88 Sea Ray Rebuild and Transport

[Craig6064]

Hello All!!

First like to say this forum is amazing! So much knowledge out there, it has been a real help.

I'm hoping to get a little advice on my stringer and transom rebuild on an 88 Sea Ray Seville. I am no stranger to the composite world but boats are all new to me. This is my first boat so please bare with me if these are redundant question that has been answered many times before.

I have started the removal of the deck on my boat to assess how badly rotted the stringers are. Long story short I have to replace the stringers about 3/4 of the way up the hull and looks like the transom is on its way out. But now the cold weather appears to have caught up with me and its going to be to cold for me to glass in my drive-way now. So the company I work for has been gracious enough to let me use the shop for glassing since the shop is heated. But I cannot leave the boat there, so I was planning to bring the boat in step by step as I progressed.
My plan was to remove the rotted stringers and transom. Build the new transom and then take the boat to work to bond it in. Then bring it home and fit up the stringers and return to work and bond in the stringers and so on until the deck and all was completed.
I'm worried that because the temperature is dropping and only being able to work on the boat on weekends that transporting the hull on the roller trailer might leave me with some issues. I though about placing 3/4" plywood across the rollers to help disperse the load and relieve some of the pressure points.

So my questions to you are:

1) Can I even transport the hull with the stringers and transom removed?
2) Will transporting the hull in between bonding steps cause me problems down the road with the hull flexing?
3) Should I try blocking the hull on the trailer to better support it?

Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated! Also I should add waiting till spring is not an option:grumpy:

I have attached a few pic of the current state of the floor and the rollers on the trailer.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: 88 Sea Ray Rebuild and Transport

Welcome to iBoats . . . .

You might be the first to perform a 'mobile' restoration. Keep in mind that when you are moving the boat in a partially done state, nothing good can happen to it. I don not think that anyone would recommend your traveling approach and it would be hard to assess the issues.

You should definitely support the hull on dimension board rather than the rollers.

Keep in mind that you will want the boat to stay warm for several days after the fiberglass work in order to get a full cure, so moving things around on weekends may cause problems with curing of the resin.

Also, I am curious if you recently posted this project and related questions on THT or another forum?

 

[Craig6064]

Re: 88 Sea Ray Rebuild and Transport

Well if I'm the first then that is probably a good indication that its not the best idea haha
tpenfield Are dimensional boards like trailer bunks? And are there specific points that I want to make sure I have supported?


I haven't posted this anywhere else, not even sure what THT is. Does that mean someone else has the same crazy idea as I do?

 

[tpenfield]

Re: 88 Sea Ray Rebuild and Transport

Well if I'm the first then that is probably a good indication that its not the best idea haha
tpenfield Are dimensional boards like trailer bunks? And are there specific points that I want to make sure I have supported?


I haven't posted this anywhere else, not even sure what THT is. Does that mean someone else has the same crazy idea as I do?

Possibly . . . as I remember replying to a thread of this nature about a week ago . . . probably has something to do with the on-coming winter and folks not having a permanent indoor place to work on their boats

Dimensional lumber or bunk boards supporting the straight part of the hull would be good, then a few points along the bow curvature. Those roller trailers will make for some deformation marks on a rebuild.

 

[Craig6064]

Re: 88 Sea Ray Rebuild and Transport

I appreciate the info, I will get the boat properly supported on the trailer and maybe see what I can do about location

 

[Speak]

Re: 88 Sea Ray Rebuild and Transport

Hey guys, im the other "crazy"guy doing this exact same resto! Only difference is that my boat is on a bunk trailer. Our boats are in the exact same stage of tear down. I towed it down no problem with no stringers or transom. I have already made one trip and have my stringers and transom glassed back in with one layer of CSM now. everything went well. Its very doable in my opinion. I put the boat in the shop friday night and come back saturday morning to glass. If you have any questions or if you want to share ideas i would be happy to help.
Here is my Link
http://forums.iboats.com/boat-resto...n-about-winter-fiberglass-repairs-632571.html
cheers,
Stu

 

[Craig6064]

Re: 88 Sea Ray Rebuild and Transport

So finally getting back to working on the boat after a long cold winter of shoveling snow around it haha.

I have run into an unexpected problem and was hoping to get some advice. I've removed the transom and to my dismay there is plywood under rear access landings (not sure if the technical name so if you know please tell me) and there is evidence of rot on one side. I have no way of cutting back the glass without having to pull the top half of the hull off and that's not really an option for me at this point.
I was thinking of trying to dig as much of it out as I can and inject something in to fill the void. Would something like this work? Or are there better options??

 

[Speak]

Re: 88 Sea Ray Rebuild and Transport

So finally getting back to working on the boat after a long cold winter of shoveling snow around it haha.

I have run into an unexpected problem and was hoping to get some advice. I've removed the transom and to my dismay there is plywood under rear access landings (not sure if the technical name so if you know please tell me) and there is evidence of rot on one side. I have no way of cutting back the glass without having to pull the top half of the hull off and that's not really an option for me at this point.
I was thinking of trying to dig as much of it out as I can and inject something in to fill the void. Would something like this work? Or are there better options??

View attachment 230227 View attachment 230228 View attachment 230229 View attachment 230230 View attachment 230231

Craig, If you want to do the best job then the cap will probably have to come off. I cant see by looking at your pictures how else you would get that wood out. Thats is for sure a bummer, especially if you were not planning on pulling the cap off.

 

[Craig6064]

No Title

I managed to get the rotten wood out without having to remove the hull cap. Took a lot of patience but its over with, ended up using an auger bit a couple of long pry bars and a chainsaw to scoop everything out.

After thoroughly power washing and letting the pockets dry I used a 10lbs density closed cell pour in place foam to fill in the pockets...I was hesitant about using this but after mixing up a sample and giving it the old hammer test it really put me at ease about it..That is some tough stuff!!

I cut my transom shape and PL'd the two layers of 3/4" plywood together before sealing it up with a layer of CSM...bonded the transom in by first wetting out 2 layers of CSM and then clamping the the transom to the hull, added my fillets using some resin paste mixed with some chopped strand fiber.

AND now for the part that has been keeping me awake at night :mad-new:

When I went to my local boat restoration place which is where I am getting my glass and resin from. I asked to get a few yards of biax and the guy asked what I need so much for. Explained to him that i was going to tab in my transom with biax and place 2 layers on the transom to skin it. He said I would be better off to use CSM instead and do 4 layers with each layer overlapping the next by at least 1" and I would be fine (no tabbing required), he assured me this is how they have been doing it for years. So I took his advice and now I'm loosing sleep over that decision, after doing some more reading on here I see nobody bonds in a transom this way at least that I have been able to find.


So my question is this ok? If its not ideal where do I go from here?
Since my transom thickness is 1.96" - 2.05" from top to bottom I need to add about another 1/8" of thickness to bring it back to what was originally there and to get it in spec for the I/O. I was thinking of putting in the tabbing now and then adding a layer or 2 to the face. Considering using some E-glass that I can get from work for this.

 

[Craig6064]

No Title

I apologize for the random extra posts, I was having some issues posting pictures

 

[Craig6064]

No Title

 

[Rickmerrill]

Craig, I liked the way you removed the old wood and used the foam, good thinking, I think! How about two layers of 1708 right over the CSM? That would give you about .100" additional thickness and add a lot of strength. Look at it this way, 4 x 1.5 oz is only 6 oz of CSM you have now, 2 x 18oz is 36oz of cloth with the 1708 (plus 6 for CSM), which do you think is stronger? We are all using e glass, what type and weight can you get from work?

 

[tpenfield]

Very nice work. The higher density foams are very tough. There is another forum member (Sergi IIRC), who used 20 lb density foam as stringer cores.

 

[Craig6064]

No Title

Craig, I liked the way you removed the old wood and used the foam, good thinking, I think! How about two layers of 1708 right over the CSM? That would give you about .100" additional thickness and add a lot of strength. Look at it this way, 4 x 1.5 oz is only 6 oz of CSM you have now, 2 x 18oz is 36oz of cloth with the 1708 (plus 6 for CSM), which do you think is stronger? We are all using e glass, what type and weight can you get from work?

Yes your right we are all using e-glass of varying degrees, I apologies that is a bad habit I have picked up over the years from work. As we have many different fabrics but general only use 1 style of weave for e-glass and I tend to just generalize it. I took your advice for adding 2 layers of 1708 but tweaked the material slightly



So I made some progress this weekend got the transom sorted out thanks to my boss giving me the go ahead to pillage the material scraps we have. Got to love freebees!! So the transom my stand out a little now but is plenty strong and bang on 2.125" :joyous: . Also got my stringers and bulk heads beaded in just need to cut them to the right height and glass them in. Might use the same materials I used on the transom for the stringers since I still have plenty of scraps available.

 

[Rickmerrill]

Great that worked for you and for free, I like that color! Is it really 1708, just wondering if it has the '08' CSM on the back.

 

[Craig6064]

No its not 1708, I used carbon fiber for the tabbing around the outside of the transom and 2 layers of an 18oz aramid and glass hybrid weave.

 

[Craig6064]

No Title

Here is a pic of the 2 different weaves i used.
Also does anyone have any ideas of where I might be able to look for getting the gas tank cleaned, or possibly how to do it myself? It had a substantial amount of water and debre in the bottom of it when I pulled it out.

 

[Rickmerrill]

Some strong looking stuff. Just remember, if you use more of it, to use CSM for the first layer and between layers. Fuel tank, Woodonglass recently helped someone with that and the guy was very happy. It involved putting a piece of chain in there with some degreaser or something and a final rinse with detergent. I'll see if I can find the post.

 

[Rickmerrill]

Found it. Dawn detergent and boiling water. See post 161.

 

[Craig6064]

Awesome! Thanks rick