1976 starcraft montegeo 18 BR

[scubaguy9]

Hi all,
just aquired a 1976 starcraft montego 18 Br.. has a 165hp omc sterndrive.
What do any of you know about this yr and model. have not had chance to look at it all that close, so dont know if its a stringer drive or electric shift. if this is the case is it able to be converted to a hydrolic systemand mech shift.
any opinions about this boat would be welcome
thanks scubaguy

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: 1976 starcraft montegeo 18 BR

It is probably both - stringer drive and electric shift. I don't think they did away with the electric shift on the outdrives until the late 1970s. The only way to get rid of the electric shift part is to replace with a much later OMC stringer drive (early 1980s). The only way to do away with the stringer drive is to rebuilt the boat to accomodate a MerCruiser/Volvo/Cobra configuration. That means rebuilding the stringers and transom...

Aside from that, the Montego was a pretty fast hull. There is a brochure posted at the Starcraft Yahoo group: groups.yahoo.com/group/starcraft_boats/ that features the Montego...
- Scott