1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

[rcxdm40]

This was my Uncle's tournament bass boat. Unfornatualy he passed away from a heroic battle with cancer a couple months ago. I was asked to come get the boat out of the yard. The boat has been left outside uncovered for the past 4 years and has not been started either. I plan to totally restore this boat. I was able to get the motor running yesterday and will start tear down on the boat this week. Wish me luck and will post my progress here with lots of pics!!!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to iBoats!
Sorry about your Uncle.That will be a nice boat when completed and I'm sure your uncle will be proud of you for restoring it. I'm not very knowledgeable about Bass boats but can help with fiberglass and paint questions. Lot's of helpful guys here on the forum, so post plenty of pics, and ask your questions. You'll get lots of help.

 

[rcxdm40]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to iBoats!
Sorry about your Uncle.That will be a nice boat when completed and I'm sure your uncle will be proud of you for restoring it. I'm not very knowledgeable about Bass boats but can help with fiberglass and paint questions. Lot's of helpful guys here on the forum, so post plenty of pics, and ask your questions. You'll get lots of help.

Thanks Woodonglass,

I have been doing alot of research on this boat because I also have no experience with bass boats. I do know that 1994 was the last year skeeter used wood stringers and decking. So I'm sure I will have some deck rot. Kinda worried about splitting boat if I have to replace stringers. Lots of info here on the forum that's for sure!

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to the drydock,

Sorry to hear of your Uncle's passing.

That is one fine Bass boat and I will be glad to help out any way I can...

Hopefully it is in better shape than you think...have you felt any soft spots or movement of the engine on the transom?

Give every compartment a good wash out and make sure all the drains are clear and flowing...

Since you got the engine running, make sure you do all the basic maintenance on it so that it continues to live a long and happy life...

Some of those items include a new water pump impeller, new lower unit oil, grease all the zerk fittings, basic tune-up, etc.

For more detailed engine maintenance info, post up a thread in the Mercury engines forum.

Best regards and best of luck,
GT1m

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

A sad way to get a bass boat indeed. Sorry for your loss.

Be certain you get the paperwork so it can be registered before it gets lost

I can tell from first glance your Uncle was a fisherman and follows my thought process too. The single console is the best layout for bass fishing ....... less to trip over.

Step 1 should be to make sure there is no plug in the boat, remove the batteries which are probably toast and jack the front of that trailer all the way up and even higher by using cement blocks (Block the trailer wheels first). Hopefully the hull is not hiding any water.

Pull the 6 plugs on the motor and spray penetrating oil in all the cylinders.

Lets plan out the attack and see what it needs. Your Uncle would be proud.

 

[rcxdm40]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I knew I had a soft spot around the floor drain directly in front of the middle seat. So I started in every compartment before the I dug out the floor drain. Didn't find anything in the compartments or the rear battery transom compartment. Transom is solid and dry. Yea for that!!!! So I started at the floor drain that was completely inop so all water was pooling in the floorboard area in front of the seats.

First pic of the drain area.

More floorboard

Cockpit area floorboard

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks like a great project! I look forward to watching this one!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

rcx, This much for sure, until you get the deck completely removed it will be nearly impossible to know for sure if the transom is good to go. Boats usually rot from the bottom up and from the rear to the front. Once you have all the demolition done and can get to the entire transom you'll know for sure. You're getting a good start. Make sure and get a good respirator, full face preferred, gloves and I recommend a full cover Tyvek suit. You'll be dealing with some nasty stuff and your protection is #1 priority.

 

[rcxdm40]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

Good info guys thanks for the condolence's, Bob he did love to fish and loved this boat, it's my reason for taking on this challenge!!! His 12 yr old daughter came running outside yesterday when she heard it start up, said she didn't think she would ever hear that motor run again. Can't wait to take her fishing on it!!! This is my drive to do this!!!

Ok paperwork is almost done, people get your titles to your stuff it makes it so much easier!

All plugs on engine pulled yesterday and oiled prior to engine start up, fresh fuel used, put new battery's. Water pump on order so I can get engine running like a top and then pull it to complete the restore!!!

 

[rcxdm40]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are a few pics of the bottom of the transom area. Everything is dry and solid in this area. Back to the cockpit area, the top of the foam is damp down to a 1/4 in, below that is dry. I think tonight i will cut some foam out to make sure its dry on the bottom also, what do yall think?

 

[rcxdm40]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

Are my pics too large?

 

[ricohman]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

Are my pics too large?

I think your pics are great.
But I also think there will be rot at the back of the boat. Maybe drilling a few test holes would be a good idea..

 

[rcxdm40]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

I think your pics are great.
But I also think there will be rot at the back of the boat. Maybe drilling a few test holes would be a good idea..

I will drill a few test holes in the transom tonight to be sure!!!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

Take a piece of 1 1/2" PVC pipe and cut some "Teeth" in one end of it. then "Drill" it down into the foam till you hit the bottom of the hull. Pull it out and see what the foam tells you. If it's wet at the bottom then it will have to come out. There's no way to dry it out.

 

[rcxdm40]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

I did woodonglass method for "core sampling" the foam, this worked great by the way thanks wog!! Foam is dry, I also removed a large compartment on the front deck so I could look at front stringers. Everything was solid and dry. Will finish cutting out all the decking this weekend.

 

[rcxdm40]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

I also drilled 3 test holes in the transom, got dry wood shavings out of the transom. What should I use to seal up the test holes?

 

[rcxdm40]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

My helper!!!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

That is REALLY great news about the foam and transom!!! 3M 5200 Sealant is the best stuff to use to seal the holes. Lowe's sometimes carries it.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

the original floor looks like it was only coated on one side which is normal for a bass boat and they didnt seem to seal the floor drains after they drilled them for some reason which allows water into the floor that travels under the glass. the floor was fitted to stringers that were already glassed so the stringers and transom proberly wont be to bad the worst spots are proberly at the back with in a few inchs of the transom as thats the way water flows and they didnt glass the stringers to the transom on the foam side. the problem i see is that the top cap is mounted on the floor especially in the middle under the seats and the floor was layed all in one go then glassed over so you will have to see how far the water damadge goes towards the rear. realy the cap needs to be removed and the floor replaced unless someone has a easier way to get the floor dug out and replaced under the cap section.

 

[emoney]

Re: 1994 Skeeter 200ZX with mercury 200XRi restore and rebuild!!!!!!!!!!!

Man, I love me some Skeeter. I had this one's older, yet smaller brother. Hands down the best boat I've owned in 25+ years. At 17', she was a Bass killah, but momma didn't like it so much. Sigghhhh....

Anyway, back to you; look forward to watching this one come back to glory. Awesome tribute to your Uncle.