29' Carter Safari

[legoman67]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

once we get some time we have to rebuild our winter cover for it, we got too confident and ripped it down in the summer... LOL

yes they are 350's

then we need to fix the starboard engine, reinstall the leg, finish the steering, and do afew other odds and end and drop it in the water

there are afew fishing charters on this side, but your best bet is the west coast for fishing anything decent.... who knows, our boat may be around that side by then too.. LOL

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

This is a great thread. It will help me alot as I do my rebuild.

 

[flomerdr]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Hi Matt, you are doing a fantastic job on the Safari. I am taking a class on out-drives at Skagit Valley JC just down the sound from you, in Oak Harbor, WA. One of the students mentioned your postings since he knew I have a Safari 28, #77 the Sea Hawk. I purchased it about 3 years ago from John Carter's former home caretaker. John & Alice had a home here on Whidbey Is. until last year, he is a little older than one of the guys thought, he is now 97 & doing well in Seal Beach, CA. Next time I talk to him I will tell him about what you have been up to. Sorry I didn't find out about you earlier I have copies of the original electrical schematics and other early articles on the Safari. contact me anytime at my email <flomerdr@fea.net>

Our out drive teacher is one of the best. One thing he told me about in case you don't when you paint the bottom leave about a 2" gap between the out drive through hull mount and the painted area to minimize galvanic action. I was curious as to why you decided to not use the normal Volvo exhaust ports?

There are a couple other Safari's up here in the south Sound area. John used to use Whidbey as a jumping off point for summer trips to Alaska.

 

[flomerdr]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Matt, I was going to send photos of Sea Hawk but my image files are to big. I just had the trailer sandblasted & painted epoxy primer & urethane top coat this summer while the boat was in the water. Next trailer project is a new power brake system, the old system was vacuum assist power booster. I only toe it about a mile to Cornet Bay so for that run my F150 with 4x4 can handle it. Last trip out last fall the port drive started vibrating so when the weather improves a little plan on a major service on both drives. The boat sat for about inside for about 10 years prior to purchase, so they are over due.

 

[gypsysoul]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Ok, For all the Safari owners that have been keeping tab's on the boys boat. Has anybody seen the show on wed. night "cougar town"? The boat the ex husband is living on, is that not a Safari? I have not seen the show, but saw a preview the other day and the boat was on it. So I went to the web site for the show and watched a couple of previews. And sure enough the boat on the show is a Safari. The first one I had seen with a outside lower helm. Well was just wandering if I was the first to spot it or not.

 

[flomerdr]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Haven't watched Couger Town, but found the preview site and a good shot of the stern, and it sure looks close if it isn't. Has the wide set outdrives similar engine vents on side, the flush water connection on the stern is in a different location than mine. The cabin door, bridge seats, ladder & railings all look the same. Never saw one with lower inside helm until yours. It is what we need up here in the NW.

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Have you guys made any progress?

 

[legoman67]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

hey guys, sorry no progress yet.... been too busy with school and other things....

gypsysoul, thats neat that our boat made it onto a tv show, what are the odds eh?

I see that the Geosites unoffical site is now gone... last time i talked to the owner he was in the same boat as us...(no pun intended) I was thinking i should make up another one.. except i have lost the contact info for many of the people that i had found..(i believe last count was 27 other owners)

flomerdr, Im glad you found our thread. Still on the continuing challenge of finding all the Safari owners... Do you happen to have any newer contact info for John? i would love to make an Offical site for the boats if possible.

Anyways, hopefully i will be able to get something done soon and post some productive updates...

 

[fishzola]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

I am thinking about purchasing a 28 safari.. The fiberglass tank is an issue. Any advise on how you replaced your fuel tank?
Thank you.

 

[legoman67]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

We have not replaced ours yet(all engine running has been on jerry cans), but many of the owners i have talked to have had this issue, and i believe ours is bad.... the way to replace it is to cut the floor out and drop in a aluminum tank, then seal the floor back down. but i was quoted $3000 for a tank to be made by a local custom trailer shop actually..(they make all kinds of stuff including truck boxes, trailers of all sorts, and now fuel tanks) that is a top of the line tank with baffles and of course all the fittings in and where you want them to be, along with the fuel level sender.

One guy i talked to sent me pictures of this process, but i have gone through a computer since then, and no longer have them.

Also, i have just updated the wiki page with some more new info i received from flomerdr please any Safari owners feel free to edit it and add any info you have.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Marine_Inc

Also does anyone have any contact info for the old owner of the unoffical safari geosite? the site is gone and i would like to get that owners list that was on it. I had his email, but through the time it seems to have disappeared

 

[flomerdr]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Fishzola, unless you are getting this boat really cheap, sorry to say I would really think twice about buying it. A friend sold one for 10K and considered himself lucky to get that much and it was one of the last ones built. A friend down the road had to replace his aluminum tank and the yards only answer was cut out the deck pull out the old one and re-glass in the new one. I think he also paid about 2-3K and that was a couple of years ago here in NW Washington, so Matt is in the ballpark at 3K.
As for Safari's mine is a later model #77 that came with an AL tank. It sat in storage for many years and I did find a lot of crud in the tank looking through the level sender hole. Fortunately it was designed with a recessed trough along the center-line (something to keep in mind when looking for new tanks) so most of the crud was caught in the trough and I was able to vacuum it out including half the old level sender.
Caution do not use an electric vacuum gasoline fumes and sparking brushes in the vac motor (most shop vac motors get their cooling air from the vac fan exhaust) could make it go boom!! You definitely don't want to run modern gasoline in the old fiberglass tanks from what I have heard the new additives can eat through the resin & glass. Good Luck Where is the Safari located you are looking at?

 

[martyh]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Caution do not use an electric vacuum gasoline fumes and sparking brushes in the vac motor (most shop vac motors get their cooling air from the vac fan exhaust) could make it go boom!!

Go Boom!! LOL!! So, Dave, do you know this first hand??? You have a story to share with us???

 

[flomerdr]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Sorry NO personal knowledge but heard about a guy who did it and got away with it, and afterwords everyone told him he was very lucky. I did work in power plants for 35 years where we learned to never mix electric sparks and explosive gases.

 

[fishzola]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Thank you for the fast response. What is an "AL tank"? I will look at paper work and see what year the boat was made.

 

[flomerdr]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Sorry, forgot your high school chemistry? AL is shorthand for aluminum.

 

[legoman67]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Thank you for the fast response. What is an "AL tank"? I will look at paper work and see what year the boat was made.

the year will also be on a black plaque either above or below the front center window on the inside, there is a picture of mine on the wiki page. the middle number is the year, first number is the boat number.

 

[flomerdr]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Some of the later built boats also had a serial number (VIN) molded into the gel-coat on the transom.

 

[flomerdr]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

I took my Safari (Sea Hawk) into the local JC Marine Tech. program today and started checking the out drives, it has Volvo 280s. Drained the oil on both port was good, Stbd was milky. Did a pressure test, both held 12-13 psig for 15 min or more which is considered good. However the Stbd would not hold on a vacuum test, which may be why there was water in hte oil. Next pulled the props both came off easy considering they have not been off in years. Checked the prop shaft run-out +/- .002" on Port +/- .001 on Stbd side, both reasonably good numbers for 30 some year old drives. More later as I tear into them big issue will be the the vibration on the Port side hopefully it is just U joints.

 

[legoman67]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

yeah, we were very impressed when we tore into our 280's they are practically bullet proof. they sat in a yard for at least 9 years, and no history beyond that. oil looked fine, both still turned smoothly... rebuilt one completely allready with all new bushings, and paint and oil, mounted it on the boat, ran through some tests behind the running engine, it was perfect! smooth gear changes, no noises/vibrations, water pickup was working great! Great legs the other leg is in peices in a box in my shop atm... lol half painted, with all new bushings waiting beside it.

ours has an HIN in the hull too, but reading off the plate is easier then looking up an HIN number ...

i am quite bored now, and its too dark to work on the boat, so im going to mess around with a mock up site where you guys can upload pictures and info about your boats... try to get other safari owners on it aswell.. I will post when i have anything decent made.

 

[Fisherball]

Re: 29' Carter Safari

Great project! You guys are doing great & learning things that many don't ever learn about what it takes to be successful at whatever you do.