For those of you who don't frequent the boat building forum, I have updated the hard top project for my Bayliner. Check it out by clicking the link in my signature below.
....looking good Mark, glad your back to working on it! still thinking of going down to bilge level or there abouts eh? heard of a new ply out called OSB Oriented Strand Board. suppose to have anti rot and watershed properties added in. may be worth a look see.
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86' Capri 1950 BR
Force 125hp
Desert Southwest
Yes, I'm still planning on lowering the floor to bilge level. If I drop the floor to the bottom of the stringers, that will still leave a two to three inch deep bilge area (due to the V shapped keel) and give me an additional 5" headroom. The area between the seat bases, and the length of the seat bases, would be affected. Thats about a 23 x 30" area. The deck in front of and behind the seat bases would remain stock height. So once you enter the boat from the swim platform, it would be one 5" step down as you walk under the hard top roof. The extra headroom is not needed for my 5'8" height or my wife at 5' 1". But my brother will appreciate it, he's about 6'.
I'm also playing around with a new seat design. Remove the two back to back lounge seats and replace with a bench seat that will hold three on the port side, and two swivel captians chairs on the starboard side. That should maximize seating in the cockpit. I don't need lounge seats with the cabin, and having a small bench seat makes more sense for my use. Like I said, I'm still playing around with the design.
The cabin folding door will probably get tossed because its heavy and not very attractive. Will replace with a tinted plexy door. The cabin wall under the helm will probably be replaced with tinted plexy also. There will be a single center post for the cabin door to close against, a single diagonal brace on the starboard side, and one or two toe holds on the center post to make climbing up/out the opening port windshield easy.
I'm leaning towards making the starboard windshield non-opening. This is for a few reasons. 1) its easier to have a windshield wiper on a window that does not open. 2) A non-opening windshield will add more rigidity to the top. 3) the windshield windows are big - about 24"x30" and hardware to support and manage the opening windshield is expensive. 4) the side windows will slide open, so there is plenty of ventilation available.
I'm in the process of buying a 1970 19' Bayliner 70 hp Evinrude boat--- 1980 + engine. After reading the comments on construction I wonder if it goes all the way back to 1970. The 19'er was used for fishing off the coast of Norther Calif, and the San Francisco Bay and there isn't a jel coat crack ---- none. This would lead me to believe that there very early boats were sound --- very.
Can you support this view?
Thanks
R. King
From all the boat restoration posts/projects I have read about on these forums, it does seem that the vast majority of boats with rot, poorly glassed stringers, floor and transom, are all in the late 1980's models when Brunswick bought Bayliner. They started cutting quality to make a lower priced boat.
I know that my 1985 fiberglass work in the bilge, floor and transom compared to some 1989 models is much better. There is no bare wood exposed in those areas in my boat.
The boat has some lower priced materials compared to more expensive boats. The ceiling of the cuddy is covered with carpet, where Searay uses vinyl. The marine grade vinyl in the seats is not as thick as other boats I've seen. But little things surprise me like stanless steel hardware, screws, latches, hinges, etc.
Bayliner project updated.
1985 Bayliner 1600 Capri Cuddy, 1965 MFG Niagara Custom. 
Linear Mode
