1990 Reniell 170M

[Quicker]

I bought this boat off Craigslist when COVID lockdowns hit as a project to keep my sanity. We ran it a few times that summer as-is but the seating layout left a lot to be desired and the vinyl was getting bad and the carpet was really bad. I stripped it down to the wood floor and rebuilt the interior to be a bit more modern and comfortable. In the process I built the new motor box/deck and learned how to upholster (kind of). I still need to get the new bucket seats professionally covered to match the rest of the interior. This fall I plan on removing all of the vinyl stripe on the hull and lettering and redo that with a blue vinyl that matches the new top and carpet.

 

[Quicker]

Last summer we blew the head gasket in the OMC 3.0L. I finally had time this spring to pull the head, resurface, check for cracks and then put it back on with a new gasket. At this point I took a bit of time to clean up the engine block and look for cracks. All Good. I still was having some problems until last week but the last of the issues seems to have been ironed out. OMC used a resistor wire from the alternator to the positive of the ignition coil. Pretty sure that's failing which is not surprising since this is a 1990 boat. A clue was also the comment from the guy I bought it from saying he's had to replace the coil at least once each season out. After 30-45 minutes of running at temperature it would start missing and then eventually die. If the resistor wire is not dropping the voltage low enough then the coils are cooking and fail. I bypassed the resistor wire from the alternator to the coil and ran a new wire from the alternator to the new coil and I put a simple heavy duty ceramic resistor on from OReilly's. Last night it started on the 1st turn of the key and ran for over an hour and did not die while docked when I backed the trailer into the water. I did manage to kill it going into gear again, but it started on the 1st turn of the key. I need to adjust the idle speed.

 

[Quicker]

My question right now is about the vinyl stripes. The pinstripes are vinyl but the wide blue is gellcoat from what I can tell. I was going to use the higher quality Oracal sign vinyl to cover the blue gelcoat and not replace the thin pinstriping. Any issues with that?

I found a seller on ebay that has the new style Reniell logo/wording in a reflective chrome vinyl. They also have the raised lettering if I decide to go that route.

 

[todhunter]

Why are you going to cover the gelcoat stripe? I would just wet sand and buff it if it's oxidized. You can make it look brand new, and a lot better than putting vinyl over it.