1979 Century Arabian

[Corts60]

Hi everyone,

Thought I’d share a little intro on my newly acquired Century ski boat. She’s the 200 model with a 228hp 305 and outdrive. I got the boat for pretty cheap because the current owner couldn’t get it running. I found all kinds of hack work on the engine: he had the batt cable going to the slave solenoid instead of the starter solenoid. Hooked up the cable correctly and it started cranking. It kept snow balling from there and had to adjust timing, replace points and coil, new plugs, rebuilt carb.

Finally got her fired up only to find whoever worked on it last didn’t seal the risers to the exhaust manifolds properly and I was getting water in cylinder #7. So off came the manifolds and dipped them in muriatic acid to break down the rust and see if I had cracks. They were indeed cracked on the outside, but not internally. Risers were in good shape. Put them all back together with new gaskets and ground out the exterior cracks and backfilled with high temp JB weld. These manifolds are spendy, so I’m going to run it this way and see how well the JB weld holds.

Well, after getting the engine squared away, I found the upper gear shaft seal was blowing gear oil into the bellows, so off comes the outdrive and it’s getting new seals and driveshaft. We’re getting close though! As soon as I get the drive back from the shop, I’ll throw it on and take this old girl for a test.

The boat itself is in amazing shape. Garaged almost all its life and I think pretty low hours based on the condition and function of everything. Even the trailer is in great shape with old G78 tires which I’m pretty sure are the original tires.

I’ll shut up now and show some pics. I buffed it out completely and started fixing a bunch of details and re-doing all the wood including replacing the boot stripe decals. So here are some before and after pics.

[Corts60]

Here are a couple before and after of the dash after I fixed the wood trim and added a usb outlet. The original wood grain was a sticker that was all sun damaged and peeling. I replaced it with a piece teak laminate. I also shined up all the chrome and found a NOS century emblem for the glovebox

[Corts60]

Hopefully the sea trial goes well and we can just enjoy the boat the rest of this summer. This winter I’ll be re-doing all the upholstery and possible some stringer work as they’re a little soft under the engine mounts. I’ll get some pics up after the first launch!

[mongocanfly]

Nice rig...

[Troy Sr]

I know what you're going through, when I bought my Reinell it was the same way. Got it up and running and used it for years!!! Today a guy bought it off me 'cause we don't use it anymore!! Enjoy it!!

[Corts60]

Ok now! Sea trial success! Just got the drive back on and splashed her for the first time in I don’t know how many years. At least 3. She ran flawlessly. Good temps and oil pressure. Very awesome little boat!

[67C10Step]

Very cool and a classic boat. May you have smooth water and safe journeys all summer long!

[Troy Sr]

My wife's cousin has a '65 or '66 Century Sabre Gullwing, it's a really cool boat!!

[Corts60]

Thanks!

Here is another cool pic from the weekend. Took the boat out several times and it performed wonderful. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

[Willowrun]

Nice sized boat for MI lakes. Did you take it on an inland lake or the big water?

[Corts60]

Originally Posted by Willowrun

Nice sized boat for MI lakes. Did you take it on an inland lake or the big water?

Thanks bud! We just cruised around lake Macatawa for the first couple runs. Now that I know she is vetted and safe, gonna go out on the big lake this weekend and maybe cruise down to Saugatuck for dinner.

[Corts60]

Decided I may want to trailer to some far away lakes this year and getting new tires installed this week. Take a look at these sweet old G78’s. Still holding air after 40-something years. Hate replace them because they look so cool and vintage, but they’re not safe anymore.

[Corts60]

Got the boat off the trailer so I could re-do the trailer brakes. Trailer is all squared away now and safe. I also took the opportunity to get the bottom buffed out too!