1994 Maristar 225 VRS Project

[Whalenjf]

Hi Guys,

Since my project is getting closer to completion I wanted to post it up on the forum since I found so much information from here throughout the entire process. This forum was invaluable throughout the whole process and I wanted to send out a huge thank you to everybody!!!

A little background info:
After college I moved into a house with a friend and this boat was shrink wrapped and parked on the property (6 acres). A couple months later I found out that the owner had "blown the engine up" 2 years prior and never got it fixed. About 6 months and numerous voice mails later he returned my phone calls and we met, agreed on a price, and the boat was mine. Bought it 11/26/12 looking like this....

[Whalenjf]

Continued...

So after buying it I towed it to my parents house (no garage at mine) and started tearing into. Found out that 2 rods had snapped in half and tried to escape out through the oil pan, so a rebuild was in order. After 2 months or more at the machine shop and a few snowboarding trips it was time to put the boat back together....

[CC2MC]

Where in the SE are you located, or is it safe to assume VA by the boat reg number?

[Whalenjf]

Continued...

Work threw a kink into things by sending me out of town for 2+ months starting in February so the boat sat for a little while while my friend, who I bought the boat with, worked on assembling the engine starting with the newly rebuilt short block and reconditioned heads.

In March I got back from the first work trip and we found somebody who let us use their chain hoist/I-beam in their garage to put the engine back in. That went wayyy smoother than the tree limb method we used to remove it haha.

After the engine got re-installed I got sent out of town again for another month and the boat sat again before I got a chance to fire it up.

[Whalenjf]

Where in the SE are you located, or is it safe to assume VA by the boat reg number?

Yup, I'm located right outside of Richmond, VA in Chesterfield County.

[Whalenjf]

Continued...

Once I got home in early May the rush to get the boat finished got kicked into high gear! We wanted to bring it to a lake trip the first weekend in June. New alternator, starter, fuel lines, fuel filter, air/water separator.... the list goes on and on! Had a few hiccups getting it going but it fired right up as soon as we realized the shut off valve was closed on the fuel line lol. Water tested it and broke the motor in for 8-10 hrs constantly varying the speed and RPM's.

Then the real fun began.... cleaning it. Ordered up a ton of stuff from Performance Boat Candy and went to town cleaning it over Memorial Day Weekend... my grandpa even stepped in to "show me how it's done" haha. He's restored 25+ classic cars throughout his life so he helped a lot! After buffing it we put new drip molded decals on both sides of the hull and the transom, unbolted and re-aligned the windshield due to a huge gap, cleaned the vinyl and conditioned it, and washed the trailer.

(I'm the red headed one with the gray shirt and the guy in yellow is my friend. We are the ones who bought it together.)

[dboat]

Looks great! You did a lot of work and it shows, keep it up!

[megapea]

What a fun looking project! It's nice to see an abandoned Mastercraft come back to life when literally left for dead! Keep up the hard work! This boat will pay you back with years of enjoyment, relaxation , and fun!

[Whalenjf]

Thanks for the kind words guys, it's much appreciated! I'm really looking forward to this summer!

We got it ready in time for the lake trip 2 weeks ago but once we got there we discovered a badly leaking transmission cooler line so it didn't get much use that weekend... just tied it off to the dock and stared at it while enjoying a few cold ones haha. The trans cooler lines got replaced in the next couple days after getting home and she's been out on the water at least 4 times since then! Runs great and that LT1 doesn't even hesitate with 12 people piled on the boat

Here's a few more pictures (since there's never enough....) haha.

[aquaman]

Nice work on saving another MC from eternal storage.

She looks great.....

[Whalenjf]

Nice work on saving another MC from eternal storage.

She looks great.....

Thanks!

[Whalenjf]

I just ordered a Seadek faux teak swim platform pad today, hopefully that will round out the exterior work for awhile...

The hinges on these sunpads are so weak and brittle so I'm having my brother cut out a new hinge bracket from stainless. The new one will tie both sides together. He lasered out a cardboard template for a test fit and it fit great this afternoon. Should have the final product sometime this week

[Whalenjf]

My brother finished the new hinge for me and it fits,looks, and works great! It's cut out of 3/16" stainless and TIG welded together.

[Whalenjf]

Also, the ballast came in last week and is just waiting for a nice day to test it out. I got 2x750 bags for the v-drive compartments and 2x370 ski locker bags for the ski locker and front walkway. Rear bags probably won't be full when wakeboarding.

Any suggestions on bag placement for wakesurfing in this boat?? I'm thinking full 750 sack on port side with the full 370 locker sack but I'm not too sure where I should start on placement of the other 2 bags (if necessary). I'm hoping I can dial in a decent surf wake this weekend

[hig]

Very nice progress. I'm basically doing the same thing and your thread has been encouraging and informational especially with the motor pics.

Great Job!!