1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

[STARCRAFT16SS]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

Hmmmm..."Lund sweeter that Starcraft on that trailer"...Motorpsykler does not have to tell the SC Club...we are everywhere ...Huron Angler...You of all people should know that....gotta watch the competition....
Motorpsykler...The boat does look great...and the trailer is fantastic I know Lund boats are made in New York Mills, MN...
I run freight trains through that town all the time...
Looks like you have a plan for the trolling motor...I have heard bow mounted
trolling motors work best when as close to the bow as possible...but...I
wanted to keep the railing on my boat and came up with this idea....
see pics..
By the way...would like to see more interior pics of your Lund Boat....

 

[motorpsykler]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

Look good Starcraft. Where there's a will there's a way. I'm sure that trolling motor works well. I'll post more interior pics over the winter. I'm using the boat quite often right now, so I don't want to tear it apart. For now all I did was remove the fwd. bow seat for some room and install my pedestal seats. I plan on building a casting deck, new vinyl on the floor, making rod storage in the gunnels, rewiring everything and installing a livewell. I'm also considering making the consoles taller to raise the windshields. They are so low they are almost useless.

 

[motorpsykler]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

Just purchased an F100 Yamaha on Ebay. Can't wait to get it. Doubling the horsepower should make a difference.

I was going to go with a Yamaha F115 but I think that would probably be just too much weight for this hull. The hull is rated for 130hp. In 1976, that meant a two stroke. The F100 is 369lbs. That's pretty close in weight to the old Mercury tower of power six cylinders, which were pretty common in 1976. Anybody need a nice used F50 Yamaha?

 

[jimdd810]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

awesome boat. I also sent you a pm/ im looking for a motor.

 

[float2]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

Checked out your thread, your set-up looks great. Did you put a bigger motor on? Any chance of seeing some interior pics?

 

[motorpsykler]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

Starting to think "boat" again. Even though I woke up to snow today. Last season I got the F100 very late. I threw it on really fast just so I could run it once before putting it away for the winter. So first priority this year is to clean up the rigging. I decided to spend a little money and run everything through a rigging tube. I always thought that set up looked good.

The key to the whole thing was this piece I found on Ebay. It replaces the standard rubber grommet and allows the 2" rigging tube to be threaded on, no clamps.

Now I just want to get one on those boots to seal off the hole the steering cable comes through. After that, I'll clean up the wiring and install the tach that I got off Ebay.

 

[Teamster]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

Anybody need a nice used F50 Yamaha?

Do you still have the tiller handel???,....

How much???

Where abouts in WI are ya??,...

 

[motorpsykler]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

Sorry, sold the F50 and the tiller handle.

 

[motorpsykler]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

Did some work to the trailer. I didn't have a way to carry a spare, so it's been floating around the back of my Jeep. I bought one of those bolt on spare tire holders, I figured it would save me some time not having to fabricate. Trouble was that it wouldn't work without the tire hitting the boat. So I had to fabricate some anyway.

Now I won't have to worry about leaving the spare behind anymore. I think I'm going to get a cover for it though. The wheel looks like it's off of a Post Office Jeep.

(It looks like it's sticking out too far in the picture, but in reality it's not any farther out than the trailer fender.)

 

[motorpsykler]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

Had the boat out last week for the first time this year. Everything worked well, I found out I'm over-propped, but I'll take care of that. The ride did remind me of another problem with the boat that has bothered me since I put the pedestals and seats in. This boat was originally considered a fish-n-ski type boat. The seats where definitely ski oriented, they where back-to-backs that sat pretty low. Since i put the pedestals in, everything is great for fishing, but the higher seats rendered the windshields pretty much useless, the top of the glass was below my chin when sitting in the seat. I looked around for awhile for taller windshields, most modern wrap around ones are considerably taller. But they are hard to find, and when you do they are big money. Also I thought they might look funny on an older hull. So I decided to pull the trigger on a plan I had been thinking about for awhile. The Lund Tyee of the era used a similar hull to my VFR. They recognized, the low windshield problem and built up the top of the gunnels and consoles to get a higher windshield height.

This picture shows the side profile of my boat:

And here is a good example of how Lund built up the hull to get taller windshield height:

I plan on building up the consoles and the sides under the glass in a similar manner. I'll post pictures during the process.

 

[motorpsykler]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

OK, here's the before pictures:

First I had to take everything off. The windshields, steering wheel, etc. and all the cleats and steps.

Stay tuned for the carpentry...

 

[motorpsykler]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

The boxes provide a 5 1/2" lift.

They took quite amount of time to construct, because the original console tops are not level. I had to maintain that angle so that the glass closes properly.

The cutout on the starboard side is for a future sonar/plotter. Originally, I couldn't put one there because there wasn't room under the windshield, now there's plenty.

Next step will be to seal all the wood and then cover everything with carpet. I'm also going to tidy up the wiring. The existing wiring is a mess and it has always bothered me.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

Very nice work, I like the idea of raising the whole works up that much. I have the same issue with my pedestals but don't want to lower the seats. The extra space on the dash is a real bonus too.

 

[Teamster]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

That doesn't look bad at all,............I like it!!

I might be tempted to open up the back side of the new boxes to gain more storage or even a new glove box on the passenger side,.......Or a great place to mount a new stereo so yous can be bumpin on the water,....

 

[motorpsykler]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

I'm happy about the extra dash space as well Huron, I think I'm going to put the switch panel on the side. It's easy enough to do since I am going to rewire everything anyway and it frees more room on the front panel for more stuff. Yeah, Teamster, I've been thinking about that room on the port side. A marine radio would look real nice there too. But since I don't have one, for now I'm going to leave it closed up.

 

[motorpsykler]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

I hate waiting for things to dry, ESPECIALLY when you can only coat half and have to wait for that half to dry before you can do the other half!

I had nowhere to hang these pieces because I had to make room for the wife to park in the garage again. This did get me time to pick up a voltmeter. I've never had a way to monitor the starter battery/charging system, glad I do now. I saw a cool water pressure gauge, but I don't know what is involved in installing a sending unit on the Yamaha, and I have too much going on right now to worry about it. I'll put that on a future to do list.

 

[Triton II]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

Looking good! What colour are you going to paint the screen-raising boxes? If your F100 is anything like my F115, it will have a pressure pick up port with a blanking bolt/plug in it on the crankcase's water jacket. Not sure where exactly it is on the F100 but it should be there. I've not bothered with it... yet!

TII

 

[motorpsykler]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

This little project took a lot more time than I thought. But it's done. I'm really looking forward to trying it out on the water.

The top of the windshield is at about eye level when sitting upright. This is the way I prefer it. I can look out over the windshield, and with a slight slouch, be behind it.

Plenty of room for more instrumentation. I changed the steering wheel angle, it is almost 90 degrees to level. It takes up less knee room and I can operate it easier while standing. It's a little low, but I've got long monkey arms so that's OK.

 

[motorpsykler]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

I wanted to make a power distribution panel. I took some inspiration from a fellow forum member...

STARCRAFT16SS's power distribution panel:

My version:

I didn't have the patience to run the wires from the back with grommets, like STARCRAFT16SS did. The ground bus bar is for a house panel. It is just a convenient way to ground multiple circuits. Upon further consideration, I think I will insulate it from the panel. The panel isn't electrically in contact with the hull, but I worry since the fusebox is mounted on there that it could possibly short one day.

 

[motorpsykler]

Re: 1976 Lund VFR 17.5ft

My grandson, helping me with sea trials. I got his approval.