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Well, I'm much happier today. My refund came through for my 254, better known as the Big Rowboat, and my wife and I went up to Michigan and picked up a '99 234. We first looked at it and then looked at each other and said "no way!" The exterior had quite a bit of oxidation on the gel coat and there were a couple of gel coat chips on one of the strakes on the bottom. Also, the rubber bump strip around the outside of the hull was faded, and torn in some spots. The decals were absolutely lifeless from years of sun creeping under the lift canopy under which the boat spent its summers. The trailer did not look very good either, with lots of oxidation on the paint and quite a bit of rust on the white-painted steel trailer wheels.
On closer inspection, however, the only problems really were cosmetic, and looked like they wouldn't take much to fix. The rubber bump strip can easily be replaced, while the metal frame that holds it in is actually in very good shape. The gel coat looks like it can be worked over and brought back to like-new shine, under the care of someone who knows what they are doing. The trailer really has no rust, and mechanically is in great shape. The brakes are excellent, and all the lights worked well. It was only used to hold the boat in the winter and probably had less than 100 miles on it. Again, some good rubbing compound, and it should look great. I will be putting new wheels and tires on, as well. (The tires gave us fits on the way home, with one shedding its tread and damaging a fender).
We climbed up onto the boat, convinced we were going to pass, when the cover was removed and it revealed an interior that looked showroom new! The helm, gauge cluster and captains chair looked like they'd never been touched. Everything worked, including the little interior lights. Under the engine cover was a beautiful 5.7 fuel injected small block that looked like it had hardly been used. (The mechanic who performed regular maintenance on the boat for the last 10 years was there, and said he believed it had nowhere near 100 hours on it, the way the owner used it.) We now decided we needed to reconsider what could be done with the exterior, after seeing how perfect the interior was. We then went for a lake test.
At the lake, we discovered the battery was dead. The mechanic came and jump started it. We idled out into the lake and the overheat warning sounded. The poor guy selling the boat figured that spelled doom for the deal, but I told him I've experienced this kind of thing with impellers before, and told him that's why people change them frequently as a maintenance item. We quickly diagnosed a bad impeller. We found someone to tow us in, and the mechanic went off to get a new one. He brought back a new battery, his took kit, and a new impeller. He showed me how to replace it, which is good to know. He then pulled other hoses to make sure we got the debris from the old impeller. He then pulled the spark plugs and we turned the engine over. He explained that when engines get overheated, they can suck water into the cylinders. He was dead right. When we turned it over, a little bit of water shot out of a couple of the spark plug holes! He did some other checks of different hoses and we turned the engine a number of times to make sure the cylinders were clear. We then buttoned it back up, fired it up, and let it run at a high idle of about 1200 rpm. It sounded and ran great.
We went out into the lake again, and this time put it through its paces. It got on plane nicely (We had 5 adults on board, including 3 big guys, and a full load of fuel.) After she was warmed up, we ran her at WOT. Nice acceleration, and it easily blew past 45 mph, with lots more there. I backed off because there is a 40mph speed limit on the lake. I really liked the way she ran and handled, and the engine sounded like music.
Well, we're going to attack this thing and dump about 1500 or so bucks into getting the exterior up to snuff, including new decals. That includes 5 new tires for the trailer, but I'll hold off awhile on doing anything else to it, and we'll just focus on the boat. I'll probably re-do the bunks over the winter and try to bring the shine back to the paint. If I can't, then I'll just have it painted.
After the boat work, I'll put in the new stereo, speakers, and VHF. At some point, I'll put a nice color fishfinder/gps unit on her. I'll also add an aft and maybe a forward shower for the swim decks. I might also at some point add an extended rear swim deck. I think with so many small kids, we'll need it, but we'll see how it functions without it, first.
We're hoping that on or before July 4, we can get it into the water with the kids on board and have some fun. I think we found a diamond in the rough, and we'll give it a new lease on life. I still can't believe how good the interior of this thing looked. It truly appeared 99% as nice as a brand new boat. Not a spot of dirt, stains, fading, or even a scratch is in that interior.
The best part: I only paid just over 10k for this thing. Even if I dump 2k into it for restoration work, I'll still be ahead by around 4 or 5 thousand compared to what I had paid for the 254 row boat. Not too bad, in my estimation, for something that has many good years of fun left in it!
I'll post pics in a couple weeks. I'll try and take some close-up "before" pics, although with white gel coat, the oxidation might not show up. We'll then post some "after" pics.
Thanks to everyone here for good advice and guidance. I'm glad I was able to find a Four Winns. I liked the styling and layout of these from day 1.
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1999 234 Funship
5.7 GSi
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