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im bill from Northern NY I just started on my first project boat and what a dandy it could be!

Its a 1977 Titan Bass Boat, in mild condition with only a few pieces missing! I picked it up for the cost of a trail camera what a steal! it came with a 1972 85hp Johnson and a 9.9hp Evinrude.

It doesn't seem it will need much it has been quite well kept and once I get the motor situation figured out (came in not on) the boat. What would anyone suggest for a good HP number for this boat I feel this 300lb bulk beast of an 85 might be a little much weight/horses for it. I have a ready to roll 30hp mariner with controls but is that enough? also where may I be able to find some old lids like livewell lids for such a boat. thanks again!

(please don't rough me up to bad on my first post!)

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Here she is at the beginning

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Welcome to iBoats!
Do you know much of her History? Do you know if either of the motors Run? The 85 should be just about right for that style of boat. If she's been out in the elements, uncovered, for any length of time, I fear you will have more issues than you might expect. Does the Deck/Floor have any soft spots in it? Have you inspected the bottom of the hull at all? Any major scratches, gouges or cracks? We'll be here to help with anything you need.

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Is that a patch job on the port side or just some funky paint? Looks like a cool boat and a great project to start with. You can do all kinds of things with a boat like that. I agree, 85hp seems a bit much for it, but I could be wrong

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No cracks or gouges very solid Hull, they put the Johnson all 300 pounds of her in the boat and when they did they put a dent into the wood floor, that happened today, the floor is otherwise solid. Underneath looks great as for the paint I think they began to Polish it and stopped after that little section all the wiring is there the wiring is good, the hoses to the bilge pump and livewells need replacing. The steering isn't locked up like they commonly are. It was covered for a longtime sat in a garage.

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Welcome aboard

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Welcome to the forums. I'm fairly sure you will post again soon.

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Thanks!!!

As for the motors I guess the 1972 Johnson is quite rare due to some electrical parts on the motor but I need to summon up some new controls for it to be sure it runs I have two non functional sets of controls. As for.the 9.9 it runs great but imagine that on a big boat lol! My mariner on the otherhand is 100% good to go use it on my other fiberglass boat and runs like a dream. I saw a redone 77 Titan and it was equipped with a 40hp I wonder if he had decent results with it. If my 30hp will push it well enough then I'd just flop it over but I wanna feel confident that it'll move it faster than a snails pace.

Anyone know anything about an 1981 14' fiberglass Viking? I can't find anything on it anywhere and curious how much it weighs.

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A 30hp will be seriously underpowered for that. A rule of thumb is that a boat should have a minimum HP motor of 70% of its maximum HP. So if your boat is rated for 100HP, you would want to have at least a 70hp on it.

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The problem is I have no idea what the rating is, the plate was removed and I can't find info on this boat anywhere, I've found a few "similar" boats such as the 77 starcraft that I cane across on YouTube and he was running a 40hp evinrude

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My 14' Viking ( heavily fiberglassed for sea-worthyness) is rated for 35hp and the boat is as heavy if not heavier Han my 77 Titan it also touches water more with it being a deep v so with that being said the 30hp should be ok? I'm not in ant rush on the water just want it to plane out. Even with myself and my two 250+ lb relatives in the Viking I was able to plain using the 30 I just had to swerve to get the bow to.come down.

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The 72 Johnson is rare for a reason. The electric outboards are becoming obsolete due to lack of parts and the quirkiness of working on them. The shifters and the mechanisms within the motors make them Highly undesirable today. I have a 62 Evinrude Selectric Shift that works perfect but...If she ever develops a problem..She's going to the scrap pile. Just too much of a headache trying to find parts and working on them. You'll be much better served trying to find a 85' or newer model motor. I still believe for that boat a 65-70 hp motor would be just about Perfect. 35 hp would be way underpowered when loaded, with 2 fishermen and all your gear.

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Thanks! I was also.told to.scrap it if the motor doesn't run I'm taking the whole boat to a knowledgeable Guy I met and hopefully he can shed some hands on light to me

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Excellent news from my boat doctor! I was able to spend the whole day looking this boat over with him. The stringers are in excellent shape, the fiberglass was hand laid and very well put together, we discovered that the transom was strategically reinforced. The formula to find out HP rating based on coast guard is 90hp Max. The wood floor had been redone and has mild wear and tear. Very solid and is seaworthy. Now the bad news

There is a pin hole I need to file no biggie, and the 85hp that came with it had compression in the 30's blown rights or pistons I guess so with it being hard to find parts for I decided to sell parts from it. The Guy was kind enough to hook me upwith a motorcraft bow mount trolling motor and gave me tons of advice! Can't wait to get started!

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Sooo, what does strategically reinforced mean. Transoms don't need reinforcement if they are good. What did you do to determine the stringers were in excellent shape? How did you determine the deck was seaworthy?

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The transom has a glassed in board running across the transom as reonforcment. We took a dewalt wire camera with the.light on it and ran it under the decking from every angle we could and their was no rot front to rear and side to side. The stringers had all the coating glass on them and don't start to.Peel away. We checked the deck for any weak spots and the only weak spot that was found was where they Guy I got.it from dropped the 85hp into the boat. I made sure to ask any and every question I could about everything because on new to this. But then again the more heads I have in this the better I will take pictures as I go through it and share them.

What I meant by strategically was that it was a failsafe Titan seemed to.have just put it there to.make the transom extra rigid. All the wiring was in place and not damaged, the main things that need replacing will be the livewell pumps and hoses and 2 lids. I do however want to pull the deck board and replace it with marine grade. The stringers are only 2.5 inches tall in this thing. I could have gone about this wrong but the Guy was very knowledgeable and informative.