Getting my 1968 20' SF back on the water

fishing_fanatic · #1 08-07-2008, 02:43 PM

As some of you may have seen from my picture post;
http://www.classicseacraft.com/forum...b=5&o=&fpart=1
I have a 1968 (maybe even a 1967) Seacraft SF. It has been in my family for nearly 35 years but hasnt been on the water for nearly 3 years due to a bad lower unit and trim/tilt.

I have been in awe of the amazing restorations I have seen on this site, no doubt my Seacraft would be a canidate for a full restoration but that isnt in the cards yet. Money is a little tight right now and I just want to get it on the water to enjoy with my family right now. Maybe in a few years I will consider a full restoration. The old girl still has a lot of life in her as-is and till it becomes neccessary, I want to use her. This site has made me appreciate and love my Seacraft all the more.

I just got the rebuilt lower unit back and it looks great. I also had plates made to reinforce the transom. I am waiting on the trim motor presntly.

Heres some new pics to share;

My rebuilt lower unit

I cleaned up the power head which runs great. I think I have about 4 different hues of Yamaha blue

The reinforcing plates for the transom

She sits waiting under her new home.

New plates soon to be here

I still have a lot of work to do and help and questions I will ask from you all so I will keep you posted.

Naturally any advise you all have now will be greatly appreciated.

Tim

thehermit · #2 08-07-2008, 04:16 PM

Sweet.

It looks like you had the heads and the water jackets off of the yami. What did you end up doing in there? Also where did you get the yami paint? I am considering doing the same to my 130 before next season.

fishing_fanatic · #3 08-07-2008, 04:56 PM

Thanks. Actually I didnt remove the heads. They had corrosion on them from salt spray from an improperly placed bait well pump on the transom, you can see it in the transom pic. I just went in and cleaned that all off and repainted.

Original paint was done by the original rebuilders of the motor I bought it from. My marine store had 2 different Yamaha colors (they claimed there are only 2) of which niether matched so I said big deal and left it unmatching.

Now I get my lower unit back and it is an entirely different hue than the other 3!

So now I have 4 different hues of suposedly Yamaha paint.

Bigshrimpin · #4 08-07-2008, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Now I get my lower unit back and it is an entirely different hue than the other 3!

So now I have 4 different hues of suposedly Yamaha paint.

Any auto paint supply shop can match the color exactly . . . nason (on the cheaper side) or a little more for Dupont Chromabase and then clear coat. With a little work you can make your entire motor look like that lower unit.

fishing_fanatic · #5 10-03-2008, 11:00 AM

I got the motor back on the boat. I put 3 aluminum reinforcing plates on the transom, really stiffened and strengthened it up. I had a lot of trouble matching everything up even though I test fitted everything. Finally got it though had to do a little dremel work.

The motor still has 5 shades of paint, I'm not too concerned right now. I may paint it.

I put the new trim motor on it, works good though looks like my cowl mounted trim switch quit woking, the throttle one works good.

Next is to rebuild the trailer. After inspecting the trailer, it is worse than I thought. I was going to drop it in the water, store at a friends dock and rebuild the trailer hopefully in a day but now I think it will take longer. I may have to replace the axles, not sure yet. Anyways, I decided I will remove the boat in the yard, not exactly sure the best way to do that. My plan is to tie the back end to a tree, pull forward with some blocks (styrofoam maybe) till it is off. Any good suggestions?

I still need to ensure the gas tank is clean and install a good filter/seperator.

all for now

fishing_fanatic · #6 11-06-2008, 09:40 AM

Started work on the trailor, what a mess. May even have to replace the axles, I'll see when I cut them off. Putting the Seacraft on blocks was easier than I expected.

fishing_fanatic · #7 12-28-2008, 12:23 PM

Well I got the trailer all rebuilt but the holidays kept me busy. Yesterday I decided to finish up what I needed to do to get it back on the water but a first time crank of the motor since the lower unit rebuild showed I had no water pressure! Very disappointed.

Didnt know if it was possible I did something wrong in the reassembly, got frustrated so I trailered it down to local boat mechanic to fix the problem and to get it water worthy, probably gonna be expensive but time is tough for me right now so I'm willing to pay (to a point) anything to get it going. Hopefully I'll have it back soon.

Just wanted to give a quick update

Tim

Blue197320 · #8 12-28-2008, 03:21 PM

where in SW FL are you located??

fishing_fanatic · #9 12-28-2008, 03:32 PM

N Ft Myers

GroveGuy · #10 12-31-2008, 10:14 PM

Best of luck with getting her back in the water.

Wow! after viewing all of your pics, I'm not sure if i've seen another Mosely CC with as many original features as you have. My '69 has been in the family for years as well, and your pics bring back some great memories of back when ours was "new".

Very Cool