You'll be nickel and dime'd till the end. It's always like that.
Good visual on the fuel hose too. Mine weren't that bad, but I was very glad I replaced them, as they were original to my boat.
Have you checked your timing?
Don't rule the carb out. You could have some trash that got moved around while it was running good.
Do you have a water/fuel separator? If so, pull it off and pour the contents into a clear glass. How does it look?
Being that you're new to this, you're probably going to waste some material due to learning curve and over-use. You may end up needing 25+ gallons of resin. For my 19 ft boat restoration, I used about 35 yards of 50" wide 1708 (including wasted material). It all really depends on what your...
Check my thread out starting here for pictures of what I did. I used four 2x4's between the cap and hull, then built a frame to set that on. I had 7 friends come over and the 8 of us each grabbed the end of a 2x4 and walked the cap off the boat and onto the stand. It sat like that in my back...
Can't tell from the pic - maybe it has an exhaust tube instead of a bellows? The exhaust tube won't be connected to the drive until the drive is lowered.
Try blowing a string through with compressed air. If you get that through you can tie/tape it to the hose and pull it through. Or if you can get a fish tape, use that.
I found that 3 coats of gelcoat took a LOT of the mat texture out (more than I was expecting), but it's still visible. As stated, you'll need to fair and sand if you want to fully get rid of the texture and have a totally smooth finish.
Well I was going to pay a guy to buff the rest of the boat but got stood up 2 weekends in a row. So I sucked it up and finished the starboard side of the boat today. My arms are sore, but nothing ibuprofen and alcohol can't fix. I also was able to add the remaining decals to the starboard...
I'd leave at least 1/4" gap around to fill with PB then tab in while the PB is still wet. I would soak the edges of the deck in un-thickened resin and let it cure before PB'ing in place. It may take several coats of resin on the edges, as the end grain tends to suck up a lot of resin. I...
You cam see what I did here. I used white gelcoat from US Composites and a 4" mohair roller and a 2" chip brush. I thickened the gelcoat a little with cabosil so it wouldn't run. It took about 3 coats i thin. I'm not worried about how it looks because I'm installing a keel shield from Gator Guards.
Thats the upper part of your stern drive. You can buy a new one from SEI and either replace just the upper (~$800), or the entire drive (~$1,600). When was the last time you had the drive off for maintenance? While the drive is off, you should at least inspect impeller, gimbal bearing...
Get a pencil, paper, and a tape measure and start making your own sketches of things before you start ripping into it. On my restoration project I even saved the remains of the pieces I ripped out to refer back to until I had new pieces built and installed.
As @jbcurt00 was hinting at, if you...
You make a large gap between the stringers and hull so you can be sure you completely full the gap with PB. The thing you want to avoid is gaps (even small ones) with no filler between the hull and stringers, as the edges of the gaps are stress risers and the center of the gaps are areas where...
Good point guys. Maybe I'll look at adding trailer brakes later this year if i feel like im getting pushed around. But I don't think I've seen any XLT-185 trailers with brakes.
I've got a 1987 5.7L 260 V8 Merc with a Alpha 1 Gen 1 also, and I did a full transom assembly overhaul last year, including a gimbal bearing. The tool and driveshaft is a close fit, but it was definitely NOT an interference fit.
Lots of pictures today. I installed the toolbox in the storage area under the dash. I used a cam strap and some tie down brackets.
I installed a Grade 8 bolt for the bow safety chain on the trailer.
I installed my BoatBuckle tie downs and notched my swim platforms to clear the hooks on...
