Hello everyone,
I'm new to the forum and relatively new to boating. I just acquired an old 74 Bassmate with an 850 merc engine for a good price(i think). As of yet, I don't think I'll need to restore it completely yet, but it's going to need a little rehab work. I could be wrong though.
The good:
I believe the transom is alright. I took a hammer and tapped around every place I could reach and everything sounded fine.
Luckily, it has had at least a nice vented custom cover over it, it's entire life. The cover is in poor condition now and severely sun faded, but it's still holding water tight except for one small rip where the trolling motor is located
There are no holes in the deck from rot. There are a couple soft spots from wear and tear, but every spot where(i believe) stringers exist, are solid.
The trim pump works, but there's more noted below.
It comes with a brand new 19p stainless prop. I can't remember, but i think it's a Michigan prop.
The bad:
Sorry to say about checkmate, but whoever wired this boat may have been drunk, genetically challenged, or was forced to use cheap/fast methods by the powers that be. I'm speaking about the poor choice of connectors, extra wiring when not needed, splices, etc. On top of this, the previous owners botched and half-arsed quite a bit of the wiring. This isn't the first time I've seen this, as my sea ray is similar. I'm a serious electronics hobbyist, and my father is professional. We must have ripped out 200 feet of old defunct wiring. The rest of the boat wiring is pretty much junk at this point due to cracking insulation and other wear and tear. There's enough electrical tape to attach and restrain a drunk boater to a ceiling. We're going to rewire it completely and properly and draw up a nice wiring diagram for the boat.
There are tons of holes everywhere from the bilge to the bow that need to be gone through and reglassed/patched properly. The old cracking putty and shoddy patch work preclude this boat from currently being seaworthy. I can't imagine how this boat still floats without a 2000gpm bilge pump. There's enough putty caked around the livewell through hull fitting to redo a bathroom. The deck has all sorts of holes filled with that rubbery bathroom silicone junk.
Speaking of the bilge pump. I don't think garden hose and cpvc qualifies as acceptable plumbing for both the bilge pump and livewell pump.
The pilot's seat base was ripped out long ago. The previous owners tried to secure the seat post down to the deck sans base and failed. I'm going to rip out both bases and glass in a nice box to mount a 58" bench seat.
The engine? Geez. All of the wiring is junk, and I ended up buying a new harness. The new stator comes in next week. It was a pile of tin coated wire and potting epoxy. It will require a tune up. I need to buy a new compression gauge or leakdown tester, as mine disappeared in a friends garage/toolbox long ago, so I can't give any compression numbers right now. Also the skeg needs a little repair work.
Eventually the boat will need to be painted or re-gel coated on the outside. I don't know what i'm going to do yet. I like the metal flake, but I don't know what it's going to take to repair it and make it look factory new. I'll have to study a little more. I'm going to try to clean the hull first before I make any more decisions.
Conclusion so far:
This seems like it will be a nice boat eventually, but it's going to take some hard work, money, and elbow grease to make it seaworthy. I like the quality of the glass work and finish that was put into it when the boat was originally built. I apologize if I offend anyone that worked on the electrical side from the factory.
As an example of the shoddy owner work, i have a couple pictures of how the engine harness was repaired. I'll take some pictures next week of the boat itself.
I'm new to the forum and relatively new to boating. I just acquired an old 74 Bassmate with an 850 merc engine for a good price(i think). As of yet, I don't think I'll need to restore it completely yet, but it's going to need a little rehab work. I could be wrong though.
The good:
I believe the transom is alright. I took a hammer and tapped around every place I could reach and everything sounded fine.
Luckily, it has had at least a nice vented custom cover over it, it's entire life. The cover is in poor condition now and severely sun faded, but it's still holding water tight except for one small rip where the trolling motor is located
There are no holes in the deck from rot. There are a couple soft spots from wear and tear, but every spot where(i believe) stringers exist, are solid.
The trim pump works, but there's more noted below.
It comes with a brand new 19p stainless prop. I can't remember, but i think it's a Michigan prop.
The bad:
Sorry to say about checkmate, but whoever wired this boat may have been drunk, genetically challenged, or was forced to use cheap/fast methods by the powers that be. I'm speaking about the poor choice of connectors, extra wiring when not needed, splices, etc. On top of this, the previous owners botched and half-arsed quite a bit of the wiring. This isn't the first time I've seen this, as my sea ray is similar. I'm a serious electronics hobbyist, and my father is professional. We must have ripped out 200 feet of old defunct wiring. The rest of the boat wiring is pretty much junk at this point due to cracking insulation and other wear and tear. There's enough electrical tape to attach and restrain a drunk boater to a ceiling. We're going to rewire it completely and properly and draw up a nice wiring diagram for the boat.
There are tons of holes everywhere from the bilge to the bow that need to be gone through and reglassed/patched properly. The old cracking putty and shoddy patch work preclude this boat from currently being seaworthy. I can't imagine how this boat still floats without a 2000gpm bilge pump. There's enough putty caked around the livewell through hull fitting to redo a bathroom. The deck has all sorts of holes filled with that rubbery bathroom silicone junk.
Speaking of the bilge pump. I don't think garden hose and cpvc qualifies as acceptable plumbing for both the bilge pump and livewell pump.
The pilot's seat base was ripped out long ago. The previous owners tried to secure the seat post down to the deck sans base and failed. I'm going to rip out both bases and glass in a nice box to mount a 58" bench seat.
The engine? Geez. All of the wiring is junk, and I ended up buying a new harness. The new stator comes in next week. It was a pile of tin coated wire and potting epoxy. It will require a tune up. I need to buy a new compression gauge or leakdown tester, as mine disappeared in a friends garage/toolbox long ago, so I can't give any compression numbers right now. Also the skeg needs a little repair work.
Eventually the boat will need to be painted or re-gel coated on the outside. I don't know what i'm going to do yet. I like the metal flake, but I don't know what it's going to take to repair it and make it look factory new. I'll have to study a little more. I'm going to try to clean the hull first before I make any more decisions.
Conclusion so far:
This seems like it will be a nice boat eventually, but it's going to take some hard work, money, and elbow grease to make it seaworthy. I like the quality of the glass work and finish that was put into it when the boat was originally built. I apologize if I offend anyone that worked on the electrical side from the factory.
As an example of the shoddy owner work, i have a couple pictures of how the engine harness was repaired. I'll take some pictures next week of the boat itself.
