My boat is getting hammered at "360 TUNA"

Johnnymax

New member
I am a member on the forum over at 360 Tuna and I posted my V20 project boat plans along with a poll asking if I should restore my boat.
I picked "Hell Yea!"
Others picked "Hell No!" & "Burn It!"
They also hammered the fact that it has a Mercruiser in it. :sad:
I am excited about my Mercruiser!
At least I get encouragement here.
Here is where I posted the poll and post. Back me up!
Educate them on the Boats we love! But be nice. :love:
https://www.360tuna.com/threads/saving-my-old-boat.62604/#post-606278
I like the forum for Blue Water Fishing knowledge.
 
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When I dug into mine to repair a leaky water pump, Spare saved my sanity with timely tips on how to get past some thorny problems. I like mine - I don’t need to go real fast and it seems to be excellent on fuel economy.

By the way Spare - did you ever find an electric choke mechanism to replace the dead one on my 170? I’ll be happy to send you some $.

Good luck with the boat - I think you’ll be happy with how well it rides and what a great fishing machine it is.
 
When I dug into mine to repair a leaky water pump, Spare saved my sanity with timely tips on how to get past some thorny problems. I like mine - I don’t need to go real fast and it seems to be excellent on fuel economy.

By the way Spare - did you ever find an electric choke mechanism to replace the dead one on my 170? I’ll be happy to send you some $.

Good luck with the boat - I think you’ll be happy with how well it rides and what a great fishing machine it is.

those things have gotten rare
 
I have an ‘85 with a Merc. Originally I bought it with the intentions on putting a bracket and outboard on it. This was mainly due to it not running but come to find out it was just a stuck valve. Freed it up and it runs great. So I’m going to run the heck out of it until it doesn’t run any more. They’re a pretty simple motor to work on.
 
Gotta make 3 posts on 360 before I can comment on links. (Seems strange, but ok) so I can't help you out there right now. Stay the course. I'm not an I/O man, but they are good.
 
You have a fintastic ( get it ) boat so she needs work, big deal I say fix her up , if you plan on getting you money back that you invested , probably not going to happen but if you plan on using one of the best hulls ever built and one of ,,,,wait forget that, the best 20 boat ever designed Than I
say hell yeah
 
as soon as you finish fixing it up you need to post the pics back up on that thread. If they still don't like it they can kiss all our behinds. :beer:
 
Those guys are being overly dramatic about the mercruisers, I don’t have any experience with your older model but saying getting towed back every outing is nonsense. Lots of guys around here running old I/O motors.
Sure a nice new outboard is ideal but we know that’s big $$.
Long as you’ve got your kicker outboard to get you back your good.

Boating doesn’t have to cost a mint.. lots of fun can be had on old boats and motors.
A comparable new boat to a V would cost what, 50k? Guys who spent that just don’t like seeing someone having the same fun for 5-10 K.

I’ve got an 86 V that the previous owner took out the original OMC I/O , replaced transom and installed a more modern 5.7 mercruiser and alpha one. That may be an option to consider if you are replacing transom. Lots of used 4.3, 5.0, and 5.7 motors around for reasonable prices.

With your experience in restoring and building boats I imagine you will do well with this project. The fact is most of those naysayers couldn’t do it or are too lazy or scared.
 
If it works for you, run it and enjoy it.


If anyone looks down on your older rig, ask them for a donation so you can upgrade. You wont hear another word....
 
heres the difference with new engines. A 200 hp 4 stroke outboard will cost you a minimum of $14,500. Plus rigging. A 300 hp 4 stroke will cost you $24,000 plus rigging. Yes, I/oS can cost you a lot, but its mostly labor
 
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