First time boat owner-Happy with my Advantage
 

Had a deal come my way I could not pass up so we now own a 1990 30ft Advantage Offshore. It has been sitting indoors for the last 7-8 years because of a motor issue and looks to be in great condition. I am currently building a NA 540 hoping for around 600 hp to cruise us around Lake Tahoe. I have been doing a little detailing on the hull and cleaning up the interior and is looking pretty good but the inside needs some updating. Hopefully get the motor assembled and put it in the water before it gets cold.

I cannot find any information really on this boat besides what is on NADA, so if anyone has any information like what motor came in it or any other trivial information would be great.

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Welcome! Never heard of that model so I'll be of no help but welcome anyway.

So I spent way more time detailing this boat than I had anticipated. It is really big LOL. Everything looked good but just needed a little love. I also heard back from my machinist and we need to bore the block so I will be building a 10:1 548 so I don't think 600 HP should be a problem. Hoping to have the engine ready to go in a few weeks and get this thing out on the water. I have also refurbished the outdrive with factory paint and it looks like new.

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You did a hell of a job shining her up. Happy boating!

Would really like to see a photo of it, sorry but did not know they made a 30' in 1990?
Thought it first came out in early 2000's

Great looking boat! I too didn't know they made a 30' offshore. Enjoy!

Awesome buffing job

Boat looks awesome! I Have almost 30 hours on the 525 sc blower I got from you with no problems. Thanks for selling me a clean great working blower.

So glad to hear you are running good!!!! Thanks for the compliments. Still waiting on the machine shop to get my build done, only been 6 months LOL.

I contacted Advantage and they said it was their boat but really had no other information to offer. It is in the nada guide

I looked at a 30 a few years ago at Lake St Louis, but it had twin ilmor's in it. Seams like a lot of boat for a single engine. Call Bob Sepulvada at advantage boats. He can tell you whatever you want to know about it.

Got the motor just about done and now just waiting for some good weather to install it. My next project is to remove the dash and redo that with powder coating and doing all new wiring for gauges. Hoping to install some new carpet or some kind of flooring in the spring.
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I use to paint, body work and detail and very familiar with wheeling/rubbing out vehicles and boats but really curious if you just rubbed it out or if you did a light micro fine wet sand prior to. Also what product/products you used. I have an old 12 meter I recently picked up that sat also for several years and it cleaned up pretty well inside and out within reason. Had a lot of mold, spider chit and just overall light black grubby look to it. Fortunately another member here on OSO's dad is in the mobile power washing with the remote control chemicals. Whatever he dusted it with prior to pressure washing was amazing. I think it was very similar to roll off.

Regardless cleaned up well but I am about to detail and just wondering if you wet sanded first or just rubbed and also what you used. Your boat looks great and what a perfect ride and look for Lake Tahoe or anywhere. Good job. Thumbs up!!!

Thanks for the compliments, My first few passes were done with just normal 3m compound but what I think worked more than that was the Menzerna products I have. It is made for German cars with hard clear coat and I used the coarse to really take off the touch stuff. It did take a lot of passes but you could see progress with each one. I have also used Adams for my cars and it is a great company with good products but recently I have been using Chemical Guys stuff and got some of their boat stuff. Their stuff works really good and they have really good pads which I think also helped. I will say the adams buttery wax really makes it shine and I even ended up doing the bottom of the boat.
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Next thing I'd like to know is what kinda meds your on. My gosh where do you get the energy??? My rotator cuffs would be shot. Nice job. I'll be at it soon. I think my bottom will be just fine though. Hah.

I looked online but ran across this. Anyone with experience with this product. Btw how much product did you go through.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item...obalID=EBAY-US

I think any "Pro" product that is a 3 step process like that would work just fine. I know there are some marine specific products out there. This took me way longer than I thought and I also did a 3 step process and ended up doing the butter wax too after I did a test spot and it looked so good. I really did not use that much product but I have a 5.5" pad orbital buffer and the pads from chemical guys work really good you don't need much product.

So you used a foam pad. I was thinking old school with the truditional rubbing wheel/6" grinder and using wool pad for the first step and then a finer less aggressive pad for polish and then hand wax.

If you can post a pic of you orbiter and pads used would be great. I've been out of the detaining seen for a while but have the perfect boat in need for such. Products have improved greatly over the years. When I was getting out of the body work and paint business was when the foam pads were being introduced.

The problem is with the old school buffing methods are swirl marks, difficult to control in tight places and can get away from ya in a hurry when it catches something. Cord gets rapped around the wheel and in some cases you end up ripping trim/moldings off. Lol. Brings back memories.

I did use a foam pad but there are different pads for different uses. There is a harder pad for cutting and they also make a wool pads for orbital polishers too and I also have those to take off a lot when you need it. This is the unit I have and is a great kit to get started. It does not come with a wool pad but they are only like $8. I do like these pads the best out of anything else I have used. I have the Porter Cable and is not as good as the Torq which is more of a pro style.
http://www.chemicalguys.com/Porter_C..._p/buf_209.htm

I have also bought from this outfit and they are really good and on the east coast. They also have a forum or just call the guy and he will help you out.
https://www.detailersdomain.com/

Update, been busy at work with hardly any time off and some crappy spring weather but got some stuff done. I replaced just the floor carpet with some 40 oz and think it turned out OK for my first time, but I still f*&ked up and got glue all over the place. I also got my outdrive on, which seemed like a daunting task but was quite easy to do. The wiring is kind of a mess as this is a OMC factory harness on a custom boat so I have a lot of "extra" wires I need to clean up, it will not look like this when I am done. Finally, yesterday I pretty much got the motor buttoned up besides a few minor things to hook up like a ground to the block. Since Summit racing is 5 minutes from my house I ended up getting one of those Kool Tools for the push lock style hoses because I tried doing a 6 AN by hand and could not get it on all the way. The 12 AN oil lines were a breeze and not being frustrated was priceless.

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I guess I will just make this an update thread until I get it in the water. I did redo the dash and put all new SW gauges and had the bezels, throttle plates and a few other things powder coated including the battery hold downs. Unfortunately in getting the boat powered up I was able to tilt the outdrive and I have a leaking fitting which I think will require a whole new hose. Looks like a real pain in the butt to change too.
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I also got a new oil cooler and PS cooler combo with a thermostat that was suggested and is sized to my motor and HP.
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Of course with a new build you would expect a few small issues. So the engine sounds good through exhaust but the valves are really loud. So after a fiasco on the dyno with one of the lifters having a plunger stuck sideways somehow and the shop not being able to adjust them for some reason. I was able to swap them out (lifters are Howard 91163 - supposed to be Morel?) while they had it on the dyno with a new set and were able to complete with good results. After the engine sat for about 5 weeks, I was able to start it. Unfortunately the valves were super noisey but it has 50 lbs at idle and I using a melling 10771 pump. I ended up having to remove the exhaust and found all but 2 rocker arms were loose. I ended up readjusting with 1/4 as I have read a lot of opinions on the adjustment for these as they are just below a race lifter. Well it still ticked and rattled.
I emailed Howards and they said

"Lash should be ½ turn. That lifter will make some noise during normal operation. Also keep in mind you are getting noise from the rockers & tie bars on lifters."
"Typically lifter manufacturers do not recommend oil heavier than 10W-40 for proper operation."

I am going to re-lash the valves and run the boat with my Lucas 20w-50 Break-In oil as I have about 18 quarts to change out. Will change it after hopefully a good full day of boating.
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I also bought a new carb off a member here as it was dyno'd with a 850 demon and going to try this 1000cfm Pro Systems.
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Well it is finally done except for a stereo and some kick panels. Seeing the engine hatch open for the first time was quite an experience. Very happy with how it turned out and I sure did learn a lot of some very nice and knowledgeable people on this site. We are hopefully going to take it out on its first trial run today or tomorrow.
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We had our maiden voyage at Donner Lake and everything worked great. Need to do a little carb adjustment and I think I need another prop. Here is a little video

https://goo.gl/photos/cZorZekyNQhoFCYJA

Thanks for sharing...
 

Very cool quality boat, Cal Custom at it's best and your thread was a nice read due to your dedication bringing her to Bristol condition again. Don't know if the Advantage Offshore 30 and the later Victory 32 is the same hull, but they look very similar and share a 8'3" beam.

You might have read this article about late Harry Christensen, the founder of Advantage, but if not I bet you get an idea what a great guy he was. Your boat was built in Anaheim, California. Harry moved his company to Havasu, AZ in 1992. Great to see your kids enjoying your ride!

https://issuu.com/brettbayne/docs/sp...vember-2016/60

Well thank you for the compliment as it has been fun learning about boats and bringing her back. I have not ready that article but I will today. We certainly enjoyed it this summer.