After a few months of keeping my eye out online, I came across a V-Mate II that fell within budget. I am not brainstorming on a plan for it, how much work I'll do before this season and what I'll let wait.
Boat is a 1978, has what's believed to be the original engine, a 78 Johnson 115 cross-flow V4. Have not had a chance to run motor yet, I'll get into that later in this post. I'm told interior is original, and I agree so far. I'm also told original paint, however I don't believe this. Transom feels very solid, it was hauled after every use for at least the last 10yrs of its life. Floor is solid in standing area, but very soft in the back behind the back seats. But I can jump on it else ware, so I'm hoping its not too bad. Carpet isn't half bad, a red AstroTurf. Has two 6 gallon tanks that sit in the back, so bow area is empty. Hull is pretty good, some drill holes just below rub rail (from cover snaps) that need to be filled in, and just a few chips along the underside; nothing major. Paint is fabulous. The red stripe is metalfalke, rest is blank white. More of an eggshell color. Windshield is pretty good too.
Getting into the work...
My rough plan now is to first get the engine running. Then I'll take it for a ride, see how it pulls a skiier. After that I should have a better idea of what I can do with it, however here's my plan as of now:
New floor, replace all that's bad with pressure treated. If that means the entire thing, then I'm going to rework the front seats, and make it a solid bench (like a pickup truck). And then I'd take the buckets and probably put them in the back corners. Seating is still up for debate, I need to take some measurements and see what will fit. My goals are: bench seat for driver and passenger, at least one rear facing seat for spotter, and then however many more I can fit within reason. With the new floor, I will completely seal off the bilge. No water in, no rot. Epoxy everything, reinforce the stringer, and fill it with foam for emergency flotation. Then I'll slope the floor down to hull in last foot before transom, to allow for a bilge pump in the hole. Ill also fill in the butt plug, as that's only another route for water to rot the wood. Depending on how well it pulls a skiier... my biggest concern is it's too light, and when I get deep into cuts I'll be pulling the boat around too much. I can noticeably pull the current boat, a 2000lb 18ft sea ray. But it's perfect the way that is, only thing I'd ask for is smaller wake, which the checkmate will provide... So if it's a decent ski boat, I'll reinforce the floor in the center rear, maybe a foot forward of where the rear deck stops. And Ill put the ski tower mount there, then run the legs back to the deck in the corners. You can take legs off easily for when people are sitting in the rear seats, again back to what and how seats will fit. And how a ski pole will fit into all this.
I also want to cut out the raised floor area in bow, lower it to floor level for added space. And leave it in a state so that in the future if I ever wanted to cut a bow rider seat, I don't have to rework the floor again. Plus sitting in the driver seat I cannot extend my legs all the way. Now if the wood is completely solid up there, and there's no real need to go cutting it out I may skip this part. I would also like to get a 15-20gal fuel tank to go in bow. Might just do two 12 gallon removable plastic tanks, so that I don't require a fire extinguisher. What's everybody's comments on the weight up there? I could also do dual tanks, say 12-15gal in bow and another 10-12 in stern. I need at least 15gal capacity, 25 would be nice to have. I haven't measured, but I am worried that only a short 6gal tank will fit in bow due to height of the 12 gallon tanks.
Now onto the motor.
It only fired a few times on its own, despite much cranking. Elec choke is working. It did start up and run on starter fluid. But the guy was a prick and "didn't want to blow it on starter fluid" complete bs, I should have been more pushy. I'm a mechanic, and I knew it brings in close to it's running-value if I part it out, so I basically bought a nice boat and got a free engine and trailer.
Once I take it for a spin and get it running, the V4 is coming off and my '94 Black Max 135 is going on. I've been told it should get close to 60mph with this engine, I'm very excited! In the long run I'll rebuild it, shave heads, etc. Question: do I need/want a jackplate? Should just I put it on while the motor is already off? My goals are not top speed, the priority is: 1 waterskiing, 2 general boating with friends (will see some waves, as I run on Lake Erie), and 3 high speed maneuvers/going fast. If it will only get me like 5mph, I'd rather skip the $250 for a jackplate, not to mention I have a stock gearcase and would rather not then be forced to buy a low water pickup. Would it help with anything but top speed, like improved speed to plane when pulling up a skiier? or cornering ability?
Any comments or suggestions are appreciated! Love to hear whatever tips you've got the the V-Mate II. I can't wait to get this thing on the water!!
Boat is a 1978, has what's believed to be the original engine, a 78 Johnson 115 cross-flow V4. Have not had a chance to run motor yet, I'll get into that later in this post. I'm told interior is original, and I agree so far. I'm also told original paint, however I don't believe this. Transom feels very solid, it was hauled after every use for at least the last 10yrs of its life. Floor is solid in standing area, but very soft in the back behind the back seats. But I can jump on it else ware, so I'm hoping its not too bad. Carpet isn't half bad, a red AstroTurf. Has two 6 gallon tanks that sit in the back, so bow area is empty. Hull is pretty good, some drill holes just below rub rail (from cover snaps) that need to be filled in, and just a few chips along the underside; nothing major. Paint is fabulous. The red stripe is metalfalke, rest is blank white. More of an eggshell color. Windshield is pretty good too.
Getting into the work...
My rough plan now is to first get the engine running. Then I'll take it for a ride, see how it pulls a skiier. After that I should have a better idea of what I can do with it, however here's my plan as of now:
New floor, replace all that's bad with pressure treated. If that means the entire thing, then I'm going to rework the front seats, and make it a solid bench (like a pickup truck). And then I'd take the buckets and probably put them in the back corners. Seating is still up for debate, I need to take some measurements and see what will fit. My goals are: bench seat for driver and passenger, at least one rear facing seat for spotter, and then however many more I can fit within reason. With the new floor, I will completely seal off the bilge. No water in, no rot. Epoxy everything, reinforce the stringer, and fill it with foam for emergency flotation. Then I'll slope the floor down to hull in last foot before transom, to allow for a bilge pump in the hole. Ill also fill in the butt plug, as that's only another route for water to rot the wood. Depending on how well it pulls a skiier... my biggest concern is it's too light, and when I get deep into cuts I'll be pulling the boat around too much. I can noticeably pull the current boat, a 2000lb 18ft sea ray. But it's perfect the way that is, only thing I'd ask for is smaller wake, which the checkmate will provide... So if it's a decent ski boat, I'll reinforce the floor in the center rear, maybe a foot forward of where the rear deck stops. And Ill put the ski tower mount there, then run the legs back to the deck in the corners. You can take legs off easily for when people are sitting in the rear seats, again back to what and how seats will fit. And how a ski pole will fit into all this.
I also want to cut out the raised floor area in bow, lower it to floor level for added space. And leave it in a state so that in the future if I ever wanted to cut a bow rider seat, I don't have to rework the floor again. Plus sitting in the driver seat I cannot extend my legs all the way. Now if the wood is completely solid up there, and there's no real need to go cutting it out I may skip this part. I would also like to get a 15-20gal fuel tank to go in bow. Might just do two 12 gallon removable plastic tanks, so that I don't require a fire extinguisher. What's everybody's comments on the weight up there? I could also do dual tanks, say 12-15gal in bow and another 10-12 in stern. I need at least 15gal capacity, 25 would be nice to have. I haven't measured, but I am worried that only a short 6gal tank will fit in bow due to height of the 12 gallon tanks.
Now onto the motor.
It only fired a few times on its own, despite much cranking. Elec choke is working. It did start up and run on starter fluid. But the guy was a prick and "didn't want to blow it on starter fluid" complete bs, I should have been more pushy. I'm a mechanic, and I knew it brings in close to it's running-value if I part it out, so I basically bought a nice boat and got a free engine and trailer.
Once I take it for a spin and get it running, the V4 is coming off and my '94 Black Max 135 is going on. I've been told it should get close to 60mph with this engine, I'm very excited! In the long run I'll rebuild it, shave heads, etc. Question: do I need/want a jackplate? Should just I put it on while the motor is already off? My goals are not top speed, the priority is: 1 waterskiing, 2 general boating with friends (will see some waves, as I run on Lake Erie), and 3 high speed maneuvers/going fast. If it will only get me like 5mph, I'd rather skip the $250 for a jackplate, not to mention I have a stock gearcase and would rather not then be forced to buy a low water pickup. Would it help with anything but top speed, like improved speed to plane when pulling up a skiier? or cornering ability?
Any comments or suggestions are appreciated! Love to hear whatever tips you've got the the V-Mate II. I can't wait to get this thing on the water!!
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, stay away from the pressure treated, ain't good boat wood, just bought a 4x8x1/2 sheet of marine plywood from 84 lumber today, they had a stack of 1/2 and 3/4, said marine ply and cost marine ply, so we'll see. good luck, and, nice boat, get the refrigerator off the back.
