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Hello and thanks for having me in the Seacraft Honeycomb Hideout! LOL..New Here! Just brought home a nice dry, very original 1976 potter era 18.6 CC with 200 Merc. Seems I see few discuss the 18's ? Is it just less popular? Less out there? Did I make a mistake? I bought this boat because it was dry, clean, and mostly original. Lots of updates already done..T-top, Console, Gauges, Hydro Steering, Rewire. Any words of wisdom on the 18 footers? Anything you can contribute will help me develope ideas, thoughts to make it an even better boat.

Congratulations! Welcome aboard Falcon. I saw that boat listed somewhere last week and thought it looked really sweet. You scored. Happy Thanksgiving! You done well, Pilgrim.

Post some pics of her. As far as 18s discussion you'll find plenty. I don't think you'll find much if any negativity toward them. In fact I'd bet that most who've sold theirs, regret it at some point.

You're going to fly like a Peregrine in that thing with that 200 Merc. :cool:

McGillicuddy
Now that's what I'm talking about! I feel even better about my purchase now. The ole' 200 merc needs some lovin but I think I want to stick with it... thinking of a powerpak and 1 piece cowl. I will post some before pics real soon. This boat is a tweener... too nice to completely tear down and enough talent to say why not tear her down. lets put it this way, Im thinkin awl grip inside, New bumper rails, trim tabs and mercury rebuild. The original bumper rail is ugly black 2 in.material...any thoughts on a nice looking polished aluminum with rubber insert? Brand? Supplier? The boat does have some trinidad bottom paint! DOH!!!! What to do? any white color cover ups that adhese good! Suggestions?
Thanks a bunch! Oh by the way do I get a SECRET DECODER PEN? in the SEACRAFT CLUB? LOL....

The only complaint you'll find on the 18 is the splashwell design. You need a small splashwell gate 4 - 6" or so tall sealed off around the bottom and up the sides. I love my 18 . . . it's a great little fishing boat.

Go to rubrails.com and get in contact with them. They can help you alot and have good prices on rubrails. I think they are located in Fl. Check out what Denny did to the bottom of his 20'. Came out great with Signature Finish paint.

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. . . The boat does have some trinidad bottom paint! DOH!!!! What to do? any white color cover ups that adhese good! Suggestions?

Here's a link to the bottom paint job I did. It held up very well during a 700 mile trip and 2 weeks in the water. Any marine growth just wiped right off with a nylon mesh covered "windshield cleaner" sponge. If your bottom paint is the hard non-ablative stuff, Signature Finish would probably stick to it. I'd call Tom Fabula (get phone no. from website); I'm sure he could tell you if it would work. Got to be careful with any sanding of antifouling paint, BTW - the dust is VERY toxic!

Although Awlgrip is a good paint and very popular, it's not repairable . . . if you scratch it, you have to redo the whole panel, so I'm not a big fan of it for that reason. I think they make something called Awlcraft that is repairable, but don't know how it holds up. Awlgrip might be ok if you're building a trailer queen, but I use my boat a lot and I've already had to touch up some scratches on the bottom and bootstripe a couple of times. With the Signature, I just use a foam brush, and it's impossible to tell where it was touched up.

On the rubrail, protection/function is more to me than appearance, and it's hard to beat that big solid rubber one. You can also clean it with alcohol and put some Armorall on it to improve appearance. I'm familiar with the SS/rubber insert type you mentioned, and I don't think it'll provide as much protection, although they do look nice. I changed the heavy extruded aluminum one on mine for the big 2" black rubber one that I ordered from SeaCraft in the 70's. My boat had some spider cracks along the gunnels from some dock walloping the previous owner did with it. They might not have been there if it'd had the rubber rail on it. ET23 sent me his old rubber rail and I was able to use pieces of it to fill in the gap that existed after I had transom cut-out filled in; even used some of it around the edge of my bracket, and that has prevented damage from pilings around docks, etc. If your rail is that same type, it also has an inverted U-shaped spray deflector molded into the bottom of it that works really well when you punch into a big wave! Denny

Hey Thanks.... they carry what I was envisioning....I went to their site.... There is some trade-off trading in the original big black rubber rail for a rubber with half moon insert but I must admit the I like the look of the Rubber/Alum combo.

If you go to the Taco site and check their rubrails and get the ones they recommend for Seacrafts the guy at Rubrails.com and match it. He got me the black rubber base in a solid piece versus 10 foot sections which made for a better installation. The SS insert came in 10' sections but he was able to walk me through the installation without any problems. It came out great.

The Signature paint may very well be my solution! I want white...do you think they offer it in White? I will look into it tommorow. The rub rail ..you make very valid points with how practical the original is.... mine is just plain clapped out. I do like the look of the big rubber with half moon aluminum. I will call the local seacraft dealer to see what they want per foot foot for the Solid rubber and I will also call rubrail.com that I was reffered to in this thread. I feel motivated to make this little 18footer looking new again. Thanks for your suggestions.

Forgive me but what is the TACO site? I like your suggestion. I think the boat being Cobalt blue would "PoP" with the Insert Rail.

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. . .I want white...do you think they offer it in White?

Tom can make any color you want. If you have an Awlgrip or Interlux color name, he'll have the formula for it. Told him I wanted a shade of green to match my Sunbrella bimini (Aquamarine). Found out that he already had the formulas for all the Sunbrella colors! I took him a gel coated plug I had cut out for an access hatch, and he came up with a perfect match, which I used on the sides of the steps and between the bootstripe and the bottom paint. I think he named it "Denny White"!

Taco Marine is kind of like like taco bell... :D :D :D

http://www.tacomarine.com/

Do they have tacos in pink?...lol.....

OK.. a new question? May not go with the old 200 merc and do the rebuild. I'm looking at a very low hour 2004 Saltwater series Carburated 200 merc. This motor has a 25 inch shaft? Is this what I want for a 18.6 CC SC?

Measure from transom cutout to bottom of keel. If it's 25", you can use the newer motor, but I'll bet it's 20". If it's a 20" cutout, you'll have to raise it to 25" for the newer motor.

Congratulations on your purchase! There's a fair amount of 18 conversations here. Just don't add any more weight than you have to. Hope you enjoy her. I do mine! :D

Falcon - I ran my 18 this year with a 2.0L 150 merc and a 2.4L 175 merc. A 35mph cruise is nice (with the 175), but when you get over 2ft chop you have to slow down to 22/23mph. Around here the wind hardly lays down long enough to run that fast.

Thanks ...I appreciate you stopping to say hello.... I wanted a 20 but I was tickled to find this one in the dry condition it is. I think I can do something with it to make her a better boat than she already is! I will post some pictures this weekend.

Hey there, Turns out I did'nt buy the 2004 200 mercury. The motor was a 25inch and I appear to need the 20in. I will keep looking for a 20 while I'm trying to make a movie Star out of the Hull. It's dry...mostly original.... and has eyeballs! Thanks for the info.

OK Guys...Here's the pictures of my new/old seacraft
Been doing a little work to her. Been doing most of the work on the trailer to get started so I can move her around town when I address the engine issues.http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/y...s/DSCN1385.jpg
http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/y...s/DSCN1381.jpg
http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/y...s/DSCN1380.jpg
http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/y...s/DSCN1383.jpg

Boat is sweet I would love to have it. Enjoy!

Nice lookin' rig there Falcon! It's amazing how good alot of these boats look after so many years. I had a friend compliment me on mine back in July. When I told him it was a 75 model in original condition, he almost fell overboard! :D Hope you enjoy her!