are sticked not seamless. However we are in the process of finding a new machine so we can go seamless again.

The boats did not come with a horn, it would have been added later.

And to help another post, yes you can hang it from the rings. We just had his hanging last week.

take care

[ziggy]

Get some more pictures up here showing off all the hard work you have put into it already!!!

ditto...

However we are in the process of finding a new machine so we can go seamless again

man, that sounds like a great idea. these seamless seats are too cool. i've never seen anything like it on anyone elses boat. sure seamed (pun intended ) like another great idea from aristocraft.
what kinda machine does this work.... something else that aristocraft invented?

guess my speculation was correct. horns were add on. i don't think i've seen any two nineteens that had the same horn or horn location on them. i knew mine was a add on from the location of the horn itself, to the engineered wiring on mine scabbed into the dash circuits. + i have a pretty ugly horn button that don't look like something that aristocraft would have done. the ''lifting rings'' were for lifting... that one just seemed to logical for them not to be from their name.. that + the angle of the back one's at 45* round abouts. the one on the ft. deck seems located for lifting too. + it's a straight up ring and is not a chock like on many boats of the era..

thanks for the info Scott. the more i learn about nineteens, the more i like them...

[zetalampi999]

I was looking at the horn on my boat just today as I am in the process of changing colors to yellow. I have a set of two "airhorns" that look to fit the age of the boat. I noticed the bolts that attach them are rusting and thought why would such a thoughtful boat manufacturer put a screw that would rust on the boat right there? Then it occurred to me that its an ad on. It had me fooled for a bit.

[dbkerley]

Mine is a twin trumpet mounted on the starboard side of the windshield and I need to disassemble and clean them. They occasionaly sound a bit ill when I fore them up.

[ziggy]

mounted on the starboard side

you moved it? the pic in your other thread has it on the port side.. i like the twin trumpets. they look cool. i have a real short single trumpet. mine don't look like a trumpet where yers does though, but i suppose that's the best description a fella could come up with. mine ended up on the starboard side. i had a cb antenna mounted there by the po. it was a dumb place to put a cb antenna, but sure worked good for horn placement... + the hole was already there so i got away sinful not having to drill extra holes in my boat... less holes the better i figure..

[dbkerley]

My bad. I am an idiot and wasn't looking at a picture at the time. I need to paint the words on the foredeck so I don't get mixed up.