Nick_n_Jnsvl
Recruit
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2013
- Messages
- 5
Re: 1966 Alumacraft Maracaibo Restoration
Hello everyone. New guy here also and I found this thread since I;m thinking of either restoring or selling my 1964 Maracaibo. I am the 3rd owner as it was used exclusively on Lake Beulah here in Wisconsin since it was new in '64 till about 1978 when my dad bought it. The trailer was junk and bent up from getting turned over in a ditch (while it was empty) on it's way to pick up the boat one Fall day we were told. My dad bought a brand new Sportsman trailer in '78 for it. The boat has the original Johnson 40HP Electroshift on it, and even the white vinyl seats are in fair shape. I remember when my dad bought it in '77, my mom said it was the fanciest boat they ever had and commenced cleaning the interior and treating the seats with vinyl conditioner.
Well, mom and dad had to move out of their house so I got the boat in '81 and cleaned it up some more as well as polished the windshield to look like new. My wife and I used it with the kids for many years up to about 1997 for fishing and even tubing! That 'ol Johnson 40 has some power let me tell you. Anyways, it has pretty much sat covered and inside stored for the past 12 years or so and now not sure what I want to do. I have some home remodel underway and I also restore 70's electronics silver faced receivers. So... another project with the Alumacraft? I don't know if I am up for it or even if the motor will start. I have turned it over every year by hand without running to keep the cylinders free and sprayed oil down the spark plug holes. Also, I remember back in about '89 I took it in because of starting problems and had a tune up with brand new coils, plugs, wires, points, etc. If I recall, the epoxy coil covering got cracked with age.
The good news is, I have some sales brochures from back in the day, maybe an owners manual, and some documentation my dad had from Alumacraft including a pair of brand new rear decals for the back sides. My idea was to try a restore, starting with a tear off of the now kind of worn transom board (?). Don't know a lot of boat terminology. I have no clue what material would be good for that. Something better than just multi layer plywood that gets chewed up? I thought about using a good grade of marine plywood, but also fasten a layer of tough polypropylene or something over it where the motor clamps on? But that might be too slippery for the motor to grip.
As I say, I don't know if I really have the time or knowledge to undertake this. I DO remember how nice of a ride this little boat is though. It just speeds right along and the good part is that it will cruise at darn near 25mph or so on a plane without "getting into the carb" and get amazing gas mileage. I recall using it up on a large northern lake ( Lake Namakagon) which is about 6 miles long or so and has many bays. You could cruise for 30 to 45 minutes at a time easily. Well, we cruised and fished all day on a fresh 6 gallons and had over 2 gallons left at the end of the day. At the same time, we could take the kids (and a few adults) tubing for 1 1/2 to 2 hours and maybe use 4 to 5 gallons.
Well, I'm writing this because I have to decide since I would like some garage space and don't want to go back to paying for indoor storage for the boat like I did for some 10 years or so. What's a boat like this worth anymore anyway?
Hello everyone. New guy here also and I found this thread since I;m thinking of either restoring or selling my 1964 Maracaibo. I am the 3rd owner as it was used exclusively on Lake Beulah here in Wisconsin since it was new in '64 till about 1978 when my dad bought it. The trailer was junk and bent up from getting turned over in a ditch (while it was empty) on it's way to pick up the boat one Fall day we were told. My dad bought a brand new Sportsman trailer in '78 for it. The boat has the original Johnson 40HP Electroshift on it, and even the white vinyl seats are in fair shape. I remember when my dad bought it in '77, my mom said it was the fanciest boat they ever had and commenced cleaning the interior and treating the seats with vinyl conditioner.
Well, mom and dad had to move out of their house so I got the boat in '81 and cleaned it up some more as well as polished the windshield to look like new. My wife and I used it with the kids for many years up to about 1997 for fishing and even tubing! That 'ol Johnson 40 has some power let me tell you. Anyways, it has pretty much sat covered and inside stored for the past 12 years or so and now not sure what I want to do. I have some home remodel underway and I also restore 70's electronics silver faced receivers. So... another project with the Alumacraft? I don't know if I am up for it or even if the motor will start. I have turned it over every year by hand without running to keep the cylinders free and sprayed oil down the spark plug holes. Also, I remember back in about '89 I took it in because of starting problems and had a tune up with brand new coils, plugs, wires, points, etc. If I recall, the epoxy coil covering got cracked with age.
The good news is, I have some sales brochures from back in the day, maybe an owners manual, and some documentation my dad had from Alumacraft including a pair of brand new rear decals for the back sides. My idea was to try a restore, starting with a tear off of the now kind of worn transom board (?). Don't know a lot of boat terminology. I have no clue what material would be good for that. Something better than just multi layer plywood that gets chewed up? I thought about using a good grade of marine plywood, but also fasten a layer of tough polypropylene or something over it where the motor clamps on? But that might be too slippery for the motor to grip.
As I say, I don't know if I really have the time or knowledge to undertake this. I DO remember how nice of a ride this little boat is though. It just speeds right along and the good part is that it will cruise at darn near 25mph or so on a plane without "getting into the carb" and get amazing gas mileage. I recall using it up on a large northern lake ( Lake Namakagon) which is about 6 miles long or so and has many bays. You could cruise for 30 to 45 minutes at a time easily. Well, we cruised and fished all day on a fresh 6 gallons and had over 2 gallons left at the end of the day. At the same time, we could take the kids (and a few adults) tubing for 1 1/2 to 2 hours and maybe use 4 to 5 gallons.
Well, I'm writing this because I have to decide since I would like some garage space and don't want to go back to paying for indoor storage for the boat like I did for some 10 years or so. What's a boat like this worth anymore anyway?
