FINALLY found an 84' 255 AJ to buy!

[270win]

I went to get the boat last Friday, the mechanic had done nothing to it, no call, no information, nothing. I didn't even speak to him, just drove up, hooked up to it and left, heck, he may not even know it's gone yet...guess I'll do the starter myself!

I've also got a guy coming next week to soda blast the hull, the old bottom paint it just too hard to sand off, he's charging me $300 to do the whole thing which will save me TONS of time. I'll roll on the new black paint right after, of course I'll take pics of the process.

After that it's splash time, I'm done working on it, for now...hopefully!

 

[Pyrojodge]

Sorry to hear about your mechanic issues... Don't feel bad I've been waiting on mine to do my packing since March!!! $300 sounds like a great deal to not have to sand the old paint... Best of luck and I hope you hit the water soon!

 

[270win]

I thought that was a great deal too. It's been in the mid to upper 80s here all week, I'm dying to get to the lake!!!

 

[BLmicro]

I have an '82 255AJ and the tandem axle trailer that is rated for 6500lbs looks like its straining a bit. It feels pretty heavy on the road although stopping isn't as difficult as I would expect with a trailer with no brakes (although never over 45mph).

Going through the teak woes as well. I gave teak oil one last try this season since I bought a cover for it. Without the cover the teak barely lasted 2 weeks before needing redone. Think I'm going to try the Cetol or Honey Teak system next season.

-BL

 

[270win]

I have an '82 255AJ and the tandem axle trailer that is rated for 6500lbs looks like its straining a bit. It feels pretty heavy on the road although stopping isn't as difficult as I would expect with a trailer with no brakes (although never over 45mph).

Going through the teak woes as well. I gave teak oil one last try this season since I bought a cover for it. Without the cover the teak barely lasted 2 weeks before needing redone. Think I'm going to try the Cetol or Honey Teak system next season.

-BL

Are you running an Alpha drive with the 454? How does the boat perform? I like the retro tow rig!

 

[BLmicro]

The 454 is bone stock other than the computer controlled ignition. It has a TR drive with a prop as big as a ceiling fan. 35mph tops, but no surprise dragging a lower that is at least 6" deeper than it needs to be. It doesn't seem to mind how much weight is on board people/gas/kid stuff so I guess it's working as designed. It's quiet, smooth and can handle anything our river can dish out. The kids love it, big and wide compared to our center console fishing boat.

Performance is my biz but on the weekends smooth and quiet is so welcome. That said I still like the Rattler's 496 conversion! Someday

-BL

 

[270win]

The 454 is bone stock other than the computer controlled ignition. It has a TR drive with a prop as big as a ceiling fan. 35mph tops, but no surprise dragging a lower that is at least 6" deeper than it needs to be. It doesn't seem to mind how much weight is on board people/gas/kid stuff so I guess it's working as designed. It's quiet, smooth and can handle anything our river can dish out. The kids love it, big and wide compared to our center console fishing boat.

Performance is my biz but on the weekends smooth and quiet is so welcome. That said I still like the Rattler's 496 conversion! Someday

-BL

I'm thinking about a 454 conversion on my AJ this winter. I think an Alpha will hold up handled gently...but I don't know if I want to have the question mark in my head about it holding up to the 454, even just cruising along, the torque is what I think kills the Alphas.

 

[CAGE RATTLER]

A good mechanic is definitely hard to find!
I've heard so many horror stories of marine mechanics screwing up peoples boats, I try to do everything myself. Good luck with that starter though. Its tight down there.

I know a guy that put in 2 new engines last year and the marina supposedly winterized them for him and now his 2 new engines both have cracked blocks due to freezing.

You may need to do what I did when i put rear shims in. I loosened the front mounts and the rear mount bolts and jacked the engine up on each side. I used a bottle jack with a 2x8 under it (near the stringer) and jacked under the manifolds right near a mounting bolt and it was nice and solid. Might want to brace it more with something after jacking it up though since you'll be working under the engine. That should give you a little more clearance to get the starter off.

Micro, you actually pulling that AJ with a station wagon?? Hope you arent going far.
I bought an F150 with a 5.4 to pull mine this year and starting to wish I got an F250. These AJ's are HEAVY!! But I only haul twice a year and only a few miles each way.

 

[270win]

A good mechanic is definitely hard to find!
I've heard so many horror stories of marine mechanics screwing up peoples boats, I try to do everything myself. Good luck with that starter though. Its tight down there.

I know a guy that put in 2 new engines last year and the marina supposedly winterized them for him and now his 2 new engines both have cracked blocks due to freezing.

You may need to do what I did when i put rear shims in. I loosened the front mounts and the rear mount bolts and jacked the engine up on each side. I used a bottle jack with a 2x8 under it (near the stringer) and jacked under the manifolds right near a mounting bolt and it was nice and solid. Might want to brace it more with something after jacking it up though since you'll be working under the engine. That should give you a little more clearance to get the starter off.

Micro, you actually pulling that AJ with a station wagon?? Hope you arent going far.
I bought an F150 with a 5.4 to pull mine this year and starting to wish I got an F250. These AJ's are HEAVY!! But I only haul twice a year and only a few miles each way.

I have a big forklift to raise or a shop crane to raise the motor with. Do I have to pull the upper drive to prevent any binding or breaking anything? How high can I lift it without breaking or bending anything? I'm concerned about the coupler too...but if it's doable to raise it enough to pull and replace that starter then I'm going to just make it happen myself.

The guys came and soda blasted the hull yesterday, it looks much better now! ZERO blisters anywhere so I'm really happy about that. I do have a few gel coat nicks and gouges to fix but nothing major and all under the bottom paint. I've already got the two gallons on Petit black antifouling paint ready to go...now just need the time to start doing it. I'd say that I'll just pay someone, but competence seems to be in short supply these days on just about every level.

I just sold my F150 and bought my old 99' F350 back from my buddy, the 04' 150 I had pulled the boat down here from Philly pretty well...but my F350 does a much better job, since we are planning to take her on numerous beach trips(350 miles one way), the smaller truck just wasn't going to work.

 

[BLmicro]

I only tow local with the wagon, maybe 20 miles one way. Its pretty HD itself, 440 4brl, big axle and leafs. The leaf springs really show when pulling it out on the ramp, they really plant the rear tires. No slippage at all and its an open diff w/ 2.76 gears! Jaws drop at the dock when people see that car pull that big boat out without slipping while the typical F150 rear wheel drive truck smokes 10k miles off the rear tires pulling out a similar boat. When we tow across state I pull it with an RV that has an 8.1 Vortec and 5 speed Allison/5:14 gears. Thats plenty. Thats why I like the idea of the 496 in the boat, such a great motor.

They made an HD Alpha drive good to 350hp. (Alpha III ??) Used mainly behind the 5.7 Mag. That may be the way to go for you since it would bolt on. In my case I either have to rebuild the transom to upgrade to the Bravo or go with a Konrad drive ($$). But I kinda like my mini automatic trans :grin: (Merc-o-matic). Super smooth shifting. Rattler, how did rebuilding your transom work out? You upgraded from a TR right?

I'm think of getting the old paint blasted off the bottom of my 255 but since the boat doesn't sit on the water I'm thinking why worry? So many other improvements on the list. :smt101

-BL

 

[CAGE RATTLER]

You definitely have to pull the drive off before raising your engine.

My 85 AJ Had an 03 350 MAG MPI and the Bravo 1 drive on it when I got it.
The transom assembly was replaced due to corrosion. Had 2 holes about the size of dimes in it. When they pulled the transom assembly off they found the wood soft around the outdrive opening. We cut out about 18" of transom wood around the opening and replaced that section only instead of doing the entire transom.

 

[270win]

How much are those Konrad drives?

If I'm painting the bottom, do I need to use gel coat to fix the small gouges etc? Or will something like bondo work? It'll be covered with bottom paint so appearance it not an issue, just wondering if it would be water tight? I know it's easy to apply and smooth it.

Thanks, Cage, I'm going to remove the upper tomorrow and get that darn starter installed early next week when I can get to the crane in the shop. It would be great to get the bottom paint done by the end of next week too.

Man I'm ready to splash this thing!!!

 

[CAGE RATTLER]

Been wanting to soda blast my bottom as well. $300 doesn't sound bad.

Did the soda blasting remove the barrier coat? If so you'll need a new coat of that before bottom painting.

I would think any waterproof filler would be fine. I've used epoxy filler on my pulpit and its good stuff but a lil expensive.

 

[270win]

Been wanting to soda blast my bottom as well. $300 doesn't sound bad.

Did the soda blasting remove the barrier coat? If so you'll need a new coat of that before bottom painting.

I would think any waterproof filler would be fine. I've used epoxy filler on my pulpit and its good stuff but a lil expensive.

Sorry, I keep saying soda, they actually used sponge...yes, like the soft sponge you use to wash the boat...craziest thing I've ever seen. I had no idea they could do that. The barrier coat is thin but it's still there. I'll research whether bondo is water proof or not, I'm pretty sure it is though.

 

[BLmicro]

Do not use bondo under the waterline. I wouldn't even trust the waterproof stuff. Use gelcoat repair or epoxy mixed with micro-balloon filler. Most bondo is very porous and will absorb water over time. It really has no place on a boat above or below the waterline.

Konrads are top of the line but will exceed the value of the boat. Around 8k$ still worth it from what I've read.

-BL

 

[270win]

Do not use bondo under the waterline. I wouldn't even trust the waterproof stuff. Use gelcoat repair or epoxy mixed with micro-balloon filler. Most bondo is very porous and will absorb water over time. It really has no place on a boat above or below the waterline.

Konrads are top of the line but will exceed the value of the boat. Around 8k$ still worth it from what I've read.

-BL

$8K?!?!? holy cow!

I was reading about bondo, you're right, it's not water proof. Faring (sp) the edges of the nicks/gouges with a dremel and filling with gel coat paste is the way to go. Then adding a catalyst to re-activate the gel surrounding the repair. From there it's just like bondo in the way it goes on, but it has to have a plastic film over it for it to cure. Then just sand and paint away. Time to break out the respirator and the dremel tool...

 

[BLmicro]

Have you ever used Marine-Tex? Its an incredibly durable white paste epoxy that can be used thin or very thick (inches). I'll bet that would work also since you're not worried about color match. That stuff is so tough we use it inside engines to change port dimensions, take up crank case space (two strokes) and other uses since it can be milled and is impervious to gas and oil. 10x stronger than your typical Devcon/JB-weld type epoxy and no shrinkage. Although some of the aluminum infused Devcon is really good as well.

-BL

 

[270win]

I went with a marine epoxy filler. It air cures unlike gel coat and cures in 15 minutes...so small batches, but it's a 50/50 mix so it's easy to get the mix correct. I'll wipe the spots with acetone and start wiping and swiping. More pics to come!

 

[270win]

The epoxy was interlux, it went on just like bondo and dried really hard! I'm going to sand and hit a few of the bigger spots tomorrow and then it should be ready for paint. We're doing that this weekend.

When I raise the engine, I'm thinking about removing it for a day or two to do some cleaning underneath it and also fix some minor oil leaks...etc. with everything else I'll be unhooking and disconnecting, I figure it's just about as easy to just pull it out and give it the once over.

 

[270win]

Well, it poured rain all day yesterday so we did all the buffing in the shop, we cut it with Meguiars compound, then went back with paste wax...I'll post pics once the bottom paint is done, but she's lookin' much better now.

We're going to try to pull the engine tonight, the biggest delay in getting it back in (If all goes according to plan), is having the starter rebuilt. We've got a local shop that does only auto/truck/equipment electric repair, they're the best, but it sometimes takes a few days. That's okay because I'll need the time to do some good engine and bilge maintenance while it's out. I'm not going to go crazy, but I do want to make sure that when we go out into the Gulf this summer we're in a good boat.