Hi All--
I've been busy fishing and haven't been back here to post in awhile, thought I'd drop by and let you know how my boat is doing. I acquired my 1979 170 last fall, put it in the water in June, and have been out in it 2-3 times a week since. Over the winter the steering cable, which wasn't in good shape to begin with, rusted up and snapped come spring. Very little else has gone wrong--I put in a new main bilge pump just to be sure. However, the boat takes on very little or no water while sitting at the dock (previously I had to have the livewell connection capped off--it was taking in small amounts of water that piled up over time). The fuel tank, which as far as I know is original, also seems fine--I have a Racor filter on it, which I unscrew and check for water periodically. Otherwise all is well. The transom has some cracking in the gel coat along the cap, but it seems solid as a rock--the former owner sealed the cracks over and the transom feels solid as a rock.
The motor's a 2001 Mercury 75 hp and it planes the boat at around 3400 rpm's. I'm not using the self-bailing scuppers at the moment, since I live just two miles from the dock and go down to visit the boat every evening. It has the ping-pong ball type, don't know whether I should expect them to work or not, since I understand motors have gotten heavier than when the boat was made.
Anyway, thanks to all for advice last fall and this spring. I'm getting a ton of pleasure out of the boat, especially since all of my buddies own bigger rigs and are actually cutting back trips because of gas prices. Now if I could just get better at fishing . . .
Best,
Jeff
