Rebuilding a 1977 Ouachita

[EagleBaseball]

Looking Good! :beer:

 

[ben2go]

I dunno how I missed this.Sweet build.

 

[Cheeseball]

Very nice! Great skills.

 

[russ010]

Did you ever finish this boat??

 

[kemical]

yeah did u ever finish the beast,, thats looks awesome with that battleship grey!!lol

 

[old_boat_new_smile]

Anyone know how much steelflex costs?

 

[russ010]

I think it's about $100 including shipping -- https://www.fascoepoxies.com/

 

[Ouachita]

I think it's about $100 including shipping -- https://www.fascoepoxies.com/

The super slick Steelflex is that price. The one without the teflon additives is $65 shipped. Unless you have an airboat or a mudmotor boat you shouldn't need the super slick.

 

[brewfish]

Thanks for the kind words but I'm really just a hack. Fortunately though I am skilled in the art of making hack jobs look nice, which is sometimes a requirement when your a developer. :lol:

I wish like heck I could post some pictures of it being finished & sitting in the water where it belongs but the only place it has been is sitting in the garage in a state of suspended animation. I guess you could say that the last 6 months or so have equated to the perfect storm as far as finishing the boat is concerned. It's been a constant barrage of events ranging from vehicle repair to dental work absorbing the boat funds as fast as i can save them up. Then there's the matter of working 60 + hours every week since taking a new position......truthfully I'm just thankful to still have a job at this point.

It's been terrible having to endure looking at it every time I go out to the garage, dying to go fishing but not being able to. It's been a long time coming but the storm appears to finally be subsiding. Hopefully I can wrap this build up in the next couple months and at long last get to the point of this whole exercise and go fishing!!!

 

[brewfish]

Not exactly progress but still a welcome addition none the less. Brand new bought yesterday, I just couldn't pass it up. Between getting it for less since it's a 2008 leftover and the free extra 3 year warranty on top of the standard 3 year warranty it was more temptation than I could stand. I think the sales guy was just about as happy to make a sale as I was to buy it, he even threw in an engine hour meter/tachometer for free. It should be interesting to see how fast it pushes my rig along. I'm just glad my days of pull starting are over! 8)

 

[atb]

Great job!!! Nice finishing touch with the sweet new motor that should push ya.

 

[Loggerhead Mike]

very nice motor how much did you get it for

 

[brewfish]

The motor cost 2976.00 after tax. That was with fuel tank & hose included. I was finally able to take the boat out today and what a difference a motor makes. This is my first 4 stroke and it so quite that my bait aerator made more noise than the motor does. I'm almost done with the build, I just need to run the wiring and switch panel, buy a couple more seats and that's it. The only other issue I have to resolve is that at top speed the motor makes the boat start to porpoise. Here's a couple pics for today's run.

 

[Zum]

Looks great.
You can try a different tilt pin,that may help your porpoising.
I imagine that you will have to move some weight up front,to really get rid of it.

 

[ben2go]

A different setting on the tilt could help the porposing,but it may be caused by a hooked hull.Make sure the back of the hull is flat all the way to the transom.Also make sure the trailer bunks are supporting the transom fully.That's the number one culprit of a hull hook.

 

[brewfish]

I've adjusted the motor every which way. If I move the pin to the next notch down it doesn't do it but then it plows through the water and is obviously set too low. It only at very top speed that it does this. I don't think more weight is going to solve the problem either. I had a friend of mine siting in the bow and it still did it. The hull hook thing worries me. There could very well be the problem. I know the trailer bunks are a little short for the boat and I think I remember seeing evidence of that on the very back end of the boat. I wasn't bad but you could see a slight indention where the bunks ended I remember right.

If that is indeed the problem then I guess I'm just screwed because I don't know how I could change it. It's only at WOT that this is happening. A friend of mine has a 16' Ghenneo with a 25hp 4 stroke yammy that does the same thing at WOT and I know his boat is totally flat and straight. I've read about trim tabs and I guess they are supposed to solve just that problem. I've also looked at those fins you put on the motor that are advertised as correcting the porpoising problem. My only fear about the motor fins if it they would void the warranty. :?: If anyone has experience with using either of these products please chime in on how they worked for you.

 

[Specknreds]

I've got a 1448 with a 25hp 4 - stroke Yammy and I've never had any issues trimming it so it wouldn't porpose. On this boat, it comes standard with welded on trim tabs that would be easy to add to any boat. I haven't read all of your post but I have found that 9 times out of ten it's a weight issue. I run different trim settings on my motor when it is just me or 2 people. I have mine set up for optimum performance. This means that I've experimented with weight placement, trim angle with different weight placement, and adjusting the trim tabs. For optimum performance, you want the boat on the "edge" of porposing and not porposing. Sorry I'm taking a long time to say my point, but I wanted you to understand where I'm coming from. It's like there is a line and once you cross it, you can't recover from it. We have jon boat races here and they battle this all the time. You also have a 4-stroke that probably weighs as much as a 30 or 40hp 2-stroke. My point is before you spend a lot of money on trim tabs or etc., try playing around with your weight a little more. If you have to much weight in the rear (you, batteries, gas, 4-stroke), putting a person on the bow will help but you may be crossing that line I'm talking about. I had to put my 120 quart ice chest, battery, and gas in the very front with two people to make mine perfor correctly. I do not have a good pic. to show you. I hate having all of the stuff up front in the way. Hope this helps.

If you have a hook in the hull, you should be able to see it with a straight edge placed under your boat.
https://www.tinboats.net/forum/images/displayimage.php?pos=-1911

 

[brewfish]

I plan on moving the battery to the front but I just don't see how I could move the gas tank to the front. I am greedy with my open cockpit space and don't want to clutter it up with a gas tank and hose. I have it under the back deck currently. I would move it to under the front deck but of course the fuel line is just a little bit too short. I don't know if they sell longer hoses or if that extending the length would cause a problem with the motor being able to draw gas from such a distance. A friend of mine suggested that I could just add some sort of ballast to the bow. I guess I could do something like that but just don't like the idea of adding dead weight.

 

[wbd]

Looks Great, I have 74 ouachita I'm going to rebuild this winter gathering supplies know just ordered steel flex , dont know much about this stuff,will you paint over it or is what I see in the pic. it?

 

[baptistpreach]

I never did see posted, what size is this boat? 1436? 1448? Thanks and it looks awesome! I used more expensive Interlux brightside primer, and didn't find out about Rustoleum until it was too late. I'll use it next time.