Bringing A Vintage Sou'wester Back into Service

[Capt Brady Bounds]

I recently acquired a 1986 Sou'wester 21, with original year Yamaha 175 and a 2004 EZ Loader tandem axle trailer.

So in finding this website, I hope to get info and advice from time to time. My plan is to restore the boat into a good working order and put it into service as part of my already existing fly fishing and light tackle guide business in Ches Bay and the Mid Atlantic region. The purpose of this second guideboat is to give my clients a better ride running inlets and late to extended season service in Ches Bay and CBBT.

First off, the engine runs good, the hull was immaculately kept without nary a scratch on the bottom or anywhere, and the floor is solid and stays bone dry underneath ! The steering linkage is mechanical and needs lubrication. The wood is gray and needs cleaning, and most importantly the fuel guage does not work and it is unknown to me what is the gallonage of the aluminum tank. And lastly the tachometer needs replacing as it will max out with any significant advance of the throttle. Other than all of that everything looks positive

 

[Megabyte]

Welcome aboard Cap. Good to see you here.
Congratulations on scoring a true ClassicParker! Those old Sou`wester's are awesome hulls.

Sit down, grab a beverage, and spend an evening browsing the "Projects" forum area.
Many of the questions you may have can be answered there (in addition to the search tool).

Couple of things... forget the fuel gage. They are notoriously inaccurate.
Get yourself a fuel computer to keep track of fuel in the tank, your fuel burn at all speeds, and how much is left in your tank.
They even have an alarm feature you can set to alert you when you have xx number of gallons left in the tank.
http://www.boemarine.com/subcategory/fuel_flow_meter

Simple to install, and WAY better than an in-tank gage.

As for fuel capacity... pop the rear deck hatch and you should find a tag on the top of the tank that will tell you the rated capacity of your tank.

Welcome aboard! :wink:

 

[windknotnc]

I am guessing it is a 65 gallon tank. Let us know what you find.

 

[Capt Brady Bounds]

Update Nov 2012.

1986 Sou'wester 21 put back into service in July2012. New ETEC 175, new fuel system (ethanol proof), hydralic steering, Lowrance HDS 7 with side scan. All under console wiring replaced,The boat is currently my primary guideboat in my Ches Bay fishing biz, and it has already seen more than four hundred hours. My clients love it.

Pictures to follow as soon as I figure out how to post.

 

[Megabyte]

Pictures to follow as soon as I figure out how to post.

See if this helps...
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=27

 

[DaleH]

FYI, some fuel computers can't read the really low GPH flow at idle, or slow trolling or headway speeds. That Yam 200hp 2-stroke I had wouldn't register on a Navman/Northstar fuel computer until above 1500 RPMs and my Suzi 250hp won't read until above 1200 RPMs.

Buy a Wema USA fuel sender (do a search, username CBIGMA) and don't look back! FWIW, I run both, that and a fuel computer ...

 

[jleitz]

Capt Bounds,

I just aquired a 1986 Sou'wester 2520 from a guy who in my opinion knows quite a bit about boats. He did a restoration project on my boat as well as others prior to selling his Sou'wester to me. The project was documented on this site you can search Sou'wester to see what he did. He is a nice gou and might be willing to share some information with you.

If you need more information from me send me a pm, and I will help you any way I can. You can see my boat on introduce yourself- jleitz.