Taking the plunge!
 

Hey all, new here. Just bought myself a brand spanking new (lol) old boat. This 1981 v20 CC (steplift?) was so low in cost I couldnt pass it up. I know it will be a project boat, and I KNOW I'll sink a bag of money or two into it, but that boat it pretty to me right now and I cant wait to get started on her.

Here she is!

I'm starting a restoration thread on iboats to get opinions on restoration and repair. Anything you all (as v20 owners) would have to imput on first impressions would be really helpful.

Thanks in advance!

Welcome to the site. Congratulations on your purchase. Like all V20 project boats you have a diamond in the rough. How much you are willing to spend in time and money will determine how brilliant your finished boat will be. You've certainly come to the right place for information on what to do and not to do on how to restore her. The people here have years of experience in these matters. So if you have questions, just ask away or better yet, do a search here for the answer to your questions. At the very least, you got a tandem axle trailer for under $500, and assuming it's not rusted out that's a good deal in itself. Please remember that one picture is worth a thousand words.. and we love boat porn here. So please post pictures of your restoration project.. it's the thing we love to see most..... well, almost most.. there are a few other things I can think of, but this is a family site. :beer:

Welcome to the site...are you the same Ludacrous as seen on THT for lo, these many years?

welcome to the site.
dont even think of touching the out drive and motor other then to remove it! the boat is just fine and still is truly one to finish with a bracket and outboard motor. butt! then again its your boat now and i wish you the best of luck with your project.:clap:

I'm afraid not, couldn't even tell you what the THT forum? is. Bought new tie downs ratchet straps, light kit and high temp grease for the trip home. I'm really worried about those tires, located some shops down there that can replace the tire for me, hoping the bearings and hubs aren't ready to fall off.

As far as the I/O goes, I have an old friend who has done marine motor repairs, gone as far as breaking a seized motor and getting them running well. I'm about to invest in researching the dreaded OMC downsides. I won't ask here b/c I'm sure there will be plenty of previous posts to go by.


And BTW Reelapeel, I'm from Charlotte, NC. I'm in the military and was put in the lovely middle of nowhere Missouri, or Misery as I've taken to calling it ;-) At least there is a decent lake nearby to keep me motivated!

If you got it for $275, you did pretty good. I have 26 years in the marine business, I held a Mercruiser Master, Mercury Certified, OMC sterdrive, Yamaha 5 Star, Volvo gas certified, and various other classes, schools and marine education. I can tell you with out a doubt, from my experiance, do not waste one dime on that motor and drive. Pull it out, glass up the transom, put a bracket on the back, bolt an outboard on and ride. There are very few parts available for those drives. I can't tell from the pic, but if its a hydromechanical drive(no anode above the antiventalation plate), the factory couldn't even make them work, if its a mechanical drive, they only work for a short amount of time before breaking again. IF you want to swap out for another type of I/O setup, you're still going to have to glass up the transom and start from scratch anyway. Unless you find a bad boat with a good drive, it will cost you far more than dong the outboard bracket idea.

PS, welcome to the site, feel free to ask any questions and good luck

Thanks for the advice on the motor. My main concerns start with the hull transom stringers and deck. I came into this one knowing the boat would have some problems but I love a project. I've heard a lot about Wellcrafts having leaky transoms, so it's the first place I'll look.

So I just went to marineengine.com and looked at my era engine, parts? unavailable, unavailable, unavailable, $14.44 for a water drain elbow adapter... out of stock...

Welcome to the site. Definitely a diamond in the rough.

Another option would be to convert it to an outboard. MJ has a great thread on that for when he did it to his.

rkc

Got the boat picked up yesterday and got her home, haven't had time to get in her and give her a once over. (I did not pick the boat up personally) The boat was purchased from the first owner, amazingly! The original owners manual and the maintenance records were included. My agent tells me that the recent documents show thousands in work done. Then the owners just seemed to stop. The bboat sat for 4 years so who knows if they negated the work done by bad storage. I'm very interested in looking over the paperwork and the boat tonight. And YES I will post pictures.

Ludacrous...you really did a nice job buyin that boat for PENNIES...Hope you'll strongly consider following Spareparts advise on converting to outboard/bracket combo...he ain't BSing about it...knows what he's talking about...good luck either way and keep us posted...from out there in Misery...LOL!!...you comin back to Charlotte when sevice ends?...

Here are the pictures I promised. Unfortunatly mother nature has other plans than me cleaning out the interior of the boat. I was able to pull out all the old wood seating, engine cover and cabin uphulstry and spray it all down with the hose. I was able to unclog the rear drain plug and oh my lord how the water rolled out. Got to get this stuff cleaned up! Clean pictures to follow when the rain stops falling!

Need a new winch and stop for the bow, rust coming out on the bow ring.
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03242Small.jpg

This is the only hull damage on the boat I've spotted do far.
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03243Small.jpg

Some hull shots follow, the gel coat just seems gone, and the paint is powdering off on my hands.
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03244Small.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03247Small.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03248Small.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03249Small.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03250Small.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03258Small.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03256Small.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03257Small.jpg

More to follow.

The nessecary bow shot
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03245Small.jpg

A few of the metal parts look like this on the hull. The windshield and glass look good.
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03252Small.jpg

Shots of the Cuddy damage.
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03259Small.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03261Small.jpg

A view of my beautiful deck.
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03263Small.jpg

Thru deck pics
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03268Small.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03266Small.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03267Small.jpg

Fuel tank
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03265Small.jpg

Now the horrid horrid part of my purchase!
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03253Small.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03255Small.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03270Small.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03272Small.jpg

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03273Small.jpg

The "horrid, horrid" part...remove it all and after that, you won't believe the relief you'll feel and how much easier it'll make your restoration...:clap:

You mention the gelcoat gone...not at all...just oxidized as expected of one neglected in the sun over time...3M makes an oxidation remover & hull restorer that'll have her lookin' like new...go ahead and pick up a buffer ($25 at Harbour Freight) and save a lot of elbow grease...thanks for all the great pics...just to prove it can be done, here's my previous 21 the day I bought it

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90...V21II21010.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90...5V21I21010.jpg

And her's the same boat the next day...

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90.../95V-21050.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90.../95V-21054.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90...Goodbye325.jpg

Yeah...I's just kiddin' about the next day thing....LOL!!...Lookin forward to seein' the progression on yours...it'll all be worth it the 1st time you shove that throttle forward and yer cruisin' across the water...:clap:

Had the local shade tree mechanic come over. He used to work in Corpus Christi on marine engines, electrical and even did freelance upholstery. HAH! Well he saw my wife at the bar she works at and asked if we got the boat, and was downright excited to come over and look at the engine. He looked at it about 3 minutes on the outside, asked a few questions, played with the throttle, steering, looked inside the carb... "Oh yea, we'll get this thing unseized and working no problem, I've done lots like this before, I'll be back tomorrow when its warmer, WD-40 the entire engine outside and pour half a bottle of Marvell Mystery Oil into the carb. We will put the other half in the spark plug ports tomorrow."

Well I cant beat that with a stick, "So friend whats your rate?"

"Oh I cant make the lady that serves me beer hurt, how about we don't do a rate and every 4 hours I put in on a day or around that we call it $50, and some beers here and there"

Well I cant beat that with an automatic beating device!

Why are people so afraid of these engines? I's just and old GM. GM is GM right? Or are we talking about all the other parts that end up attached to the block? And couldnt the block be modified to accept these parts?

Well today I had the local shade tree mechanic come over. Yesterday per his instructions I put a full pint of Marvell Mystery Oil down into the carb. Today he came out with a pipe wrench and put it on the harmonic balancer. He stepped on it one way, stepped on it the other way. She broke loose. 5 minutes. WD-40 into the ports, and about 10 more minutes of turning and the girl turns freely. The starter is dead. Put a new battery in it, there is no key so we jumped across the solenoid. It clicks, we turned the engine by hand while jumping the starter and it started making a trying noise but it wont crank her over. Sprayed down the bilge and engine with engine degreaser, going to pressure wash out the inside of the boat and the below decks region so I can see what I'm working with and so we can work on the under part of the engine without living in 2 inches of grease.

I cleaned the boat exterior today.
Before
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03256Small.jpg

After
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03276Small.jpg

Before
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03258Small.jpg

After
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03275Small.jpg

Before
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03270Small.jpg

After
http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03277Small.jpg

Awesome progress... I knew that outside was gonna clean up big time....looked really pristine under that grime.....good luck with that motor for $50 bucks a day and some beer its worth some effort to at least see what you got.

Keep the pics coming

Looking inside the engine it looks brand new on the interior. From what I understand I need a marine grade starter. How will I know what starter to put on this boat? I cant take it to the auto parts store and we dont have a marine supplier around here. I know they sell starters on Ebay, does it have to be a specific starter or does it have to match the engine?

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...03285Small.jpg
text says...

"c103
GM 6269132 N1
Firing Order
165432"

4.3L V6 OMC

Thanks, I was amazed at how much of the oxidation came off. I plan on taking some 409 to it in a small spot to test how it'll work. I know it takes off soap scum so.... I've read about baking soda paste for the aluminum trim and around the windshield. Any other tips for polishing that up?

We worked the steering loose today too, really good start. The trim isnt seized up and like I said we broke the steering loose. Greased up the lower unit. The prop shaft turns easily, very easily, I put my ear to the lower unit while turning and I could hear the gears working. Smooth sounding. We were wondering why the steering was so hard to turn. After we did that we sat and pondered the next steps on the engine. While sitting my guy (Kevin) says to himself well I can go ahead and take that power steering pump off... DUHH, figured out why the steering was so tight!

If we can get her to turn over and run (points look good) we are planning on a new carb, alternator and starter. He says to price them off of a 79' Impala. Thoughts fellas?

Its not the engine thats the problem, its the drive that theres nothing available for. On your starter, it will either have a long bolt/short bolt or it will have two long bolts holding it in place. I can't remeber which one gioes to which flywheel , but keep the same bolt pattern and you'll be OK. You can get a new starter from ebasicpower.com or boats.com . If it were me, I'd have a local starter shop look at teh starter to see if its worth saving. Not knowing teh conditon of the engine, I'd raterh not drop teh cash on a marine starter just to find out the motor is junk, expolain your situation to the guys at the starter shop, they may be able to help you out. From the pics I see, ther isn't an anode above hte antiventaltion plate. That means you have a hydromechanical drive. Do not try to shift it with out the motor running, it will mess up the shift cable. If it happens to actually shift, consider yourself lucky. Form what IO see on your boat, I'd be awlful temted to look or an outboard bracket and redo the transom, you'll be happier in the long run

Also an update on a previous post. I stated the boat had sat for four years. Yea more like 12. Considering this I'd say we're doing well. This was also a salt water boat. *whew* gonna be a challenge.

Well the boat is on the back burner until I get back from Jamiaca, I'll continue cleaning and working on the engine, as long as its low cost stuff. The wife reminds me all inclusive resorts are great but if we leave the resort we have to pay for things :hide:.

Will be back on it hard core after the 18th of April. Will continue to post pictures of the progress.

Spoke with a guy from SEI Marine. They do outdrive conversion kits for many brands of outdrives. He informed me outright that I was basically screwed if I wanted a different outdrive. They make the holes too big so I'd have to refill the transom, cut a new hole and remake the hole for the outdrive... Well that confirms what you all have said. I'm going to try to get this all in working order, survive for a season or two then get ready for a transom rebuild project and do the outboard bracket. I love the idea of the outboard, more room on the deck, big live well :).

This break before the Jamiaca trip will give me time to research all the projects I wanna work on before getting it on the water (minus the outboard conversion) so I'm ready to hit the ground running when I return.


Current planned projects:

1. Check all wiring for continuity, replace worn or damaged cables.

2. Replace the Cuddy Cabins wood.

3. Clean the Cuddy cushions.

4. Continue cleaning the exterior hull to try to get down to gel coat.

5. Construct new seat bases for passengers, get a new captains chair (temporary, may construct our own)

6. Replace the ignition (no key with boat).

7. Replace Nav light and anchor lights, replace horn.

8. All the little things that randomly come up in the process of fixing all the other things you want to fix.

Oh for God's sake!!!! Right in the early stages of a what looks to be a real decent restoration thread you go on vacation! Thanks alot....Have a good time I guess....

LOL, there will be more before i leave, this was the heads up post!

You know RW, some people have absolutely no concept of "priorities"... :booty:

Eh Mon, ya be sef oer der and herry bek!

p.s. nice work on the boat/motor so far.

Ya know blue I used to work at catawba college, built sets and ran the road shows through their theatre dept. Lived in charlotte up until two years ago. Thanks for the encouragment.

Oh cool! Right around the corner from here. I lived in Charlotte while attending UNCC. Couldn't wait to get away! I'm a country boy at heart, thankfully!

No boat porn today, I spent about three hours cleaning out the bilges. They are still not clean all the way. The bow, live well, and most of the engine bilges are clean, I'll have to spray a ton of degreaser in there. That thing is filthy. The after region where the deck drains into the rear by the transom, then filters down to the sides of the engine stringers then is supposed to filter into the live well, then engine bilges. Stupid. Anyone object to drilling new drains through the engine stringers straight into the engine bilge if I waterproof them?

Trying out a product to remove oxidation. Seasense cleaner wax, sold at my local wally world. Turning out to get a shine (which I was able to do) Apply seasense, buff, turtle wax rubbing and polishing compound, buff, then turtlewax polish, buff. 2' x 2' sections work. Tried just the rubbing compound and polish, no luck. Had to get all the oxidation off with the Seasense. Finding I'm having to do it all by hand except the final buff. Still not a quick process. But it does shine.

http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/...94Doctored.jpg

Here is a step by step of what I did today, my last two posts were kinda jumbled.

1. Used a lemon and salt combination to try to remove some oxidation on the aluminium frame of the drivers side windshield, some success but it will take FOREVER to try to do it with this natural kind of cleaner, not to mention a lemon trees worth of lemons. Worked the drivers side and started washing it down and...

2. Crawled into the cuddy and sprayed that down, then decided shag carped is prolly holding a little tiny itty butty bit of mold... Started ripping it out, found 9 abandoned mud dobber nestes and a lot of collected dirt under the carpet. Got from the bow to starboard side. As I was ripping it out i noticed a goodly amount of dust flying out. Then some insane itching. Well crap, so I abandoned the carpet pull and started....

3. I removed the wood trip in the cuddy and the guide rails on top of the bow. Worked on removing the deck cleats, nav lights and old bow railing bases. They started crumbling as I tried to remove them. Pain to remove the screws with those little stop tabs on the bottom side when its just me there...

4. Decided to remove the dust and dirt from the cuddy and spray it down the bilges. Noticed the anchor storage bin does not have a bilge drain in it... Smart. Sprayed from the front to the back working all the dirt down, past the live well bins, into the engine bilge.

5. Mechanic needs me to clean the grease out of the bilge area so I started spraying down the area and noticed my drain plug kept getting clogged so I let it finish draining and pulled 12-15 big handfuls of dirt and debris (all slimy and oily) from the area under the engine and tossed it into the garbage (environmentalism and all) then started spraying down the bilge and using the old oil dip stick with it's curvy bottom to dig the blockages out. It's still a little dirty down there but I'll get some dawn, plug up the drain plug hole and fill her up to the bottom of the engine to eat some of that grease.

6. Noticed the poor drainage design from the deck drain holes, to the aft area bilge, the port sides drain hole from the aft to the engine transom drain has been eaten away, there must be 4 inches of scum under that hole. I am going to have to cut through the decking and see the extent of the damage. The starboard side seems to drain well still and has not gone through to the lower bilges. Seems good and solid too.

7. And as stated in the previous post polished the hull some and worked on oxidation removal. Still don't know how I'm going to get the underside of the boat. I'm not lucky as some of you fine folks. This is a town-home and I'm lucky enough to be able to do it in the driveway without the neighbors going bonkers. Heck thats why I don't want to do any sanding or grinding if I can help it. The dust would end up on all the neighbors cars. So I have no room to lift the boat, nor a tree to do it from etc. etc. etc.

Questions comments greetings of the season?

Brr... Cold day. Washed the boat some more. Turns out one of those empty bottles of motor oil was empty because it was coating the deck of the boat so todays task was cleaning it out so it was no longer a slip-n-slide in there. Got the rest of the mildew off the inside of the boat too. The section I shined up yesterday on the hull looks great. I can really tell the difference in the better light.

Got a sample of the Durabak yesterday in the mail. Got my foot on it right now to see how long I can stand on it before or if it ever becomes uncomfortable to stand on.

Supposed to be in the 70s all week here starting around tuesday, Gonna try to remove all the screws and trim and get all the oxidation off. Any suggestions on steps? If I remove all the oxidation and let it sit for a few weeks before polishing it will it be okay? I don't see it being 3 weeks but wanna be careful.

Been a long time...
 

Well, needless to say I haven't done much to the boat because I haven't posted anything on here. Life took hold. Army can be a hell of thing. Recently moved, got the place all cleaned up and now looking forward to working on the boat some. I have no plans of putting it in the water this year or for two years after. I found out I get to take a trip to the Republic of Korea. Joy. Regardless, I'll have plenty of time this summer to work on the beast and hopefully have it in a good state to be stored for a couple years.

Just wanted to say thank you for your service to our country!!! good luck on your project

Engine removal stalled... Well the mounting bolts are removed and the engine swings around but DOH! Learning experiences happen every day right. Bell housing... Evil. Well daylight is fading, looks like tomorrow will get it going again!

Gotta love it, found the repair manual for 1964-1986 OMC sterndrives and a separate one for wiring diagrams for all years of OMC. Already learning lots of new things. If anyone needs a copy let me know, I still have the links.

Get what you can done this summer...she'll be waiting for you whenever you get back...and I'm glad yer goin' to Korea instead of Afghanistan...

ARGH! Can anyone describe the location of the bell housing bolts or better yet, provide a picture, its so tight back there I cant really see them!

Well I located the bell housing bolts, boy howdy their in a tough spot. I had to spray them down with WD-40. Let them soak until tomorrow. Put some more elbow grease into the hull, slowly bringing that shine back to the gelcoat. At least I got the gunwale done on the side I'm hopping in and out of, keep that lovely white powder off my clothes when I just wanna get in the boat!

Lost my shade tree mechanic to another state. Found some guys at work, mechanics. They enjoy rebuilding engines. We'll see what the pain and suffering is on the block. I'm almost expecting to replace anything attached to it, (starter, alternator, steering, etc.) I can feel the dollars adding up already.

sorry to hear yer mechanic got away...good ones are hard to find...hope those bell housing bolts come out for ya the easy way....you got a torch?...and if you do, make sure no gasoline layin on engine somewhere...fuel lines, etc...