wmpotter399
Cadet
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2016
- Messages
- 7
I recently bought an older bow rider with a Mercury outboard. It is an 1984 18 foot Sea Raider Bow rider with a 6 cylinder 90 HP outboard to be exact. The guy I bought it from had it a few years but was never able to do anything with it. He actually lost the key. I was able to get the boat with trailer for a few hundred dollars. I figured, worse case, I could trash the boat and sell the motor and trailer and break even.
Anyway, I charged the battery for a few hours and then I spent $40 for an ignition switch and a few dollars for fresh fuel. I backed the trailer into the water....primed the carbs and cranked. Surprisingly, it fired up fairly easy. I am still new to this though. I did not see any water come out of the tell tale hole at idle. I did get a pretty good flow just off idle. Is this normal or should I replace the impeller?
The other issue is the deck. When I got it, a majority of the outdoor carpet was gone. Looks like someone put down OSB as decking. With no type of protection other than the carpet. I pulled up the carpet and the OSB. It came up VERY easily. Stringers are in great shape. From the looks of them, they were re glassed. But very solid sounding when I knock on them.
My questions here. I pulled up 2 separate layers of the OSB board. Each looked like maybe 1/2" Now I know not to use OSB.... but is the 2 layers correct? Should it be 1/2"? I was told use 3/4".... I do know that I need to glass them. I would think to do the bottom side of the boards as well for any water that gets in the bilge. Correct? Also, do I just lay them on the stringers? I wouldn't think that screws would be a good idea. Liquid nails maybe??
Any help is appreciated.
Anyway, I charged the battery for a few hours and then I spent $40 for an ignition switch and a few dollars for fresh fuel. I backed the trailer into the water....primed the carbs and cranked. Surprisingly, it fired up fairly easy. I am still new to this though. I did not see any water come out of the tell tale hole at idle. I did get a pretty good flow just off idle. Is this normal or should I replace the impeller?
The other issue is the deck. When I got it, a majority of the outdoor carpet was gone. Looks like someone put down OSB as decking. With no type of protection other than the carpet. I pulled up the carpet and the OSB. It came up VERY easily. Stringers are in great shape. From the looks of them, they were re glassed. But very solid sounding when I knock on them.
My questions here. I pulled up 2 separate layers of the OSB board. Each looked like maybe 1/2" Now I know not to use OSB.... but is the 2 layers correct? Should it be 1/2"? I was told use 3/4".... I do know that I need to glass them. I would think to do the bottom side of the boards as well for any water that gets in the bilge. Correct? Also, do I just lay them on the stringers? I wouldn't think that screws would be a good idea. Liquid nails maybe??
Any help is appreciated.
Last edited by a moderator:
