1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

Irish_sailor · Jun 18, 2013

Got this boat for free off of Craigslist, the only work I have done so far is tear up the carpet and rip out all the cushions. I am pretty sure I am going to have to replace the deck and stringers. The is my first tear down and restore so it is going to be a slow one. Just wondering how do I add pictures to this.

Woodonglass · Jun 18, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

Open a Free Photobucket account. Upload your pics and then use the IMG Code to paste your pics.

Irish_sailor · Jun 18, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

Thanks woodonglass gonna do that tonight when I get off work.

Irish_sailor · Jun 18, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

Woodonglass · Jun 18, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

There she is!!! What motor?

Irish_sailor · Jun 18, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

It has the mercruiser 140. I am not to sure if it even turns over I am pretty sure that the battery is dead, i am kinda scared to try to get it to turn over though due to the rats nest of wires that is in this thing, I am curious to know if it will hurt anything. I mean I just don't want her to catch on fire.

Woodonglass · Jun 18, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

Do you have any friends that have some mechanical knowledge that might be able to help you?

mpilot · Jun 18, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

My first boat(well mine was a 1988) and still one of my favorites....took one that had been in a bad accident and had to put the top hull shell back to the bottom down one whole side. I sold it when I moved away. The 3.0 (140) Mercruiser is a great motor and very reliable and fuel friendly when you get it up and running. Mine had sat and needed points, coil, cap, wires, and plugs to get it to start. Also the fuel lines took a while to get primed. I'm excited to see the progress.

BTW the guys that started Sea Hunt (and own it again now) built these in Columbia, SC. They are really solid hulls.

Irish_sailor · Jun 19, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

I am pretty sure someone at work can give me a hand with it lots of useful people in the navy and I have some mechanical skills myself so.
mpilot thanks i will definately take a look at the things that you listed above with your motor because mine has been sitting awile. The guy that I got the boat from said that it had been sitting for a few years so definately gonna need to do some cleaning of the motor and possibly rebuild it.

Irish_sailor · Jun 19, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

partial view of the rats nest

pan view from left to right this is the left of course

this is the right side shot

Irish_sailor · Jun 19, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

gonna try to clean this mess up a bit sometime this weekend and see if the motor at least turns over

n8ve1 · Jun 20, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

Wow, you can't complain about the price. How'd it become free I wonder? Good looking project you got there.

Irish_sailor · Jun 20, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

The guy that gave me the boat said he didn't have the time to mess with it. He got it from a friend that inherited from his uncle who was to old to take care of it anymore. The guys nephew didn't want it due to having his own boat thus giving it to his best friend that I received it from. aka i stolt it. I am just joking about the stealing part. there are quite a few free boats I see pop up on CL from time to time either in richmond or the hampton roads area just depends on how much work you want to throw in to them when you get them and also when they do show up you have to jump on them right away because they go quick. I just got lucky I guess. gonna redo it and turn her into something nice. I will keep posting updates as I go along with pictures. thank you to all those who have gone before me and posted their issues or knowledge.

Irish_sailor · Jun 22, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

well I tried to get the motor to turn by pulling the spark plugs and trying to pry the harmonic balancer and see if it would turn but no luck. looks like I have some fun times ahead with that. Also was messing around with removing all the old crap out of it so i can start replacing the deck and stringers found out that one of the previous owners put plywood on top of the old deck to cover up the bad stuff.

ricohman · Jun 22, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

You mean "turning" the balancer?
Prying on it won't do much but a socket and a long swing arm sure will.

Irish_sailor · Jun 23, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

I was going to use a socket and a 2ft breaker bar to try to get it to turn but there was no bolt on the front of it. gonna just tear it down anyway and do some restoring on it. Haven't been able to do any work today. got to love the rain been kinda spotty here and there, and i got a head cold. oh well I should have plenty of time to work on it after Wednesday two weeks of vacation. gonna try to get the motor torn apart cleaned and rebuild it along with taking out the deck. got to get a 4 1/2" angle grinder first. I know that I read in a thread somewhere about the thickness of plywood that could be used for the deck, along with fiberglassing it in? any recommendation will help the weight limit on the sticker in the boat is 1200lbs. I only weight 174 and most everybody I am friends with is pretty close to that weight. I would say that the thinner I can go the better but I don't want to go to thin.

Woodonglass · Jun 23, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

Since you'll be foaming the underside of the deck, I'd recommend using 5/8" ext. Grade Plywood for your deck. 1 layer of CSM on the bottom side and 2 layers on top.

Irish_sailor · Jun 24, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

I know this is probably a stupid question but what is CSM? I have been seeing it show up in other peoples threads and I haven't been able to figure out what it stands for so I amd just going to ask. I mean if there is somewhere on here that I can go to learn the accronynms of boat building that would be great but if not I will just ask when I don't understand something.

Irish_sailor · Jun 28, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

Ok so I feel like an idiot just tried to find out what CSM was sorry that I asked should have looked into it first. I found this information and I am wondering if this stuff would be better to use:
Chopped strand mat is very economical and offers good stiffness. However, for greater strength
and a lower weight product biaxials and woven cloth fabrics are generally used.
that was the information that I found. I am pretty sure that I have some of the woven cloth(long story) another boat that I have it came with it. any one that has had a experience with this woven cloth let me know thank you

Woodonglass · Jun 28, 2013

Re: 1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

Read the first link in my signature. It will give you a lot of helpful information. You need to use CSM in combination with the cloth.

1985 18' galaxy bowrider I/O 185 restore

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