1987 Scepter

[OilFieldMan]

Well I made the jump from the 20 CC to a 23 Scepter. After riding on Wildman's 23cc I decided it was time to search for a 23 Seacraft and decided the Scepter would be best suited for my use. Being of Irish/Scottish decent I need some shade.

So I found this gem

1987 Hull with fresh paint, including hull and bottom paint. POwered by a 2007 250 hp Etec with abour 660 hours on it. 90% of its life has been trolling and idling. Pulled the EMM report and had two codes in its entire life span. A t-stat was stuck open and a starboard side head temp high. Researched the temps and found out it just got a bit warm. May have aerated the motor sucked some weeds but the ECM never got hot. Either way so theres a base t-stats and pumps will be done this spring.

Top has a full enclose with door



Boat was turn key, however I like redundancy so added the blueseas house/starting batter relay to add a second battery and a good charging methods

Which resulted in re-wiring behind the helm, because well all the connections were in the port aft corner of the boat. And it all got removed. I opened the cubby behind the helm and found this

With some meter testing figuring out ground and some alligator clips she was read to run (notice red and yellow alligator clips)


End result was with two smaller ground bus bars and one larger power supply bus bars


I started poking around and found the other bilge pump....there must be a bulkhead here creating a need for this pump in the cuddy

Thanks to wildman I found a killer deal on some outriggers on Craiglist

It has some extra do dads with interior cockpit lighting and green led's on the trim tabs which were wired with alligator clips.



I plan on adding second bilge pump aft with the USCG style float instead of the flapper. Also install the rule tournament series baitwell pump with the PERKO scoop and seacock. And hopefully do an early spring shake down.

[cdavisdb]

You are gonna enjoy that one.

[OilFieldMan]

I really am I can't wait to run her this summer. With the pleasure cruises on the weekends the bay can get a chop and make for a wet ride home. So I'm really looking forward to being dry. And having plenty of dry storage

[77SceptreOB]

Nice Sceptre, enjoy!

[OilFieldMan]

Thank you, I really like the look of the teak, but the maintenance on it is intimidating. What is everyone using for poly/varnish whatever? and what time frame are you seeing with it?

[Bushwacker]

Nice looking rig!

On the varnish, PowerBoat reports did some durability tests several years ago and picked Epifanes as the longest lasting. I think Honey Teak was the second best. I've tried both and Epifanes is definitely better and does not darken the wood like Honey Teak. I'm just redoing the Epifanes on mine after about 6.5 years; should have done it last year before it started to go, as much less work required if it hasn't started to crack. I do keep my boat covered when not in use, which helps a lot with the strong UV down here. If you buy the Woodfinish Gloss version, you don't have to sand between coats if done within 72 hours. The more coats the better. I used 6 on the boat trim and am going with 9 on a mahogany door I'm now doing for the house.

I have over 400 hrs on my E-Tec and it's been a great motor! That EMM history is great info to have when you're buying a used motor! Yours has enough time on it, that I'd check a couple other items when you service it. There is an exhaust pressure sensor fitting below the powerhead with small holes in it that may be plugged with carbon, especially if PO did not use the XD-100 full synthetic oil. Plugged sensor seems to make motor run a little richer and affect starting and idle quality. You'll have to remove the lower covers to get to it; just follow the hose from the EMM to find it. Be careful not to overtighten the bolts on the lower covers when you reinstall. While you have the covers off, also pull the fuel return line where it goes into the vapor seperator tank. There is a conical mesh filter in the tank inlet that protects the pressure regulator; that VST filter tends to plug, so pull it out of tank and clean or replace it. I'd also check the nuts that hold the poppet valve housing together to make sure they're stainless. There was a recall (I think on later vintage motors) because a supplier substituted cad-plated nuts w/o telling BRP; the plated nuts can rust and cause water leaks that can spray everywhere, including into the air intake! The later E-Tecs have a spin-on 10 micron water seperating fuel filter with a water sensor in it, instead of the small plastic in-line filter that's on the earlier motors. BRP made a kit to retrofit one on the earlier motors that's worth installing, even if you have a Racor filter in the boat. There have supposedly been cases of water getting past a Racor and that second filter would catch that, so it's cheap insurance.

If you haven't already seen it, check out the E-Tec Owners web site at http://www.etecownersgroup.com/?forum=136486. I picked up most of the above info from it! It's a great resource supported by some very good techs and knowledgble owners, similar to CSC forum in quality!

[OilFieldMan]

Bushwacker do you still use the teak rod holders? One is broken and in need of repair and debating on replacing with starboard. BUt if you still have the teak ones, do you still see the same life out of the Epifanes there? I really appreciate the info there. That's extremely helpful. Once I get a few things straightened out around the house I'll be able to set up a mock woodshop and sand and refinish some of the tired pieces.

A friend of Wildman works for a dealership that services the Etec's I'll end up having him do the t-stats and pump. I'm sure he knows about that info, but I"ll make sure to pass it on to him.

One other really nice benefit to the boat is in 2008 it had a 93 gallon aluminum tank installed. It currently has a pie plate to see the sending unit with an independent fuel gauge there, which I love having the redundancy there. However whomever installed the fuel tank also installed the rocor filter there under the hatches where you have to remove the sealed hatches to access them. So this will as well be re-located.

[Bushwacker]

Originally Posted by OilFieldMan

Bushwacker do you still use the teak rod holders? One is broken and in need of repair and debating on replacing with starboard. BUt if you still have the teak ones, do you still see the same life out of the Epifanes there? . . .

Yes, my Seafari has the teak rod holders and I use them a lot. If anything the varnish holds up better there than elsewhere because they're in the shade most of the time. I just refinished mine, but the varnish was fine. I had to clean 'em up because they had mold and mildew all over them! Don't know why because I leave the front hatch open a bit and don't get mildew in the cabin. I guess the cover fits more tightly around the back of boat than it does over the bow rail so there must be less air circulation in cockpit.

The best dealers know about cleaning the VST filter and exhaust pressure sensor and make it part of the 3-yr service, but not all dealers seem to do that, so if you mention those items, they'll know you did your homework!

You might also ask your friend to also run the fuel system check after they move the Racor. BRP came up with a clever method that doesn't even require running the motor because they've found that many engine problems are related the fuel system installation, i.e., air leaks, bad anti-siphon valves, and restriction in the lines between tank and engine. They install a clear piece of tubing between the tank and engine with a vacuum gage tee'd into it, and attach a hose to the HP pump discharge and run it back into the fuel tank. They plug in the laptop, turn the key on, and then use the software to run the HP pump at max fuel flow while they check for bubbles in the clear hose while they check the suction side vacuum reading. The test must create a significant flow rate, because when they ran it on my boat, the I-Command gage (which gets fuel flow from the EMM) said I had used 7 gallons of fuel even though the test only took about 5 minutes and the motor wasn't running! We rerouted the fuel line plumbing on mine to eliminate a couple of 90 degree elbows that were causing unnecessary restriction, so it was a productive test!

[Wildman]

One other really nice benefit to the boat is in 2008 it had a 93 gallon aluminum tank installed. It currently has a pie plate to see the sending unit with an independent fuel gauge there, which I love having the redundancy there. However whomever installed the fuel tank also installed the rocor filter there under the hatches where you have to remove the sealed hatches to access them. So this will as well be re-located.

and dont forget the guy also put a nice kink in the fuel line!

[Blackfin26]

Nice looking Sceptre... Looks like a great set up for you. See you out east this summer!