1963 Hydro Swift Barn find

[WillyS86]

So I picked up this boat last Saturday.

The boat is a barn find of sorts. its a 1963 Hydro-swift. The boat was my buddies grandfather's boat he passed recently and his family was cleaning the house and yard up. they asked me if I wanted the boat that was parked in the back yard. Grandpa kept the boat stored in the back yard under a aluminum car port, that was wrapped in tarps, the boat was wrapped in tarps under, the tarps there was a canvas cover. The boat hasn't been registered for about 26 years

The drive is a Mercruiser 1, but I can't find the engine serial number I think I found the drive serial number, it was under the starboard fin on the out drive 15353r8.

it came with free vintage swim wear a canvas cover, it has a few tears I can fix that, plastic windows to snap into the top. 1,000,000 vintage orange life vests okay maybe 10.

I feel like this thing is a time capsule.

 

[Ned L]

Cool!!!! This is obviously a well cared for boat.

 

[Bayou Dave]

WOW!!! Even the chrome looks new. She is a survivor for sure. Congrats!

 

[gordo9742000]

That depth sounder on the dashboard is awesome !!

 

[WillyS86]

No Title

I am looking for advice,

I don't know a ton about boats I can wrench my daily driver is a 1973 commando that I have kept running.

I'm pretty sure grandpa put oil in the cylinders before putting the boat away, the plug wires are removed and the spark plugs where hand tight. it has oil in it.

My plan is to replace all the rubber components.
Take a compression reading
Replace the water pump impeller
Painting the trailer and replacing the leaf spring bushings.
New battery
New Tires (like 38 each buck sweet!)
Inspect bearings
I was told grandpa packed the
I ordered a repair manual that comes Tuesday.
I'm also going to put a car port over the boat, (the boat got rained on The family is going to sell me the car port that was over the boat.

it also came with a 9.8 hp trolling motor

 

[Ned L]

Your plan sounds good for starters.
I don't know that it is necessary to replace "all" the rubber components.

 

[djrowe007]

Cool lookin boat, that serial number doesn't look like a mercury serial number. For that year it would be all numbers, maybe the r is a 5 or something???

 

[zool]

Really nice find!....Have you checked the stringers and transom?..You may be lucky given it was covered well

 

[Dangerwil]

What a beauty! Deluxe everything. I would love to tag along. Any idea of MSRP?

 

[Woodonglass]

I am SOOOOOOO envious. Given the description I seriously doubt you'll find any structural issue. My boat was a Barn Find too and she only needed cosmetic work. I'm on Board for this one.

 

[WillyS86]

Your Right Zool I won't be replacing all the rubber components, but I was thinking the hoses and the drive belt. the lower bellows is in good condition it seems.

I will let you guys know how it goes tomorrow. My buddy came over today because I am doing some upholstery (patching his boat top, patches SUCK) work for him we usually trade work, he looked at it and was super excited to help me out. I feel kinda bad it got rained on yesterday, guess I need to clean the garage out or get a car port to make it a home.

 

[WillyS86]

The tilt and motor would only go up but wouldn't go down, did some troubleshooting it was a loose wire.

We got the engine started today. It took a few minutes to get the engine started.... Because the tank selector valve was off. The glass bowel on the fuel filter wasn't seated correctly so it leaked. We got that taken care of.
The lifters where kinda loud, it quited down after running a few minutes.

I'm going to change the engine oil tomorrow, then put a new plug on the trailer lights. I had 3 new tires mounted today.

I've order a impeller kit that's supposed to show up Friday so I'll change the impeller and change the drive oil at the same time.

The drive is full of oil.

The RPM gauge isn't working so I'll have to check wiring

The bilge pump is bad.

As far as a project goes this has a very short list.

 

[sphelps]

Wow ! What a nice find !! Such a cool boat !!

 

[Corjen1]

Cool Boat, great find!!!

 

[garbageguy]

Cool boat, thanks for sharing!

 

[WillyS86]

I took the boat out last Sunday, the boat worked great, a bit choppy and cold. My wife trailed the boat, ill post some video