I'm back with a 1994 Islander 221V!

[Stinnett21]

From the pic in your original post, is that a High Five prop? Seems like an odd selection for the application. Maybe the PO liked it for trolling.

 

[Gibbles]

From the pic in your original post, is that a High Five prop? Seems like an odd selection for the application. Maybe the PO liked it for trolling.

Yeah high five prop.
Not sure why the selection, but the first experiance I have had with a prop of this style.

I don't think that prop likes to go in reverse, or I might need to look at the lower unit over the winter.

and we took it out early saturday morning before the storm rolled in.
Nice morning, the boat did fantastic.
but we almost called it at the ramp since the engine stalled during warm up and wouldn't restart!

No way to give it a little throttle w/o going in gear from what I could see, but I finally got it going by cranking and then throwing the thing in gear to get it to throttle up.

That got it going, and we were off for a few hours.

Mostly wanting to see how it handled, how the power was, fish finder check, and generals.

Both my father-in-law and I, we are very pleased with the boat.
Currently no cup holders, or rod holders.

The PO installed living room carpet in the thing.
Biggest cringe thing in the boat.
makes it super pleasant to walk around on, but still, it's indoor carpet.

Power trim is pretty neat, also the first time i have ever dared to beach a boat was with this one + I didn't have much of a choice due to limited dock access due to time of year.

Biggest issue I had was the major twisting of my ankle, like full dislocation when entering the boat with wet feet.

That living room carpet is going asap, and I think it needs some sort of step or mini ladder on the gunnels.

I had also planned to drain the oil to see how much water got in there, but with me now wearing a big plastic boot and on crutches, it's not going to happen for a little while.

Inside of the boat, just a few cups of water entered the bilge from what I'm pretty sure is the leak in the side of the block.

we were out there for about 2 hours, so I can see there being a bit more water entering the bilge if spending more time on the water.

Now the main concern is how much of that water is entering the oil from the other side of the cylinder.

If it's about the same leak, then the engine doesn't have long.


Also when I nearly broke my ankle, and while I was laying on the carpet, a thought occurred to me.

So this boat came with a little bucket, nice little chrome thing.
Cute.
I kept wondering what it was for...

the FIL came to the decision that it's a pee bucket for his sons.
and while I'm laying on the carpet in pain, It occurred to me that they probably stood there in the stairwell peeing in it, then the pee had to be thrown over the side.

 

[Moserkr]

Great to see another big boat getting worked on! I came onto the scene after you but Ill be following along to see what you do to her. Good to see someone back in the saddle!

 

[jbcurt00]

Gib, better hurry up, SOTY 2023 is bearing down .....

 

[Gibbles]

Gib, better hurry up, SOTY 2023 is bearing down .....

I'll be a long ways away from having this thing worthy of such a title.

Biggest issues right now,

• Carpet needs to be gone!!
• Need some sort of permanent interior ladder system to prevent future mishaps.
• Sealing stuff via 5200 since the last rains proved I'm getting water through places that should be watertight.
• Engine needs to be replaced.
• To remove or not remove that wake board tower thing?!

Future big thing would be a paint job.
If I do that then I probably won't bother with the bottom since I'm not sure how I would accomplish it.
The Chief I was able to suspend from my garage ceiling.
I won't even attempt it with this huge thing.

 

[Gibbles]

I also had some questions answered about my issues with reverse.
Apparently the high five prop is supposed to suck bad in reverse.

Another question I had was the end play on the output shaft.
I bet I have a good 1/4in, so the question was if that's normal.

Reading around the internet, it seems to be fine...
I haven't looked to see what the actual spec is yet, but so far at least in forward it's working pretty good.

 

[Gibbles]

Well, I drove myself nuts for a few days trying to remember where the heck I put the box of stainless screws and bolts that I have had left over from the several boats I have worked on over the years.

I have absolutely no idea where I put them.

One last attempt will be in the attic, hoping maybe I tossed that box up there for some strange reason.

Otherwise, the plan is to go to the hardware store to pick up a few replacement screws...

Frustrating part is I had them in a nice location for years, but then I bought a work bench and decided I wanted to move them somewhere else so I can find/get to them later on.

 

[airshot]

Well, I drove myself nuts for a few days trying to remember where the heck I put the box of stainless screws and bolts that I have had left over from the several boats I have worked on over the years.

I have absolutely no idea where I put them.

One last attempt will be in the attic, hoping maybe I tossed that box up there for some strange reason.

Otherwise, the plan is to go to the hardware store to pick up a few replacement screws...

Frustrating part is I had them in a nice location for years, but then I bought a work bench and decided I wanted to move them somewhere else so I can find/get to them later on.

Been there done that....many times over !!

 

[Gibbles]

I ordered a strip of this EVA teak flooring foam stuff from amazon.
It was $11 shipped and really meant to just be a trim piece.

This stuff is all over amazon, and some of those images are beautiful.

the issue is you need to butt it up against each other, leaving areas where water can get through.
And with these boats having just wood flooring I'm thinking this will be the cabin area (after a coat of epoxy) and that dashboard area under the top windshield.

Here is a picture of a guy that installed it on his sail boat.


someone made their cooler more "boat"


I received the strip last night and i have to say it's kind of amazing stuff.
really looks like wood in person, but it's soft to the touch with its beveled edges.

So, I have a larger piece coming here soon, should be large enough to fill that windshield area.

I decided to run with brown w/black lines, then ordered some black 5200 to help seal up some of the seams.

So far, I'm thinking about using the vinyl flooring for the main deck and use this stuff on the seating area.

but if I do that, then I'm probably going to use some of that west system epoxy that I have left to really seal the wood up, maybe even some fiberglass, paint it white, and then trim it up real nice with this "Teak" material.

But I haven't decided 100% yet.

 

[Gibbles]

Well over the weekend I removed the carpet from the dash, I found the orignal carpet under the replacment carpet, so I removed that as well.

I found tons of holes in the alumnium, I ended up just using some 5200 backed by some tape on both sides since I couldn't find my jb weld.

The "living room carpet" as my father in law calls it was cut pretty well to fit the space, so I used that as a rough template to get the angles right, then from there I did some trimming to really sneak it in there.

When Applying I used some auto body masking sheets to protect the windshield and the dash, and then used some 3M spray adhesive after cleaning the alumnium up the best I could with some brake cleaner.

Then I had the task of figuring out where to put the cup holders, I bought some of those stainless steel folding cup holders, but decided I wanted to install them pretty face down, and then used some of that teak foam board to pretty them up a bit.

I also had some issues with the fish finder reinstall.
So many holes to choose from, so I decided to just start over, there was this big hole in the dash, leaving a water path going directly into the wiring...

So I opted to just install the fish finder directly over the top of that hole, sealed the cables up using some RTV that i had laying around (For a quick seal).

End result.


Cup holders ready for beverages!


I'm not too happy with the placement of the fish finder, I think where it was is much better, but this is good enough for now.

 

[jbcurt00]

Faux teak looks good,

 

[Gibbles]

I agree!

I used some black 5200 to seal the seams of the different pieces, and the edges of the windshield.

That turned out to be a bit of a mess, I kept finding black glue everywhere, even on the new faux teak.

some brake clean on a paper towel, and it wiped up pretty easily.
I have never seen 5200 come off that easily, ever!

So far I'm happy with the stuff.

 

[Gibbles]

Well, I saw the Edelbrock intake for the 4.3 is available now.
It would require me to upgrade the cylinder heads to the newer vortec style, that alone would give me a bit of a hp upgrade.
+ The improved intake design on top of that.

But what I'm not sure about is if the original 4-barrel carb will fit or if I'll be required to upgrade the carburetor as well.

So, I'm leaning towards just replacing the short block, re-use the heads and the intake (Assuming they aren't cracked) and run it as is.

I know it runs good now, and this way I'm only having to deal with the timing...

 

[Gibbles]

Well amazon prime day sold me on a few boating related items to ensure I'm ready for next year.

Big one was the swim platform ladder.
the one that the boat has is a nice but older garlic ladder, the little plastic inserts are showing their age and causing some binding of the ladder.

I also want to use that swim platform to strap a cooler to it, so it got me thinking about an "under platform mounting ladder".

I ran across this that looked decent.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NT8435Y

I received it the other day and gave it a little test fit.
I'm planning to use some through bolts to mount this thing nice and solid, and on the ends a few 1/4in eyelets that I have on hand on the outside edges to give me a good place to strap things down (is the idea anyways).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FPV797W



I have a few different sizes of these, main thing was to fix something the PO did with some storage solutions he did in the front of the boat.
It looks like he used standard eyelets that do appear to be stainless, but the retaining nuts are not staginess.

A Big no-no for an aluminum boat.

Instead of just replacing the nut, I decided I wanted to replace the eyelets totally.

that will also make it so I can seal the holes up with some 5200 while everything is apart.

Anyways, I ran into an issue with the new swim platform ladder.
There are two cross bars on the frame, and the swim platform has 4 lower support bars that interfere with the new ladder.

The good news is the ladder it self doesn't have a cross bar, so it looks like I need to remove one of those lower support bars on the platform in order to install this ladder.

I do want to remove all of the bolts on the transom anyways, I noticed a bunch of hardware through out the boat is loose, and I found some questionable sealing of some of those through bolts.

So, it's better to nip it in the bud now vs having transom rot later down the road.

Bad part is I think it's too cold outside to get any moisture to evaporate if I were to leave the bolts out for a few days.

Maybe I should try some rubbing alcohol and a blow drier before I coat those holes with epoxy?

 

[Gibbles]

while doing some test fitting of the swim platform ladder, it looks like i need to add a strip of teak to the underside of the platform in order to support the ladder and to avoid contacting the supports.

I couldn't get the teak piece I need locally, so I'm thinking a hardwood piece for now, and then order a piece of teak in later in order to do it right.

 

[Moserkr]

Im a big fan of that faux teak foam flooring! (Hydroturf). Used it in my boat and very happy with it. It has fooled almost everyone who looks at it, they think I have real wood floors! Haha

 

[Gibbles]

Im a big fan of that faux teak foam flooring! (Hydroturf). Used it in my boat and very happy with it. It has fooled almost everyone who looks at it, they think I have real wood floors! Haha

In your profile image I can see the front of your boat, and yes that stuff looks fantastic!

Do you have any pictures of what you did with the main deck?
I'm still pretty stuck on how to handle that part.

Right now I'm leaning towards epoxy and maybe even glassing the deck boards, painting them paper white, and then applying that fake teak over the top.

What I would like to do is to do what I did on the chief, have the floor one solid piece of vinyl and make it easy to take a hose to clean off the deck.

 

[Gibbles]

Over the weekend I also spent a little time messing around with that swim platform.

I keep finding loose bolts everywhere, so I'm a little concerned about water intrusion/soaked transom that I would like to resolve before it starts freezing.

While I really don't want to do disassembly right now, I might end up going after it here soon.

I also need to make a decision if I want to pull that engine out now or push it off longer.

Once the engine is out, I can start looking at refreshing the plumbing and flooring.

I also pulled the mirror that covers the nose access hole to try and figure out what the crap is up there.

I had found a spare docking rope that I decided to leave alone, but I also noticed this little fiberglass cone thing.

Then I noticed the little vent thing that sit's right on top of that.

So, I'm thinking that area is for venting fumes/moisture from under the deck?

The rope that was sitting up there was pretty much blocking the vent hole.
I also noticed most of that rope was pretty much turning to dust.
I'm guessing it had been up there for decades.

I kept noticing some gasoline fumes in the cabin area, I started thinking there might be a fuel tank problem, but now I'm wondering/hoping it was just this little vent being blocked?

There is also a small dent on the front of the boat, I sort of wanted to try and push that dent out from the inside like I have been able to do with several other dents.
But that little nose cone blocks my access to it, so I'm thinking it's best to leave it.

 

[Moserkr]

Thats the best pic I have of the main floor. You will not get one sheet to fit the whole boat so you have to patch it together. Not easy, and the sun actually shrunk mine by 1/8", so there are little gaps here and there. My deck was just epoxied, then I used a spray adhesive to hold the hydroturf down. If you go with hydroturf and want to paint underneath, use black if it matches the lines. Would hide any gaps then.

I love the stuff - its soft to walk on, waterproof closed cell foam, and looks sharp. It does pick up oils well and show dirt, but its very easy to clean. I scrub it with a brush and soapy water, then hose it down. Does not pick up fish smells which is great.

 

[Gibbles]

I really wish photobucket hadn't done their money grab a few years ago.
Lots of really good islander restore threads that have their image links broken.