Ok been fishing my whole life and besides having a 10' jon boat with a 4hp motor in my early 20's most of my boating experience is with canoes and Kayaks.
At the end of last summer I met a new woman. It got pretty serious and we started "going out" She is a great gal and a definite bonus is that she came with a pickup truck and a nice if neglected fishing boat.
As such I have sort of inherited her dad's old boat. He left it to her when he passed and since it was her dad's even though she has had no idea how to run it or maintain it she hasn't wanted to part with it.
So when I met her it had sat outside uncovered for a couple years at least.
We got it registered and read the manual and got her running with no problems. Took it fishing a few times and it was pretty awesome.
Of course having sat with no maintenance for so long there are issues but it was the end of the season pretty much by the time we got it out on the water so I figured I would cover it up for the winter and address them in the Spring.
Well Spring has sprung. My original intention had been to bring it to a marina and have them do a full service on it and fix the items in question and perhaps perform the upgrades we wanted but............ in Oct of 09' I became unemployed so I really need to try and do this myself. I have a friend who is fairly mechanically inclined to help. But neither of us has much boat/outboard knowledge.
So the issues:
The wiring is confusing cuz there is like this big wiring harness but none of the wires are labled as to what does what
the power tilt/trim stopped working on the last trip I am thinking it's a wiring issue and if we use a multimeter to discover which wires power the tilt/trim we might be able to clean them ???
I can fill the livewell but I don't see how it drains. Button on the dash fills it. But to drain it??? Do I need to track down the + and - wires to the pump and reverse them? Would this make the pump suck water out instead of in?
Has a fish finder installed, screen is all full of moisture, won't power on.I think it sat outside too long. Should it power on no matter what? Is there a way to make sure it's the finder thats bad? It's a Hummingbird Wide Optic Serial # 5459960 If it is broke can I buy another one and hook it to the existing wiring? Not sure if it's universal or not?
Motor runs, but hasn't been serviced in who knows how long, so I would like to tune it up change fluids to avoid any problems in the future. What can I do myself?
The decking is getting "squishy" in places. When I first got the boat it had been sitting with a foot or more of water in it for who knows how long. I want to replace the decking with new decking with new carpeting on it. I know how to do the pieces I can reamove with screws on the seats and the livewell but the floor looks like it was put in and the seats/console/livewell were put in on top which is an issue since wherever those pieces meet the hull on the sides they are riveted in so I am thinking I need to drill the rivets out, pull that stuff, remove the old floor the reinstall and re-rivet the stuff back in. Tips on this? I can get Marine carpet locally but I was wondering what I can use for the decking? Can I use pressure treated plywood? Maybe paint it with something to make it even more waterproof? Ideas? Thoughts?
BTW it's a:
16' Starcraft aluminum boat
25hp mecury outboard
I included some pics of what I am talking about. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Also if there is a better place to ask my questions just point the way. Thanks
At the end of last summer I met a new woman. It got pretty serious and we started "going out" She is a great gal and a definite bonus is that she came with a pickup truck and a nice if neglected fishing boat.
As such I have sort of inherited her dad's old boat. He left it to her when he passed and since it was her dad's even though she has had no idea how to run it or maintain it she hasn't wanted to part with it.
So when I met her it had sat outside uncovered for a couple years at least.
We got it registered and read the manual and got her running with no problems. Took it fishing a few times and it was pretty awesome.
Of course having sat with no maintenance for so long there are issues but it was the end of the season pretty much by the time we got it out on the water so I figured I would cover it up for the winter and address them in the Spring.
Well Spring has sprung. My original intention had been to bring it to a marina and have them do a full service on it and fix the items in question and perhaps perform the upgrades we wanted but............ in Oct of 09' I became unemployed so I really need to try and do this myself. I have a friend who is fairly mechanically inclined to help. But neither of us has much boat/outboard knowledge.
So the issues:
The wiring is confusing cuz there is like this big wiring harness but none of the wires are labled as to what does what
the power tilt/trim stopped working on the last trip I am thinking it's a wiring issue and if we use a multimeter to discover which wires power the tilt/trim we might be able to clean them ???
I can fill the livewell but I don't see how it drains. Button on the dash fills it. But to drain it??? Do I need to track down the + and - wires to the pump and reverse them? Would this make the pump suck water out instead of in?
Has a fish finder installed, screen is all full of moisture, won't power on.I think it sat outside too long. Should it power on no matter what? Is there a way to make sure it's the finder thats bad? It's a Hummingbird Wide Optic Serial # 5459960 If it is broke can I buy another one and hook it to the existing wiring? Not sure if it's universal or not?
Motor runs, but hasn't been serviced in who knows how long, so I would like to tune it up change fluids to avoid any problems in the future. What can I do myself?
The decking is getting "squishy" in places. When I first got the boat it had been sitting with a foot or more of water in it for who knows how long. I want to replace the decking with new decking with new carpeting on it. I know how to do the pieces I can reamove with screws on the seats and the livewell but the floor looks like it was put in and the seats/console/livewell were put in on top which is an issue since wherever those pieces meet the hull on the sides they are riveted in so I am thinking I need to drill the rivets out, pull that stuff, remove the old floor the reinstall and re-rivet the stuff back in. Tips on this? I can get Marine carpet locally but I was wondering what I can use for the decking? Can I use pressure treated plywood? Maybe paint it with something to make it even more waterproof? Ideas? Thoughts?
BTW it's a:
16' Starcraft aluminum boat
25hp mecury outboard
I included some pics of what I am talking about. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Also if there is a better place to ask my questions just point the way. Thanks