Where was my old boat customized?
 

It is a 1974 Wellcraft V20 Steplift. It has two custom 20 gallon fuel tanks mounted in the sides. I suspect it was always a San Diego or S. California boat, zero dry rot. It had a sophisticated Lowrance depth system with two transponders.

It had been sitting idle for 10+ years when I bought it for almost nothing. 4 Flat tires on the trailer, boat full of trash, etc. But the seller told me he had been told that the motor had been overhauled top and bottom.

I had a boat mechanic over and we started the engine and he measured the parameters to determine whether I should spend money on this project. Wow! He said every measurement was factory new specs! It has perfect spark, perfect balanced compression, and even without rebuilding, the carbs performed very very well. There was no water in the lower unit oil, but he will change that when he installs a new water pump. It tilted perfectly and after a few minutes was able to idle down to 600RPM, smooth!

So I will go ahead and flush the fuel tanks, install new hoses and distribution valves and review the entire electrical system.

Thanks in advance for any helpful hints!

Larry

welcome to the site, congrats on a good find. you can check the gallery section, but i think the 74 came with saddle tanks. what kind of power do you have?

It had an 1979 Evinrude 150 HP outboard on it. I was pleasantly surprised when a boat mechanic got it running and checked it out. Everything works! And it has great compression, all within 5# of 100#, that is new engine specs, he said. Generator output was 13.8v, trim pump working perfectly, etc. He is installing a new water pump and changing the lower unit gear oil. After a few hours I will have him rebuild all 6 carbs to make it PURR! ha.

Yep, saddle tanks were standard on V-20's up to 75/76 or sometime around there.

Do I need to take them out of the boat to flush them? This boat has been sitting idle for 10 years. The fuel hoses are all deteriorated, I will replace them.

I didn't see any fuel gauges or senders for a fuel level meter-- were those there originally?

Larry

Does anyone have or know of circuit diagrams or wiring schematic for my old 1974 V20? I want to modernize the wiring to accommodate a GPS and more modern electronics. Thanks in advance.

Larry

You should have two electrical systems on your boat. One for your engine (and whatever gages are hooked to it, and a second, separate system for your add on electronics. Most boats have heavy positive and negative wires running from the battery directly to a fused or circuit breaker protected distribution panel near the helm, and from there to any extra add on equipment. (like lights, anchor winch, GPS, radar, etc.). My point is that there aren't any schematics for those systems since they are all custom to whatever boat they are in.

Yeah, I see the distribution panel behind the dash. Pretty corroded, but probably OK. I may pull it down and replace it. Several of the circuits are fused.

I added another battery and will connect the other stuff to that, bilge pump, lights, GPS, cigarette lighter powered stuff. Maybe a radio.

What is the best way to interconnect the two batteries? Obviously if they are always in parallel, they charge and discharge together. I would think a switch would be best so that the alternator would charge the auxiliary battery only when it needs it and only the primary would supply the starter.

Larry

Larry sounds like somebody took EXCELLENT care of your '74...a "74 was my first V20...they came standard from Wellcraft w/the two 20gal saddle tanks you describe...if you are gonna upgrade the hoses, you'll do better to remove the tanks to flush them anyway...the good news is, it is not difficult to do...the hardest part is finding a place to dump the old stuff...

Suggestion: run pure gasoline ONLY in that motor...NON-ethanol...the ethanol in most gas is not friendly to older motors like yours...I know that the hard way...gaskets and small hoses onthat motor are not ethanol compatible...talk to your mechanic about this...

Thanks! I pulled both tanks and dumped them into plastic containers. I then dumped those into the tank of my Durango, which had 3/4 or more of gas in the tank, giving it plenty of dilution. I read several discussion groups in which experts saw no harm in that-- and it is silly to waste good gas-- and also a real pollution problem to dump gasoline.

I am replacing the fuel level senders on both tanks and will add a fuel gauge on the dashboard.

Larry