questions about my checkmate *now with pictures!

[sandwichestime]

i have a 1982 checkmate eluder that i plan on making my pride and joy. the motor has low compression in three cylinders, and due to it's age probably needs to be replaced, but the floor and the hull are in excellent shape. fortunately, i can get a new windshield and canvas from where i work, but the one issue i have is with the paint.<br /><br />now i know that the metal flake paint job is classic checkmate, but it is very faded, and the clearcoat is flaking off in several places. knowing that i cannot duplicate the metal flake paint, i was looking to repaint at least the top side. is the metal flake actual paint? or is it a gel coat? if i use the "roll and tip" method of an interlux 2 part poly, do i have to sand it down? do i have to use a primer?<br /><br />i guess what will probably happen, because the boat is not worth much, is that i will sand and buff the deck to bring out the shine. what do you guys use to fill hole sin the deck? i plan on removing certain items and that will leave holes, that i definitely want filled. will i be able to match the color as well?<br /><br />now, onto repowering my boat; the mechanic suggested i add hydraulic steering. up until now the boat has had dual (force feedback) steering. right now the boat has a 200 evinrude on it. should i upgrade? or is he trying to squeeze more money from me?<br /><br />and finally, upon inspecting my boat, i realized that from the keel to the transom tip is 25". it is my understanding that this would require a 25" shaft outboard. my mechanic says that i have a 20" motor and that might be why it is not working anymore. the cavitation plate is slightly above the keel when trimmed down, but not much. and it just doesnt seem like a 25" would fit (too big?) does anyone else know?<br /><br />thanks in advance.<br /><br />and now, some pictures:<br /><br />

<br /><br />

<br /><br />

<br /><br />

<br /><br />

<br /><br />

 

[G DANE]

Re: questions about my checkmate *now with pictures!

Can you post a picture of lower unit and transom, taken from the side when motor is trimmed down. If antiventilation plate ( right above Propeller ) is just above lower tip of transom, I cant see what should be wrong with that. Most try to raise motor as high as it can without loosing prop grip or cooling water pressure, to reduce drag and get better hole shot, fuel economy and top end. If you had a 20" on a 25" there should be 5" from lowers point on transom to bottum of antiventilation plate. You would notice.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: questions about my checkmate *now with pictures!

Sandwich, If the AV plate is within an inch or two if the keel, it is likely OK. You should be able to tell when you test at high speed. If the motor ventilates when you trim it up, it is too high. I think the 200HP motor is worth trying, before you replace it. If the boat is 18 feet long or less, you should get ~50MPH, with that motor.<br /><br />You can also test the steering. At slow planing speed the motor should not pull much. The zinc tab behind the prop can be adjusted to remove the pull at this speed. At high speed, the motor should pull left. If it is too much of a pull, you might want to consider new steering. I run a single cable (cheapest) rack steering on my 16' 150HP speedboat, without a problem. It pulls a bit left at high speed(60MPH), but not too much.<br /><br />If you want a good paint job, the boat will need to be sanded with 400 grit wet paper. After the prep work is done(fill holes with marine polyester putty), you can have it sprayed by a auto body shop with a two part polyurethane paint. Pick a shop with some experience painting boats, and pick a light color, if the hull has defects. Dark colors show all the imperfections. if you want to DIY, you can try the roll and tip method. I have seen good results, but have no person experience. One part Poly paint is OK for topsides, and two-part poly paint is necessary for the underwater part. if you trailer the boat, you could get away with one part poly paint.

 

[red boat]

Re: questions about my checkmate *now with pictures!

Sandwich, I own a 1988 Exciter which is the closed bow version of your boat with a Evinrude XP-200. I have a 6" hydraulic jack. with a properly tuned motor and a jackplate with a 19-21 pitch prop you should easily see 60-65mph. A 20" shaft motor is what you need not a 25". I currently use the dual cable rack steering system it works great untill you begin raising the motor height and increasing speed. As you begin raising the motor the bigger arm muscles you need to turn her. but for just lake cruising the dual cable is more than sufficent. Checkmate makes very solid hulls. The flake on the classic Mates is very hard to maintain. If you want to preserve you can always just clearcoat the hull but it will begin to yellow after a couple of years. As chris stated you best option is to use a two part poly paint especially if you have holes in the deck to repair

 

[sandwichestime]

Re: questions about my checkmate *now with pictures!

thanks for the responses. it seems like i definitely need a 20" shaft, as the bullet is still below the keel, and i went and looked at a 25" and there's just no way it would fit without a jack plate.<br /><br />im thinking the thing im going to do is remove all the hardware myself, fill in all the holes with this gray Marine-Tex i just bought, sand it with a 400, then an 800, then all the way to a 1500, and finally take it somewhere to get the topside painted a burnt orange. the auto place is a good idea. we have an econo-bake and a earl shive-type place around here, would they all spray a two part poly marine paint? or would i have to buy the paint and give it to them?<br /><br />as for the motor, im not running it as it is not operating properly. so i have no idea whether it is sitting in the water far enough, or if the steering is adequate. right now, im thinking i will just start looking for a newer used motor to put on the back and go with a 20".<br /><br />cant wait until i am on the water!

 

[tr918]

Re: questions about my checkmate *now with pictures!

Welcome to the board!<br />I thought I had seen these pictures somewhere! <br /><br /> checkmate boats <br /><br />Very cool! This means I am not the only one on these boards that has a Checkmate. <br /><br /><br />The steering should be fine as is. The hydraulic steering is mainly to help with controlling your boat at speeds in excess of 70mph. <br /><br />You will need a 20" shaft. <br /><br />And as far as the exterior. I would save a few bucks and paint it yourself. There a lots of people on this board and on the checkmate board who have done it succesfully themeselves. <br /><br />As soon as I finish the floor in my TRV/Trimate I will redo the exterior. Checkmate boats TRV17 project <br /><br />-TR

 

[red boat]

Re: questions about my checkmate *now with pictures!

TR918, thanks for the hook-up on the checkmate site I have registered and cannot login until I get approval, cant wait seems like it's a pretty cool site full of guys with a common boat interest. I sure do wish Checkmate would advertise in some boating publications. They used to advertise in Hotboat and when they got a bad review on one of their boats they quit advertising in that mag. Sandwich if you have any painting skills do the paint yourself the Earl Scheibs in our area do really crappy work and you dont want a bad paint job on your Mate do you?? While you are getting her set up if you run across a hydraulic jack plate dont pass it up these 18 footers really come alive with 6" to 8" of setback!

 

[brownies]

Re: questions about my checkmate *now with pictures!

Paint and bodywork. It's the time you spend before the paint is sprayed that will make it...or break it.

 

[tr918]

Re: questions about my checkmate *now with pictures!

Red boat,<br /><br />What Checkmate do you own? I'm glad you liked the Checkmate sight. There are a really good group of guys in that board. All of them are extremely enthusiastic about the 'mates! <br /><br />The Iboats board and the Checkmates board are in my opinion the two best sites on the web.<br /><br />-TR

 

[surlyjoe]

Re: questions about my checkmate *now with pictures!

if your going to take it in and getted it paintd, don't sand past 360 grit. in reality 240 is all you need to be fine enough that the scratches wont show, anything finer just reduces the mechanical bond.

 

[red boat]

Re: questions about my checkmate *now with pictures!

TR918, I own a 1988 Exciter which is the closed bow version of your boat with a Evinrude XP-200. I am now frequenting the Checkmate website along with this one. I have the Screen-name Costa on the Checkmate site what is your login on the site. It is currently down as they are upgrading the BB. thanks to that site I was ablke to just call Checkmate up and order all new seats for my Mate to match the existing!

 

[bounder4465]

Re: questions about my checkmate *now with pictures!

One of your questions was about using metalflake in the resurfacing. Yes, you can buy bags of the flake in colors.