85 alumacraft pro17 resto

[ultra353]

My new project for late winter early spring, paid $300 for it, they said motor was locked up- starter was rusted. Motor has good compression but didn't have time to put one and test. Main floor is solid but all the platforms and lids are rotted. Once wx starts to get warm I'll start on it

 

[Teamster]

Nice!!

 

[jigngrub]

I'm sure that if and when you lift that main deck you'll find that it's at least wet if not rotted. It only feels solid now because it's being supported by the wet floatation foam underneath it. Should be a fun project though.

 

[Watermann]

Nice score there :thumb:

Not sure how the starter would get rusted up covered and sealed inside the motor hood. Unless the boat had been sunk.

 

[jigngrub]

Nice score there :thumb:

Not sure how the starter would get rusted up covered and sealed inside the motor hood. Unless the boat had been sunk.

.... or someone was "working" on the motor and gave up and left the cowl off for a long time. I've seen outboards with no cowl or the cowl off and sitting next to the motor just sitting there for months at a time being exposed to the elements. Some people think that just because it's a boat and made for the water they don't need to protect and care for it.

 

[ultra353]

I'll know on the floors when I tear the carpet up. It's definately a possibility on the starter that someone left the hood off. There is no silt or sand under the motor cover, just normal oil type residue. It rolls over smooth and feels like it has good compression on all 4 cyl when pulled with a rope. I picked up a new starter for it but it's been too cold to put it on

 

[jigngrub]

You should be able to remove the decking without tearing the carpet up. The deck plywood should be wrapped with carpet and then screwed down in the boat, see if you can find the screw heads by digging around in the carpet pile with your fingers. If you can find them just back them out with a screw gun and lift the decking out, it should be like this for the front, rear, and main deck unless someone that didn't know what they were doing recarpeted that boat.

They do this at the factory so the decking can be removed and replaced without ripping up the carpet in case of warranty repairs.

 

[Teamster]

It sure looks like the factory blue carpet Alumacraft was using then,...............

 

[ultra353]

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Started the teardown, flooring was soft and foam waterlogged. I put a starter on the motor and got it running, runs great, 145 psi in all 4 cyl, super responsive throttle and idles very well.

 

[ultra353]

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[ultra353]

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[ultra353]

I was pleasantly surprised when I hooked up the battery, everything worked. Both livewell and bilge pumps work , the trolling motor works ( an old minn Kota foot controlled model), navigation lights as well as the interior lights.

 

[bonz_d]

Missed this one, must have been while I was working 6 days a week.

Nice to see another Alumacraft on here. I hope to be starting on my 1988 Alumacraft Classic 16 real soon. I just picked up new plywood today for the decking and hatches.

The hull structure looks the same. Were you able to get all the old wood out from under the live well and rod locker? How thick was the plywood that was used on the decking? Keep posting and I'll follow.

 

[ultra353]

I was able to get the wood from under the livewell/storage area bonz_d. The plywood was 1/2" thick on the floors. The rear casting deck was thicker as it doesn't have the support like the main floors do. I went with 19/32" on the floor and 23/32" on the rear. Nice looking Alumacraft in your sig pic

 

[bonz_d]

Thanks, yours also.

I'll be doing this Alumacraft the same way I did the decking in my old Lund. I didn't remove the boxes on each side so as not to have to deal with re-riveting everything.. So what I did was to cut the plywood with a seam down the center, that way I was able to slide the ply under them. Wish I had taken pictures because I've had a few people ask how I did it.

 

[ultra353]

That's the way I'm going to do the floor in this one too, 2 smaller pieces so I can slide them under all the riveted structure. I really don't want to ge into the rivets, more work than I want to do. I'm liking this boat as I got 4 new seats, new carpet and I like the general layout., should turn out decent. I was going to flip this boat but the more I get into it the more I want to keep it!
Looking forward to your build as well

 

[ultra353]

https://youtu.be/LcEt-qcsoks

Here is the motor running, it wasn't peeing out the telltale because the line was clogged. Nothing a piece of weedeater line didn't fix!

 

[ultra353]

No Title

 

[bonz_d]

Looking very nice indeed!

 

[Slager]

Looking good. I'm going to be restoring a small aluminum boat soon too. What glue did you use and how easy was it to work with? What kind of carpet and where did you get it?