Project Fuggly - No Longer Fuggly And Splashed!!!!!!

[Woodonglass]

Is it worth your time?? It thing you can find em NEW Condition on Evil Bay for under $100 bucks.

 

[archbuilder]

I searched wood, but only found used engine wiring harnesses. I already have the wire, and there are only a dozen or so wires....so its only a couple hours of work. The only thing in question is the connection to the cannon plug. If it is molded, then I'm just going to modify the 4 banger harness....if the cannon plug can be mated to new wires then I may spend the time on replacing the existing wires. As far as I know there is nothing wrong with the harness I have, but the wires are 40 years old.

 

[Woodonglass]

Not sure the Exact one you're looking for but here's what I found...http://www.ebay.com/bhp/mercruiser-wiring-harness

 

[archbuilder]

That looks like the boat side of the wiring harness wood. I'm looking for the engine side.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercruiser-..._Accessories_Gear&hash=item20efb29d6e&vxp=mtr

Mine looks fine, the alternator and distributor wires are just too short for the 6. I also have the boat part in your link, mine looks good. Im just always suspect of 40 year old wires that are exposed directly to engine heat and bilge moisture.

 

[dozerII]

I think you should be able to just unwrap and inspect the whole harness for corrosion and brittle wires. If it all looks good, extend the wires that are too short with crimps and double wall heat shrink then re wrap the whole harness. That is what I did on the harness for my Holiday, just my 2cents

 

[archbuilder]

I'm kind of leaning that direction. I did some heat shrink repairs on my 115 to a cracked wire.

 

[dozerII]

I have been using this style crimps https://www.acklandsgrainger.com/AG..._-PLA&ef_id=VHxyXgAABGh47i19:20150113160354:s

 

[archbuilder]

I used a connector real similar to that one when I wired the rest of the boat. But the one I used, had a built in heat shrink coating on it. They worked really nicely. I found them at fastenall.

 

[archbuilder]

Nothing to exciting to report, just soaking the carb and scrubbing on it......some idiot decided to paint the outside of it, that was fun to get off! We have warm weather this weekend, so washing the last of the dust and crud off the motor is on the list. I'd also like to get the hull ground down / pressure washed and possible remove the transom. We have new carpet going in at the office Friday, so it depends on how much time I have to spend on moving back in Saturday. Off to pick up my plug wires and order a coil.....figure it will be easier to start if it has one :bounce:

 

[archbuilder]

These are kind of sexy huh? I was just expecting something in black....but given what they cost they should look sexy!



Coil should be here tomorrow! I'm ready to get the 6 washed down, painted and all this new stuff bolted on!

 

[bear_69cuda]

I do have a thing for wire... HOT DOOD!

 

[archbuilder]

Lol, now I'm going to have to get new plug wires for Miss Morgan.....she has no-sexy black wires!

 

[archbuilder]

I checked the air horn and other misc. carb parts I had soaking tonight. Looks like another 24 hours to get the paint off, I will give them credit.....they used good paint!

After that I tinkered with the wiring harness, took the tape off and cleaned up the wires some.



I used twist ties and duct tape to temporarily hold the bundles together. So far everything looks good. I need to take a closer look at the insulation, but I really don't expect to see any damage based on what I saw tonight. I'm also going to get a wiring diagram and my ohm meter to check out all of the circuits. Right now would be the time to find a broken wire or corrosion.

I was looking around tonight, there is a lot of stuff that needs cleaned up, bell housing, gimbel housing, lower unit.....looks like lots of pressure washing and degreasing this weekend!

 

[Tnstratofam]

Cleaning up old wiring is no fun,but a very necessary evil. Looks like you are getting some things done. Certainly more than me at the moment.:facepalm: keep plugging away at the little stuff, and you'll have her back in the water before you know it.

 

[archbuilder]

Heading out to do some grinding, yeah! Well at least I have a nice day for it, 59 later. Jumping ahead, I was contemplating the seating layout last night. The dog house needs to be about 10" longer for the 6 banger. It really could be a little taller also, the spark arestor rubbed on the dog house slightly. My first thought was to have a full width seat across the back with a padded sun deck. Jump seats have always looked cheap to me. I think I want the seating to stay kind of period, similar to Miss Morgan. I'm kind of leaning on having benches that run parallel to the gunnels....kind of like a pontoon. That would give me ski storage, which is lacking. I also have warmed up to having jump seats that are more like loungers (similar to some of the new pontoons) in lieu of the padded sun deck over the motor. Any suggestions? For some reason I don't like the idea of back to back seats. I guess because there is so much room in this boat.

 

[archbuilder]

I spent the nice warm sunny, really windy day working on the hull.....I'll l take two out of three, I live in OK the wind is a constant, lol! I did blow a lot of the fiberglass dust away. Most of the day was spent trimming the tabbing and cutting out the sections of the sponsons and center pod forward of the toe board. That proved to be a bigger chore than I thought. I was thinking that it was just a glass skin, but there was a plywood deck also.



I was able to save the plywood for patterns.

I also pulled out the spacer between the deck and hull along each side....it came out in pieces, so not sure how helpful that will be. basically the bearing at the area where the keel meets the deck is lower than in the middle between the sponsons and center pod. Anyhow cleaned that up and got it ready for grinding.



And started the transom demo.....it is a little more solid than I thought....this is going to take a while....



in for a penny, in for a pound!

 

[sphelps]

Is that offset at the transom on both sides have wood under the glass or is that just the way the hull is formed . Really a funky designed hull ....

 

[archbuilder]

The center section is the normal 2", the second hump you see at the top in the center is a step in the fiberglass. The two "wings at the bottom have wood on them.....think its 1-1/4" thick, and again it corresponds to a step in the hull. It is odd, it seems like a lot of the detailing on this one is different that what I think it will be. I never thought the toe board would go all the way to the bottom of the sponsons and center pod! I cut the tabbing loos and had to pull like hell to get it out.....not realizing it extended below the deck, lol!

 

[Tnstratofam]

That's allot of work accomplished. Yesterday was the first good workday I've had in my garage in several weeks. Of course mother nature is really just messing with us here in Tn. Next week we're supposed to have snow on Wednesday and Thursday. Yesterday was nice though at 59.

What did the sponsons and center pod have in them? Flotation foam with plywood decking on top? Or was the foam also structural? Dumb question I know but the design of that boat is so unique and interesting.

 

[archbuilder]

Are you talking about in front of the toe board bulk head? The sponson had foam in them forward of the toe board with plywood on top. The center pod just had plywood and about a table spoon of water in the void.