Ole Raunchy

This boat purchase started out at the CT mini when I was talking with Reid about my jealousy of Chris Mars and his 1972 Promo boat purchase. I really love the orange on orange look and Reid mentioned he had a skier that fit my desires. A 302 Homan Moody happened to be powering the boat which made it that much more appealing. I told him there that I would love to purchase the boat if it had not been spoken for yet.

So Tim and I made our way down to the reunion in NC and brought back Ole Raunchy. The boat made it safely back to
NJ. This makes CC #4 at the old Malibu dealership, taking over! Rauchy has had two voyages out on Lake Hopatcong.

The first one went well. Figured out the alternator was not working. Semi fixed that by using the questionable alternator off of my 289 out of the 68 mustang. Also replaced the shaft packing so we wouldn't sink.

Second trip went well on the way there but on the way home the impeller decided to give out. Which other than having to get towed in by a coworker who was out to dinner with us in a different boat. The seal on the backside of the pump was leaking anyway so it just expedited the process of rebuilding the pump. The impeller is the same as a Volvo impeller. The love joy needs to be replaced, the seal and we are going to do bearings out of maintenance thanks to Gary's suggestion and feeling a little bit of grinding with the shaft rotating by hand.

Tonight we took off the non original swim platform and the flappers on the tips. Temporary plans are to put bolts back in the holes with gaskets until our season of boating.

Future plans are: wetsanding, rebuilding bucket seats, new vinyl, white pinstripe, original style rub rail, closer to period specific gauges, and a RH 383. I've had the 383 for my Cuda SS project which the hull is going to Cuda Chris. The 289 in my mustang is not original and its LH so it's got to go. The 302 HM will fit nicely under the motor box where the 383 would not. The 383 will however fit nicely under the 72 skier box and will also go nicely with the 71C we rebuilt this summer from the 68 mustang. Motor parts are coming together. Grabbed a set of aluminum manifolds last week that had a leak in the casting plugs. Plan is to reweld them. They're perfect candidates for rewelding and they came as a courtesy of a customer replacing these with new ones.

I love this boat and it will be a beautiful little boat when finished!!