Re: New owner of 1968 Starcraft Holiday 18' w/ 120 Mercruiser
Good luck. I have a 21 foot Cheiftan (basically islander) 1986. Mine loaded horrible on the trailer (center keel rollers), too much weight for the rollers.
I put bunks on my trailer and it loads great did not even have to take the boat off the trailer, just jacket it up alittle and blocked it while I installed bunks. my bunks are set close to the V the front 1/2 of the trailer and bunks close the outside of the boat in the rear. Just seemed to work better for the trailer I have. I wish I would have run the bunks that sit just off the center of the boat the full length of the trailer for loading. I used steel channel with 2x4 bolted on the top covered with sythetic lumber material (smooth 1/2 thick, 4" wide material, with screws recessed to not hit the boat). bolted the steel channel to the boat trailer using angle iron welded to the channel.
My iron duke motor stripped a timing gear so these Iron duke are not bullet proof. Mine ran good oil pressure, did not use oil prior to the timing gear issue. I had run mine 2 years ocean fishing with lots of run time. 40+ miles some days.
