Help from the guys in the know...

[PeterMac]

Have a question I would appreciate some advice / information on from the experts on this BB.

I am looking at a boat to buy. It is a 1966, 21 foot, 4 cyl 110 hp I/O, Merc outdrive w/ power trim, rivited aluminum StarCraft. Eight year old Bentlys full canvas from top to the transom (great shape). Windshield, river anchor w/150 of rope, 5 gallon bucket anchor puller, 2 sleeper seats that sit two people back to back, with two additional seats in the back. Closed bow. Big son of a gun, room out the yingyang. The owner is asking $2,800 for the boat and a tandem axle trailer (not galvenized, about 12" tires that need replacement, with two spares). The current owner is the 3rd owner.

The boat has not seen much action for the past few years, but started up easily last night, and shifted well. The owner has performed all the routine maintenance, and it has a recently rebuilt top end. The out drive and the prop don't look like they have come in contact with rocks or the like, and there is no damage in the hull.

The trailer looks to be in good shape. It has an intersting feature that I am not sure what is for, a hinging tounge?? Not side to side, but up and down, activated by the removal of a pin. Hard to describe.
Any one know about that?

I would be using it mainly for crabbing and fishing in the bays, and maybe the Columbia and Willamette, run out in the ocean occasionally. I have wife and four kids, so the room is great. Currently we have to out in shifts because our boat is so small!

My questions are what are some of the things I should be looking for, problem wise? Does the price sound reasonable? Etc.

Also, on the either side of top part of the outdrive, there is damage resembling two small cracks, that look like something from the inside came out. One theory we received on this was possibly water had seeped in and froze in there. There wasn't anything leaking though, and the owner claims that it is not an issue

I don't mind the look due to age. It is clean 1960's vinatge. I can work with that and have fun fixing it up cosmetically, but I don't want a football field size hole I have to throw money into!

One last thing, it comes with a pretty new looking Eagle fish finder.

I plan on taking it out on the water next week, and possibly have an experienced mechanic take a look.

I appreciate any help / advice.

Thanks
Pete McCracken

[This message has been edited by PeterMac (edited 08-24-2000).]

[finclipped]

My father and I bought a 1969 Fiberform about 6 years ago. I have found it very difficult to find parts for this old of a boat.

I have spent hundreds of hours working on the boat, and inevidibly something goes wrong about every fifth day of fishing. Not that I mind spending the time fixing the boat, but I can never get the parts I need. Keep this in mind. In fact, I had planned on fishing this entire week at Buoy 10, unfortunately the outdrive we spent $1,000 rebuilding a couple years ago, is now broke again due to something else going wrong inside the gimbal housing. I simply couldn't find the parts in time and my only other option is to put a new outdrive in the boat. When something goes wrong with the motor or boat, you may not be able to find parts to fix it. I still don't know what I am going to do with mine.

[Evan0505]

Hey Pete. I can't help you on your new boat, but will you be selling your old one? Im lookin for a small boat to use on lakes and bays and stuff. What kinda boat/motor is it?

-EVAN-

[Phish_on]

I have a "tilt" trailer, it's pretty common for that vintage.

It facilitates getting the boat on and off. As the boat slides off, the trailer will flip up and dump it right in. Pretty slick - though at a shallow ramp you may not want that, I sometimes will leave the pin locked in and just push the boat off.

More or less the reverse when loading, it tips up as the bow comes on, then will tip down at a certain point. Makes it a little easier to crank that winch. (One of these days I'm going electric, then I'll know I'm "old")

Of course, it's all more of a pain that your modern EZ-Loader - drive it off, drive it on.

The price doesn't sound too bad, but I'll bet they'd come down a bit. Gotta love Bentley's, I coughed up the bucks a few years ago ... quality is worth it.

[FSH4EVR]

Check the outdrive gear oil and see if it has any water in it. If there is water the oil will be a little milky or brown looking.
I have an old fiberform and I when I needed parts I would find it cheaper to buy another old boat with the same motor and outdrive for parts. You can buy a complete boat cheaper than you can buy parts. The price is not too bad but almost all prices are negotiable

------------------

[Pilar]

PeterMac, good luck with your new adventure. Cracks in the sterndrive upper gear housing sound ominous. As previously mentioned the issue is availability of parts. I went through a somewhat newer boat (1977 140 Mercruiser) about two years ago. You really have to like fixing things to survive that experience. Two places that really helped me for parts were

Seaway Marine in Seattle, Wa. (206) 937 7373
ask for Dave.

These guys have just about anything for the Mercruisers. Including new old stock parts. It probably sat on some shelf at a dealership until Seaway bought it at auction. Still new in the box but 30 years old. and reasonable priced.

Oregon Outboard Salvage in Portland
(503) 777-1548 Mike or James

They got it too, but mostly used and darned proud of it$$. Oh and they got it no matter what on the phone but sometimes not when you show up!

Anything 20 years old or older and you have to deal with the two places above or others. The dealer will still have the wear parts, props, gaskets, outdrive bellows and u-joints, seal kits, water pumps and some other stuff. For the rest you'll hear NLA at the dealer which means no longer available.

Fsh4evr is right about buying the whole parts boat and picking it over. It's what I did. If you can store it while you get what you want its the best/cheapest way. Be careful about matching the outdrive model by using serial no.s. The early Mercruisers changed alot from year to year.

I suggest you try to find a few important parts for your prospective boat before you buy it. Get the serial # off the engine and outdrive and call around for parts. Stuff like a tilt/trim pump, Cylinder head, replacement carb, Intake/exhaust manifold, starter, drive coupler. These parts wear out and can be hard to find or rebuild.

The bend is your friend!

[PeterMac]

Thanks to all for the responses. I knew I could get some good feeback here.

Pete

[Quick Fish]

Peter,

I can't offer any advice about the I/O setup, but I have a 1968 16' StarCraft open bow aluminum boat that I have owned since 1973. It has been an excellent seaworthy boat through all its years. We even ventured out over the Columbia River bar many years ago. The only reason we made that trip was because we had a Columbia River bar pilot along as our guest skipper. After catching a few silvers that day, we went down to Cullaby Lake and went waterskiing that afternoon. This boat has been so versatile over the years that every time I think about replacing it I can't find anything in just one boat that allows me to do all the things it does. I'm running a 85 hp Merc outboard on it that does a great job on this size boat. I also have a tilt trailer under it. Until I read your post I had forgotten about this feature because it seldom needs to tilt. As a matter of fact, I need to go out and look at it because I don't think it even has a pin in it. The one thing I would change are the back to back seats. I'd really like to have some swivel buckets but in a 16 footer there isn't enough room to put more than 2 seats. Good Luck. QF

[wiser]

I bought a 16 foot Larsen Tri-hull with a 120 hp IO four years ago. It has been a great boat. I did take the back to back seats out and installed pedestal seats. I also took out the front seats and made a storage deck. With this bigger boat you may have enough storage allready. Be sure and look at the outdrive oil to make sure there isn't any water mixed in. I have to do a little maintenance now and then but that comes with any boat. I know one thing and that is that I don't have monthly payments to make and fish are attracted to my boat as well as they are to any of the new $30,000 boats I see around. If everything looks sound, it sounds like a pretty good deal to me. If the asking price is $2,800 you should be able to get the owner to come down 10 - 20 percent if they are serious about selling. When I bought my boat four years ago the asking price was $1,800. The owner didn't blink or hesitate when I told him all I could pay was $1,200.
Good Luck