newb

[Jzedan357]

Hey guys im Jeremy i live in las vegas NV and have a few questions if you dont mind. My Aunt passed on an old boat thats been the family camping party boat for 30 yrs. Its a 79' 21 ft Hawaiian with a 460 and berkely jet. Its in great original condition reupholstered and the 460 rebuilt. I have loved this boat and its sound since I was a child (im 24) and would like to put some money into it.
I checked the boat out yesterday after towing it from san fran CA last weekend and everything looks good exept the floorboard seems rotted. It was flexing and creaking bad.I want to do this work myself after tuning it up this weekend. I have never worked extensively on a car or boat but im pretty handy i think and I work as an electrician. ill take pics
ill take pics this weekend and post
Anyway I need to know what kind of oil to run in the 460 and if anyone knows the type of fuel and oil filters ill need?
I assume I need to drain the gas since its been sitting for 3 yrs.?
whats the best way to do this?
what do I want to grease and oil?
doeas anyone know the process replacing that rotten wood?
Most important is this boat worth putting time and money into??
THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR KNOWLEGE

[hkunz]

If you loved the boat as a kid, you'll love it now - but you gotta love it to make it "pay". There's no financial reward for working on your jet, but the emotional/seat of the pants/fun factor will definitely be there. We drug an old jet boat out of a friend's back yard eleven years ago - we now own three. That's the answer to your time and money question...:D
Go to lasvegas***boats.com and join for local input in your area - nice bunch of guys, and many are here too, but you'll get someone who might be able to drop over for a few beers and wrenching.
Run regular multi-weight oil, and a good oil filter - they take car filters, such as a PH-8 to fit Ford. Your fuel filter may be a Quicksilver (read Mercury Marine) and you can get it at any West Marine or other marine dealer.
Dump the gas into your car with a good mix of fresh gas - used to be I'd say just dump it, but with these prices.....
You'll have u-joints between the drive and the motor, grease them w/good marine or boat trailer grease. Your drive will have small fitting on the bowl. Take both out, and using 90W gear oil, push gear oil in one hole until it comes out the other. If you get the type of oil bottle with the tapered cap, you can fit it in the hole and not make a huge mess.
Get with someone nearby to figure out what you need to do with the rotting wood - you may want to tear it all aout and re-glas it, you may want to put in longer stringers...
Pics would help.

[jetboat]

in my 466bbf i use rotella oil, it doesent break down as fast. if you dont have the oil pan drain line kit, then you might think of taking the motor out and change the oil and check freez plugs.check the stringers that the motor is bolted to also,they might be going soft if the floor is.another area is the wiring,steering box,packing glands in the jet pump,is the carb glazed over. have everything checked out before it gos on the lake, and on the first time out! dont stray to far past the launch ramp! seams sometimes we need a tow.another good site is performance boats,theres advice in numbers.remember,youl be teased about fords, but only the rich can afford a ford!

[Jetoholic]

...youl be teased about fords, but only the rich can afford a ford!
In other words...you'll be spending LOTS of money to keep that Ford running :D

[jetboatperformance]

JZ Welcome to the HB boards and congratulations on you "aquisition' One of the biggest "common denominators" I've seen thru the years with my customers and friends who own and restore these Classic boats are the good times and great family memories they had as kids. Our family too grew up with Jet boats and I know how you feel . My son recently purchase the exact type boat he had wanted since a small child . One of the first clear words my grandbaby said was "Boat" :D Good luck on the work and enjoy your new venture . Whatever motor,jet or hull you have its a great start to a time honored family pastime Lots of good info here on the boards ,lots of help and coaching from the guys ! Tom

[bp]

when i got my 23' hallett last year, there were soft spots in the floor. after getting in and out of it a whole lot, those soft spots started turning into holes in january/february. since i had the thing half apart in feb, and after talking to mike and becca at Main Stitch in LHC, i stripped the boat completely (except for the glassed in tanks); interior, engine, pump, and old carpet, and took it to mike. 2 weeks later the thing had a new floor, marine grade plywood, and the thickest carpet available. it was worth it to me to have it done at the time because i had a lot of other stuff to do to it and the southwind before the race season started, the cost wasn't prohibitive.
on this boat, the original floor was 1/2" - we changed that to 5/8" to add some strength. it's really solid now.
this winter, i'll get becca to create a new interior for it - they're super busy, but do great work.

[Cas]

Jz,
If the floor is rotten in only a couple of places, you can just do some repairs to fix/strengthen it. Here's a series of pictures of how I've repaired a few over the years-
First mark out the size hole you think will adequately remove the rot and cut along those lines. Be sure you don't set the saw blade too deep so as to not go through the bottom of the boat. I used the pictured battery operated circular saw with the blade set at 1/2" deep to start-
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l204/Cas2006/Tech/Floor%20Repair/cutfloor.jpg
If you find more rot in at the edges of the cut and/or you can feel more rot on the underside of the floor, you can stop here to determine the new plan of attack. If the floor looks and feels to be free of rot, place that piece you cut out on the new material so you can cut the exact same size piece to go back in-
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l204/Cas2006/Tech/Floor%20Repair/template.jpg
Next, cut a couple of pieces of wood about 4" longer than the hole for supports-
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l204/Cas2006/Tech/Floor%20Repair/supports.jpg
It's not pictured but soak all the new wood with some resin, Finishing Resin works fine.
After the resin dries, you're ready to start putting it back together. Place the supports over the holes as pictured above and drill a couple of pilot holes through the supports AND the floor.....a 1/16" bit works fine. Put a little resin or Gorilla glue on the supports and put them under the floor, hold them tight and put a couple of screws through the floor and into the supports-
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l204/Cas2006/Tech/Floor%20Repair/supinst.jpg
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l204/Cas2006/Tech/Floor%20Repair/screwed.jpg
Once that's all screwed together, use a couple of layers of fiberglass mat and finishing resin to finish up.
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l204/Cas2006/Tech/Floor%20Repair/floordone.jpg
Be sure to follow the directions on the resin can for the amount of hardener to add. Also, only mix up a little at a time cuz it will kick before you're done with the project.

[Cas]

here's a link with pictures of a complete floor repair without a narative-
http://www.angelfire.com/mo3/Omega/FloorRepair.html
and here's a thread on the Banderlog Board with some more pictures and some narative-
http://www.banderlog.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4740&highlight=floor