Stop Lurking and Start Posting!! Introduce Yourself Here!

[RickK]

   aboard FNF and AJ. This site is a great place to spend a few months/years looking through all the rebuilds to give you ideas and inspirations. Plus we have a great bunch of helpful members when you need them.

[Capt. Bob]

Welcome aboard FNF and AM88.

Here's some hull specs on the 286.

[Capt. Bob]

290 specs to compare.

[Kostur]

Hi I'm Mark Kostur and I'm a new member. I purchased a 2003 Aquasport 215 Osprey Sport Dual Console.
I have had it for a year. I live in Ohio and use it mostly on Lake Erie.

[RickK]

  aboard Mark.  The DC models were very popular for Aquasport.

[Capt. Bob]

Welcome aboard Mark.

Good looking hull. 

[Dadsdreem]

Hi everyone I just bought a 96 215 Explorer from the original owner in Cape Coral Fl. It has a custom Hardtop and a 17 Suzuki 250 4 stroke. I’m in Deerfield Beach and storing the 215 in a dry rack storage. Today removed all cushions in cabin and started cleaning Moved the porta potti forward and noticed there was a rubber plug in a drain pipe. Took the plug out and there was sitting water by the drain and it didn’t go down when I removed the plug? I thought it would. So shop vac’d the pipe and got 4-5 gallons of water out. Is this Opening a drain area to the bilge and if so I guess it’s plugged? All ideas appreciated!

[Capt. Bob]

Welcome aboard Dad.

As to the plug, the 215 did not (IIRC) come with a forward bilge pump. No other Aqua model shared the 215 hull design because it's a Welcraft Coastal re-badged as an EX. This isn't a bad thing. It was built right along with the other Aquas as were all Welcraft hulls. If we assume the drainage is similar then yes, water would traverse from the front to back.

Was it on a trailer while you were working on it? Water pools in the bow and requires a fair amount of tilt to get it back to the stern. This is common on Aquas, especially EXs. We see it a lot on hulls kept outside when it rains. Look at your hull and you'll see that the bow (when level) will hold water. I don't think you have any worries but since you keep it on a rack, you may wish to suck out the excess from time to time that finds its way forward.

Good luck.

[652aquasport]

Hi everyone, my name is Mike.  I bought this 1979 Aquasport 222 over a year ago from a friend of mine, but have yet to get it out on the water.  Initially, it wouldn't start and leaked fuel at both the tank and the engine.  So I replaced all the fuel line and fittings between the tank and the engine.  The trim/tilt motor also didn't work, but that was only a blown fuse.  Then I changed the lower unit gear oil and got it running.  It has a Johnson 235, but it runs great for a 40 year old motor and has only 270 hours on it.  I thought I was all set until I looked under the dash and discovered all the wiring was corroded and look like it had been chewed up by rats.

That's when the project snowballed for me, as I decided to rewire the boat.  So far, I've replaced all the wiring except for the main and trim harnesses, replaced all the lighting and even added some additional ones, replaced all the gauges, and added a fish finder (it still had an old school flasher).  The bilge pump wasn't even connected, so working on that.  Also, just got in 4 new seats and pedestals to install.

Overall, the hull is in good shape, so no major worries there.  I'll post some before and after photos in the next week or so.



Also, looking forward to what I can learn from the rest of the group.

[RickK]

  Mike and Dad - welcome aboard.

[j.white]

Hello All!

I just picked up my 1999 Aquasport 225 Explorer with a 2005 Mercury Optimax 225 on the back of it at the beginning of May this year.  The times I've had the boat out and running she has been great!  I'm currently working on fixing the compressor on the motor (known Mercury Optimax issue) and hopefully that will be it for major issues this season! I know, famous last words.

Looking forward to learning as much as I can about these boats while I have it and maybe even getting into a little bit of restorative work.  The boat seems pretty solid, but there are some minor things that I want to keep and eye on and maybe improve or take care of in the offseason.  I'm up in Great Bay, NH and if anybody else is around in the area I would love to talk fishing spots and general boating advice.

Thanks!

[RickK]

  aboard J

[Capt. Bob]

Welcome aboard Mike and j.white.

[JamieRed]

Hi everyone! I'm Jamie Redington a college student at Virginia Tech, living in NJ. I recently purchased a 1976 Aquasport 170 for a great deal but of course it needs some TLC and so I've been gearing up to take on this project. I've taken the fuel tank out and in the process of trying to find a new one made. I read on here that people were ballparking the price of a new aluminum tank to be around $10 per gal but so far I've only been getting quotes for around $550 for a 29 gallon tank. Does this sound about right or am I just looking in the wrong places? The transom needs to be redone and I plan on doing this myself and looking to raise it to a 25" transom rather than the standard 20" because having done a significant amount of research on the specific model the low transom was the only single complaint I could find. And if I'm going to redo the transom anyway, I might as well make it a few inches higher right? Besides all that I'm going to redo the wiring and have to find an outboard as the boat came with a trailer (and spare console) but no motor. I was thinking about pairing it with a Yamaha 90hp two stroke as it seems to be enough power without the excess weight and price of a 4 stroke. Does anyone have this on their 170?
Thanks for the add and I look forward to sharing more about my project in the coming weeks.

[RickK]

  aboard Jamie.  The 170 is pretty weight sensitive and also Center of Gravity changes. The 170 I have I can steer it without touching the steering wheel just by stepping left or right of the console.
Start a new thread in the 170 rebuild forum and post your questions, we have more 170 owners than any other model.