I did something stupid.

Meet Boaty McBoatface: 

It's a 1977 Galaxy with a 77 Johnson 85HP outboard. "Ran when parked" and "needs TLC" but it was $600. 

She's 16' and the van tows it well. Over the winter we will see what we can do to get her running and ready for the water. Open hole in water, insert $$$.  

B.O.A.T. Bust out another twenty!

Most accurate thread title award

Who could have turned that down for $600?  He pretty much had to buy it.

No such thing as a cheap boat 

Assuming you can get it running, 85 HP on a 16 ft boat should be pretty sporty.

In reply to pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) :

I bought my Sea Ray new and over the 42 years I've owned it I've averaged about $500 a year in maintenance. Most of which I had done rather than do it myself.

So boats won't be too bad. Especially if you do the work yourself. That's a good simple boat and shouldn't cost too much to keep in reliable shape.  
 
The nice thing is it should fit in your garage. 

600 bucks?  I'm not sure that qualifies as stupid.  Get it running, get it on the water in the Spring, and enjoy the heck out of it.

I assume that Johnson is similar to my 1983 V-4 90 HP 2-stroke.  These engines have been described as virtually indestructible.  I've done all repairs and maintenance on mine.  Got a repair manual off of ebay. 

Good luck!  Enjoy!

Mr_Asa said:

B.O.A.T. Bust out another twenty!

I only ever heard that before as "thousand."

I clicked on this hoping for an example of something moar stupider than I've done of late.  Okay, a 6 hunnert buck boat might be kindasorta dum, buuuuut

The motor is super-clean and cranks easily. I could smell the bad gas from 10 feet away so I did not attempt a start. I'll go through it first, then start it on fresh gas.

I pulled the interior. All of the original seating is completely rotted, but it's all just vinyl and foam over plywood, so I will make new stuff. The main seats were replaced at some point, but even they are pretty nasty. Replacements are not too expensive. The wiring was a nightmare, so that is all gone. Next comes a vacuum and pressure wash.

The only question is the soft floor. I assumed there was plywood under the carpet, but it is all fiberglass. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Why so many wires? 6 PC speakers scattered about, all with quick-connect fittings. The entire sound system was wired with a butter knife I swear. Lights and a bilge pump and a horn were also added. the boat did not come with them as stock. Ha!

11GTCS said:

Assuming you can get it running, 85 HP on a 16 ft boat should be pretty sporty.

It is rated for 110hp. I looked it up, a new 110hp Mercury runs about $10K LOL.

matthewmcl (Forum Supporter) said:

Mr_Asa said:

B.O.A.T. Bust out another twenty!

I only ever heard that before as "thousand."

Me too, but twenty is MUCH closer to the truth unless you're in Don Johnson's boat. 

Nasty seats,

Rotten sheet,

You, your project boat, and your Johnson.

In reply to pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) :

A soft fiberglass floor can be made firm very easily. Cut out a sheet of 1/2 plywood. Make sure it fits well he pull it  and put a thick layer of fiberglass resin on top of the old fiberglass With  a little (10% )  less hardener than normally would be required. Use a paint roller to spread it evenly. 
Now put the plywood on the wet resin. And put another layer of resin over the top of the plywood. Next  add a sheet or two of fiberglass cloth. ( use the same pattern as the plywood but add a couple of inches all the way around).  Use a squeegee  to spread the resin smoothly and seal the edge up along the boat hull. 

In reply to pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) :

Oh, I'm aware.   I replaced a 1989 Mercury 90 HP with an Evinrude 90 HP back in 2012 for our 17' Whaler.   If you can get that one going for a carb cleaning and a set of plugs it's a total win.   Get yourself a good in line water separator / filter even if you're running on 6 gallon tanks.   Plugging up one of the three carbs and running lean on one cylinder is likely what took my old engine out.   

French’s is absolutely correct on the method. As long as there are no structural problems under that soft deck! And the chances of having a soft deck, and no damage underneath it are somewhere between slim and none. And slim ain’t feelin’ too good. 

Looks like a great project, and well worth the sweat equity. 

03Panther said:

French’s is absolutely correct on the method. As long as there are no structural problems under that soft deck! And the chances of having a soft deck, and no damage underneath it are somewhere between slim and none. And slim ain’t feelin’ too good. 

Looks like a great project, and well worth the sweat equity. 

I am assuming there is damage, so I am going to remove a section and take a look. I assume I will replace/repair some stringers and the original wood floor (sorry, deck) then re-fiberglass. Its only bad in the very middle, so it won't be front to back. I mean, stem to stern.

good to see more people suffering with my affliction.  My current Boat to Car ratio is 1:1 and not getting any better

Looks like a fun project. 

All I have to add is use epoxy resin instead of polyester. I used polyester on my last floor replacement and it only lasted about 8 years before it started going soft again. The epoxy I used in the jet boat is as hard as it was the day I built it. The extra cost is well worth it. 

"Ran when parked" is more confidence inspiring than "ran just before it sank" .

Have fun!  I'm a boat freak.  If you DIY stuff, it's cheap.  Dirt cheap.  I bought an $1100 Baja with grass growing out of the motor stringers.  The boat was worthless, but the trailer was easily worth the $1100.

Full gutting, new wood, new glass, new Vortec 350, and for less than $3500 I had a 65 mph bullet that I sold for much more than I had in it.

Engine manual should be on here http://www.boatinfo.no/lib/library.html

matthewmcl (Forum Supporter) said:

Mr_Asa said:

B.O.A.T. Bust out another twenty!

I only ever heard that before as "thousand."

Maybe with big boats, but with that thing it won't need much.