MUD!!!

[thill]

I started on my 18' Starcraft Mariner-V yesterday.


First, the engine.
Did not idle well, missing badly. Pulled the carbs and went through them. Nothing too bad. Got it back together, and now she runs well. Mounted the engine back on the boat, connected steering and so on.

Then, to the boat. Threw out all the leaves and most of the junk in the boat. The gas tank is full, but full of what? Not sure

Decided to reach down to see if there was a bilge pump, and my hand sunk wrist-deep in MUD.
WHAT?!??

I strongly suspect that this boat sat under a tree for many years. I used a soup can to get under there to dig. I got about a bucket full of mud out from the back of the boat, besides a bunch of leaves and pine cones:



Once I got most of the mud out, I ran a garden hose into the hull, and used the tractor to lift and drop the bow to agitate. Then I lifted the bow high and pulled the plug. Lots of muddy water came out. I then repeated, after using a jet spray to break up as much mud as possible. This time, not much mud came out. Then I used the shop vac to suck out the sediment.

One good thing, is even with all that water in there, I didn't see any seeping rivets.

I then rebuilt the bow support and installed a 55# Minn Kota to the bow.

So in 24 hours, I got the engine running, installe and rigged, hull cleaned out, trolling motor installed. I'll be ready to water test tomorrow, if the trailer checks out.

 

[Stand Up]

Maybe you can sell the mud in colourful packaging as magical facial mud. The pine cones are the scrub and all the other junk makes up the special ingredient list. You can call it Thill's Boaty McBoatface facial repair.

NIce boat by the way.

 

[Lost But Happy]

This thread needs a theme song...

 

[airshot]

Had one of those many years back, great boat !! Don't forget to replace the water pump impellor, bound to be dried and worn out no matter how good the water flow appears. More pics would be helpfull....

 

[thill]

Muddy Waters would be a good name for this one.

About to go out and remove/empty the onboard fuel tank. It still smells like gas, so it's probably been in there since before ethanol became popular. Need to find a glass jar to take a sample from.

Then I can sweep up the worst from the floor and take some pics, but that probably won't be today.

I agree about the water pump. Always best to replace if of unknown age. Why take a chance over a $25 impeller?

 

[thill]

I siphoned the old fuel tank yesterday. That was interesting.

About half the tank was just clear water. I'm guessing the seal around the fuel cap is bad, and letting rainwater in. I'll have to check that. After that, came a little emulsified gas. Then, it got down to some good looking and good smelling gas. Kind of surprising. Definitely ethanol free fuel.

I stopped there and pulled the tank out of the boat. I'll play with that later. I'm going to test the boat today, using fresh gas in a portable tank.

I'll pull a fuel sample later, but I will probably either use the gas in my old truck (which loves old boat gas) or mix a bit in with fresh gas here and there until it's gone. We'll see.

After that, I'll clean the tank, add an inline filter and put it back into service, once I find the source of the water. The tank itself looks fine, it just needs a few minutes with a power washer.

 

[thill]

 

[Lost But Happy]

Look Ma, no hands!! LOL

She clips along pretty well!

 

[LaqueRatt]

Wow, nice and smooth. Seems quiet too. Good job.

 

[thill]

The motor is quiet, but there is something making a super-annoying rattle from somewhere around the splashwell. But I had extra engine plugs and hose clamps in the splashwell, so I won't worry about it until the next trip out.

I'm happy with it so far, but I still have a lot to do. Redo the nav lights, add a GPS, radio, under gunnel lights and so on.

Also, I need to decide whether to replace the carpet or go with a textured floor, like I did with the 16'.

The biggest relief is that the bottom is tight and doesn't leak. The rest I can deal with.