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New boat - sort of...
I just got a new old boat... A 1968 14' alum. hull Valco.
This being the first aluminum boat and the first power boat I've owned, I'd like to ask a few questions... The hull is riveted aluminum. There is a very small leak somewhere - it takes on about 1/2" of water in 3 hours. What's the best way to find the leak and then to plug it? I'm thinking of just filling the boat up with water and seeing where it drips out. But how do you go about caulking a riveted boat? (I ask because there are signs of some very amaturish attempts to caulk it...) The engine is a 1975 Merc 9.8 outboard. Is there anything I need to look out for? Maintenance? Filters? Carb? It runs really well, and it seems to have been maintained well. Mercury was very unhelpful; they offered to sell me the manual... (I don't really blame them, but the goal of this boat is to stay cheap.....) (Yeah, I know, cheap and boat don't go together in one sentence... :-) ) Any information, especially sources of info for older Valco boats, welcome. Valco has been bought by Klamath, and information on older boats is pretty scarce.... --Yan -- o__ ,/'_ o__ (_)\(_) ,/'_ o__ Yan Seiner, PE (_)\(_) ,/'_ o__ Certified Personal Trainer (_)\(_) ,/'_ o__ Licensed Professional Engineer (_)\(_) ,/'_ Who says engineers have to be pencil necked geeks? (_)\(_) |
#2
posted to rec.boats
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New boat - sort of...
"Captain Dondo" wrote in message news I just got a new old boat... A 1968 14' alum. hull Valco. This being the first aluminum boat and the first power boat I've owned, I'd like to ask a few questions... The hull is riveted aluminum. There is a very small leak somewhere - it takes on about 1/2" of water in 3 hours. What's the best way to find the leak and then to plug it? I'm thinking of just filling the boat up with water and seeing where it drips out. But how do you go about caulking a riveted boat? (I ask because there are signs of some very amaturish attempts to caulk it...) The engine is a 1975 Merc 9.8 outboard. Is there anything I need to look out for? Maintenance? Filters? Carb? It runs really well, and it seems to have been maintained well. Mercury was very unhelpful; they offered to sell me the manual... (I don't really blame them, but the goal of this boat is to stay cheap.....) (Yeah, I know, cheap and boat don't go together in one sentence... :-) ) Any information, especially sources of info for older Valco boats, welcome. Valco has been bought by Klamath, and information on older boats is pretty scarce.... --Yan -- o__ ,/'_ o__ (_)\(_) ,/'_ o__ Yan Seiner, PE (_)\(_) ,/'_ o__ Certified Personal Trainer (_)\(_) ,/'_ o__ Licensed Professional Engineer (_)\(_) ,/'_ Who says engineers have to be pencil necked geeks? (_)\(_) Valco was made by Hulls Inc. In Clovis, Ca. Klamath was started by a former manager of Hulls and I think they only bought part of the remains, not the small boat part. I think the Bayrunner line maybe. If you get 3" in a 1/2 hour, then just look where the water is coming in when you first launch. Make sure the bunks are the full length of the bottom where they can contact. I used to have a U-14 Valco I bought new in about 1986. The front roller or the trailer collapsed and when snugging down the boat with the bow winch, it caused a sharp pressure point where the boat bent and finally cracked on the front of the boat. look and feel the rivets and see if any are loose. You can reseat them with a hammer sometimes. Valco welded some reinforcements at some of the rivet holes on mine, when it cracked from a couple of big guys walking around the boat. They later put another reinforcing cross member in their boats for this reason. Was the same laout as a 12' boat, but the extra 2' lacked support. You can get new rivets and reset them. |
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