I'm glad I came across this website in the beginning of my journey of my makeover of a 1978 sylvan with a 85hp Force motor. There is sooo much info on here and I've been doing my best to read it all before I dig into this boat.
Brief history on the boat. Found this thing on Craigslist a few weeks ago, and after going for a test drive I decided that it will make a great boat to restore. Once I got it home I cleaned out all the dirt and leaves, all the beer cans, all kinds of old bait and fishing line, and about 10 rusty cans of off. Filled my shop vac nearly with all the dirt and leaves and filled a entire garbage bag. Not sure how anyone lets a boat get that bad, but oh well. Only paid $1000 for everything.
The good:
-Motor runs good. Had about $500 in services done last year supposedly.
-Came with a 10hp evinrude that also has a piece of linkage that goes to the big motor so you can steer it with the steering wheel.
-new tires on trailer and a new spare. New bearing installed this year.
-brand new fish finder. About a $150 value
-came with to down riggers. Never used them before but maybe now I will. About a $150 value.
The bad:
-boat takes a little bit of water in from below the transom. Looks like it can be fixed by rebucking the rivots and I plan on putting down a nice thick coat of gluvit.
-floors are shot, they used pieces of plywood over the existing to strengthen the floor.
-tramsom is shot, need to be replaced. Outside skin needs to be patched up from all the holes over the years.
-wiring is shot, they used speaker wire in parallel to run all kinds of things like the bilge pump etc. luckily I'm a electrician so I look forward to fixing it and improving it. This boat is gonna have lots of leds.
I'm gonna wait another week or 3 to start tearing into the boat. I'd like to fish out of it a couple times before I gut it. In the mean time, I'd love to hear any advice on what to do first and how to attack some of my problems. I will post pictures very soon.
Thanks guys
Brief history on the boat. Found this thing on Craigslist a few weeks ago, and after going for a test drive I decided that it will make a great boat to restore. Once I got it home I cleaned out all the dirt and leaves, all the beer cans, all kinds of old bait and fishing line, and about 10 rusty cans of off. Filled my shop vac nearly with all the dirt and leaves and filled a entire garbage bag. Not sure how anyone lets a boat get that bad, but oh well. Only paid $1000 for everything.
The good:
-Motor runs good. Had about $500 in services done last year supposedly.
-Came with a 10hp evinrude that also has a piece of linkage that goes to the big motor so you can steer it with the steering wheel.
-new tires on trailer and a new spare. New bearing installed this year.
-brand new fish finder. About a $150 value
-came with to down riggers. Never used them before but maybe now I will. About a $150 value.
The bad:
-boat takes a little bit of water in from below the transom. Looks like it can be fixed by rebucking the rivots and I plan on putting down a nice thick coat of gluvit.
-floors are shot, they used pieces of plywood over the existing to strengthen the floor.
-tramsom is shot, need to be replaced. Outside skin needs to be patched up from all the holes over the years.
-wiring is shot, they used speaker wire in parallel to run all kinds of things like the bilge pump etc. luckily I'm a electrician so I look forward to fixing it and improving it. This boat is gonna have lots of leds.
I'm gonna wait another week or 3 to start tearing into the boat. I'd like to fish out of it a couple times before I gut it. In the mean time, I'd love to hear any advice on what to do first and how to attack some of my problems. I will post pictures very soon.
Thanks guys