My '87 DV18 thread...

[CobaltRick]

ok.. I'll see about finding one.. Thanks so much!!

[CobaltRick]

Ok.. I just ordered one from the mercury parts people.. I figured if the eBay price is the same I’d frankly rather buy from a full-fledged business...

[Big Block Power]

Ok.. I just ordered one from the mercury parts people.. I figured if the eBay price is the same I’d frankly rather buy from a full-fledged business...

Correct.

[akorcovelos]

yep, the new ones only have a trim switch, but if you hold it up it will go ll the way to trailer position. Can't beat NOS!

[CobaltRick]

Cool.. In this case I decided not to go with the NOS but just plain new. I'm buying from MercruiserParts.com -- the price on this particular item only fluctuated by maybe $6-$10 depending on where you went -- including eBay, hence my decision to buy from a reputable parts dealer that I can use should any issues arise.

[CobaltRick]

Ok... I’m back again with more questions.. lol

I’m supposed to receive my throttle control today sometime.. In the meantime, I’m looking for information on how to take apart the folding chairs.. The drivers side one is a bit of a mixed bag — the drivers seat is ok, but the flip side is falling apart badly. The plywood sheeting on the underside is peeling bits-n-pieces badly. Anyway, what’s the best way to remove the entire thing from the floor? I’ll admit that I’ve never figured out how to fold these seats to their flat position.

0D22C955-167B-4F10-AD71-2E9CC24DFF64.jpeg

[CobaltRick]

Are there decent replacements for these outlets & lights.. something that doesn’t look like some cheap plastic $3 part..? Maybe these can be retrofitted or something? LED lights would be kinda cool, but I’ve not bothered looking to see what’s out there. Seems like an easy swap if I’m going to remove this panel anyway to change the throttle cables.

16D99AED-64D3-4C44-A6C1-CEE8344766DB.jpeg

[CobaltRick]

Ok.. my throttle & drive cables are out without issue. The throttle is a 14’ Teleflex from March ‘86 and the drive is 13’ from Feb ‘86... at least I know that they’re the original.. I just need to find some suitable replacements that play well with my new controller

[akorcovelos]

If the seats are the fold flat lounge type you just grab under the rear seat bottom and lift up. Should work just like this:



As for the courtesy lights, you'll need to remove one and see what the mounting hole looks like to match up an equivalent LED fixture. I did this on my '84 Webbcraft and quickly found builders from that era didn't much care about polarity when wiring the lights, so if you plug the LED in and it doesn't work, you'll need to flip the wires to correct the polarity for the LEDs. Also, you'll need to stick with single color LEDs unless you want to rewire everything to the 4 wire RGB lights to function.

courtesy lights.PNG

[Big Block Power]

If your buying new seats now could also be the time to switch to captains chairs? But you can buy those from great lake skippers.
Also your transom light is a pretty common Attwood light assembly.

[CobaltRick]

Ok. Thanks.. I’ll checkout the video in a bit. I think those pair of seats in this boat probably need to be rebuilt unfortunately as the plywood is just not in very good condition and constantly is “shedding” bits of debris on the floor...

Re: the throttle/Drive cables, looks like I’ll be getting these from the same place I bought the controller. Too bad I didn’t yank the old cables out sooner. Oh well.. I’m not in any hurry. I don’t think the local lakes would let me in anyway right now with Covid..

Driveline Cable : 8M0082536 (Platinum Pro Mercury)
Throttle Cable : 8M0082537 (ditto)

[CobaltRick]

Re: captains chairs.. I suppose I could but wouldn’t mind keeping the originals if its not too much effort/expense to rebuild them. I guess it really depends on how they’re put together and all that. I really do need to find a local upholstery place that does good work.. Some of the seats are starting to rip over the engine dog house.. A little TLC here.. a little there.. lol

By the way.. thanks for the lighting suggestions both of you! I checked out the ATTwood catalog for the lights and didn’t really see anything that looked like a direct replacement. My current light has louvres to ensure the light hits only the floor and I didn’t see that in any of their lights.. I’ll widen my search..

[CobaltRick]

If the seats are the fold flat lounge type you just grab under the rear seat bottom and lift up. Should work just like this:...

Ok., Yes Ive got those seats.. My problem with the drivers side though is that the rear seat has nothing holding it to the metal mounting rails. The bolts are rotted out or missing. I tried the passenger side and its in tact but still if I lift the rear seat base I can see the mechanics doing something underneath but it still won’t unfold. The drivers side is in pretty bad shape (the engine facing side) and I think the only thing keeping the seat cushion from just letting go is that there’s probably fabric screwed into the seat back or something... If you’ve got any other suggestions, I’m all ears!

[akorcovelos]

Modern light fixtures don't use the louvers, the diode and reflector are designed to project down. Don't bother taking the back to back seats anywhere, they'll all tell you the same thing, it's not worth it. Jump on Great Lakes Skipper and order some new ones, they'll be better quality (composite vs wood) and cheaper than having the original rotted ones rebuilt.

These would look really nice in your boat:




https://www.greatlakesskipper.com/custo ... -base-pair

[CobaltRick]

Alright.. alright.. I see the point! A few questions for ya.. Is it safe to assume that you’ve bought (or know of anyone) a pair of these? Re: mounting .. do you know if the mounting bracket will fit into the same holes as the current ones? I’m guessing its a possibility but I might also need to put new ones in maybe? Thoughts? I’ll say that I’d be curious about how much a pair of those would be to ship to Cali! I’m sure it’ll be well over $100..