'72 Winner Viscount 21' Cuddy

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gspig

Chief Petty Officer
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Finally got a picture. Not much to see since it has its Winter coat on. Got it off the trailer to do some painting as soon as the weather cooperates.<br />
ae070da1.jpg
 

rocketboy52

Cadet
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Mar 21, 2006
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Re: '72 Winner Viscount 21' Cuddy

GSPIG!
Great to find you! 2 months ago, I bought a 1972 Winner Viscount, and Like yourself, have looked high and low and couldn't find any information about the boat. My boat has sat for about 10 years, and wasn't running when I found her in Utah near my buddies house. I am an avid sailor and this is my first motor boat so I'm learning as I go. I hauled her back home to CA and since I plan to use her in the Mighty pacific as a Scuba/fishing boat, I want to make sure she is seaworthy and won't leave me stranded off shore, so I've been going through everything! Here is what I've done so far:- Dumped half a cup or Marvel Mystery Oil in each cylinder and let it sit for a week New Starter (old one was dead)- New 100amp Alternator- Rewired the Dash, and replaced all the gauges- New Polyethylene 40Gal Single Gas Tank (gas tanks where missing when I bought her, but it looks like there were two of them.

- 2 new 760 West Marine dual purpose Batteries
- New Prop (Michigan Wheel Vortex 992004), except it Hits the anode, Not sure what I'm going to do with that yet... it's a 14.5 dia 19pitch. What prop do you use?
- New fuel line and all filters
- Holley Factory rebuilt Stock Holley Carb
- New Trailer Brake Actuator
- New Plugs, Wires, and cap/roter/points
- New Starter Selenoid

My two current problems are, the old prop is beat, chunks missing all over, New prop fits, but hits the Anode. Since I'll be using the boat in the Salt, I would like to keep the anode, I figure I'll just trim it down. I am still having an ignition issue. I only get current from the coil when the starter is turning. I copied the original Wiring exactly, but, still haven't figured it out yet. I'm replacing the Starter solenoid in the next day or two since the last one wasn't getting signal. Hopefully that will fix her.

The boat has a Mercruiser 888 302 I/O. The hour meter was missing, but I get over 100psi in each cylinder, so I'm hoping that the motor has just sat most of her life. The boat doesn't look like she got used much. She has just been sitting.

Some questions for you, What prop do you have? What engine? How modified is your boat? What kind of Gas Mileage do you get at what speeds? What is the recommend Throttle Wide Open RPM? What is your top speed? We'll have to get in touch via email. Here are some pics I took when I picked the boat up.









 
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gspig

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409
Re: '72 Winner Viscount 21' Cuddy

I would guess that your boat is newer than '72. The hulls are identical, but yours has some features mine doesn't. Your helm is different, mine is fiberglass that continues from the windsheild deck. Yours has port lights in the cuddy area, mine doesn't. Most noticable is the engine compartment vents. You have louvers on the side, mine has 5 clamshell scoops. Your bowrailing is a little different and your swim ladder is on the opposite side from mine.<br /><br />An interesting note about this boat is that the stringers are fiberglass only, no wood core. Means no rot. Unfortunately, the transom is wood, as is the floor. It looks like someone put a new interior in your boat, so hopefully any rot was taken care of.<br /><br />Mine is powered by a 6 cyl 165 Mercruiser with a pre-Alpha outdrive. I don't have the original gear ratio, I had to replace a shattered outdrive, and I turn a 21 pitch 3 blade prop. I have GPS clocked the speed at 35 mph at 4200 rpm.<br /><br />I keep waiting for the weather to break here to do some painting and interior finishing.<br /><br />Your starter problem may be the ignition switch. In the start position, it sends power to the solenoid and the coil (bypassing the resistor wire), in the on position, power is sent through a resistor or resistor wire to the coil. Also in the run circuit is a stop switch located on the transom on the gear select cable. Its job is to quickly and ususally unnoticably stop the engine to allow the outdrive to change gear. Be sure to post in the Mercruiser power forum on this board.
 

rocketboy52

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Mar 21, 2006
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Re: '72 Winner Viscount 21' Cuddy

Gspig,<br />Do you know what the boat weighs? The trailer brakes are rated at 6,000 lbs, but I was trying to find out what the boat alone weighed. I also have a Pre-Alpha Mercruiser stern drive. Mine is an 888 model. After using the Michigan Wheel Prop calculator, it suggested that I use a 23 pitch prop for the engine/drive combination. I'll also post on the Mercruiser form and see what others say. I also solved my ignition problem by tracing the ignition coil to dash. I got a hold of a Mercruiser shop manual too, so as soon as it arrives I should be good.<br />Cheers,<br />Erik <br /><br />Can you take some more pics and post them of your boat? I love to see them.
 

gspig

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Re: '72 Winner Viscount 21' Cuddy

I've not weighed my, but NADA still has it listed. NADA lists it at 2400 lbs. One thing to know in order to get the right prop is your wide open throttle rpm. Your manual should tell you. It is quite possible the 19 pitch prop is correct.<br /><br />Currently in KY we are having a second round of Winter. That will be followed by one week of Spring, then 90+ degrees until November. I built the majority of my interior. The former owners had gutted it. All I had to go on was the captain's pedistal and one jump seat. I'm taking some vacation next week and it may be warm and dry enough to take the cover off. I really wish I would take before pics of my projects, but I never do.
 

studlymandingo

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Mar 22, 2006
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2,716
Re: '72 Winner Viscount 21' Cuddy

Those are both good looking boats. Nice lines for an early 70's model. Can't wait to see some more pics!
 

gspig

Chief Petty Officer
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Re: '72 Winner Viscount 21' Cuddy

Finally got some time and good weather. I took some pics. http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f112/gspiggle/?start=all I figure it would be easier to post the album than all the pics. I will hopefully repaint next month. The green is a repaint of the original color, I will be repainting it blue. The white will get a fresh coat of white. I redid all of the interior except the storage shelves and the cuddy bulkhead, they still have the original green vinyl. The blue vinyl items had non-padded woodgrain contact vinyl. The white gunnal pads were my creation, it was originally unpadded. The helm is original wheel and gauges, but I made the diamond tread aluminum panel and rearranged the layout. The captains chair is in the original location and the pedistal is original. I replaced the seat, original was green with armrests, and was unsalvageable. The folddown passenger seat was missing. Based on pics from e-bay auctions, it is similar to original construction. The blue square in front of the passenger seat is a fold down table. I recovered with blue it was green vinyl. I built the engine doghouse and rear seats. The rear seats rest on the lower kick board and have a folding leg. The are not fastened in place and can be removed making the rear of the boat a reasonable fishing deck. The cuddy door is original teak, I may have to replace it as it is cracking in too many places to make it sturdy. The cuddy is in original finish, green speckeled paint, no headliner. Seat pads are original and mark free. The center box in the footwell is original and is storage for a portapotty. There are storage lockers in the left and right bench. In the right bench, I installed an air compressor for my air horns and to inflate floaties. Finally is my Wal-mart bimini. The original bimini was unsalvable as were the metal tubes. I used 1/2 inch electrical conduit and pull elbows for the frame, I was able to salvage the hinge hardware. The top itself is gray plastic tarp from Wally world. There were snaps already installed on the windshield, so I got a snap kit from Wally world fabrics and folded the tarp to shape and installed snaps. I have all panels for the original fastback top with eisenglass sides except for the bimini top which was unsalvageable.
 

rocketboy52

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Mar 21, 2006
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Re: '72 Winner Viscount 21' Cuddy

So here is the latest on the Viscount.

I test floated the boat 3 times, engine ran great, boat is smooth, and I'm very excited, but I kept taking on water. I would probably take on 1 Gal every 10min or so.
After posting on the Mercruiser stern drive forum, I decided to pull the motor to look for the leak. I found that my transom plate was cracked, the two lower bolts (anode bolts) where smoked, and the Exhaust Y pipe had rotted through. (see pics below)
Anways, I found my parts on ebay, but all the guys on the sterndrive forum told me to check the transom integrity. I did, and found that my Transom is soft, so I looks like I'm going to rebuild the transom with Seafoam. Has anyone done this on a viscount before? GSpig how is your transom? Have you ever drilled test holes? Talk to you soon. Other then the wood transom, the boat seems like an awesome boat.











 
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rocketboy52

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Mar 21, 2006
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Re: '72 Winner Viscount 21' Cuddy

Gspig,
Just an FYI, my Hull number is WNB 12986
Does this mean the boat is an 86? The registration I got with the boat states that the boat is a 72, but it is a registration without title, so it could be bad data.
 

Reel Poor

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Jan 29, 2005
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5,522
Re: '72 Winner Viscount 21' Cuddy

rocketboy52 said:
Gspig,
Just an FYI, my Hull number is WNB 12986
Does this mean the boat is an 86? The registration I got with the boat states that the boat is a 72, but it is a registration without title, so it could be bad data.

No your missing the last four HIN characters.

 

gspig

Chief Petty Officer
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Jul 7, 2004
Messages
409
Re: '72 Winner Viscount 21' Cuddy

Sorry to hear you are having problems. I'll have to check my hull, but I don't think mine has a hull number. As I understand it, boats didn't require hull numbers in the early '70's. Yes I did have to replace the transom. I guess you are planning on using Seacast not Seafoam for the transom? From what I understand from that process, you will need to dig out the wood from the top of the transom without removing the inner or outer fiberglass skin. It will be impossible to do without cutting off the rear gunwhale. You would be better off cutting off the inner skin and taking out the wood from the inside of the boat. I kind of detailed what I did in a post in the boat building section of the forum. You have a good start with the engine out and the transom plate removed.
 

rocketboy52

Cadet
Joined
Mar 21, 2006
Messages
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Re: '72 Winner Viscount 21' Cuddy

Just wanted to check back in and revive this thread! All my picture links broke, so I updated them so other Viscount enthusiasts can see. Any of the original Vicount owners/posters still out there? any updates on their boats? Here are some pics from my latest progress:











 

donnyb

Recruit
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Jul 14, 2008
Messages
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Nice work Rocket! I have the same boat but o/b setup [original 1971, 125hp Johnson]. Solid, great riding boat. Hats off to you!
 

jbcurt00

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Rocket basnt logged on to iboats in nearly 2yrs. Not likely to get your compliment.

Please take notice of the helpful tip at the top of the forum page and about posting into inactive topics.

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