1985 Starcraft Islander Questions

[jimsislander]

I have a 19' outboard I just bought that seems to sit pretty low in the stern. It has a 1990 Evenrude 90 hp. When I'm in the back, water splashes over the back (into the transom well) and occasionally the water will go over the exhaust and stall the motor. Is this normal or do I have a major problem? Thanks for your help.

[rolmops]

The exhaust goes through the propeller and the little entrances that are at the top are nice when idling but beyond that they are in no way a problem.

If you are very low in the water all time,you should pull your boat out of the water and pull the plug.It may be as simple as that. You should also check your bilge pump (if you have one).If you do not have one ,do get a good working automatic one.

Then there is a more complicated check to do. These boats have flotation foam below the floor.It is a good idea to lift a floor board and check that it is dry and not water logged,because that can easily add several hundreds of pounds to the boats weight.

You may be able to solve the problem by simply shifting some weight from the back of the boat to the front.

[jimsislander]

Thanks for the input. I'll give it the once over first chance I get.

[ray koziatek]

like rollie said if you checked all the common sence stuff its in the foam ...i was amazed last summer when replacing floor how heavy wet "floation foam" is. one small pc 20 in x 24 x 2 in thick was 27 lbs.......(approx size) so if yer feet ant wet fishing and yer talking bathroom scales dont say "One At A Time Please" id bet yer standing on the problem. Its amazing how many boats i drive past along the roads with the bow lower than the stern..

[GAMBLER]

If there is floatation faom under the floor it could have absorbed water. I have a 86 Starcraft fiberglass boat. I had the stringers, transom, floor and floatation foam replaced 2 years ago. The floatation foam had absorbed water over the years. I noticed something was wrong when my boat was listing to the Starboard side.

[LongLine]

Ditto the foam. I had to replace mine on an 18 ft'r. It gets awful heavy.

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[MCF]

I had the starcraft project boat that was on here, pulled some of the foam from the bow-very heavy. If your 85 has not had any floor work done on it in the past, it is likely that the foam is soaking wet and very heavy.