1982 4Winns Marquise 150

[Michidan]

I thought I would get a thread started here on this boat, as it's my first and this forum will be a big help on the restoration. I'm an old car guy, first boat. But I love the Michigan summers and every year I threaten I'm going to buy a boat. I finally went to look at one I could not pass up. (I am sucker for old junk and I nearly went with a 69 Glastron for the cool factor). But here is what I ended up buying:
-1982 4 Winns Marquise 150. Excellent looking hull on the outside. The size is perfect because my tow vehicle is an Escape. And I know 4 Winns makes a nice boat.
-1975 Mercury 850. Which is a little big for the boat but not my worry at the moment. Runs but needs some wiring re-done.
-Super nice galvanized trailer.
All for $325 cash.

So I figured I can't go too wrong here. The floor is junk and I'm fine with that. The transom looks good. If I get in a little deeper and it's not good, then the boat gets scrapped. (I'm not willing to separate the hull, my Studebaker still gets most of the room in the shop.) Wish me luck because I really want to save this bugger.

The help I could use right now is any info or pictures on the Marquise 150. I can't find much of anything on it outside of the factory brochure pictures. This must be one of the first produced of the 82-84 style as the HIN says November of 1981. The shape and bow rail are like the 1982. I'll add more pictures soon, as disassembly has begun. But here is what I'm starting with.

 

[Woodonglass]

Welcome to iBoats! Nice looking boat. Don't wanna rain on your parade but...If the deck is bad and the substructure below is wet and rotting, then I'd be highly surprised if you find that the transom has survived. She's 33 years old and if she's been exposed to the elements for an extended period of time then I fear you will find extensive issues with all the structure. I HOPE I am wrong and that 4Winns did an exceptional job in glassing everything and it's all survived. Time will soon tell...

 

[kcassells]

Time to move the Studebaker over Rover. That's a nice looking boat and decapitation probably will be needed. Not a big deal, done all the time here. If space is the issue then sit on it till spring and start it up then. That will make your work that much easier and faster.
Welcome Aboard. Lot's of good info here for the rebuild.

 

[Michidan]

Thanks for the welcome. I have a lot of reading to do. 4Winns DID do a great job of fiberglassing, I'm very impressed with it. And someone took decent care of this boat once, but it ended up in a dealer yard and was full of snow when I got it. So things are wet, and it's thawing out in the shop. I'm still figuring out what I have here, there are several "tests" it has to pass before I take any big steps. But I feel like I've had $300 worth of fun already just breaking it down and learning about boats.
Here are a few more starter pics. I'm sure these are rare options from 4Winns....the "seat delete" and the "hole in floor storage unit". What covered the splash well on the inside of these? Nothing?

 

[Woodonglass]

Sorry but your pics aren't working. Best way is to Open a Free Photobucket Account. Upload your pics and then Copy and paste the IMG Code directly back into your iBoats post.

 

[Michidan]

The boat is passing the first few tests Ok. The lower unit oil looked great, so great in fact that it might be a very recent change. And the compression test of the engine went 110, 105, 100, 110. Not stellar but at least they are all pretty close. I'm calling it good enough to keep moving forward. I just ran it using the pull cord, which I suppose is fine.
I wanted to be sure I could get some rust stains out of the bow gelcoat, and that came out pretty good too. This weekend I made an engine stand and that comes off Thursday night. Then the biggee ...that floor is coming out his weekend. Stringers look very solid so far. I really have no frame of reference, this being my first boat project. But the fiberglas is liberally applied and it sure looks like 4Winns made it to last a while.

I'm reading as many old posts as I can, to find out how things like gas tank and battery are mounted. I'm sure there are good pics on here somewhere. Still looking for any pictures of marquise 150 or even 82-84 4Winns though. It would be nice to make it fairly original if I can.

 

[Michidan]

As a way of finishing this thread up - it DID need a transom naturally. Stringers were a maybe, there were well wrapped from the factor. I was still willing to fix it, and had a plan developed. But being a rookie boat buyer I committed a cardinal sin. I did not get the boat registration. It was a local guy and I understood him to have it "somewhere". But after a long wait I could see it wasn't going to happen. All in all too much trouble, he got his boat back.