Re: what is the predicted top speed
as for waterlogged foam how do i go about determining if this is indeed the case and if so how does one go about removing said foam???
This is a bit tricky... it depends on whether or not any of it is exposed... in most fiberglass boats, with the foam filled sides, the foam is "built in". The way it would have accumulated water is from sitting in the weather for a few years and seeping through or there's a hole somewhere letting water in, or its coming up through the wood flooring into the sides... the only way to test it is to find a spot where you can gain access to it (depending the the way its built, this may mean cutting a hole somewhere, not sure if you want to do that or not). Once you have access to the foam, just mash it a bit (like squeezing a sponge), its its waterlogged, water will squish out of it, and it will feel fairly dense for its size. As for replacing it, thats a huge project... your talking seperating the inner and outer hulls, scraping out all the old foam, making forms, repouring it back in with two part marine grade A&B (which is 100 bucks/2qts.), fiberglassing it in to seal it, then putting it all back together again. Basically rebuilding the boat... if yours is water logged then I'll leave that decision up to you... I have thrown two boats away that were like that, and rebuilt one. The one I rebuilt took me about 2 months, and over a thousand bucks worth of materials (and it was just a 15ft. Riveria bowrider).
/edit also I should mention, not all boats are built like this, I can't tell from your picture or not... if the sides are about 4-6 inches thick then its like a foamed hull... if its very thin, then not... just don't want you randomly cutting holes in your boat for no reason.
there is a tach built into the boat as well as a speedometer how do i make them work??
For the Tach:
Being a Johnson/Evinrude, there should be a gray lead that runs from the engine through the wiring harness up to the controls... if the tach was hooked up, then that is what it should be connected too, if it was never hooked up, you should see the gray wire inside the controls with a loop on the end, and just hanging, you would need to run that over to the tach, and make sure the tach is set to the proper pole position... (sorry dont know what that would be for your engine/tach combintion, I'll see if I can look it up and post it for you).
For the Speedo:
The speedometer is mechanical, and I can see the pick-up for it in your picture, if its not working, then its likely the tube is clogged (sometimes they suck up sand or stuff)... Disconnect the tube at the pickup, AND from the speedometer (you do NOT want to blow compressed air into the speedometer, as it can trash it). Blow air through the tube only and see if its obstructed... also check where it connects to the back of the gauge and make sure no stuff got pushed into it, lastly, make sure the pick-up is clear of debris, and its below the water line when running the boat... if all that stuff is correct, and speedo doesnt work, its probably failed due to age.
Hope that info helps, when I find the information on the tach setting, i'll post it for you, if you can tell me what type it is, that would help too.
thanks
