Finally doing something to my Seacraft
 

Hello all. I grew up fishing with my dad in Miami on his 1972? Seacraft with an I/O for many years. We went everywhere with that boat. Several trips to Bimini and 30 miles out off of Marco Island and trolling offshore the rest of the time. My brother in law has a 1974 SF. Sixteen years ago I bought my 1976 MA with the intentions of fixing it up. Well, I started that project and managed to replace the fuel tank, change the engine to a 225 Johnson and replaced all of the wiring and the coring on the cap. Fast forward 16 years and I've had that boat in the water about 3, maybe 4 times. I lost interest in the project and became busy with life. I thought about selling it a few times, but never put an ad in the paper or anything. For some reason, I kept that boat...stored in Miami then a few years at my house in Venice and now it resides in my shop again. A couple of months ago my 5 year old woke up one morning came straight to my room and asked if we could go fishing. Well, I didn't go to the shop that day. We went fishing. Every chance we had, we would go fishing....off the beach, the pier, at the boat ramp, from my canoe, from the john boat. Finally, he asked why don't we use the boat that is at work. ( I also have a 1961 13' Whaler that lives on the top shelf of the pallet rack) That was my "AHA!" moment. Why the heck don't we use the boats? Now I have the bug and motivation to do something about it. The Whaler and Seacraft are running again. They haven't touched water yet, but we're getting there. That 225 is way too much so I'm going to re power with a Yamaha 150 shortly and when things slow down in the winter, I am going to tear it apart and do what I had always envisioned. Hopefully, it won't take another 16 years. I've dealt with a few of you out there. I apologize if I forget some names, but Terry and Todd come to mind. There's my long winded intro. Some of the pics were from way back when.

Sweet! can't wait to see your progress. My MA is the "beater" of my fleet but still my favorite. I too, many years back, envisioned a complete re do but life and other boats / interests have prevented the project.

It is on my 5 year plan to take the MA to a local shop for a complete upgrade since I do not have the time to ever finish such an undertaking.

Welcome to Classic SeaCraft Fossilman

Good Luck with your refurb. You need another "AHA" moment so dump the Mako consel. The Original SeaCraft one will suit you to the 9's..... :)

Hey Tony...

It is a good thing that you did not sell the boat to me last winter. :p

Be sure and read the top post done by Strick, this will get you going in the right direction.

The 21 is almost ready for paint. PM me if you need any suggestions on how to spend your money in the re-do :D

Terry

PS: If anybody needs a custom Aluminum tank give him a shout.

Mako console, huh? It's been so long, I don't remember where I acquired it. I sold the original to a customer in Miami that worked at Seacraft in the mid 70's. More than likely worked on my boat. I never cared for the original console, though. This one is a bit wide, but we'll see....
Hey Terry,
I guess it was hard to part with it. I have a hard time selling things....
I've started to go through that thread. It's taking a while and it's like a good book...hard to put down. I have to force myself to stop. I peeked at the end result and I really like his color scheme. Awesome boat. Just amazing.
Heading out this afternoon to look at a new motor. More later.....

New Motor is in.
 

Picked up the new motor. Now if I could only find the time to hang it on the boat.....

Now sell the old one.

Hi Fossil man nice boat i love mine.
Funny you say slow down this winter sept is my slow month and most places i know in florida

If you are slow...want to do my Bimini top now?

I'm going to put some time in today on the boat and at the very least remove the existing motor. Need to make a stand first. Oddly enough, this has been one of the busiest months for me. It comes in spurts....this is one of them. I'm working on a game plan so it doesn't take a year to do what I want. Let's see how that goes....

New Motor Hung
 

Pulled the old motor off and hung the shiny, new one on. Looks awkward on the 'not so pretty' boat. Pulled the old tank. There was no way I was going to take a chance with any nasty old gas that was left in there. It's also way too big. It was 83 gallons and I'm going to go to at least half that. I want to get past the break in and run the boat a bit to see what numbers I get and that will help me determine the capacity of the new tank. I really like the way the bracket looks with the closed transom, but the weight, etc has me a bit concerned. I want to play around with the placement of the water and fuel tank a bit and see how it sits. There is room under the floor forward of the tank coffin to move the weight forward if need be. We'll see. Need to order some fuel lines, fill and vent hose and control cables. Then the fun part begins.

Good call on the weight moving forward. What is the weight of the new power?

What was the old power? 150/175? If so, I may have interest.

Cheers,
GFS

491 pounds! The old one is a 225.

Hey Fossilman, my 1979 MA is in the garage at about the same stage as far as the fuel tank. A few posts back Island Trader said you build custom tanks...is this true? I need one like ASAP, and was planning to check prices with usuals and probably run with RDS in Perry Fla.. Any assistance? Thanks, Vezo, Part II.

And nice Yammi! I have an 05 F60 on one BW 15 Sport, and an 09 F60 still in the crate for the project 15. Really want to trade it out for the new F70!!!

Thanks Again. Michael.

Gotta get downstairs and clean up the old foam from the pulled tank. Will you be reinstalling yours without any foam at all? What will you coat it with?

Yup, this is our 33rd year making tanks. Shoot me some dimensions and I can give you a quote. info@sunrisemarinetanks.com
Not sure where you are, but shipping is usually the difference.

I'm eager to get it in the water to try out the new motor. I'm just going to throw a temporary tank in there to get it running.

I know I'll get some flack for this, but after coating the tank, I will probably use some foam. I won't go crazy with it...just enough to keep it secure. It was my job when I was a teenager to scrape the old foam and clean up the tanks in general for scrapping. I've seen LOTS of old tanks and honestly, foam or no foam, it's about the same result. Some with foam were corroded, some not. Usually where there was a 'cushiony' type strip attached is where there was corrosion. Sometimes, it was nice and shiny under the cushion strip. The most important thing is a coating of some sort and to keep the tank compartment dry (as dry as possible...it is a boat after all) Make sure that if water can make it's way in, it has a way to drain out. Coating it certainly makes a difference. Coated tanks always fared better. That old tank that I pulled was coated with zinc chromate. I haven't decided what I will coat the new one with.

Thank you Fossilman, appreciate the info. Now that you mention it, I think Sunrise built my brothers replacement in 2011 for his 18, and not a problem. I have several made by RDS for Jersey Speed Skiffs and my Whalers.

Not to sound like a JA, but is this the company that employs a lot of females? Been doing my research and one down there is known for some great, knowledgeable women. Maybe a family business or something along that line. Again, hope that didn't come across wrong.

My brother and I have done a lot of business with Owens and Sons Trailers, a family run business that is awesome! Jeff and sister are great people and the brother stays in the shop building a superior custom product below cost of the cookie cutter competitors.

Again, thanks for the insight. Michael.

Bracket Set Back
 

Still playing with the idea of a bracket and doing some planning ahead. If I'm not mistaken, the set back for my motor Yam F150 is about 26 inches? I would like to keep it to a minimum. From playing around with the tilt, I can probably get away with 23 inches -- maybe a little less. Granted, it won't be completely tilted up, but is there any reason other than the obvious that might be a problem later on? The boat will not live in the water.

another thought
 

...these come to me while I am welding. has anyone left the transom open and put in a door? It would facilitate getting back into the boat from the platform....

anyone?

I've seen people leave the transom open and just stick a bracket on. Seems like a very bad idea to me...

There's there this:

http://www.seamark-marine.com/transom_conversion.html

One of the main benefits of the bracket is eliminating the open transom, which is a safety issue if you spend much time offshore. The transom on a 20 isn't all that hard to climb over anyway. I would at least put a door on it rather than leave it open.

BTW, the Seamark bracket was designed by Bill Potter for SeaCrafts, but is now being built by Don Herman.

Thanks. I like the looks of that door. With a scuba tank on my back, a door would make it easier and keep from banging and scratching the heck out of everything trying to get over the transom.
I'm close to finally splashing the boat. Whoever fixed the transom, didn't make it a full 25 inches...it's 23 inches. I had to make new mounting holes to get the AV plate an inch above the keel...and I'm at the last hole on the motor. That's as high as I can get it right now.
I'm using a temporary tank that is in the forward part of the tank coffin with the battery. I'll see how it sits with the weight there and use that as a reference point. I'll make a bracket during the break in then try it out to see how it handles with some 5 gallon pails to replicate the weight of a full tank of fuel. (the temporary is only 15 gallons) Hopefully it will work out. I like the look of the bracket and closed transom.

If you're using a modern BC with the integral scuba tank mount and weight pockets, I've found it easier to just take off the whole works in the water and have someone in the boat hoist the whole tank/vest/weight belt assembly into the boat. Although I have a ladder, I really don't even need it to get on the swim platform w/o the tank. I just sit on platform to remove fins, and then climbing over a ~1' high transom is no big a deal. I would route all the rigging down thru the transom like Don Herman does however, as it makes for a much neater looking installation. (See picture below.)

I did consider building in a hinged door where the engine cutout was, but decided it just added needless complexity and expense, so went with a solid transom instead.

Are u sure you want the battery near the fuel tank in the same compartment ?

Hard to get the strength there. Bushwacker is far smarter than I, or I would have a SeaFari.
I love a cc, but he makes a lotta bug/swimming sense.


Cheers,
GFS


http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/g...ugust08119.jpg

Thanks for the input. More points to ponder. That transom door will probably end up being a PITA to make properly and it will also screw up any potential storage in the transom. I've added these points to my notes. Thanks guys.