170 Aquasport

[ronaultmtd]

Back a few months ago, I turtled for the first time ever- amazingly quick circumstances, no warning, no stopping it, instant add water...anyway the next week I started looking for a small Center Console that I could manage by my self....found a 40 year old classic boat that brought back memories of my Brother (who has since passed) who had an Aquasport 240...great boat. So I snappped it up and am going to rebuild this old classic. I ordered three sheets of marine plywood @ $71.00 each, 10 yards of 1208 biaxial glass cloth with 3/4 mat, 10 yards of 6 oz. glass cloth, a roll of 6 oz. glass tape, three gallon kit of epoxy resin, rollers, plastic squeezies, box of latex gloves, cartridge respirator, three tvyek coveralls, so far about $850 worth of supplies I will use to build a new sole, refurbish the console, and make all the little fiberglass repairs that will make this old girl into a brand new boat...I found a 1998 75 hp 2 stroke Yahama fresh water motor that runs like a new one and bought that to re-power this old boat- $1850...so at the end of the day, I will have about $4000 invested in the total package, boat, motor and trailer... I picked the Yahama due to its reputation of dependability and longevity- and the 75 is really just a de-tuned 90 hp motor so it has the punch and torgue of a bigger motor without the fuel consumption.

I have ordered a 21 by 24 steel building from Carolina Carports and when they install that it will give me the shelter necessary to work on the boat out of the weather and a place to store the boat (and my wife's car) under shelter.

I can retire at any time I want...full vested in all my retirement programs and I am already drawing social security, so everyone is thinking by getting the boat, retirement is next...haven't made that decison yet...but it is close.

[J.A. Veil]

Congratulations on the new boat and having a rewarding project. My outboard is a 2000 Yamaha 70-hp 2-stroke (probably similar to yours). It is very dependable and moves my 16' boat as fast as I want to go.

[ronaultmtd]

Thanks, John- I won't know the full extent of my re-build project until I cut out the floor and examine the fiberglass stringers, fuel tank, and flotation foam- my transom is rock solid so that isn't going to be part of the re-build project other than to oversize drill out the old mounting holes and filling them with chopped glass resin plugs to be re-drilled when I install and mount the outboard engine....and you are right about the 70 hp motor going as fast as you want- Most times in the bay, you cannot go full power anyway due to the chop...and the 170 CC is almost 18 feet long- 17'6'....and it draws less than a foot of water- 17 degree dead rise hull designed and made for the Florida flats fishing...I think it will be the perfect boat for fishing the spring Susie Q flats trophy striper season...as well as running across the bay to the eastern shore from down south and fishing for Tarpon, Cobia and trophy (C & R) red drum...it is a light boat with enough economical power to get up and go that one or two persons can comfortably fish out of- it is not an offshore, blue water boat- it has an aluminum 27 gallon fuel tank...and uses a ratio of 50-1 mix

[Mark]

Congratulations on the boat and on your pending retirement.

I don't have a boat but I can speak very highly of retirement!

[jffoley]

What a great project! That is indeed a classic. Me and my brother had a 19' Aquasport back in the day. Probably around the same vintage. Lots of other boats, too. (starting with a 12' Gamefisher, then Cobia, Pearson, and others I can't remember!)

I can see such a project in my future retirement. Very cool. Enjoy your project, Ron!

[ronaultmtd]

Thanks- I have done this once before- rebuilt my 1969 24' Stamas Clearwater Cuddy Cabin back in the early 80's- another classic well-built Florida boat- the owner had allowed it to get caught under the dock at low tide and when the tide came it it filled with water and sank- I bought it in the water for $1300 and took it home to work on it- I tore out the old floors, built new floors out of 3/4 inch marine plywood laminated with epoxy resin and two layers of biaxial glass cloth on both sides, completely re-wired the boat, had a weld shop fabricate a new, bigger fuel tank out of marine grade 1/8 inch aluminum, replaced the engine with a Chevrolet 350 I rebuilt - I installed marine stainless head gaskets, marine bronze freeze plugs and new cast iron exhaust risers and stainless raw water pump, re-built the OMC outdrive and had the boat painted with DuPont two part Imeron paint- took me about four months working just about every evening till 10 pm in my workshop- I had hundreds of hours of work in that boat, but I fished out of it for nearly 10 years and caught a lot of fish...I sold it for $4000 to a friend- so this is a much smaller, less complicated project- even if I have to cut out the stringers and re-do them, it isn't that hard. Lot of cleaning, grinding and sanding, vacuuming, and getting everything ready. The preparation for the fiberglassing is 85% of the work...Looking forward to getting to work on this boat- figure this project should all be done early next year -

[Shady]

Congrats and look forward to seeing your progress. Hope this doesn't mean the end of your yaking career though!

[ronaultmtd]

I don't think it will, but you never know if there are other options, which do you choose? For quickie trips, kayak, hands down...launch out of Buzz's Marina in Ridge, run across the Bay to fish in the Eastern Shore waters- that is a power boat trip- and I was fishing fanatic when I ran my boat out of Tidewater- very few techniques, methods, types of fishing that I did not do when I owned my boat- I had hundreds of Virginia Citation plaques for more than a dozen species that I took to the dump when I moved- Fished dozens of tournaments, king mack, shark, tuna, trout, striper, etc. you name it my Brother Tommy and I fished it- we fished together every weekend of the year- somewhere...unless it was blowing a gale-when he died after having a massive heart attack and then later a heart transplant, I just quit- couldn't do it any more- lost its fun without him- it has taken me decades to get back "sorta" into fishing again so I get pleasure out of it- trust me when you share the best times of your life having memorial days on the water catching 40-50 pound tuna, dolphin, billfish, wahoo, 25-40 pound kings, 40-60 pound cobia, 40-60 pound amberjacks, big red and monster black drum- lots and lots of sharks of all species up to a 987 pound Tiger...with a "best" friend big Brother for decades and lose him it takes a long time to get over that- and catching panfish has no spark...I have zero-no interest except for use as live bait...kayak fishing fills a void, a new challenge for me...working on a re-build is theraphy for me- I don't ever want to go back to the days I had- it was too intense, too much like work- too much pressure to produce giant fish every trip, not get skunked, etc. So this is a long rambling explanation as to why I don't think having a small CC power boat will have too much effect on my kayak fishing-

[kevinfry]

sounds like a fun acquisition Ron! might end up with some mackerel in the cooler

[ronaultmtd]

i hope so- update- metal building is in, boat is under cover and out of the weather- I am picking up my accessories for the boat a little bit here and there- today I bought a class 31 AGM Optima marine dual purpose battery for the boat- I bit the bullet and got the best- Santa brought me some electronics for the boat- Hummingbird 798 CI, Standard Horizon GX1200 VHF radio, and a Shakespeare 8' fiberglass antenna..so I am nearly there with the supplies...still have to get my USCG required safety gear and mooring lines, anchor rope and a few odds and ends but all the big $$ expenses is pretty much all done- depends on what I find when I pull the center console and rip out the old floor- hopefully the fuel tank is OK, because that can be a pricey item to have made- but we shall see- I am now ready to start with the rip out and prep work- can't do any of the fiberglass lamination work until warmer weather but that doesn't stop the removal/rip out to get all the rotten floor out-

[ronaultmtd]

Been working on this project off and on...this past weekend I put in some hours- pulled the controls, pulled the center console and removed the tank coffin cover- Ready to cut out the floor- ordered my 27 gallon replacement aluminum fuel tank- should be here in two weeks- the 40 year old tank is covered with salt barnacles- I am not even going to look at it- just junk it and move on...same with 99% of everything- I replaced the teleflex steering with a no feed back system and have a brand new Yamaha 704 premium binnacle control..new Yamaha engine ignition switch and harness with two keys- new 798 ci HDI Hummingbird combo, new Standard Horizon VHF marine band radio and Shakespeare 8' fiberglass antenna, new Optima 30 series AGM 12 volt 900 aHr dual purpose battery- new battery cables, new rubber gasoline fill hoses and new gasoline engine and vent fuel hoses- 20 yards of 1208 Bixal with 3/4 oz mat fiberglas cloth 50 inches wide, 10 gallons of US Composite thin epoxy resin with medium hardener- 50 yards of 6 inch wide 1208 bixal fiberglas tape, 4 pounds of cabisol, 5 gallons of US Composites 2# density closed cell pourable expanding foam, three sheets of 1/2 inch of marine plywood, air tools, grinders, sanders, table saw, jig saw, 7 1/2 inch circular saw, shop vacuum, 5 gallons Awlgrip non slip deck paint and a partridge in a pear tree....with tools, fiberglass and laminating supplies, new fuel tank, hoses, clamps, valves, switches, wiring, electronics, new controls, harnesses and engine accessories I am sitting right on $5500.00 invested in this re-build project...throw in my 24X21' enclosed car port and it got a lot pricer...

[kevinfry]

hope this is a labor of love......

[ronaultmtd]

Kevin- I am hoping the same thing...when you buy a part here and there stretched over six months it doesn't hit the budget so bad- and the fuel tank I ordered from Alloymetal Works in Farmington, NY today is one of the critical parts of the rebuild- The only other major component I want that I don't have is the teleflex no feed back steering system- I have the standard mechanical teleflex cable steering...after I rebuild the floor and get the center console back in the boat, I still need to re-wire the boat, mount and rig the Yamaha 75 hp 2 stroke to the transom - the worst part I still have ahead of me is all the cleaning, sanding, grinding and preparation for glass work- lots of manual labor- the actual fiberglass lamination work isn't all that bad-