Greetings all,
Newbie to the forum but have been into the hot boat scene for a while, I guess you could say I grew up on boats. Checkmates have always held a special place for me, among others brands such as Hydrostream (dad owns a nicely restored Viper we returned from certain doom).
I recently picked up my new toy, she is a 1988 Starflite in the color combination I always wanted. My dad owned one of these brand new back in the day (I was real young, but this was always my favorite). Found it an hour from home for the right price. It needs a complete detailing and some other work, but overall is among the nicest 1988 boats I've seen in a long time.
So far, I've started detailing the interior, fixed the sagging carpet on the bow partition under the deck, my dad rebuilt the rear seat support, removed the fuel tank to have new mount brackets welded (old ones fatigued and the tank wasnt sitting level), scrubbed her bilge clean with citrus cleaner, cleaned up and inspected her wiring near the battery, came up with a new battery box and hold down, fixed some loose deck hardware, and have many plans including a new water pressure guage, top to bottom polishing and waxing, new stereo, and new propeller (21 pitch Hi-Five turns too many RPM) and this winter the motor will come off and a custom fabbed aluminum transom plate is going on. She is solid as a boat can be, no rot whatsoever. The motor is a 1988 200 2.4 Merc with great compression, new stator, 1 new switchbox, and all new seals on the gearcase, and a new water pump impeller as well. It runs as nice as it looks.
I must say, I am extremely impressed with Checkmates' build quality and how nice the layup looks. The gelcoat work is top-notch even for the boat's age.
Hope everyone has a great summer & fall season on the water. Awesome forum!
Jeff
Newbie to the forum but have been into the hot boat scene for a while, I guess you could say I grew up on boats. Checkmates have always held a special place for me, among others brands such as Hydrostream (dad owns a nicely restored Viper we returned from certain doom).
I recently picked up my new toy, she is a 1988 Starflite in the color combination I always wanted. My dad owned one of these brand new back in the day (I was real young, but this was always my favorite). Found it an hour from home for the right price. It needs a complete detailing and some other work, but overall is among the nicest 1988 boats I've seen in a long time.
So far, I've started detailing the interior, fixed the sagging carpet on the bow partition under the deck, my dad rebuilt the rear seat support, removed the fuel tank to have new mount brackets welded (old ones fatigued and the tank wasnt sitting level), scrubbed her bilge clean with citrus cleaner, cleaned up and inspected her wiring near the battery, came up with a new battery box and hold down, fixed some loose deck hardware, and have many plans including a new water pressure guage, top to bottom polishing and waxing, new stereo, and new propeller (21 pitch Hi-Five turns too many RPM) and this winter the motor will come off and a custom fabbed aluminum transom plate is going on. She is solid as a boat can be, no rot whatsoever. The motor is a 1988 200 2.4 Merc with great compression, new stator, 1 new switchbox, and all new seals on the gearcase, and a new water pump impeller as well. It runs as nice as it looks.
I must say, I am extremely impressed with Checkmates' build quality and how nice the layup looks. The gelcoat work is top-notch even for the boat's age.
Hope everyone has a great summer & fall season on the water. Awesome forum!
Jeff
to the forum!
and will have wait for spring on that too.