New boat owner

[heavymetals]

Hey there. I'm New to boating but love 'em. I just worked, what I hope to be, a good deal on a 1978 17.5' Cajun Bass Boat Mach V or VI. I have many questions like that, for instance. I only paid $750 for the boat, good trailer and 150 hp Merc. It needs some work but mostly cosmetic, carpeting and things of that nature. I do have to rewire everything but that doesn't bother me. The motor is suppose to be sound, after I replace the wiring harness. I will be posting many questions about many things because as I said, I don't know much about boats other than they are a hole in the water to throw money in. lol Hope you can help. Thanx

[bucketmouth4]

Congrats on your cajun. Welcome to the board.

[riverrat1199]

welcome to Cajun boats,glad to hear you are restoring you boat don't cut corners and you will have a really great ride.Ask any question you have somebody on here will be able to help you.

[Airborne!]

Welcome to the land of Cajuns. Be sure to take pictures before, during and after. The before part is nice so you and others with similar boats can see what things like wiring and so forth were like originally. Their are no schematics on these boats so its nice to have pictures to refer to when you find a situation where something is wired funny or you wonder what an extra line or pipe or tube is for. Once you rip out things in these boats your in uncharted territory...so to speak.

[heavymetals]

Thanx for all your responses. I have to admit I'm also new to these forums. I don't understand how they wok. Do I have to start a new topic every time? Can I add a post to this one and keep it going? I'm so confused and I havn't even started on the boat. lol

[heavymetals]

OK got it figured out. lol. I will have lots of questions along the way and I will definately take b4, during and after pics. We have some nice days coming soon so I'm ready to get started. Total re-wire of all the electrical is first. I have to order the internal wire harness for the motor too and replace a couple of corroded wires by the distributor. Gonna be a fun ride.

[Airborne!]

OK I am probably going to get long on this subject, but here goes. Let me address this overall about Internet message boards and not just here. Some message boards you might go to about whatever subject have hundreds of posts an hour so there are some things to think about. People don’t read every posting, but only the ones that they think might interest them.
Normally you write a Subject Line when you post and speak on that subject although you can branch out as much as you want and nobody is going to have an issue with it. When you have another Subject to discuss you post a new message with that new Subject as the Title.
For example. Your first posting Title said “New boat owner” and you talked a little about your new boat and the upcoming restoration and basically said hello to everyone and people chimed in and said hello to you. Kind of an overall meet and great posting. People who see the heading or read your initial message will make assumptions about what you are talking about in that posting and decide whether to read or continue to read that Topic after the initial reading.
You next new posting Title might say “Questions About Putting in New Carpet.” People who might be able to help with that subject or are interested in that subject are going to read and join that discussion. People who can’t help or are not interested might not. I mention this because if you keep that Subject running too long and start talking about Boat Batteries then you are likely to miss out on people that can help you with boat batteries because they assume the entire posting, because of the original title, is about carpeting.
Generally on larger Internet message boards just start a new Topic whenever YOU feel like you have another Subject to discuss that warrants its own discussion. There are no real fast and hard rules. If you want to have one long ongoing topic that talks about your boat restoration project in general then you can do that. If you want to break it up into smaller specific topics over time then that will work as well. In these forums it is no big deal because we are small enough to read just about everything that comes along.

[heavymetals]

Thanx alot for that help. I will be posted several about each step in the restoration. I did find out that I now have a 1978 17.5' Cajun Mach V, I think, with a 1977 Mercury 1500 150hp inline six cylinder with 3 carbs. The wiring has been fried, literally. I have to replace the internal motor harness, the stator and I have 2 wires poking thru my distributor. That is my question to you now. What is on the inside of the distributor that, at the base of the cap, has 2 wires coming thru the side. I think it is the distributor coil? Is that right? How do I remove the rotor to access that part. Thanx

[bucketmouth4]

I think your best bet will be to find a repair manual for your old tower of power. You can try posting this question over in the mercury forum. They might be able to help ya out a little better.

[heavymetals]

Mercury forum? Is that on this site? As I said I don't know anything about this stuff. lol. But I have read many posts or threads or forums or whatever about many things and they seem helpful.

[bucketmouth4]

Yes that is on this site. Go to top of page, click on BBC Boards. Scroll down till you see the mercury forums.

[heavymetals]

Thanx for the tips.

[goose]

Welcome to the BBC Don & congrats on the Cajun
You will find that here at the BBC we are one big family. There is so much knowledge on here it ain't funny. You can find information on anything you need from fixing your boat to grooming your dog
There's many forums broke down with the lounge being are regular BS home.
There's over 40,000 members here with just about every job there is. We even have a few guys that can actually catch a bass

[heavymetals]

OK, here's another dummy question. lol. How do I post pics on here? I seen a guy doing the same restore as me and he had pics on his post. It keeps telling me they are to big and that was just for a profile pic. How do you add them to your post?

[Airborne!]

Here is a link to how to do it.
http://www.bbcboards.net/zerothread/28726

[darrenf442]

Welcome on the cajun. I bought my first cajun in the fall of 2008 and i love it. And they are not really a hole in the water to through money into. I found with mine that i am spending alot on it but what i spend will last for years and years. I actually replacing original equipment so if that can last 20 years so will the new stuff i put in. When i'm done i'll have out almost 2500 into it but i'll tell you i'll never sell it. It has everything a new boat has plus your sweat into it.

Also everyone here on these forums are very helpful. I've got alot of information from these guys and it's very valuable for a new person owning a boat.

Post some pics.

[heavymetals]

Thanx guys. I've got a lot done so far. And it's hard to believe that for being 32 years old, a lot of the original switches and gauges still work. I got the project cajun for a trade to equal about $650. So I figure if I drop $1500 in it then I'm still doing ok. Should I invest more $ in the motor, Merc 1500 inline 6 150 hp, or just get another one? I may need to replace the stator and the distributor/rotor.

[Airborne!]

Well depending on what your motor needs, if you can save the old motor then that might be best as far as money if you are doing the work yourself. A good used 150hp around mid 80s motor is going to run between $1500 and $2500...ish.
Plus you have to be able to find one close enough to you to be able to go get it which can sometimes be a problem. Another option is look around for your motor with a burned Power Head. People will often sell them off cheap because they do not want to fix them. Great for parts though for your engine.

[heavymetals]

She runs so I think I'm going to stick with the old girl. We have to go water test everything but as of right now it's looking pretty good.