Greetings,
I thought owners/potential buyers of older Flickas might be interested in problems I have seen develop over the years. We own a 1985 Flicka and have been pleased with the quality of the boat overall. However, there are a couple things to look out for in older Flickas.

Bow Sprit
The first is the condition of the bow sprit. Being of laminated wood construction, they have a tendency to rot after several years. Check 100% of the sprit's surfaces for soft spots, paying particular attention to fastener holes and the forward/aft ends where the end grain is exposed. To replace a bowsprit will cost about $300 for the sprit itself from P.S {Pacific Seacraft}. and whatever the going-rate is for a boatyard to perform the work. If you do the job yourself, I hope you're patient and are good with your hands 'cause it's not an easy job.

Gudgeon/Pintle
Another thing to look out for is the uppermost gudgeon/pintle assembly. This pair alone holds the entire weight of the rudder and after a few years the gudgeon casting fails. Look for cracks developing along the top and sides of the casting. I have talked to Seacraft about this design defect and not only are they aware of the problem, they are not issuing a recall nor will they supply new parts free or at a discount. The good news is that the new castings available from P.S. are a lot heavier and should do the job. The bad news is they do not fit the existing mounting holes in the rudder or the transom. And since they are too narrow for the older style rudders, you must grind both the rudder and the pintles to make them fit. To do the job properly, you will have to buy three pairs of gudgeons and pintles because the center line of the new castings do not match the old casting centerline and the rudder may bind. Three pairs of castings will cost you approx. $300. Hopefully you can remove the rudder cheeks with out destroying them. If not, there's a couple hundred bucks for new cheeks. Replacing the old castings is a worse job than replacing the bowsprit. If I were to do it all over again, I would have custom cast gudgeon/pintles made. They would fit your existing rudder and you might be able to use the existing bolt holes.

Yanmar Impeller
Something that just came up recently is that Yanmar is using raw water impellers made by a company in Sweden. These impellers fail after only a few hours or a some cases, several minutes (personal experience). If you purchase any impellers with the name "Johnson" cast on one of the impeller blades do not buy it. Yanmar is aware of this problem and is supplying new impellers to their distributors.

Engine Maintenance
With proper maintenance you can expect approx. 7000 hours on a raw water cooled Yanmar diesel before major overhaul. Replace all filters, zinc's and engine/transmission oil at least once a year no matter what! Also, your Yanmar is made with an aluminum alloy that does not tolerate overheating very well so replace that impeller every year. Re-torque the head every year. The little single cylinder motor takes quite a beating without another cylinder smoothing out the cycles. To re-torque the head without removing the fuel lines use one of the following Snap-On tool (I am not a Snap-On dealer). Part no. S6165. It is a "crows foot" wrench used on imported trucks. It will fit around the fuel supply lines and still allow you to reach the head nuts. Use your owners manual and a good torque wrench for the values and technique.

Gelcoat
Sometimes a crack develops in the gel coat up and down the middle of the stem. This is where the two halves of the hull molds were joined together. I don't believe this is a structural defect, I think it is the gel coat cracking from uneven expansion of the fiberglass underneath. The crack should be filled in my opinion because sea water is bound to seep into that crack and eventually into the fiberglass. To fix this problem you would gently carve out a shallow grove along the crack, fill it with thickened epoxy or fiberglass resin and paint over it with matching gelcoat.