Excited to join the community

Black Zodiac · 23 July 2024, 02:53

Hello all,

Recently purchased a Zodiac FC470 with accompanying J55APRLSRA Outboard. Both were manufactured in 2004 but neither have ever seen water! The boat and motor were only used for mock up purposes by a DOD contractor. Came with all original accessories as well!

I am excited to be part of this community and learn all about these boats. Time to hit the books! Let me know if there is a good place to start!

BZ

Peter_C · 23 July 2024, 05:46

Welcome to the board

That should be fun! Sounds like it's in new condition too, which is what everyone buying a used boat dreams of.

Do a search on here for FC470 or a specific boat part you are interested in. There is a wealth of knowledge on this board. Of course starting a new thread and asking questions will most likely be very helpful.

Fenlander · 23 July 2024, 12:27

Welcome to the forum.

It would be great to see some images of your boat and outboard preserved in time like this.

Black Zodiac · 23 July 2024, 13:35

I will take some photos and try to post them here later today. The boat was deflated and stored in it's bag for the ride home (1200 miles round trip!). I've only gotten as far as unrolling the boat and taking the motor out of my truck bed

Peter_C · 23 July 2024, 18:45

Unless the outboard has been serviced recently I wouldn't recommend starting it until it has a new impeller. If the old one fails you have to pick the pieces from the engine block and verify you have every piece. Easier to just replace it ahead of failure. You probably already know this...always have the outboard with a water supply when running, don't even start it for a second dry.

Which floor does your FC470 have?

Black Zodiac · 24 July 2024, 02:38

Peter, thank you for the heads up. Think it’s worth getting the water pump repair kit and replacing everything while I’m in there? I imagine the oil in the lower unit has deteriorated some over 20 years and should be replaced as well.

It came with the roll up floor and the aluminum hard deck. The stringers were misplaced unfortunately. Any good places to source these from?

Some pictures of the “factory new” motor and the set up being transported home!

Fenlander · 24 July 2024, 08:40

The outboard does look mint under the hood as you'd expect.

Good advice from Peter re the impeller. In two decades it is quite possible the rubber will have semi-bonded to the metal pump liner and rip apart on first running. Even with an outboard unused for a year or two I turn them over now and again to stop this happening and to stop the impeller adopting a fixed shape if unmoved.

Rallythepup · 07 August 2024, 01:23

I too am new to the group. I just picked up a 2008 fc470 . It is in decent condition and only needs some minor repair work.

Can anyone tell me how to remove the roll up floor just so I can thoroughly clean the boat? I haven’t been able to find much on a process to remove and re install the roll up slat floor. Much appreciated and sorry if I’m bringing up and old thread.

Black Zodiac · 07 August 2024, 01:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rallythepup

I too am new to the group. I just picked up a 2008 fc470 . It is in decent condition and only needs some minor repair work.

Can anyone tell me how to remove the roll up floor just so I can thoroughly clean the boat? I haven’t been able to find much on a process to remove and re install the roll up slat floor. Much appreciated and sorry if I’m bringing up and old thread.

PM’d you. Happy to help and learn while on this mysterious voyage that is the FC 470