1987 Sea Nymph SS175 Fish & Ski Rebuild - Tons of pics! *Paint COMPLETE*

Hello All!

I'm another sucker looking to rebuild my old boat.

Its been great, and I have had it since I was 16 (I'm 28). Its been great, and probably has thousands of hours on it. Its powered by an '84 or '85 Evinrude 70hp o/b. This engine has been bulletproof for me over the years. Just had it in the shop to test compression and other operating characteristics to determine how much life she has in her. The compression is exactly 125 PSI on all three cylinders, and the mechanic said everything else seems good except he thinks it may need a new "switch box" for the ignition.

For the past year I have used the boat mainly for salmon fishing the great lakes, and that's what I want to set it up for moving forward. It does take an annual trip to the NYS adirondaks annually (lake george) for camping, fishing and recreation.

The transom is in very good condition based on my "jump on the lower unit" test.

The hull has developed several moderate leaks around the rivets leading to the need for the bilge pump to engage frequently. This is alarming to me and is the primary reason for this rebuild.

Based on the countless hours of reading all of your threads on the same subject, I have the following questions/discussion points:

- Deck material: Has anyone used "advantech" sub flooring for deck material? It is supposed to be the most moisture resistant wood material on the market, with submerge tests and whatnot.

- Deck covering: I am going to have the deck, sides, gunnels, etc, all sprayed with spray-in bedliner. This combined with the advantech should be a long term solution, correct?

- Rivet repair: What is the consensus on using stainless bolts w/JB weld vs. aluminum closed end rivets? 1/4" diameter rivets have a steel break mandrel. Will this not rust and cause problems?

- Epoxy seal: Gluvit will be used on all existing and new rivets and seams.

I plan to keep this thread updated with pictures and commentary as I progress. Thanks in advance for all of your help.

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Check out my thread.... I have 1986 SS155 with a 50hp Evinrude. May find some info to use.

1)Have no experience witht he floor material. I went with cedar outdoor decking with a high quality professional stain

2) Spray in bed liners can be very heavy. Many people tend to steer clear due to that fact. EZ used a vinyl type material that a lot of people like. I used outdoor carpet on the inside walls

3) Rivet repair is pretty straight forward. Rebucking is possible. If they need to be replaced blind pop rivets seem to come in handy. JB weld is used but i would rather replace the rivet especially below water line. Gluvit is a good idea. 3M 5200 is always handie as well

With corrosion dont ground anything to the boat. Have a buss bar or something of that nature. Also don't use pressure treated wood as the chemicals will eat the aluminum. Arauco plywood from your local Lowes sealed with epoxy will do just fine for the floor and last years!

I'll be following! Smooth Waters to ya!

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Thanks for the input. I have read a lot of your thread, and it has been very informative. I will be replacing the leaking rivets, I just need to decide if I replace using the stainless steel bolt method, or the closed end pop-rivet method. I am concerned about the 1/4" pop rivets I have found having steel mandrels.

I calculated the spray-in bedliner to be 44 lbs 3 oz. This is based on the sum on the materials being sprayed on to 3/16" thickness including safety factors. Is this a similar weight to what others have calculated?

Also, can someone help me out with a brand name for an epoxy sealer for decking? I think I can get a significant weight reduction by going from advantech to 1/2" coated plywood.

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Well, a buddy came over to help me out - ended up getting the thing stripped down. There was an extra 120lbs of water soaked into the foam alone. What shocked me was that the front half of the boat was completely foam with no void in the middle to allow any water to flow out. This was from the factory. The decking was in horrible condition. Turns out i was just walking on wood pulp over foam.

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

What do you think I should do about the end of the stringers in these pics?

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Welcome carpedium, nice progress on your fix up.

I have the same hull with the same power. I'm in the home stretch on putting mine back together, with a finish date of April 20 that I may or may not meet. Between a vacation trip for me and oral surgery for my helper, it's looking shaky. Whether I meet that goal or not, I am syched about getting my boat back together. Thanks for the pic of how my controller should mount, my boat was a CC and I hadn't seen that mount before.

My boat had an aluminum tunnel down through the center under the foam. I put it back in and filled the bottom with pool noodles and a couple of windshield washer fluid jugs to fill in space in the deep areas.

I had one stringer that looked about as bad as yours. Since I didn't want to put any new holes through the bottom of the hull, and it was not leaking when I filled the hull with water, I cleaned everything around it with a cupped wire wheel, and put about a 1/8 inch thick pad of epoxy around the cracks in about a 4 inch diameter and let it alone from there. I covered everything in your picture and a good bit more around it. That may not be the best fix but it's what I did. The stringer was not loose, and I figured the floor would hold it in place and I hope the epoxy keeps it from leaking.



This is the product I used, I put some on a cracked transfer case on a GM pickup around 15 years ago that is still holding, so I gave it a go here.

I'm pretty sure someone else will have a different, probably better fix.

Did you leave the splash pan section intact? I ask because that's where most of my wet foam was.

Welcome to the resto forum and good luck on your Sea Nymph fix up.

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

You are doing very good work.

I would get someone to do a touch of welding or add in some aluminum on that stringer. Since you are this far into it...... I personally would not trust an epoxy repair for that stringer.

I see a quart can of gluvit in your future and as stated above I would go with pool noodles for flotation.

That is the BEST PICTURE of wet foam I have ever seen posted here on iboats!!! Congratulations!!

Oh Lake George (I learned to swim there a LONG LONG LONG time ago ) ....... I live 40 minutes away and I prefer Champlain........... closer and no launching fees or parking fees

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Thanks for the accolades on the dripping foam pic! It was amazing because nearly all of my foam was like that. I know it was bad because it was getting to where I could feel my full size truck getting pushed in the turns from the trailer. This will also make the boat a whole lot easier to launch. Bonus.

Larry, I read your thread and you are going to end up with an awesome rig. I like what you did with your splashwell. Mine will be used on Lake Ontario, some days out a few miles depending on the day. For that reason I think i'll stick with the stocker. Its a shame though because there is a lot of wasted space back there!

The stringers are certainly still structurally intact, meaning they have no problem supporting weight and are not loose. If the existing rivets are leaking I'd like to drill them out, get some flat aluminum stock and overlap 4 inches or so. This would require 2 new holes in the bottom of the bat to be riveted.

Its hard to see in the picture, but the center of the ribs are also cracked in half. This boat has seen some pretty big water. From a water infiltration standpoint, is this a problem? From a structural standpoint?

I have a gallon of gluvit that is supposed to be arriving today, along with some flex-set epoxy and all of my replacement rivets. A buddy of mine has a pneumatic rivet gun that will hopefully make the job go faster. Either way my goal is to make the hull repairs this weekend and also get the new decking on. So far my plan is to go with the blue foam sheets for flotation based on availability.

For decking screws, would anyone object to these?

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/Tapping-Sheet-Metal-Screw-1VE74

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Bob - There is a local welding guy I can call up, maybe he can do some repairs before the weekend! I've never been to lake Champlain, but we always said we were going to trailer up there for a day when we were near lake george camping. Maybe we'll try it this year!

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

I love the charicteristics of pour in foam, quiets the boat, structure all that biz!

But...

carpedium said:

It was amazing because nearly all of my foam was like that.

Click to expand...

It doesn't provide a path for water to drain and that is what happens ^^^. Soaked, causing corrosion, heavy and rendering the flotation entirely useless.

Nice job getting it all otta there

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Great project. Very similar boat to my Starcraft SS. Feel free to check out my resto thread for ideas or any of the other Starcraft aluminum hull projects as they should all be pretty similar.

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

It was a chore, but I had a great helper. (most of the time I felt like the helper, haha)

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

I'm not a fan of "pool noodles"...........

How long did the boat last before the foam was wet????

If you put it in with some thought as to water drainage I bet you get another 20 years out of it,....

The Great Lakes are a bad place for sub-standard floatation, Bad things happen fast,........

To that notation it would be a good time to upgrade and double up on bilge pumps,....

I'm also not a fan of the "bed liner", It can make a boat very hot when fishing under a mid-day sun, I put vinyl in mine and it also gets hot in the sun as while as slippery when it is snowing while winter fishing,....My next boat will have light colored carpet. It might be more work to keep it clean but it is more comfortable on a hot sunny day,.....

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Teamster said:

I'm not a fan of "pool noodles"...........

How long did the boat last before the foam was wet????

If you put it in with some thought as to water drainage I bet you get another 20 years out of it,....

The Great Lakes are a bad place for sub-standard floatation, Bad things happen fast,........

To that notation it would be a good time to upgrade and double up on bilge pumps,....

I'm also not a fan of the "bed liner", It can make a boat very hot when fishing under a mid-day sun, I put vinyl in mine and it also gets hot in the sun as while as slippery when it is snowing while winter fishing,....My next boat will have light colored carpet. It might be more work to keep it clean but it is more comfortable on a hot sunny day,.....

Click to expand...

Teamster,

Thank you for your input. I appreciate the need for good flotation, particularly on the great lakes. I will spend some time doing some buoyancy calculations based on manufacturer data for pour-in foam vs. Foam board. I do not want to skimp in buoyancy- just in case.

I actually just upgraded my bilge pump last season. How does one pipe two pumps? two separate discharge lines?

In terms of the bed liner, it is going to be white or light tan - my carpet still got unbearably hot in the sun, do you think a light bedliner would get hotter than tan carpet?

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

If I had it to do over I probably would have taken the time to get mine welded too. One or two of my stringers had hairline cracks down the middle too. I blamed that on the flex that the rotted out floor allowed, and count on the new floor to keep it from getting worse. The welder can probably help you out there too. I'm not hitting the big water that you are or I would have put a little more time and money into fixing those two things.

The center drains are very simple, sort of like a house gutter flipped upside down, spread out and flattened a little. I think there is one that did not go back in, if there is I'll get a pic.

I'm not going to try to talk you out of the spray in liner because I want to see how it turns out.

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

For the screws I used exterior deck screws. Lowes carries both rustoleum coat guarenteed not to rust and stainless steel deck screw both under 20 bucks for a tub of em. They worked great for my application. One thing i recommend is to drill a pilot hole as that stringer aluminum is some tuff stuff. Also to keep the srews from sheering and breaking add a dab of grease before ya sink it.

I went the foam board route with mine

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

When I look at going the bed liner route this brand had good reviews but its not cheap. Here is a thread with some pics on the applied durabak by bear_69cuda

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=292511&page=2&highlight=durabak

EDIT: Just remember that once that bed liner stuff goes on... whatever product you use.. That gettin under the floor to fix a problem is gonna not be an easy or fun task unless there is planned access and that'll only be good if the problem is in that area

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Piece, how many foam boards did you use for that?

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph 175 Fish & Ski Light Rebuild

Sweet, another Nymph rebuild thread I can subscribe to!

Welcome aboard CD!

I am partial to carpet myself, so thats my suggestion for flooring.