1980 mainship 36

[animalguy10]

Hello everyone.

I have purchased a 1989 mainship. I have rebuilt the single Perkins. Before i put it back in I want to deal with stuff under the decks.
This boat was sitting and people have stolen stuff.
I see one large battery near the helm and then it looks like there are what appears to be two other separate batteries beside the motor.

Can anyone attest to this ?

 

[animalguy10]

Hello

I have a project mainship. The inside floor is rotten at the sliding door area.
Is this common ? Caused by mature I’d assume sitting at the doors ?

Just curious if this is a popular area ?

 

[Portage_Bay]

1989 is old enough it's probably not original. You'll have to do the detective work. Follow the wires. Test with a volt meter. Make drawings as you go. It's a lot of work but it's the only way to go about it.

You may have a starting battery or bank of batteries. And a house bank for all the other loads. Or it may be something completely different. The battery near the helm suggests modifications since build.

Follow the wires.

 

[Jeff F]

It's common on those boats. Mine was similar.

You have a Mainship 34. There are lots of current and former owners here.

 

[boomerang]

If you have the engine out, now's a good time to tear out all of the unused stuff and stuff you don't like and put it back the way that will make sense to you. Mainships wiring and systems were nothing special and sometimes lacking and inadequate. By the time we finished with ours, there were very few systems that came close to being like the original. I relocated pumps, batteries, the water heater, changed plumbing tubing, hoses and cabling, added electrical panels, lights and anything that made our time aboard more convenient. It was a price point boat when it was built. It doesn't have to remain one.

 

[ranger58sb]

Looks like a 34... with the flying bridge removed. I thought either '87 or '88 was their last year of production for those...

Ours was an '87 Mk III. It had a single 8D battery that doubled for both engine start and house.

-Chris

 

[animalguy10]

Yes the fly bridge is off to move it. I’m trying to figure out if the floor at the sliding door sank because the floor rooted out or if the supports under it are bad. I’m assuming the floor rots away at the door then it sinks.

More exploratory surgery tomorrow. Took out all the parkay style flooring today.