1972 SR SRV200 with an Olds 455/Berkeley Jet Drive

OK, i found this boat on my local CL last week and after looking it over and doing some research we worked out a deal and i brought it home today.

The boat overall seems pretty solid for its age, the hour meter says 601 and the engine looks pretty clean as well. Its been sitting up for atleast 8-10 years as the last time it was registered was 2003, and the guy i bought it from had a mechanic look at and run the engine about 18 months ago and didn't really do anything to it sense.

I stopped at a car wash on the way home and after 18 bucks and an hour and a half i think i tripled the value! LOL It actually cleaned up pretty well, it doesn't have any seats and just a small amount of the original interior trim left, Ive been thinking about it for a few days and i think my plan for the interior is to build a bench style seat in front of the engine with a sundeck type deal over top of the engine and two swivel bucket seats in the two front positions. Should still be able to seat 5-6 adults comfortably and not be to cramped up.

First and foremost my plan is to clean out the exhaust as there are alot of dirt dobber nests and make sure the gas tank and fuel lines are all good, and also give all the cooling hoses a once over and get it in the water and see how it runs/drives to make sure its sound mechanically. If everything checks out there im gonna make a few upgrades to the engine, tune up with a new HEI distributor to get rid of the points one in it now, dual plane high rise aluminum intake and a 650 or 750 carb and all new hoses and alt belt, just basic maintenance.

Over the winter season im gonna try and get the floor redone and get the new seats in it and get it ready for next summer and get out and enjoy it!!

Welcome to the fun! :smt038

SyTy Speed Shop said:

If everything checks out there im gonna make a few upgrades to the engine, tune up with a new HEI distributor to get rid of the points

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You may want to look into the simple and cost effective Pertronix ignition change.
If you have any questions on what to order they are great with making a package work for you over the phone.
Here is a copy from our restoration thread and the ignition upgrade:



The distributers are "evenfire" IBM 7018 on a pair of 185 Mercruisers (229 c.i.d. / 3.8 L Chervrolet V6's).
Pertronix 153A Ignitors with Pertronix 40611 Epoxy Coils were used for the conversion.
A simple installation - unscrew the old points and condensor plate and remove.
Install the new ignition, connect the ground, coil and ignition wires.
Warm up the engine, set the timing - done.
Spark plug gap was increased .005"

KC_Sundancer said:

Welcome to the fun! :smt038



You may want to look into the simple and cost effective Pertronix ignition change.
If you have any questions on what to order they are great with making a package work for you over the phone.
Here is a copy from our restoration thread and the ignition upgrade:

The distributers are "evenfire" IBM 7018 on a pair of 185 Mercruisers (229 c.i.d. / 3.8 L Chervrolet V6's).
Pertronix 153A Ignitors with Pertronix 40611 Epoxy Coils were used for the conversion.
A simple installation - unscrew the old points and condensor plate and remove.
Install the new ignition, connect the ground, coil and ignition wires.
Warm up the engine, set the timing - done.
Spark plug gap was increased .005"

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, i had forgotten about these kits, and always heard they work well. Ill def look into it.

Any pictures of the boat? I would like to see the jetdrive set up.


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h_gerry said:

Any pictures of the boat? I would like to see the jetdrive set up.


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Sorry for the late reply, but life has kept me busy and the boat had to take a backseat, But this past weekend i finally found some time to get the old floor pulled up and get a good look at the nasty that awaited underneath and like i suspected the old stringers and foam are rotted and will have to be redone. The stringers under the engine seem solid and i cant find any soft spots in the transom so i may get lucky there, and will probably pull the engine and jet drive out and redo the stringers from front to back with new engine mounts, and also make sure the water intake on the bottom of the jet drive is all sealed up good.

























It wont be seeing the water this year, but my goal is to have it lake ready by next year!

Interesting looking boat you have there.

Looks like you have your work cut out for you. Good luck with the project.

OldSkool said:

Looks like you have your work cut out for you. Good luck with the project.

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Thanks and yes i def have some work ahead of me, but i feel that its rarity makes it worth the effort, plus i can do most if not all the work myself so that def save on the money side.

Originally the boat was white with the green avacado interior and i want to change it up and do a white and dark purple color scheme and cant decide if i want to redo the exterior of the hull back to original white or do it in a dark purple metallic, i like the idea of dark purple metallic but painting and or doing a gel coat gets expensive, there are several small spots on the outer hull that will need repaired so i was thinking maybe just doing gel coat with a roller would be the easiest.

is that an electric water pump in front of the engine?

Saverio said:

is that an electric water pump in front of the engine?

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No, its got a Hardin Marine block off with the hose fittings, no water pump at all, the berkeley jet pump pumps the water to the engine.

check out the repair section at
http://forums.bateau2.com

They are a great resource for rebuilding stringers, floor, transom and etc.