New (old) 17'... finally in the club!

[JimCt]

Finally joined the club; '73 17' in practically showroom condition (2 pix in gallery). Has had no mods and is sound as a nut.  Transom strong.  The original green rubrail, about which there has been some discussion, is as new.

From my readings of various posts I thought all AS fuel tanks were mounted below the cockpit sole, but this one is on deck fwd. of the console where the cooler usually is.  I'm happy with this arrangement since the tank can be easily accessed and inspected.  Console shell covers the tank so the seat is there, just no cooler.

Motor is '03 Merc 75 2 str. with about 70 hrs.  Paint is still perfect on the prop leading edges.   Am of mixed feelings about the automatic oil injection system though because of possibility of failure & blowing the thing.  I guess I'm just an old worrier, but with pre-mix motors I've had I always knew that the oil was getting to the engine.  Anybody have advice / opinions about oil injection in general or Merc's in particular?

One problem so far.  The motor bracket completely covers the two rear cockpit scuppers.  Only solution I see is to bore holes through the bracket but that plan sets off little red flags waving in my head.  Advice about this welcomed.

[Seadog]

Congrats on the new boat JimCt!  

Hope she will do you well! She looks to be in pretty good shape.

Take a few pix of the scuppers you mentioned, if you get the chance, so we can have a look...

[Deck Daddy]

Jim,

Congrats on the new boat, she is a head turner. You are definatly going to have a blast with her. I know what you are talking about. I have the same centerline scupper. I keep it plugged. The previous owner drilled just inboard of the stern boxes and installed the brass inserts. He did a nice job but they are not the same distance from the boxes on either side. When the rain passes I will take pics and post.

DD

[JimCt]

OK, will pull the cover off tomorrow after work and get some scupper shots.  Beats me how the last owner got water out of the boat.

[steved]

Gook looking boat! Congratulations.

[Wilson]

Congratulations, Jim.  That's a great lookin' rig.  

On an engine that new, I would leave the oil injection connected.  I have had boats with both and never had a problem either way.  That being said, you have a much harder time getting in trouble with the premix. Premix is just a bit more of a PITA.

Good luck.

[Unclebob]

Nice Boat Jim!

[Argo]

I had the oil injection go out on my '97 250 yamaha and blow the motor.

[JimCt]

Argo, I think it was your post a while ago that I was thinking of.

Merc. Owner's Manual says there's a warning horn if the oil injection fails.  Well, that's fine.  But the warning is meaningful ONLY if it can sense whether correct ratio oil is actually getting to the carbs.  If the sensor is on the injection pump, that tells you nothing.  The pump can be pumping happily along but if there's a blockage or ruptured feed line or whatever and the oil never makes it to the engine, then SOL.  Also, seems the oil "warning" should be a kill switch just like on a Briggs & Stratton mower engine.  

Argo, did your Yamaha have an oil failure warning horn or light?  In the last few seconds of the engine's life did the warning system alert you?

Rather than fret over this I'll just pre-mix and be done with it.

[Radioshop]

Mercury oil injection is pretty good.  I've never know it to fail unless you don't do some basic maintenance.  On my '91 175 there are two pieces of oil line they reccomend changing every year.  It's inexpensive, so I do it.  I don't know if they've fixed that or not.  The only oil injection I'd ever bypass would be OMC VRO.  What junk!

[JimCt]

Motor bracket update:  After looking the whole situation over this afternoon, clearly it would be insanity to bore through the motor bracket to open up the scuppers.   This is good.  Now I'll be "forced" to bore new scuppers and install those snazzy stainless garboard fittings Wilson & Captain put on their Mako    !

I need some guidance as to who supplies those fittings.

[RickK]

Nice boat Jim!  Welcome to the 170 club.  After seeing the windshield on yours, it tells me that mine is not stock , and here shows the wind catcher it is. One good thing about it is that I at least have something to hide behind in stiff winds.
My fuel tank (aluminum 24gal) sits on top of the floor under the console - again, not sure it's stock either.  This boat reportedly came from up north, east coast.
I replaced the green rub rail with the new one shown - couldn't clean up the old well enough.
One last thing, my motor bracket covers half of each drain hole too.  I posted an earlier comment on the scupper idea, but as you, hate to punch a hole in the transom.

[JimCt]

RickK,  Looks like the last owner was also tired of getting his face doused with spray when working to windward!  Must be a lot of wind force on that structure at speed.

Concerning the scuppers, older motors must have had considerably smaller motor brackets.  Despite our complaints, the new larger brackets do distribute the motor stresses over a larger area which helps.

My guess is that in the never ending search for a bit more useable space, AS decided to bury the tank under the sole to provide for locker space and get weight lower.  Not a bad idea until, 30-odd years later, the tank needs to come out.  If I find I need more space I'll try to find a pair of stern boxes like Deck Daddy has.  Probably wouldn't be much to build a set.

I've been thinking of hanging a kicker on the back for back-up when the main motor dies (which outboards enjoy doing from time to time).  Maybe a 9.9 or something along that size.  Small enough not to screw-up the trim too much but big enough to get home with.  I guess I'd need a long shaft but I'm not sure how to determine that.  How is that measured?  From the clamp seat to the anti-cavitation plate?

Nice to hear from another 17'er.  Most of the gang seems to be 222's.

[RickK]

The windshield is great on those infamous cuts through a wave when the spray is thrown out and up for just long enough for you to drive through it.    My wife has been caught up in front of the console once or twice during the "wash" - oops! Now when we're under way on a choppy sea, she's right beside me, BEHIND the console.
She does 39 mph with the 110 engine ...wonder what she'd do without the windshield?  When fishing adrift, the windshield acts as a sail and pushes you along - bummer sometimes.  To compensate, I put an electric trolling motor on the rear, not great as a kicker but does move her along if the wind is not too strong (I forget but think it is >50 lbs thrust)

[JimCt]

In the photo gallery I've posted a shot of the scuppers which you can't see.  The X's mark the locations.