1986 Seville for a New Boater

W

Warwgn

Member
Mar 8, 2016
98
Jackson MS
Boat Info
1986 Seville CC 18.5'
Engines
3.0 Mercruiser 140Hp
Brand new here and hope to get info and learn a thing or two. Well first off I have never owned a boat, my family had a boat when I was a kid, a bass boat with a 135 O/B that we used for fishing and skiing. Some of the best memories I had as a kid involved that boat, so recently I got a wild hare and decided to get a boat. The search consisted of 2 days, started looking on craigslist then mentioned to a coworker I was looking for a boat and it just happened he had one to get rid of. So I went a looked at it and took it home to assess the situation, it is rough and needs work but I am a handy guy. First order was to see if the engine works or not, which is where I am still at. At first it was frozen up and the battery was dead, so got some PB blaster in the cylinders and pulled the spar battery out of my truck and got it to spin over but not fire.

So I think the engine is in workable order and the rest I can sort out, so I offered him $500 and it is my problem now.
20160305_102638_zpsiemx6msa.jpg


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I think my first step now it to buy a good battery, some new plugs, drain the fuel tank and put fresh gas in it, then try t fire it up again and see what happens. It did come close to firing up so I think there is hope, I am not to worried about the mechanical stuff or the wiring, but when I replace the deck I would be glad to listen to advise.
 
Soooo... First, welcome to the Forum. You will find a wealth of information here. Next it's always cool to see a new boater join the rest of us wack-jobs.

Next I suggest you read the post I put up last year. There is a link to it below. Let's talk after you read it.

http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/73416-It-s-Not-That-Great-of-a-Deal

Good luck,
Shawn
 
Welcome to CSR! You'll enjoy this site and all the information it has to offer.

Although I agree with NorCal Boater about how "good deals" quickly turn into a lot of money spent, it really depends on what you're planning on doing to the boat. If you're looking to restore this boat to factory condition I'd stop right now and see if you can sell it for what you paid and walk away. If you're looking for a boat to go fishing/skiing with on the weekends or a working boat, it makes sense to keep moving forward.

My theory is this...I can find late 80's fish/ski boats all day long here in Florida for $2500. Just buy it and drop it in the water. So, if you can get the engine running well and the drive works you now have a boat for much less than market. However, if you're looking to restore that boat to factory condition I can tell you the canvas alone will cost nearly $1500, reupholstering the interior is about $3000. which puts you behind the eight ball!

I'm not a dream crusher but more of a realist. I look at the time it's going to take, the cash I'll have to spend and what I could buy for the same money without doing any work.

No matter what way you go I wish you luck.
 
HA HA, very well put. I am under no delusions about what I am getting into and expect I will never get my money back out of it. Funny side note, I also have a 1986 Suburban I have been fixing up the last seven years, lots of custom made parts and way more money that I should have ever spent. I am on my third engine which is a 496 with 577HP and 633Lbs of torque, didn’t need that much engine but I got a little carried away when I built it. I also have a 1986 Honda Nighthawk that I just repainted so it would match my helmet, spent about a week doing that but only cost around $60 bucks to do. Looks great and I love it but added no value to the bike.
Then the big gorilla in my room, a 72 VW Bug that has about 10K in it so far, not to mention the cost of a mig welder, plasma cutter, torch, and various other odds and ends I needed to customize it. The best part is the bug still is not painted and has not a single wire or piece of glass in it, I have boxes of parts around the shop, and some in my bedroom just waiting for their new home. But that is how it goes for me when I see something I want I usually get it.
Now for this boat project, I think it is a real mess, but as soon as I saw it sitting there on that small trailer, with the tarp and pine straw covering it I knew it was coming home with me. Even better was when I un buttoned the cover and saw into it for the first time I knew I would buy it. Everybody thinks I am crazy and should save my money and put it into some other boat, but I see the potential in this one and just have to make it happen, not for any other reason than I can.
I sure hope I am not the only crazy person out there, and highly suspect I am not.
 
Ok made some progress, siphoned the dark yellow old gas out of the tank about 10 gallons so that will help when I put in new gas to keep things in order. Also checked the fuel filter and it was dry as a bone, so carb was not getting fuel for sure. Not sure if the pump is bad or not will need to get some gas and pour a little in to prime it then gonna put the line down in my small gas can so it will draw fresh clean fuel and see what it does. If it's good I can hook the line back to the carb and start working on spark.
 
Where the fuel line hooks to the tank there is a anti siphon valve and the fitting going into the tank has a pickup tube on it check both of those.
 
I did, old gas tastes nasty, but fuel comes through the tank up the line to the pump just fine. The whole pump was dry and so was the line when I pulled it to check. Either the pump is bad or it dried out sitting so long and just can't prime now without help.
 
If the deck is soft make sure you check the stringers & transom for rot also before dumping 3k into a $2,000 boat. Good luck.
 
Seems like the rot was just a center piece that goes over the fuel tank, not positive need to pull the rest of the carpet up and clean out all the junk and rotted wood so I can check it all out. Also need to pull the tank out so I can check under it and clean the floor or hull which ever it is. Gotta YouTube and see how to get it out.
 
Whoa Cowboy.... Before you try and fire that thing up you should change the outdrive water pump. You want to get it started and have no water going through it. In fact, if it were me I think I'd flush some water through the entire cooling system before starting.
 
Change the pump? How do I check to see if it's good or bad?

Well the fuel pump works so that is a plus, still didn't fire up though. I don't plan on running it for more than a couple seconds, I did hook up the suction cup thing and hooked up the hose to the out drive but didn't seem like it did much?

Here is a pic from tonight, try not to laff too hard.

20160309_192930_zpsdly4t12n.jpg


I really don't care how much I spend on this project so just want to throw that out there, this is about having fun for me and doing something I have not done before. Some people spend a lot of money at theme parks or gambling in Las Vegas, I take old busted up things and make them work again, and most of time make them something more than they were. The other part of this is having fun with the kids so need to get it in the water asap, which means patch it up for now, then do it all again over the winter and make it 100% for next season.

Need to see if this 140 horse will be enough for now or will I upgrade over the winter, that will determine what I do about the transom and stringers and motor mounts. If the 140 is just not gonna do it for me I will prolly go V8?
 
I do appericate yall giving input and keeping me honest, I have never done any of this before so it all helps! I have built engines, transmissions, suspensions, roll cages, body work, fiberglass, etc.... just not on a boat. Point is I have ability but not all the know how so help is greatly appreciated! !
 
Warwgn said:
Change the pump? How do I check to see if it's good or bad?

Well the fuel pump works so that is a plus, still didn't fire up though. I don't plan on running it for more than a couple seconds, I did hook up the suction cup thing and hooked up the hose to the out drive but didn't seem like it did much?

Here is a pic from tonight, try not to laff too hard.

20160309_192930_zpsdly4t12n.jpg


I really don't care how much I spend on this project so just want to throw that out there, this is about having fun for me and doing something I have not done before. Some people spend a lot of money at theme parks or gambling in Las Vegas, I take old busted up things and make them work again, and most of time make them something more than they were. The other part of this is having fun with the kids so need to get it in the water asap, which means patch it up for now, then do it all again over the winter and make it 100% for next season.

Need to see if this 140 horse will be enough for now or will I upgrade over the winter, that will determine what I do about the transom and stringers and motor mounts. If the 140 is just not gonna do it for me I will prolly go V8?
Click to expand...

Trust me.... If the engine is in the condition you've described the water pump in the outdrive is garbage. Check YouTube. There are countless videos on how to do anything on this boat from repairing the floors to rebuilding the carb.
 
Sounds good to me, a quick look shows the kit is around 25 - 40 bucks so no biggie at all. Will figure out which outdrive I have and get the kit on order today. Hope to at least hear it run this weekend if only for a few seconds.
 
just an example of my trying, here is my 86 Nighthawk, just repainted it from all blue to this. I have never painted before so was just an experiment, learned a lot ad when I do it with a real paint gun should turn out perfect.

20160306_171321_zpstmortolv.jpg
 
Ok parts ordered, water pump kit, pertronics flame thrower coil, and 2 fuel filters. Can pick up gear oil local and figure 2 filters since the gas was in the tank so long I will change it after the first hour or so of running the boat if not sooner.

So now that I will be waiting for parts, and the rain to stop guess I will clean up the shop from the bike painting project and start a new shelf for spare boat stuff. I really need to build a bigger shop so I can pull the boat in it and the suburban they are both stuck with being in the elements while I work on them.
 
Got the tank out and was surprised to see everything in one piece, tapping and stringers sound mostly solid but definitely think in the future I will have to replace them but they should be fine for one full season. Bought some fiberglass mat and resin anyway and will beef up the edges and paint before I put the tank back in, then gotta put in a new section of deck over the tank.

Having fun with it so far, lots of cleaning going on.
 
I refurbished that exact same boat for a friend a few years ago. His is a 1984 and not as bad as yours but it had been sitting for about 2 1/2 years uncovered in the sun. With his boat I made sure the engine was not frozen by turning it over by hand. Knowing the engine was OK I turned my attention to the outdrive. It was going to have to be done anyway so I wanted to get it out of the way so I could concentrate on the motor.

I pulled the outdrive (Mercruiser Alpha 1 Gen I) and checked the u-joints, changed the gimbal bearing, the shift cable and all 3 bellows. Next I changed the water pump, put everything back together and put it back on the boat. While the drive was off I also changed the trim cylinder bushings. Next I squirted some Mystery Oil in each cylinder, pulled it over by hand for a while then changed the oil and filter along with the fuel filter. I didn't want to mess with the old fuel at all so I rigged a small (3 gal) fuel tank with fresh fuel. I then cranked it over (new battery), gave it a shot of starting fluid and it started right up. It turned out it needed a carb rebuild which I had never done but bought the kit, set my computer up at the work bench and turned on the You Tube video on rebuilding the Mercarb. Made some adjustments and it ran/runs great.

After that is was just a matter of clean, scrub, polish and buff. It came out really nice. You can't tell from this pic but it actually has a really nice shine on it.



I hope this helps. Remember, there's never time, or money, to do it right but always time and money to do it over.

Shawn
 
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