coolguy982
Cadet
- Joined
- May 13, 2010
- Messages
- 22
I bought my first boat a couple months ago. I wasn't planning on buying a boat, but I ran across it while browsing craigslist. It looked like it was in good shape and the price was right--you know how it goes!
It is a 1987 (according to the registration) but the serial number says 1988. Must have been an end-of-year model. It has a 4.3L 170HP engine with an OMC Cobra outdrive. I'm the third owner and the other two took pretty good care of it. It was stored in a garage nearly all of its life when not being used and over the past five years it was only taken out on the lake a handful of times each summer. I've been learning about boats as I go, and I've had to do some work on the boat. Unfortunately I didn't take any "before" pictures, but here's what the boat looks like today.
It's been a very wet summer in Kansas and the lake closest to me is 14' above normal levels and many of the boat ramps are closed or submerged. Thus, we've only had the boat out a few times this summer. When it has been on the water, it purrs and rides pretty nice. I've had it up to 45-50mph.
If you have any Thundercraft or OMC tips, send them my way. I have a PDF manual for the outdrive which has helped quite a bit, but as I said before--I'm learning as I go! I have about $3,000 invested in the boat after the sale price and a few minor repairs I had to make. Hopefully I got a good deal!
Here are some pics and some commentary on what I've done to the boat so far.
First project was rewiring the trailer lights. Not too hard.
The boat sat in the water at a private dock sometimes during the summer and the water was very "calcium-rich". When I got the boat, there was a calcium line about halfway up all around the boat. After several hours of elbow grease and a large bottle of ZAP, I was able to get most of it off--at least on the sides and back. It's hard to get the calcium off the underside of the boat. The blue paint was also very oxidized, so I had to buff that out quite a bit and it eventually brought back the shine. I still have some more buffing to do. Also need to replace the carpet on the trailer bunks.
I stained the wood with deck stain. It helped quite a bit, but I think I'm going to go back over the wood with teak oil either in the fall or winter.
Engine looks almost like new. Only thing I've done on it so far is adjust the throttle and clean the flame arrestor.
Another culprit of the boat sitting in the water--paint gone on the outdrive. I'm going to repaint it in the fall/winter as well. Hopefully I can do this without removing the outdrive.
After owning the boat for about a month, I found that water was getting into the outdrive gear lube. I took it into a shop and had it pressure tested. Luckily the leak appeared to only be at the prop shaft seal. Had these seals replaced and so far so good.
continued in next post...
It is a 1987 (according to the registration) but the serial number says 1988. Must have been an end-of-year model. It has a 4.3L 170HP engine with an OMC Cobra outdrive. I'm the third owner and the other two took pretty good care of it. It was stored in a garage nearly all of its life when not being used and over the past five years it was only taken out on the lake a handful of times each summer. I've been learning about boats as I go, and I've had to do some work on the boat. Unfortunately I didn't take any "before" pictures, but here's what the boat looks like today.
It's been a very wet summer in Kansas and the lake closest to me is 14' above normal levels and many of the boat ramps are closed or submerged. Thus, we've only had the boat out a few times this summer. When it has been on the water, it purrs and rides pretty nice. I've had it up to 45-50mph.
If you have any Thundercraft or OMC tips, send them my way. I have a PDF manual for the outdrive which has helped quite a bit, but as I said before--I'm learning as I go! I have about $3,000 invested in the boat after the sale price and a few minor repairs I had to make. Hopefully I got a good deal!
Here are some pics and some commentary on what I've done to the boat so far.
First project was rewiring the trailer lights. Not too hard.
The boat sat in the water at a private dock sometimes during the summer and the water was very "calcium-rich". When I got the boat, there was a calcium line about halfway up all around the boat. After several hours of elbow grease and a large bottle of ZAP, I was able to get most of it off--at least on the sides and back. It's hard to get the calcium off the underside of the boat. The blue paint was also very oxidized, so I had to buff that out quite a bit and it eventually brought back the shine. I still have some more buffing to do. Also need to replace the carpet on the trailer bunks.
I stained the wood with deck stain. It helped quite a bit, but I think I'm going to go back over the wood with teak oil either in the fall or winter.
Engine looks almost like new. Only thing I've done on it so far is adjust the throttle and clean the flame arrestor.
Another culprit of the boat sitting in the water--paint gone on the outdrive. I'm going to repaint it in the fall/winter as well. Hopefully I can do this without removing the outdrive.
After owning the boat for about a month, I found that water was getting into the outdrive gear lube. I took it into a shop and had it pressure tested. Luckily the leak appeared to only be at the prop shaft seal. Had these seals replaced and so far so good.
continued in next post...
