1975 Aquasport 170 with a 2000, 2001? Yamaha 115hp 2 stroke.

[TimeVirus]

Hello all,


Thank you very much for those links! Those and ideas for restoration were exactly what I was hoping for. 

I'm so glad I stumbled across this forum! Thanks to Rick I'm all grins regarding the response to my application, very warm indeed.

 

As for the boat, the transom seems to be as sound as brand new, so I figure it must have been done. The rear deck, from behind the console to the inspection port has soft spots, so that's first on the to do list. If I'm not mistaken, they used 5/8" plywood, yes? I'm thinking Coosa board will be it's replacement. I didn't seatrial the boat before I bought it, the price was so good. When I finally do get it out on the water I'll see if it has any stringer issues. The man I  bought it from said I won't be disappointed and I believe him. The engine fired up fine enough and sounds real good. His son is an outboard mechanic and he said he got ~120 lbs pressure on each compression test.


This will be a good challenge of a hobby for me. With the help of the forum I'm sure we'll all get another 170 ready for its next 50 years. I'm not an expert boat builder by any stretch but I have done fiber glass work thanks to an '86 Prindle 18 rebuild I was part of, as well as a '68 Montauk restoration. In the end, I was the proud owner of that Prindle. My brother and a partner owned the Montauk.


Anyway, I need to get started on the day. Need to find a way to lift the boat off the trailer or a place I can float it and knock out some trailer repairs. So let's call this day one. 


I live in Clearwater, FL and have lived in Pinellas county since 1970, less 4 years around the country as a Telecommunications Construction Technician with AT&T and others. This has got to be one of the very best places on the planet to float a fishing boat, (Tampa Bay area). The plan is to do the restoration in stages during the winter months and fishing during spring, summer and fall?


Thanks again Rick, for the welcome. I'm going to use the forum as something of a restoration log. Maybe even post some snaps of the fishing months?


Good day all. Keep me motivated! Lol. 


TimeVirus  (Dan)


PS, I sure can yap, huh?

[RickK]

Welcome aboard Dan - you've got a few months of reading ahead of you to look through the data stored here 

When you start documenting the work make sure you use your gallery and follow this thread https://classicaquasport.com/smf/index.php?topic=12725.0
It'll take care of sizing the pics and there is no limit. When attaching files, there is a size limit.

[TimeVirus]

I finally got the boat out on the intercoastal a couple days ago. The engine runs real fine until I run it to about 70% or more throttle for much more than ~30 seconds (there are no gauges, tach included, except for a failed gas gauge) so I can't say what rpm I'm at. When I've run the engine up for x amount of time it will suddenly lose power, and run and sound like it's dropped a cylinder. I back down the throttle to about 33% and in about a minute or so it'll smooth out again. Hoping it's the fuel filter.
     Are there any ideas out there what this could be?
After I repair the trailer, the first thing I'm going to do is make a nice teak plate for gauges, tach, fuel, battery, and speed. The boat came with a Garmin GPSmap 541s, so maybe the speedometer gauge is a bad idea. I really need a tach though. Another thing that has me thinking is that the phone can also do speed by gps. I absolutely love google maps, I use my phone and maps for work and I'm wondering if there is a Google Charts.  That would be awesome!
   
That day I took the boat off the trailer was to work on replacing a lot of the hardware on the trailer,  and at least cover the bunks. I ran the boat over to the public dock and left it there while I went about trying to get the bunk bracket bolts off. I had been spraying penetrating oil on them for a couple days but the first bolt I tried would not budge using a pair of channel locks. I'm afraid that if I take a large pipe wrench to it/them I'm just going to twist/break them. The boat is tied to a public dock in downtown Clearwater who's hours of operation are 9-5, and I don't know how safe it would be if I left it there for a couple days.  So I decided to go seatrial the boat and see how it and the motor does. Other than the rpm limit it has, they seem good enough for now. I didn't notice any softness or twisting in the boat running through waves at various angles of attack. Seems solid. I'll get a much better idea about the stringers, maybe,  when I go about replacing the rear deck core. That depends on weather or not I save the glass under the core. Just cut the top off and get the wood out, kind of thing. A 4x8 sheet of 1/2" Coosa Board Bluewater 26 is $285. The less dense (cheaper) Coosa Board 15 is about $90 cheaper but I don't know how well it will hold screws. I'm also thinking the decks  might be structural.  If anyone has an opinion on this (Coosa
15) for the deck, is it a good or not so good idea, by all means, speak up. Right now I think the cheaper Coosa isn't really a good option for the deck.

[RickK]

Sounds like it has low oil in the reservoir or has gotten hot and the engine has dropped into survival mode.  Usually limits you to 15-2500 rpm.  Mine does this every time my oil rez is low.

[TimeVirus]

Thanks Rick. The oil injection system was removed by a previous owner. I put 5 gallons of gas and 15oz of TWC3 synthetic blend ($29/gal) in the tank before I took it out. I checked the water coming out of the engine when power dropped, thinking it might have gotten hot too, but it wasn't hot at all, just warm. I'll keep that in mind and make sure next time though. Thanks.

[mshugg]

The 15 lb Coosa is more than adequate for your deck.  In fact more decks are probably cored with lighter H80 Divynecell (5lb) or even lighter Nidacore honeycomb.  One thing about all forms of Coosa, is peel strength.  It is important to hot coat it with whatever resin you are useing prior to applying your laminations.

No composite foam including Coosa 26 holds screws well.  Light weight items can be screwed, but you’re really just useing the skin for strength.  The best practice is to overdrill, fill with epoxy, then screw into the epoxy plug.

[Capt. Bob]

Sounds like a sticking high pressure valve (aka poppit valve). This occurs at speed and causes the engine to drop in the "slo-mode" This cause the engine temperature to drop back into the operational range and you can resume speed. You may wish to check/replace this valve.

Good luck.

[TimeVirus]

Crud, I was afraid this response was out there. I've seen epoxy plugs pop out on thier own even, though they were much bigger than screw holes. I'm guessing when Coosa Board is used for a transom the important things are through-bolted anyway. I'm going to need all the time I have before this winter (when I plan on tearing into the deck) for more education on the subject, for sure. If epoxied screws is the best answer, then so be it. That must be why a bait well base has so many screws huh.
Thanks, mshugg

[TimeVirus]

I'll go ahead and replace that valve. Thanks Capt. Bob. 

[wingtime]

Hi Dan,

I'm in the Clearwater St Pete area.  I have a 1987 170 and a 1998 245 Explorer.  Let me know if you want to meet up sometime. 

Bruce

[TimeVirus]

Thanks Bruce, that sounds like a good idea. Once I get the trailer fixed we could meet up sometime. I'd like to see your 170, maybe there are some ideas I can rob from it  But then maybe not...I'm betting there is a vast difference between a '75 and an '87. Did you do much rebuild on the 170 when you got it? Maybe you've some good info, tips & tricks for me even.

[TimeVirus]

My outboard steering is too easy! If I let go of the wheel it will turn itself to the stop (full starboard or full port). Torque will more easily turn the steering full starboard, of course, but after x% port steering if I let go it'll go full port on it's own. I search and search "too easy", "too loose". Results for too easy returns replacing the cable, that they wear over time. Is that the only solution? Is there really no way to tighten it up? Lol if I dirty up things, as in 'steering too hard or stuck'? When I was looking at the boat, before buying it, I  tested the steering. I was expecting stiff steering,  but nooo. At that time I thought it was fine. Once I got the boat out on the water I found I have to keep hands on the throttle and steering or they move. I found the throttle adjustment, so no prob. there. Real puzzling to me there isn't something similar in the steering. Bah
   Oh by the way, there is no play in the steering, just too loose/easy.

[RickK]

Is the anode/tab on the lower unit of the engine, just above and behind the prop, even there?

[TimeVirus]

Yes, the anode is there and relatively new. Not that.

[TimeVirus]

At the moment, the only theory I have is that the steering system is the wrong system for the engine.  Slopped in to save a few bucks maybe.  I need to look for a serial # and do me some lookin up. The looking around I've done thus far shows different systems for different sizes of engine, which makes sense I guess. bah