sankanother1
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2007
- Messages
- 129
I purchased a 1986 Chaparral Villian III March 2011.Here it goes..I live in Florida Have owned many boats of all sizes.Well I came across this Chaparral on Craigslist and it was Black/grey/white..EEWWWW..I love black boats.So I call him and to my surprise the boat has been re powered with a merc mag 350 mpi with a bravo1 drive with shower and a low water pick up system with under 50 hours on it.He tells me he is a teacher at a boat school and they repowered the boat at the school.I ask about general condition and about transom stringers floor.he tells me it had been replaced already.Well that makes sense to me why on earth would any one especially MMI repower an unworthy boat.O.K. sounding really good.He also tells me that he just had the fuel tank cleaned and hasn't had any gas in it since.He didnt want it to gel..Makes sense o.k...I asked when I could see it he said the next day..I will bring it to you if you have cash..Sounded good to me HOW COULD I LOOSE?..The following day My dog died.. My friend of 12 yrs had to be put down.Sorry..O.K. So on the way home from the vet I and he showes up with the boat..I was impressed with it but ll my ambition is shot im depressed..I really dont care We hook the hose up fire the motor runs great..I question why he has a 5 gallon external tank hooked up to the motor..He reminded me he just cleaned the tank..O.K. I jump around the boat pull back carpeting stab the usual places with a pick and all is fine it was all just all the vinyl was just re done it looks GREAT! .DONE DEAL!... usually I am inviting friends and buying a lot of beer to celebrate..Nope..back in the house mopped a couple of days..The kids want to take out the boat..Ok.I installed the fuel line to the tank,loaded the boat with all the safety essentials stop at the gas station dump a hundred dollars of fuel loaded the cooler and off we went we jump in the boat Idle out of the no wake I look at every one and they are SMILING!!.I gun it BOW UP RPM"S FLYING AND.....REVlimiter... SLIP!..Do it again SLIP..Is the drive screwed?I lift the drive, hammer on the throttle water every where..No..Its blowing out..The props wrong..But thats not why I shut the down the engine..I shut it down because I smelled gas and It WAS BAD!..The fans are still running.But I opened the deck and climbed in with a flash light looking for fuel..No cracked line.Bone dry bilge.Damn..I Kept the hatch open started it up and idled back put the boat on the trailer and went home..UN SAFE!! Not playing any games..Looking back I should have not even restared it.Well the next day I Lift the cover to show a friend the boat and I see water in the bilge..O.K. Hit the pump..Water coming out..My fiend says I SMELL GAS..Me too I turned to the bilge outlet and stuck my finger in the strong stream of what I thought was water..Put it to my nose and yelled out a word I wont type here.Yup I twas gas all Hundred bucks worth dumping out on the ground my friend ran for a bucket,,I didnt care.The next day..I am in the boat with the carpet pulled out.My grinder in hand I cut the center section of floor out.To my surprise the Pine D/C grade plywood was glassed over but attached to or LAYNG on mostly Rotten stingers..It was a cover up..The stringers were black and crumbly and the crap ply wood was brand new,,I could smell the new wood it was fiberglassed And painted all pretty on top..THAT WAS THE MOMENT!.The moment I flashed back to the red plastic gas can hooked up.HE WAS FULL OF CRAP!!.No sense in calling him I would just end up more pissed and nothing good could come from it...I did much research of building stringers and fixing the boat.On youtube on line and here of coarse thank you very much FriscoJarretts. GREAT GUY!..And after crunching numbers for materials I was almost to the point of pulling the motor and drive to sell.Until I came across an person who had an add on Craigslist(I know!Thats how this all started) and the add said boat repair.It some nice before and after pics.30 yrs exp..I called Him up.He said all the right things correct materials and he came out to pick it up.. 2000 dollars later.I am now in need of a fuel tank so he can proceed .It will be between 400 and 700 bucks.Add 1000 for new prop,hoses, wire,carpet, and maybe a new bimini top.I will back to square one over a year later..the moral of my story..I dont have one..You be the judge This sucks.I can tell you this though.I will not let this keep me down.I love boats I have two classic cars projects that were put on hold because I know I would have sold my boat for cheap once I started those..I hope You guys can learn from my mistake AS MY SIG HAS ALWAYS SAID!!...It's good to learn from others peoples mistakes but I seem to beat them to it....Have a great day guys and Buyer beware.
