Thread: 1960's seacraft restoration

No problems with the epoxy at all!

The boat is direct drive, I asked several of my fathers old mates about this and they said to leave it as is, they all had similar home made ply ski boats with direct drive and after using the boat regularly since christmas I see no need to change this. Many of the dog box owners I have spoken to don't have many kind words to say about these boxes, the velvet drive owners are a happy gloating lot though! Drivers from both of these camps have driven my direct drive with no problems.

The deck is as it was originally-mahogany stain around the edges divided up by yellow paint stripes, yes yellow paint. Before I stripped the boat tracings were made of the deck and sides so I could apply the original pattern and sign writing, after sanding, these divisions on the deck were a slightly lighter shade so I just followed these original lines, freehand paintbrushed with wobbles, as it was done originally, the yellow paint was applied first then I stained which kept the stain from bleeding.

There is a bit of a thread here,
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f32/dads-ski-boat-84993 this will probably explain a bit of the boats history.

Hi

Originally Posted by Ricochet

. It has a seawater inlet and outlet, not sure if its just a loop or a coil internally.


Chris

What is a sea water inlet/outlet I have been looking at a boat with a Holden red and was told it was only for use in fresh water,if you use the motor in salt water how do you minimise corrosion.
Is this a silly question??

Nick

Originally Posted by Utey

Hi



What is a sea water inlet/outlet I have been looking at a boat with a Holden red and was told it was only for use in fresh water,if you use the motor in salt water how do you minimise corrosion.
Is this a silly question??

Nick

The Samar I used to have (yes, someone bought her ) had a Holden Red motor and used a simple flow through system, and she spent all her life in the ocean, including being moored for most of her life.

Richard

Stringy I wouldn't have picked that from the pictures! I will pick your brain some more along the way if you don't mind? I really do like the final product you have! I was thinking about mucking around with the driveline a bit, clutch/dog box/aftermarket drive, but i think as long as i can get it to idle low so that i'm hardly moving in the water, the direct drive should be fine. You have the same hull gland for the prop shaft as I do, although I suspect this is a common thing. How many foot is she? The flathead is a big motor! Not sure if you have a similar size hull to me or not, can be deceiving in the pictures. I think I am around 16-17 foot. How does she handle?

Nick- Its quite an interesting setup, but can cause problems from what I see! My 186 has an aftermarket one piece exhaust/intake manifold which has its own integral water jacket. The sump has also been modified for more clearance between the hull, and the angle the motor sits on. It has been fitted with a seawater heat exchange welded into the sump, with an inlet and outlet on the side of the sump. Its the last thing in the cooling circuit, so makes me think it is for cooling the oil, but could also be for heating the oil? Not sure on that one. I opened up my water jacket on the block and head and she's been sitting for a while with salt water i suspect, block was full of foam and nasty scale. I washed it out as best I could with a hose for the time being. This setup has an auxilliary raw water pump (sea water pump) driven off the crank, which sucks sea water from a pickup under the hull and pushes it through the intake/exhaust manifold and block/head water jacket, thru the sump heat exchange and discharges through the wet exhaust. This setup can be used in salt water, but you would need a very good fresh water flush after ever use. I am looking at running another pump for seawater with a sea/fresh heat exchange, and then another pump with reservoir for fresh water circuit on motor, help look after the motor a bit better. Either that or be pedantic about giving her a good flush after use =)

Anyone know of something I can fill the block water jacket up with to dissolve or loosen scale and rust thats built up?

Onto another interesting note- a closer look at my manifold revealed 2 blanked off ports, one on either side of the carb. At first I thought they were inspection ports, but then realised i can very easily run a dual carb arrangement and blank the middle port off =D Anyone have a good opinion on what pair of carbs are readily available and would suit a 186?

So far the motor looks to be in good nick. I was told it supposedly hadn't had much use since a rebuild. All the welsh plugs are practically new, oil was old and dark but no water or particles =D I pulled all the plugs, nice healthy deposit of carbon on each, but no rust or moisture signs. Engine turns over fine by hand. I'll be cleaning the exterior up, then lifting the head and taking a better look at the bores/valves etc. Will pull the sump and look at the bottom end, what is sitting in the sump, and looking at the heat exchange, make sure its ok. Provided everything I find is alright, i'll put a new sump gasket/head gasket on, reassemble, put some oil in the bores and turn her over periodically, do a compression test etc and if all checks out, i'll paint the sump/block/head and leave her to sit until the hull is ready.

Again, i'll post up some pics of the motor/manifold.


Chris

G'day Chris,
The pipe work through the sump will be to cool the oil, remembering that we now have an automotive engine in a boat meaning there is next to NO air flow around the engine as in the car so heat is not dispersed as it would be from the air moving around the sump.

There are thousands of raw water cooled engines that have been running around for years with no problems, our old jet boat had a 221 ford six in it that was about 20 years old and to be honest after we upgraded to a 302 we stripped it down and it was fine, the major cause of any problems will be from NOT using it as this can leave the salt water to evaporate away leaving the salt crystals behind and we all know what happens next, a good thorough flush each time etc will most likely see it ok, just keep an eye on the alloy components as these will corrode a bit quicker, but it is the simplest and most cost efficient way of keeping cool

Kev

Thanks Kev! Yeah I wasn't too sure about the purpose of the sump heat exchange =) Any ideas on what I can fill the block/head water jackets with to break down the buildup of scale and corrosion?

Here's some photos of the engine and manifold

Chris there are several different types of descaling solutions available, check out your local automotive parts distibutor or mechanics shop, we used to use a few different products but for the life of me can't remember there names etc. I used to descale heat exchangers with Hydrochloric/water mix but if your not careful it can be pretty dangerous, we used to monitor it with ph meters etc but it worked well, although i probbaly wouldn't do it these days, You could also try a company called "Heatcraft", they are a Commercial Refrig parts wholesaler if i get a chance tomorrow i will have a look through there catolouges at work and see if there is something you can use.

As for what to do with the inlet manifold.......maaate there is only one thing to do.....Triple Strombergs, with rat rod inlet cones.........that would be way cool and keeping with the era the boat was built after all the sixties were all about hot rods both on the street and in the water

Thanks Kev! I'll check out supercheap tomorrow and see if they have anything I can use to soak in the water jacket. You're a bad influence with the carbies though! I think there may be clearance issues between 3 carbs haha. I'll get it running on the single and look into that further down the track =)

The standard Holden stombergs will be fine for the dual or triples, you just jet them to suit the motors needs, get the head opened up and some bigger valves put into it and it will really go hard. For a real good engine flush take it down to collie and run it in the old mine waterski lake for an afternoon, heated low pH water clears out the block real sweet. Not a bad little lake to ski on either

Interesting that it is running a 186, must have been a late 60's build.

Hey Burnsy! Thats very interesting, might just freshen her up a bit without touching the water jacket too much, and take her for a spin at Collie when she's finished? Are you familiar with seacraft boats? Anything you could tell me about them would be great, all I know is that I have found an exact same restored model, also with the 186s and it was referred to as a 1964 model. I'm actually not interested in skiing at all, i'd just like to do her up as a fun weekend cruiser =) I do love carbs though. Guess i'll keep my eye out for some old strommies that i can kit up and rejet.

Chris

Not familiar at all but I did have an old 70's Gilflight with silver metal flake.

If my memory serves me correctly the EH came out in 1964 and the 186 came out after the EH, EH had a 149 or 179. I think the 186 came out with the HR in 1966 and I would be very surprised if the boats came out that year with 186's in them as from what I understand the engines came from wrecks, not new from the Holden factory. I would have thought it would be a fair chance that a 1964 model would have left the factory with a grey motor in it and any read motor would have been swaped into it later.

Cruising is fun. LOML and I use to love crusing the swan fright up to Guilford in ours. It use to sit nicely on the 8 knott limit with the 350 idling and it had a front bench seat, not a forward backward split like newer ski boats so it was a great way to spend a warm afternoon.

Sounds wonderful Burnsy, thats the idea I had in mind haha. I don't know the history of this boat, but it does have a seacraft branded timing case cover/engine mount, not sure if 202/186/179 etc share the same block or timing cover? One of the adapter plates that bolts over the normal water pump location is branded Rolco. I am a ford man myself, have an 81 bronco and 77 F100 both with 351 clevos. About time i had a holden in the stable =P How much meat is there in the bores of a standard bore 186? Just thinking about what I found in the water jacket and how much meat there is. I don't want a fast boat, just something to cruise the swan in and have a bit of fun =)

Chris

I think enough meat to bore out to 209. All red motors had the same block pattern so timing covers etc are the same.

ah thats good news, i shouldn't have to worry about what I found in the water Jacket then =) Well I'm working late tomorrow, so Saturday morning will be the time to flip the hull upside down and start taking it back to bare ply. Once the hull is bare and drying, i'll take off the head and sump and get a better idea of what condition the motor is in. Wish me luck!

Chris