1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto

So, I bought a boat. I had and have no idea what I was getting myself into.



I took it out onto the river and noticed a few things that concerned me. When I took the boat home, I started digging into the internet to find as much info as I could and came across this site. Man, is this site a wealth of info! I once knew nothing about boats. Now I know next to nothing, and, as we say at work just enough to get myself into trouble.

But I'm thinking this will be a fun ride!

My best friend and I have decided to do a full resto on her. The deck is horrible. The PO i guess decided to just lay plywood untreated on the deck and then try and contruction adsive and or screw the boards into the deck. The bow is completely rotted underneath tooo and only had one 2x4 that was rotted underneath to give support. Im am going to take the cap off in the coming days to clean everything out.

Here are some pics....



As you can see, the level of craftsmanship of who ever did the deck was...well...lacking. They didn't cut holes correctly not to mention untreated wood was used everywhere and then laid on a rotten deck.

I know this is going to be time consuming, but it will be worth it! I hope to be done by May of next year... hopefully Ill hit that goal.


I do have a few questions tho.

1. There are no motor mounts holding the engine up. Its a aq131d(found the tag!) and cantilever hung. Should I add in motor mounts?

2. How worried should I be about hull warpage when I take the cap off? I have read a differing opinion on this, that some say little to none and others say brace it really well cause it will flay out.

3. I have heard that people say barettas are know to get cracks in the hull and leak water. When I did have it in the water for two days, I didn't notice any water in it the next day...but after driving the boat around I did have to turn the bilge on to evacuate water. Could this be due to water pressure on the hull while in motion pushing through cracks or the transom may be bad? I didn't see any visible leaks.


I will be updating as the work progresses!

Re: 1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto

Here are some more pics...

Re: 1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto

Hi there,
Welcome to the world of rotten boats!
I too bought my first boat last year and I too had GREEN stamped on my forehead. My purchase, an 89 SR 180BR turned out to be rotten all through, the motor was crap, etc. Nearly all year spent last year on rebuilding from the bottom of the hull up, plus another motor and I have something bulletproof. Have just got the upholstery on the seats to do and she's done (for now). That said, my $1400 purchase ballooned by several thousands of dollars and by the time I added in the cost of parts replacements, etc, the true cost was nearer $9000.00. I stress about what else $9000.00 could have bought me. If I could do it again, I would have ditched the thing.
Before you jump into this with both feet, do your sums and be honest with yourself as to whether your $ investment will be worth it in the end. Don't be sentimental about it either, it's a big lump of plastic at the end of the day. Think with your wallet, not your heart. Good luck

Re: 1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto

Any 'new' to you used boat, even a $9k used boat, could have similar problems as this boat does, perhaps not as extensive or severe.

Read thru some resto threads, there are plenty that start off as: 'Oh, carp, what have I gotten myself into?'

I don't know what ballooned britishers build to $9k, but in the spectrum of boat's I've seen finished & posted here on iboats, there are very few that run that expensive. Even paying $2k for the boat & including that amount in the total.

Sure, most (if not all) run higher then the owner planned.

Most (again, if not all) will never get all the funds they put into the rebuild back at the time of sale, nor will they be compensated for the labor involved.

But in the end, most have a boat that is substantially better then any other similar boat for sale in their area for comparable money. Know every facet of their boat, and if done correctly, have a boat that will serve them well for a very very long time

Re: 1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto

britisher said:

Hi there,
Welcome to the world of rotten boats!
I too bought my first boat last year and I too had GREEN stamped on my forehead. My purchase, an 89 SR 180BR turned out to be rotten all through, the motor was crap, etc. Nearly all year spent last year on rebuilding from the bottom of the hull up, plus another motor and I have something bulletproof. Have just got the upholstery on the seats to do and she's done (for now). That said, my $1400 purchase ballooned by several thousands of dollars and by the time I added in the cost of parts replacements, etc, the true cost was nearer $9000.00. I stress about what else $9000.00 could have bought me. If I could do it again, I would have ditched the thing.
Before you jump into this with both feet, do your sums and be honest with yourself as to whether your $ investment will be worth it in the end. Don't be sentimental about it either, it's a big lump of plastic at the end of the day. Think with your wallet, not your heart. Good luck

Click to expand...

I definitely hear it. The motor is really good and I can do the upholstery. I've been rebuilding cars all my life so I know how "projects" can balloon! Nice thing is, I can sell the motor and trailer off this thing and make money since I bought it for a song. When this boat is done it will be better than when it came from the factory hopefully. Plus it will be customized to me and thats always a nice thing.

Re: 1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto

I just wanted to give a better insight into my $9000.00 spend, so that you see where I spent my money and where you may not. The boat was a 1989 Sea Ray Bowrider 180 with a 4.3 V6 on the original Shorlander galvanised trailer. The boat had been stood for 2 years and had been used in both lake and saltwater. The guy said the motor needed a new starter and battery to start (don't they all?). He was a Realtor, so that should have told me something!!! Anyhow when I got it home my boat guy removed the motor to get at some things saw the transom was rotten and I took the boat home to start on the refurb. Meantime he tried to start the motor and was just getting crap out the plug holes and pretty much zero compression all round. In short, it was toast. Checked around and sourced a 96 4.3V6 LX Vortec bobtail unit with fresh valve job complete with new manifolds & risers for $1500. The seller was a certified Mercruiser Technician so knew what he was doing. My boat guy confirmed I got a good deal on it. I also had my boat guy dismantle the transom assembly and I repainted it and then he re-assembled with new parts I bought. When he put the 'new' motor back in, he also did a complete service on the Alpha 1 sterndrive and did everything including a water test to make sure it performed 100%. It did. Meantime I did all fresh wood inside, fitted new driver/passenger seats and fittings as they were rotten too, plus equipped it with new battery, Coastguard required items, solenoids for trim pump and SS trim pump bracket, steering accuator, new engine cover/sunpad with all new vinyl on that as well as all side panels. Costs came out as follows:
Boat: $1400.00
New Motor: $1500.00
Fiberglass materials: $1602.00 (included all CSM, 1708, Cabosil, Resin, brushes, rollers, sticks, etc)
Wood: $635.00
Consumables: $683.00 (this was anything I used and ran out, including adhesives, gloves, discs, screws, bolts, etc)
Tools: $180.00 (Harbor Freight became my best friend and included, grinders and jig saws (went thru 2 each), sawzall, sanders, etc, etc)
Parts: $2045.00 ($552 seats & bracketry, $100 steering accuator, $70.00 vehicle towing items, $180.00 transom repair parts, $91.00 trim switches, $90.00 battery, $80.00 safety gear, $135.00 trim pump parts incl SS bracket, $73.00 piano hinge 72" for engine cover)
Repairs: $2007 (included $1900 charge for removing old motor, installing new one, rebuilding transom with all new parts, servicing sterndrive)

There were other small costs, but I pretty much kept track of every penny. If you have a good engine, you will save enormously compared to me and if you don't have to remove the thing, you save there too. But as you can see I spent around $2200.00 on fiberglass materials and wood for the refurb. I bought my FG stuff from US Composites here in FL. They have good prices, but you have a $50.00 hazard charge on every 5 gallon drum. I had several. If you buy locally and pick up, you'll save that fee every time. For wood, I used either HD or Lowe's. I tended to find the quality of the wood at HD slightly better than at Lowe's. So far this year I've spent another couple of hundred, mainly on vinyl to do the re-upholstery. I just have seat cushions rear and bow to do and will pay to have that done as its beyond my capability. Even at this stage I have a boat that is better built than when it was new, but I still have a 24 year old boat and when I sell it I will see only what a 24 year old boat is worth. No different to a vehicle. Did I learn anything from the exercise? Sure did. I gained more knowledge about boat construction, repair, etc, than ever I could have learned with a newer boat. Just the same as buying a used car and maintaining it yourself or buying a new car and taking it to the service dept when it was due. The latter you only learn how to write your name on a check. For my refurb I followed Friscoboater's thread on his SR refurb as my guide and inspiration.
Good luck.

Re: 1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto

Wow, that boat looks almost identical to mine.

Regarding the boat moving once the cap is off, yes it will. So, you are going to want to support the hull as well as possible if/when you pull the cap. Some guys hold off on pulling the cap just for that reason. I realize the bow area is molded into the cap which makes it very hard to work around. However I think you'll find the transom is not to difficult, and can be done with the cap on.

Volvo had the cantilever mounted engines for quite a while and they worked fine as long as the transom was solid. I wouldn't worry about adding mounts.

Good luck with the resto!

Re: 1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto

So I was able to get some time to work on the boat today. Its been a beautiful last few days here, sunny and in the 70's....perfect weather to get motivated to get this thing in the water next year!

I was working inside of it pulling more deck and trying to figure out how to get the motor out and took a break from that to look at the hull real good. What I found kinda worries me.

On the transom, there are 2 cracks as you can see in the pics. They seem to be in the gelcoat, dunno how bad they are till I get the rotten transom off. Here are the pics.



The other thing I found was this:

It is a scrape about 2 ft. long along the hull and looks like it broke the gelcoat off but not the glass underneath. I dont know what to think about this...is this a cosmetic thing or is it a grind away and do structural repair things? There are also 3 spots underneath that looks like someone put resin that turned black maybe to patch a hole or two...I didn't get pics of that as I was was too concerned about the other stuff. It looks like resin on the spots but Im not real sure. Is that something I should grind off too and look at? Or wait till the whole deck is pulled and I grind the inside? Wondering if Im not jumping ahead of myself....

Re: 1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto

Here is a pic with my finger in it...gives some scale to it lol.

Re: 1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto

I wouldn't worry to much about either issue. The cracking on the transom is common in a boat with a transom that has some rot at the bottom. The scratch looks small to me. How you repair it depends on how you plan to finish the outside of the hull. Keep at it!!

http://forums.iboats.com/boat-restoration-building-hull-repair/1989-baretta-success-185-restoration-382318.html

Re: 1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto



You are planning to pull the engine & outdrive assembly and replacing the transom plywood, correct?

If so, except for the cosmetics & repairing it so the crack won't telegraph thru again, that crack shouldn't be cause for concern.

It does indicate that there has been some transom flex, and that the transom plywood should be replaced, if you were on the fence.

Capt is also correct about the scrape along the bottom of the hull. It can & should be addressed, but since the underlying glass doesn't look heavily impacted, it too can be repaired while you work on the boat hull.

Repair/touchup of both areas will depend on how you intend to finish the exterior of the boat. Gelcoat or paint?

Re: 1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto

Ive been working on the boat over the last few weeks but this weekend I got a ton of stuff done. I finally pulled the motor and outdrive and found some odd stuff with the outdrive.

This is probably the sketchiest hoist I have ever built, but it worked.


When I pulled the outdrive, there was a helmet pin that goes through the upper unit to the helmet. Now there was nothing on top of it just a through pin. It seemed like there was a ton of movement in the outdrive. Is there supposed to be a cover that goes on top of it to secure the whole thing and not give so much slop? I have looked for pics online and cant find any. Here is what im talking about


It looked just like this, I didnt remove anything else. There was so much movement around it, I would have to think that there has to be come kind of cover for it.... Anyway, the exterior of the outdrive seemed in pretty bad condition, athough it holds pressure and the oil is nice and clean so I got that going for me.

Once I did pull the shield I got a good look at the transom. I think it may be rotten lol.





So now starts the cutting out of the deck. I got some Tyvek suits and some grinders and stuff, and I would like to put in an order at USComposites for some glass and resin. They have like 3 diffrent kinds though - is it the 435 Standard Polyester Layup Resin or the EB General Purpose Polyester Resin that I should get? Dont want to get the wrong stuff and set myself back.....

Re: 1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto

Welcome to iboats. It's good to see another Baretta project on here, I'll be keeping an eye on it. Good luck!

Re: 1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto

The transom looks like it could use some love, and for what it's worth there are much worse one's needing repair, so don't feel too bad. Your project will be big but certainly fixable, too bad we all didn't know then, what we do now, eh. I cant answer your resin type question but others will. One thing to consider is that resin does have a shelf life, so only order and buy it if you are close to ready to using it. It also is very temperature sensitive, you can't lay new glass below certain temps, it wont kick if it's too cold out. It's way too expensive to just buy and let lay around for months, especially if winter is coming. Other than that, tear into that baby and keep posting pictures.

Re: 1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto

The 435 is what most of the members use and what I'd recommend. I'd mix the MEKP @ about 1.5% per volume of resin and use the Metric system. It's much easier to calculate. 1,000 ml is a little more than a quart. So 15 ml of MEKP would catalyze a quart of resin. You can buy plastic measuring cups/containers online for CHEAP to help with the measuring.

Amazon.com: Non-Sterile Graduated Plastic Medicine Cups, Pack of 100: Health & Personal Care

And you can get the Quart mixing containers @ Lowe's or Home Depot for under a Buck!

About $30 bucks total for all this stuff will give you all you'll need. Or you can start saving your Old butter, and Cool Whip containers...:lol:

Re: 1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto

Also for mixing small amounts of resin...syringes work really well 1CC - 1ML.

As for rubber gloves I used those yellow playtex living gloves. They were easier for me to put on and take off, I liked how they covered more of my arm, and I did wipe them down with acetone and reuse them. I believe that I used about 1 pair a day.

Re: 1989 Baretta SuperSport Bowrider resto

Well, alittle update on the project.

I think I'm going to have to scrap the boat, and sell everything I pulled out.

When I bought the boat, it was sold as having no title. I asked the guy who I bought it from if he had the title or if it was ever titled in the state of PA and he said no. What he didnt tell me was that the boat was titled at one point in time, the guy who HE bought it from didnt give him the title, and when he went to register the boat PA boat commision wouldnt register it without the title. So how did he take care of that? Well, he sold the boat to me naturally. I thought nothing of it as boats in PA older than 1997 dont need a title... unless specifically titled in the last few years. I also cant contact the title holder cause the PA boat commision wont release that info (for good reasons - privacy. I wouldnt want them giving out my info either.) The lic dept. was very nice and told me unless the guy I bought the boat from contacts them and gives them info, im out of luck. I cant go through the system as an abandoned boat either since it was titled at one point.

This sucks.

Funny enough, Ive been looking on the web to find another Baretta.... As long as the hull is good, I can use the stuff I have and restore that. I kinda fell in love with the look of these boats and now want to get one on the water. Problem is, there arent many of these out there it seems. Just my luck to want a hard to find boat. One nice thing, I bought the boat cheap enough that if I sell the trailer, motor and outdrive, I can recoup the initial cost plus alittle for my time.

I will post updates if anything happens with it, but it looks like the boat I have has a meeting with a sawzall and a pack of blades.