'85 23' Sceptre project

[Cutiger]

After keeping my eyes open for one for the past handful of years, I finally found a 23 SeaCraft for what I would consider a fair asking price for a project. i traveled on down to central FL to get it earlier this month. This was the one listed only here in the classifieds. I know some, many, are Potter only people. Not to start a war, but I don't fully buy into that thinking. So here I am with an SCI hull.

Unlike most internet chronicled threads like this, I am not immediately trying to build a show piece out of this boat. I plan to make a solid, safe fishing boat. That's not to say I won't do some cosmetics along the way, but I intend to have it in the water fishing in 2017.

Power: the boat has unknown condition 1986 140 evinrudes on it. I intend to take a little time seeing if these motors will run. I want to run the hull and see how it responds to the weight so I can make the best decision for me on how to repower prior to spending the money. They'll also be easier to unload on Craigslist running.

The floor, stringers, and transom all feel solid. The fuel tank hatch is soft, and the bow is soft at the pulpit. Wiring is of course a wreck. Fuel tank seems to be okay, but it'll be coming out for inspection.

Picking it up in FL:




Tank and live well hatches removed.







Uncovered some interesting things in the bilge, old food wrappers, can of sardines, thermometer...




The lip around the edge of the fuel tank coffin is pretty big. At first glance today it appears I may have to trim the lip back a little bit to get the tank out.






Fuel tank label isn't too legible. Enough to see the manufacturer. I pulled the sender and the tank is nearly full. Lots of fuel to get rid of...




I also started ripping out fuel lines and wires, but the thunder rolled in and I had to cover it up and get my tools in. Pick back up with stripping wiring and emptying fuel tank on the next work session.

[Cutiger]

Doing some more thinking while I work my life away in Civil3D...

Bilge access is sub-par. Initial thinking is to cut out the in-floor livewell and leave that space open for bilge access via a high quality deck hatch like the Armstrong ones. Anybody care to weigh in on that idea?

Second thinking on that, that could be space for oil tanks if I go with 2 stroke(s), or batteries if I go 4 stroke(s), or possibly both oil tanks and batteries.

[smilinmatt]

When I replaced the tank in mine, I spent probably 10 hours trying to dig out the tank from the foam (there was about a 1/2" gap on one side and 1/8" on the other). After 10 hours of busted knuckles, I took a sawzall and finished the job in under an hour. Of course you'll need to buy a new tank after that. Mine ('89) looked better on top than yours, and there was quite a bit of pitting on the sides and bottom.

I don't like batteries in the bilge. Too many things to go wrong. Same with oil tanks. Even if nothing happens offshore, forgetting to pull the plug when on the trailer could cause/cost you major problems.

I'm going to be doing a full tear down on my Sceptre, and that large bilge area will become storage or a fishbox (with a small bilge behind it). Too much real estate there for that tiny livewell. If you do cut out that livewell, you may need to recore the hatch. When I had mine off, it looks like they counted on the livewell to add stiffness.

[Cutiger]

Generally I agree on the batteries. My reasoning for even considering that here is because there's not really another good place for 3-4 batteries. The stern storage boxes, but now I lose a lot of storage there. Only other option would be in the cuddy. I had a sea hunt with a battery in the bilge and moved it out of there to the console. Left the oil tank down there though.

I thought about the fish box idea in that space. My hesitation to make it into something is the lack of bilge access. It really sucks trying to fit two hands and still be able to see through a little hatch in the splash well. It would also cut down on weight in the stern. I know some have mentioned that the non-potter sceptres have a bow heavy reputation, but bow heavy enough that I don't need to worry about moving weight forward even if I decide to put 800+ pounds of twin engines on the back? I really need to make the decision on what engine setup to go with before I make any major progress putting anything back together.

[Cutiger]

More work completed today. Almost completely de-rigged with the exception of the nav light and hydraulic steering. Working around the twins on steering cylinder and shift cables today answered the question on what to repower with. Big single it is. Just not enough room to comfortably work on twins with an 8' beam. BOLO for me in your local areas for a deal on a single 30" shaft 300.

Winding down for the weekend, beer in the pool while the grill gets hot

Whoops, it's sideways on my iPhone. Don't hurt your necks!

[Cutiger]

I have to eat my words regarding that aforementioned decision to go with a big single. This deal was too good to pass, so I'll be hanging twin 150 Optimax. We won't be racing any big new super-CC's, but we won't get left in the dust too often.

Got them home and laid in the garage. Gotta get them up on stands today and order a lifting ring or find a universal puller kit that has the right size flywheel threads.

[DonV]

If my memory is correct the threads in my 225 EFI are metric in the flywheel. It's a piece of cake to make a puller versus buying the Mercury part. However for $23 that's hard to beat.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercury-Mari...E8vHhA&vxp=mtr

[gofastsandman]

Have the Rudes come to life?

[Cutiger]

Don that lift ring is what I'm about to order. It's Crazy that the Mercury branded ring is like $120.

The rudes have good compression. But there's good bit of water in one of the lowers. Neither trim works. Just decided it's more than I want to spend on them to still have 2 gas hog right hand rotation motors in the end. About to go drop them off to a buyer. The Optis cost me all of $2800 for the whole package all rigging, smartcraft gauges, SS props, everything. They have a lot of fresh parts, injectors, compressors, etc. The guy was getting them up to speed for offshore and got a deal on new zukes.

[DonV]

Oh yeah, marine pricing is crazy, especially name brands. Quick story, my high pressure fuel pump went out checked around and the marinas/repair shops wanted $650 to replace and a smooth $350 for the just the pump, of course the Mercury brand. I took it all apart and Googled the Walbro part number and I got the exact same original part from Summit Racing for $99, free shipping. Works perfect. Sorry I''m a cheap bastard!!