1977 Apricot Viper

[427man]

It's time for me to show Kevin some support for all of his hard work on this excellent site. Everything I have posted so far has been on S&F and/or FaceBook. Going forward, I'll make an effort to post everything on here as well as those other venues.

So the short story is I became obsessed with owning a Viper a couple years ago and started searching. I am an inline 6 Mercury fan so the plan was for a short shaft motor, possibly a 1500 XS if I could find one.

After a lot of looking I found a nice 77 red flake Viper with a 115 Merc. I was happy with it and fully intended to keep it until I was told about a pristine Apricot unit available in Wisconsin. After seeing photos and talking to the owner I took a leap of faith, gave my word and drove 16 hours straight to get the boat. It was everything the owner said it was and more.I brought the boat home, sold the red one and now I am preparing to send the boat to Raybo Marine in New York to have the core professionally dealt with.

The boat is in excellent condition. I've stripped the interior and so far all core I see is white wood. We'll see what's under the floor. I searched hard for a 1500 XS and found an original motor that has never been apart. I also got a basket case that's been apart for 30 years. It's in very good shape with lots of NOS parts. In the end I'll have the original and a spare.

That's all for now, I'll post more as I progress.

Kevin - I can't figure out how to post pics....

[Hippie459MN]

Very nice! I swear I have seen pics of that boat before. Have you had it long? Love the flake! Wish mine was still metal flake. It was a dark red flake originally. We found some under the white paint. lol

[Hippie459MN]

P.S. Looks like you figured out the pictures.

[427man]

Hey Kevin -

I bought this boat out of Wisconsin last August from Travis Nowak. You may have seen my posts on S&F (427man) and now FaceBook (you and I are friends now). Darrel

[Hippie459MN]

Yup, that explains why I have seen it around. lol

[427man]

You will continue to see it here now too. I plan to contribute to this forum for what it's worth.

[Hippie459MN]

You will continue to see it here now too. I plan to contribute to this forum for what it's worth.

Sounds awesome to me.

[Hippie459MN]

That thing looks awesome with the inline hanging on the back of it. I cant stop looking at it.

I need to figure out some way to make my 'Rude look more period correct for my Vulture. I have ideas but we'll see.

[427man]

Thanks, I think the Merc is the right motor for the boat. I read on HydroStream.org (I think) that the short shaft inline 6 is what the boat was designed to run. I just found I did post this boat on here back when I got it back in August. Anyway - I'll keep up with progress on here. It's almost ready to go to a professional to have the floor pulled and the core repaired as needed.

[83VKING]

Hi Darrel i am a new stream owner and in the middle of a complete restoration. i have an 83 V-King with an 83 115hp. im glad in 83 merc went with the enrichment valve instead of choke flaps. i do not think there are many of us out there running the tower of power but its cool to see there are still some of us. and i realy like your wrap around cowling with the slotted vents.. wicked awesome. i am just getting into the inlines, from the picture it looks like your short shaft does not have power trim? does your 150 inline have a low water pick up? here is a picture of my 83 merc 115.

-Mark