My budget Grady build

[TinkerinMatt]

Around Christmas I purchased a 2000 Evinrude FICHT 200 in mint condition with a new EMM, all controls, gauges, prop, hydraulic steering, oil tank, everything off a 1991 tournament 192 for dealer wholesale (FICHT reputation) price. Friday morning a 1987 tournament 192 popped up on craigslist, and just before I was about to leave, the70mph winds knocked out power at my house. I went home, bought a generator on craigslist, ran extension cord city in the house and spent the day splitting wood and setting the wife and kids up for me to be gone for 6 hours Saturday to get the boat. Saturday I drove 2.5 hours to Delaware to get the boat, and white knuckle towed it home in 60mph wind gusts on a single axle trailer with no brakes and only a right tail light, and decided I needed brakes and tandem axles. Craigslist found a 2000 EZ loader tandem torsion axle trailer with disk brakes in Chesapeake VA. With no promises on when power was coming back, we packed up the family and headed to Chesapeake. Power came back as we were leaving, but we went anyways.

Today we drive 6 hours to CT to pick up the outboard, and they just got a foot of snow last night so that’s great. Plan is to mount the 25” shaft motor on the 20” transom with a 4” setback 5.5” lift fixed jack plate from T-H Marine at West Marine.

The boat came with a blown 150 Suzuki with 212 hours, I haven’t looked yet but I’m told something is in cylinder 1. I would like to sell it whole but apparently nobody likes the old Suzuki’s so I guess I’m going to tear it apart and sell it piece by piece with hopes to recoup the entire purchase price of the boat (that’ll give you an idea of what I paid for the boat). It came with all curtains and canvases, but the Bimini is shredded and 1 side curtain has holes. I’ll get a new top and windshield piece made separately like the 1991 style instead of as 1 piece like the 1987.

If anyone needs 1997 DT150S Suzuki parts let me know.

 

[TinkerinMatt]

Pic of the motor, I don’t know how to post multiple pictures at the same time.

 

[TinkerinMatt]

Picture of picking up the EZ loader. It has 4 bent arms on the right side, I dot know what the heck heavy boat this guy put on here to bend the arms, but they need straightened or replaced before I put the boat on it.

 

[TinkerinMatt]

The boat came with the front bow cushions, rear bottom cushions (1 needs the wood replaced), and 2 captains chairs. Overtons has a 20% off sale with free shipping last weekend so I bought 2 Deluxe back to back loungers. I don’t want to install them until I get a cover, which I hopefully will get this weekend. Plan is to find some later model aft seat back rests since I need to have them made anyways, I never liked that the original ones didn’t go over the fiberglass edge and is so low.

 

[Parthery]

The first GW I ever owned was an '86 190 Tournament. It had a 150 Johnson which blew and was replaced by a 150 Yamaha VMax. That boat will be a screamer with a 200.

Good luck and welcome to the family.

 

[TinkerinMatt]

Thanks, this motor did 52 on fresh water and 54 on salt water on the 1991 tournament. My dad has a 2002 200HO that is a touch faster on his 91 tournament. I’m hoping the jack plate moving the prop into cleaner water and putting it higher up will get me close to his boat, but I’ll have to scrape the bottom paint off. If not I’ve already been researching how to download a 225 EMM program into my motor. Both motors pull a slolom skiier out of the hole about as good as a vortec 350 in a Malibu sunsetter.

 

[TinkerinMatt]

Picked up the last piece of the puzzle this weekend in CT. Was able to get the prop, trailer winch, gauges on the 1991 panel complete, speedo sender, controls, hydraulic steering, oil tank, optima battery, and the 450 hour Evinrude. They loaded it onto the trailer with a forklift and I managed to unload it myself with a harbor freight dolly, a 2x12 and a floor jack into my garage at 11pm last night.

I need to buy a lifting eye, and one I found that looks typical says “not for lifting the entire motor, just the powerhead”. None of the others have that disclaimer, but they all look the same. Does anyone know of a lifting eye that can lift the whole thing, or another method of safely lifting it into place? I need to order something today as I’m hoping to get this motor hanging this weekend.

 

[Fishtales]

a man on a mission. good luck with the project!

 

[IpswichGrady]

WOW! I am impressed! You are going to town and making some good progress. I don't think I could trick my wife into getting into my car for an adventure like that.

I'm curious about the engine you purchased.... a FICHT? I also need an engine for my Grady project and there is one the next town over but I am nervous due to all the bad talk about the FICHT engines. What research did you do... any advice?

1999 Evinrude FICHT 225.... post says under 800 hours

 

[TinkerinMatt]

The OMC FICHT fell in my lap, that’s what started this whole thing. My uncle has a 1991 tournament 192 and it’s had this 2000 FICHT 200 on it since 2000. Boat has been garage kept, used on lakes of CT 95% of the time and 2 weeks every summer in NC. My dad also has a 91 tournament 192, with a 2002 BRP 3.3 200, and I grew up on my dads boat meeting my uncle at the lake every weekend and each year both families towed the boats to NC down I95. Both boats are used mainly for slolom water skiing and recreational use. The 3.3 big block is a touch faster top end and pulls a slolom skiier a touch harder, but both are comparable in pull out of the hole to a friends Malibu sunsetter with a 350 vortec Chevy. My uncle said he gets 52 on fresh water and 54 on salt, the 3.3 big block will do 55-56. Neither have given much problems over the years, the FICHT got a new EMM and had a new high pressure fuel pump a couple years ago, the BRP 3.3 got a new EMM last year, but both have been great.

Through some fortunate circumstances, my uncle was able to upgrade outboards even though NOTHING was wrong with his. He elected for a small block G2 200 because my dads 3.3 is pretty heavy and the scuppers sit at the water line and my uncle didn’t want the extra weight. The bad reputation of the FICHT made the wholesaler offer a very low price on trade, so my uncle knew I wanted a boat so my kids could grow up on the water so he sold it to me instead. I think the key on the FICHT and early BRPs is to run the good evinrude oil, use non-ethanol fuel, don’t let them sit too long, and maintenance. You don’t want to gum up an injector and go lean and melt a piston.

 

[TinkerinMatt]

Waiting for the lower transom support bracket. Removed all Suzuki controls and cables, pulled the new Evinrude controls and wires. Hacked up the 91 gauge cluster with a sawzall and fit it, wired it up as a temporary “make sure it runs and floats” setup. Will redo it all nice later. Swapped trailers, didn’t have a plug so used a wine cork. Swapped out captains chairs for new Overtons seats. Suzuki cowl is on eBay, soon to list the controls.

Anyone have pictures or knowledge on how to mount the new style throttle through the side of the boat? I haven’t figured that out yet.

 

[IpswichGrady]

Matt... thanks for your response to the "Ficht" question. I took a little cruise around the internet to find that the 1999 Ficht was a bad year. I low-balled that engine but didnt get a response. Then... found the same engine for much less. The engine will def need an EMM (poster indicated it did) and a fuel pump. I'm wondering if I get that engine for a song if it will be worth an EMM upgrade and general overhaul. I'll do some research.

Again, thanks for your comments about the engine and good luck! with your project.

 

[TinkerinMatt]

I think it would, other outboards are at least $4000, a new EMM is $700 I think, I don’t know about the fuel pump, but if both are replaced you are good for another 10 years.

 

[TinkerinMatt]

Motor is finally hung!

 

[TinkerinMatt]

Well, I’ve come to a crossroads. I found a 1989 192 on craigslist local to me, with a Johnson 175 on it. This would have all the gauges and controls and the proper transom height I had wanted, for $3500 on a brand new single axle trailer. My instinct is buy it, swap my evinrude on it, and sell everything I’ve bought to date. My common sense tells me if I shove 1 more thing in the driveway my wife will shoot me. I’m going to look at this boat, and if the transom and floor are solid, I think I’m going to buy it. Then I’ll put the 1987 back on the 1986 shoreline single roller trailer, try to sell that for $2000 as just a hull, try to sell the brand new single axle trailer for $1500, and be back to square 1. Ugh.

I’ve got a huge deadline at work in 2 weeks to design something and have an SD package submitted, spent the past 2 weeks in Texas working on it. There needs to be more hours in the day.

 

[TinkerinMatt]

I looked at the 89 last night. He is asking $3500, but said he’s just trying to recoup the money he spent on the brand new single axle load rite heavy duty with Kodiak disk brakes of $3250. Found that he forgot to take the plug out last summer, and the whole hull was full of water and stank like he went fishing and a bunch of fish guts rotted for 9 months. The panel over the gas tank is soft and needs redone, and the floor in front of the floor livewell hatch was soft. I pulled the plug and started draining it, and hooked up the battery to trim the motor down to look at the transom bolts and they are not pulled through, and the transom is not warped or bowed and looks solid. The bilge worked when we hooked up the battery, and it already had evinrude controls, and a 1989 175 Johnson that was rebuilt 5 years ago with papers, but he hasn’t run it.

He wants $3250, I’m at $2000 with the trailer, $500 without. I told him to call me when it’s dry, maybe I’ll take another look this weekend. I’m worried about the rest of the wood in the hull, but if he’ll do $500 without the trailer I could at least recoup that selling the motor. Right now, im still moving forward with the 87, I got the Deutsch connecter I need to hook up the oil level, and a hole saw to mount the controls. All that’s holding me up is draining the gas tank and finding a hydraulic steering helm.

 

[TinkerinMatt]

Boat is for sale for $2000 with no motor in the classifieds, pulling the trigger on the 89 hull this weekend.

 

[TinkerinMatt]

Took one more look at the 89 in daylight and decided it wasn’t worth it. It was owned by the guys 91 year old grandfather and he must have hit the dock a lot, it needed a bit of fiberglass work that I didn’t want to deal with. Full steam ahead on the 87.