Thank you very much for sharing your experience in restoring this amazing boat. I traded a couple of items and $100 for a 1976 Super Sport 16 with a Mercury 850 I4 w/Thunderbolt Ignition. The hull is solid, the deck needs replacing soon, and the transom is bowed sternward most likely from trailering it without a transom saver. Transom is still very solid as we have very little humidity here in the Inland NW, but it's slightly bowed enough to put a small gap between it and the splash well. I've already replaced the original steering system with a SeaStar rack and pinion system, rebuilt the MerControl, rewired the boat side wiring harness, rewired the outboard wiring harness, and rebuilt the fuel delivery system.
I ran it last year just piecing things together as they went wrong - rebuilt the MerControl and rewired the boat side harness. But the outboard was having some issues and I was not confident in the boat. It ended up being fuel delivery and outboard wiring issues. I've rectified both problems and fired it up in a stock tank and ran it up and down the rpm range. I also replaced the old steel tank with new Moller tanks and am running MerClean fuel additive and fuel system cleaner. Ran it for an hour and a half in the stock tank and it is running like these old 2-stroke Merc 850s should. I'm going to run it fairly hard this weekend, so I'll know for sure if there are any additional problems to address.
All that being said, this build you completed sets the Bar. I love how you've elevated the standard for resto-moding these Super Sport 16s. I'm going to start mine at the end of the season here in Spokane, WA. Just have to decide if I'm going to store my Bavarian hot rod or rent some warehouse space to do the work. You have provided me with some great ideas of how I want to do my resto-mod. I really like the design and engineering of this build. Thanks again for sharing!
