'76 Holiday i/o 18' Fishing Rebuild (pic heavy!)

[Watermann]

Good deal, weather has broke up here too, 40's now melting the snow and I'm thinking of walleye fishing.

She'll be fine, don't think 3 months is long enough to have your fuel go bad.

 

[italianstal27]

Little late posting results...

At first it wasn't promising:

So then we pull the spark arrestor. Realize the choke is wiiiiiiiiiide open. Throttle doesn't help close it. Choke is slightly gummed up. So we actuate it manually a couple times, get it moving better, and give it the 'ol college try again.

And then...

-John

 

[Watermann]

Ah yeah carbed motors love to be fickle, glad it was an easy fix to get her running. I installed an electric choke on my carb to get rid of the unreliable stove pipe set up.

Careful revving that up over 1500 also there should be a way more water running out, especially from the bypass holes in the transom assembly.

 

[italianstal27]

Well temps are going to drop to 27F tonight, so back to opening the stop-**** and the 2 brass plugs and letting her drain lol.

Next on the list is adding doors so water can't splash the batteries and gas tank

 

[italianstal27]

Getting after it... too many days of rain to get anything accomplished in the driveway... Having that tarp on the side of the house was SO important.

The new picture formatting is also weird... it's like I can't inbed anymore?

Anyway we cut the doghouse 1" deep so that when it's sitting it'll support the transom cap if anyone is standing on it, etc.
Cutting through epoxy... make sure you use your respirators!

 

[Watermann]

Good to see you back at it, those springers are going to be running down there soon.

 

[italianstal27]

Struggled so much today.

Rivets aren't always the correct way to attach things! They might be convenient... but like today... we should've used machine screws.

Everything is "water proof" but it doesn't look as nice as we had hoped.

However!! The trim piece for the transom cap went on spectacularly! Up next is attaching the latch on the other side of the doghouse (with machine screws this time!) and then cutting the doors for the engine bay.

Any advice out there for how to allign hinges so the opening the doors doesn't scrap the deck?

-John

 

[Pusher]

You might use cardboard to shim it on all sides. I did that on 3 of the 4 sides of my shed door I built and it seemed to work, but that assumes your doors and openings are square and the floor is level

 

[italianstal27]

Hello from the Columbia!!! All systems are good to to minus the stupid speedometer lol

We've decided that if the kickoff doesn't start on the fourth pull you just have to give her some space and come back in 3 minutes. Seemed to work just fine!

We were having a problem getting the main to get past 2,000 rpm. Resolution was to have Wyatt sit at the bow momentarily to bring the bow down. The engine almost immediately picked up speed and got on plane.

It appears we are stern heavy. Has anyone else had a problem with stern sinking? We're thinking we need to get better at trimming the engine to help get on plane quicker rather than shooting the bow up into the sky.

Overall great success! Haven't caught any sturgeon yet but send good vibes!

 

[Woodonglass]

Most assuredly I'd say you need to practice using the power trim. If the Nose is high pull the leg down. A little practice and you'll be up on plane easily.

 

[Watermann]

Great to hear you've been on on the water. So maybe you have too much prop pitch now with all the additions weight but whatever you do don't bandaid it with one of those fin things on the drive. If it comes down to needing stern lift I would recommend smart tabs, I have them on my stern heavy Chief.

Start off with the drive all the way in and after reaching a plane start trimming out until the RPMs raise and the boat stops spraying water out the side mid ship, should be just the last few feet that's the sweet spot on these hulls.

For the prop, need to know your WOT speed and RPMs to get an idea of what's going on there.

 

[italianstal27]

So it sounds like there are options other than relocating the batteries to the front... Which is fantastic. We managed to hit 33mph today with a Merc 120 and still have a little throttle.

These tinnies don't handle 1.5' waves that well or perhaps it's our driving!

 

[Watermann]

You have to find the "slog speed" for your particular set up, each boat is different where you run speed and trim to get the boat at an angle that makes it ride smooth.

For instance with my Chief having the trim tabs we boat sometimes on a big popular lake that has massive boat wake issues, 2 - 3' boat chop and sometimes more wave action if it's windy too. I'm able to throttle back to a couple MPH under plane speed and the dead rise hull smashes the chop making for a smooth but slower ride. Running straight up wind chop at 1.5' just starting to white cap my Chief and SS barely rumbles with no jarring at all at 30 - 35 MPH.

Your 76 Holly has the same hull as my Chief and is an IO as well so I'd think they would ride the about the same.

 

[italianstal27]

Ahhh! What kind of prop / prop pitch is everyone running on these old starcrafts?

The boat is in the shop getting a new top put on her! Square tubing, top gun fabric, whole 9 yards. Gonna be STURDY! The old top had too many kinks in the aluminum and we couldn't bend her back into place.

We did notice we took on maybe a 1/4-1/2 gallon of water in the 6 hours we were out. Perhaps our riveting wasn't as good as we thought

 

[italianstal27]

Pic of us out on the water cycling some fuel through the kicker

 

[Watermann]

Ahhh! What kind of prop / prop pitch is everyone running on these old starcrafts?

The boat is in the shop getting a new top put on her! Square tubing, top gun fabric, whole 9 yards. Gonna be STURDY! The old top had too many kinks in the aluminum and we couldn't bend her back into place.

We did notice we took on maybe a 1/4-1/2 gallon of water in the 6 hours we were out. Perhaps our riveting wasn't as good as we thought

The old MC you have is not known for it's muscle or ability to tear up the water so turning a newer style performance prop could be an issue. That said you have to know what pitch prop you have now, RPMs at WOT, gear ratio and speed by GPS to determine the proper pitch for your set up. A 4 blade prop could give some added stern lift but you have to know the numbers first to make an educated decision.

 

[italianstal27]

Excellent news the boat cover is coming along nicely! We are working with Jason Parks Upholstry on this custom top and have been EXTREMELY happy with his work.

We're using square tubing for the frame (super stiff stuff!) and Nylon for the attachment points. It both lubricates and prevents corrosion by not being metal on metal!
The frame is going to be able to flip forward and backwards and will have a walkthrough for the bow. We'll also be able to see out the window while trolling.

Pics below. I don't understand the new system... maybe I'll use onedrive one day.

 

[italianstal27]

More progress on the top... windows are going to be cut soon. Weater stripping on all the seams. All the snaps are being replaced with stainless. Top is STURDY and the entire boat feels a little more solid. That square tubing is excellent stuff!

Deck to top of the cover is 5'11" so we can stand up in it. Minor concerns over whether we'll get bloan all over the place when the winds are high, but not sure how much we want to be out in rough weather in this boat

-John

 

[Watermann]

Looks like a nice comfy space to hang out in on the way back to launch when it's rough.

 

[italianstal27]

And here she is all done! Forgot to grab a pic of her with the side curtains on, but overall she's solid! drove home with no problems

We'll see how it performs over the weekend more pics to come!

-John