TOPIC: 1974 Thunderhawk 1700 or 1962 LoneStar Fleetwood

Hello all, and thank you moderators for bringing me on to fiberglassics!

I am a newbie on all accords (27 years old), I have only ridden on newer boats and do not have a lot of experience in the classic boat world. I am now infatuated though as I love old guns and cars, or anything with patina and class. To quickly preface my situation, I spent mother's day yesterday with my family and have inherited two boats from my grandfather.

The first boat was acquired when our lake house was purchased two years ago. From what I can tell it is a Larson Thunderhawk Starline 1700. It is all white, with blue/white interior. It has an I/O, volvo penta AQ170 with a chrysler 270, I believe. It has 3 carbs and the manifold/engine look good. We do not know when the last time it ran, or the history. It doesn't have an ignition/key. It has been sitting outside, but covered well with tarps for an unknown amount of time. The blue/white interior is about toast, the wood fell apart when I climbed in it yesterday to check it out. The instrumentation looks ok, carpet is toast too. The boat looks all there but the interior concerns me. The trailer it's on is rusted through and not road worthy.

The next boat was purchased near new back in 1963. It is what I believe to be a 1962 LoneStar Fleetwood 17', with a single Evinrude two cycle. Not sure if its the 60hp or 75hp motor so maybe someone can help with that. This boat was used sparingly up until 1981, when my grandfather let the registration lapse and put the boat into one of the garages at one of our rental places, covered it, and its been sitting there since. I took a quick look at it yesterday too, the red paint is starting to fade, but the interior and floor is in great shape (dusty) but nothing a deep clean couldn't fresh up. I might consider painting it before splash. Everything is there as far as intrumentation, wiring etc. The transom looks really good. The front of the boat looks like it was bumped into a dock once or twice but nothing serious and has been fiberglass patched. The Evinrude looks pretty solid and I do have some experience with old two stroke carb'd motors. I will try and get a compression test done this weekend when I have some time. All of the glass is good. The trailer its on has flat tires but is original. Much better shape than the thunderhawk's.

In my rookie judgement, I think the LoneStar is the better bet as far as getting it in the water. It also has quite a bit of sentimental value to my family. So my idea is to part out/sell the Thunderhawk, and put the money into the LoneStar but I would love yall's advice on what you would do. I don't want to get in over my head, and I am on somewhat of a budget. But money really isn't a big deal. It will be a trailor queen, towed by whatever replaces my GTO once it sells.

Any insight is greatly appreciated. I will try and get some better pictures up by the weekend when I can get a truck up there and pull the LoneStar out for a better assessment.


Thanks
Vince

svt28,

WELCOME ABOARD.

Fyi, this one forum seems to have more TRUE EXPERTS on vintage boats/motors/trailers than all other similar forums combined. = I've seldom asked a question here that wasn't correctly answered in 48 hours or less.

yours, satx

Vince welcome aboard, it's great to see the younger folks getting the "bug"! Pics we love pics! Now as for the Rude, get the serial number and model number and you can check marineengine.com and it will give the year and hp. The JohnnyRudes are very easy to work on. Personally that plan sounds good but I like the older classics better than the newer ones, that's just me though. As SATX said there's plenty of expertise here to help you out no matter which way you want to go.

Bob