True to every boat stereotype, this project has stretched on for several more months and many more $$$'s than I had originally planned. But, it's been good to take care of a lot of things on this rig all at once.
Here's how it started.This started with needing to get at the gas tank under the floor, and also needing to replace the trim limit switch and sender on the back.
Project #1 - The carpet was worn out, not really glued down any more and there was screws coming up out of the floor...so while I had it out to get at the gas tank under the floor, I figured I would replace the floor and decided to put marine vinyl down instead of carpet. I started out more ambitious thinking I would redo the bow carpet and rebuild the consoles too, but ended up leaving those for a next winter project instead. I did pull out and replace the main floor, tops of the consoles and the motor enclosure. We decided on a tan (sandstone) Nautolex vinyl that looks good with the red and tan original colors on the boat. Overall not a bad project, after a bunch of reading I decided on regular ACX plywood and soaked the back with Thompsons to seal it. The vinyl and glue waterproof the top, and the edges are rolled around and glued with contact cement and stainless staples.
I did take a half dozen core samples of the foam in various areas and couldn't find any that seemed remotely damp, so thankfully I didn't have to pull all of that out and redo it too. Something had stashed about 500 acorns under one spot though, which is why the foam turned black in that spot. While I had it apart and had easy access, I replaced the fuel filler hose, fuel line to the pump, tank check valve, checked the vent hose, replaced the bilge blower and blower ducting and both battery trays and hold downs.
Project #2 - After sitting for so long it was due for new rubber on the transom in addition to the trim limit switch and sender. As soon as I pulled the drive from the gimbal housing I found out it would be a bigger project...the u-joint bellows was full of gear oil, so that meant the upper gear housing would need some new seals. I ended up replacing all of the seals in the upper housing and driveshaft, and put a speedi-sleeve on the seal surface of the driveshaft because it was pitted and failed the pressure test after I reassembled it the first time. In the process it also got a new lower shift cable, the lower shift shaft bushing/seal upgrade kit, new water pump impeller, housing and seals, new drain and vent plugs and seals, lower bushings for the trim cylinders, bellows and water pickup line.
Side project to the first 2 projects...
Last summer I could only get ~3200 rpm instead of the ~4400 or so it was supposed to top out at. I replaced the plugs, distributor cap, wires, upgraded to electronic ignition from points, rebuilt the carb, checked compression, changed props and it still wasn't getting to full power. I figured about all I had left at this point was the fuel pump, so I added a diaphragm kit on to one of my other parts orders recently. I took the pump apart last night, and found the bottom of the diaphragm shaft and the bypass line running from the pump to the carb both gummed up with some sort of blue goo. Not sure if it's marine grease or 2-stroke oil or what, and also not sure how it got there. But that couldn't have been helping the cause at all.
So, 3+ months later once my last seal gets here I can bolt the drive back on and start this thing up for the year....hopefully!