The well traveled 1979 Starcraft 18' V5 SS

[Watermann]

I'd be the last one to say anyrthing after my bargain belly tank leak incident, but I know that panic feeling seeing gas pour out of the bilge drain. I'm glad yours was easy to fix.

Yeah your tank issue would make me have a few anger issues alright. This was all me as I didn't tighten down the filter because I thought I would fill the filter first but decided against it and then forgot to tighten it down. I would be very upset if not gone full on berzerk if that expensive custom made fuel tank leaked. I knew the belly tank for the Chief wouldn't leak because when I bought the donor boat the tank was full to the brim. I didn't test this new tank I figured Moeller wouldn't send out a leaky fuel tank and nothing went bad during shipping so I felt safe.

The fuel gauge does seem to have an issue though as I put 15 gallons in a 25 gallon tank and it read a little over 1/4 tank, I would think it should've read between 1/2 and 3/4. I'm thinking such a thin long tank is going to have gauge accuracy issues though depending on the pitch of the boat.

Good thing I decided to work the motor bugs out before I hit the water. Imagine... bad wire = fire, drive gear flies off starter = no go/stranded and no charge from the motor = PITA when you want to have fun.

I may end up in the near future replacing the entire wiring harness on this motor. I've seen how bad it can be, my buddy has a Black max 175 of the same era for his project boat and it's wiring is totally shot, all the coating has crumbled off the wires.

 

[Pusher]

Yep, my 86 Merc had crumbled stator leads which burned out the motor on the first trip. I currently have it on cl as a boat anchor but might need to buy new electronics just to get rid of it....or save as a backup .... For a new project


I'm glad you caught the issues before they were issues. It's looking gorgeous. Excellent work.

 

[strokendiesel002]

I just replaced every wire under the cowl, including stator and pick-up last summer, on my '82 Mariner because of the crumbling/ corrosion issues, it's a very nice feeling no longer worrying which day was going to be the day that I waited 1 day too long

 

[Watermann]

I looked every wire over and they're all in great shape except for the 2 yellow stator wires that connect to the rectifier. I think the wire harness has been replaced already or it's an exception to the rule for these old Mercs.

To replace the stator and trigger it's $300 just to have 2 bad wires replaced. I'm going to try to go back far enough to get to good wire and replace the bad sections of those 2 wires first before I pull the flywheel and replace anything.

 

[strokendiesel002]

I hear you on the cost! Mine were shot nearly all the way up, and as much fun and little trouble I've had with that little 80, I decided to just bite the bullet. Here's to solid insulation!

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Had the same crumbling insulation and corrosion issue on my 87 90hp Johnson. Luckily the wiring was related to the VRO and powerpacks and I could get rid of it when I took out the VRO, and updated the power packs.

 

[Pusher]

I went right into the plastic mold with a dremmel and never got anywhere. Hopefully Mine was just a bad apple though.

While I was researching stators to see if I could rewrap myself it sounded like the CDI product has really cut back on the epoxy coatings. Something about the risk of friction rubbing through the coatings wasn't as high as the risk of overheating the wires.

I laugh when I see the used 30 year old stators on evilbay for $100+

 

[DLNorth]

If the rest are still good, try a bit of heat shrink on these 2.

"except for the 2 yellow stator wires that connect to the rectifier."

Dan
who may very well be looking at his own bad wiring, with a '76 and '85.

 

[Watermann]

I was able to cut back into the loom and find some good wire. It was too tight to use a soldering iron so I used some uninsulated butt splices and terminals used to repair appliances, they're heavy duty and worked great. Epoxy lined heat shrink tube and I think I've staved off the replacement of the stator for now. Wednesday the new rectifier should be here 2 day air from our gracious host. We'll see then if that fixed the issue.

Got my Raymarine Dragonfly 7 pro off the brown truck 2 days early so tonight that'll get installed. Looking good for the weather this weekend so...
http://www.raymarine.com/dragonfly/dragonfly7pro/

 

[Pusher]

Nice looking units. If you don't mind my asking, what is the second display showing with the golden hue? Is the upper one for fish and lower one for the contour of the lake bottom?

 

[Watermann]

Nice looking units. If you don't mind my asking, what is the second display showing with the golden hue? Is the upper one for fish and lower one for the contour of the lake bottom?

Yeap, dual transducers in one, on that display, the top ones only for fish in color and the other is down scan for bottom structure. I just added the WiFish display to show that the unit I bought has the ability to send it's display to smart phones and tablets over WiFi.

 

[Pusher]

That's a pretty slick setup. If you've used the hummingbirds and lowrance units I'd like your take on this one. Do you purchase maps like some of the other units?

 

[Watermann]

The unit comes with different maps depending on where you buy, this one came with C Maps on an SD card and Ray Marine has a free upgrade to 4D local lakes and rivers.

 

[nrf414]

Water- hoping for some nice weather for you this weekend. Have to let me know how the Ray unit works for you. Might consider getting one for at the front of the boat and then use it's WiFish capability to watch from the back of the boat.

Pusher that's the down imaging or downview. It's still radar but shows a much more picturesque return. It's good for definition and actually seeing structure like trees, sunken boats...etc

 

[Watermann]

Got the new rectifier installed and ready for another run if it ever stops raining. The Dragonfly 7 is all wired up and mounted.

 

[GA_Boater]

Rob - She sure isn't looking like a plain ole fishin' boat. She should be a fish attractor, sure not scare them away.

Hope the splash goes well and the gremlins all are left in the wake.

 

[oldhaven]

That picture somehow reminds me of the bridge on the Enterprise.

" ENGAGE"

 

[Pusher]

Only, there won't be a version B, C, or D

Very nice!!! The dragonfly looks to be the perfect size

 

[Watermann]

Thank ya gents, I can't wait to get her out and cut a wake now that I've got everything worked out best I can on dry land.
She's ready after a year of hard work! :whoo:

Only thing I know i'll need is a new prop, right now I'm going ti run the 17p that came with the motor so some water testing will be in order for WOT RPMs. Good thing iboats has a prop sale going too. :biggrin-new:

 

[crankbait cowboy]

sweet!! h20 looking good and good luck on the splash!