1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

[Stratohammer]

A few weeks ago I decided to fix up the old boat instead of selling her. I bought the boat new and used it quite a bit until our youngest turned to softball. We encouraged her in her endeavors, but softball is the ultimate consumer of weekends. The boat and camper got a LOT of time off. Anyway, now she's a washed-up 14 year old softball player and she and her sister objected mightily to my talk of selling the boat.

So, the interior trim was officially toast, but I think I can redo that. Then there was the soft aft deck. I can fix that. Poking and prodding revealed more soft deck, not necessarily aft. I can fix that. Sound familiar? Aw shucks, squishy transom. I can fix that, but I really didn't want to. Since the decision was already made, why stop now? It's mostly just work, not much more money at this point.

A couple weeks ago I removed all the interior and the aft starboard deck, then learned the bad news in the transom. Sunday I pulled the engine and outdrive, removed the rest of the wet wood yesterday, and finished grinding this morning. New stringers forward of the engine bay were spliced and glued in this afternoon. I laminated the transom plywood and it will be ready to install when UPS bring my supplies this week.

I worked in a fiberglass shop when I was in school in the mid 70's. We mostly built industrial pipes, fittings, and tanks. After spending a couple days sawing and grinding glass, I can't believe I did that for 2+ years - yuck!

I am disappointed with the build quality of this boat. The stringers were attached to the transom then covered with a bunch of chop that wasn't rolled out worth a darn, so it didn't stick very well. Moreover, when one piece of wood got wet, it wicked into the next piece. Even the little 1/2 inch reinforcement panels on the outboard part of the transom were touching the deck and rotted when the deck got wet.

I'm isolating the parts as much as possible without compromising the structure. I'll post some pictures soon.

Anyway, I'm excited about getting the boat ready for next season. I really love being on the water and think that our schedule will now have enough room for hanging at the lake. Just wish I wasn't over my ski's recommended weight!

Mike

 

[oops!]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

hi mike......welcome to iboats !

im a big searay fan, so im sorry to hear your hull was built on a bad day for the glassers.

i am however glad to hear you worked in a glass shop....so you know what to expect.....and i do not have to advise you to sleep with 3 porcupines....(that way when the glass dust pokes your skin you will thing nothing of it )

post lots of pics here and we can giude you to a great rebuild.
but it sounds like you have a pretty good handle on it.

cheers
oops

 

[SDSeville]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

Hi Mike,

Welcome to iboats! Good luck on the refresh. These guys (and gals) know a ton and are happy to share whatever knowledge you need. I am restoring a 1986 Sea Ray (see link in my signature). I am a big Sea Ray fan, but was unimpressed with some of my original build also, especially the 1/2" stringers that were only glassed on one side.

Funny, I have 2 daughters and have been spending every weekend with fastpitch softball for as long as I can remember. I coached for 15 years -- first rec. then many years of travel. It really makes boating (or anything else) tough to do. Most of our trips are weekday trips where I take vacation time from work. It seems easier to take time off work than to miss a softball tournament.

Anyhow, my youngest (16 yrs old) finally moved up to 18U Gold, so I retired from coaching softball last August. Now I will just be coaching my 9 yr old son in Pop Warner and Little League, neither of which take as much time as softball.

SD

 

[Stratohammer]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

Well I glued in the transom reinforcement yesterday with PB and got it and the OB transom panels glassed in today. I haven't mixed up more than a couple ounces of resin at once in over 35 years - hoo boy is that stuff stinky! My contour roller enjoyed having something useful to do besides hanging on the wall, though. The OB part of the forward stringers is glassed in and I glued in the fuel tank deck and aft stringers. I plan to glass the OB part of the aft stringers tomorrow, then cut, fit, and attach the deck panels, then pour foam. We'll see since there are kid activities tomorrow.

I'd like to hear ideas for topcoat paint. I'm thinking some member of the urethane or epoxy family, but I would prefer not to spend a fortune on it if I don't need to.

Mike

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

Lot's of guys have used Pettits Easypoxy. Others like Interlux products. Or you could check out this site. Nice selections, Great Prices.

http://www.tcpglobal.com/restorationshop/


I'm Just sayin...

 

[Stratohammer]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

Hey Woodonglass - Thanks for the paint info and the link. I'm just up the road in Owasso.

I didn't get as much done as I wanted today, but I have all of my under deck stringer tie-ins done, the port deck fitted, and a foam test pour completed. A bit of not-the-best news was finding some deep pits on the bottom of my fuel tank when I was making sure it still fit properly. Guess I'll have to purge it and do a little welding. I'd rather find it now rather than when I'm trying to enjoy a bit of boating!

We're supposed to have fairly decent temps tomorrow, so I really want to get the decks down and foamed.

Mike

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

Hey,

Good to hear you're close. I am in Eureaka Sprgs today takin the Wife to SEE the Fall Foliage. Looks like we're a couple of weeks early. I hope to be home tomorrow and get the inside of my boat painted before the cold weather hits on Monday. I want to get it flipped onto my cart so I can start the fun of sanding & repairing the gouges and the poor repairs by the PO on the keel. Let me know if you need an extra pair of hands on your restore and I will be more than happy to come lend a helping hand.

I'm just sayin...

 

[Stratohammer]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

Thanks for the offer! Let me know if you need a hand at flipping time.

Mike

 

[tinkeringwackyone]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

stratohammer,

great to see another ray getting redone. I too am doing a searay. Mine has been slow as I have way to many projects that take my time, but hope to have it in the water next year.
Good luck in the rebuild. love the rays

sail on....tink

 

[Stratohammer]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

Thanks for the words of encouragement! I got the decks glued down and all the foam done yesterday. I wanted to get some deck glassing done this evening, but we took our middle daghter out to dinner since her team won a state FFA competition today. I'll interrupt a project for that stuff any day!

I plan to finish the structural work in the next two weeks and begin doing the interior. After reworking the boat, my winter project calendar has to have room for replacing a door skin on my wife's car and building it a new set of headers - especially since I dodged the door skin last winter.

I bought all my materials from US Composites and am very happy with the quality. Everything was packaged well and performed admirably. There's a lot of good real-life experience on this board, and I am very thankful for the resource.

Mike

 

[tinkeringwackyone]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

strato... we need pics, we all live for pics.

Congrats on your daughters State FFA accomplishment, thats great.

keep up the great work, you're really moving along.

sail on.....tink

 

[Stratohammer]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

It's been a while since I posted anything, but that doesn't mean I've just been sitting around! All the repaired areas are glassed in, jumpseat bases built and glassed, non-carpeted areas painted, and new carpet installed.

The most frustrating to me was building and locating the seat bases. There just wasn't a very good reference for locating them and it ended up taking me a whole Sunday to get them built and put in the right place. Of course, I figured it for three hours max!

I ended up using an automotive urethane paint with a roller - it came out looking great with zero overspray.

I'm working on a new base for the lounge seat and plan to get all the seat cushion boards and other assorted wooden bits cut out and painted in the next few days.

 

[Stratohammer]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

Still plugging away on this thing. Lounge seat is built, all of the cushion boards are cut out and painted, so I'm mostly done with the wood stuff. Have to finish the section of deck over the fuel tank, though. This piece was always a little too flexy for me, so I have two aluminum angles to attach after I glass the wood.

Turns out the fuel tank wasn't as bad as it first looked. I stripped the whole tank, cleaned the pitted areas, treated them with phosphoric acid and alodine (chromic acid solution), and painted the whole thing with epoxy zinc chromate primer. My friends at SeaRay used self-adhesive foam strips to isolate the tank from the boat. Unfortunately, the strips came unstuck and trapped water. I used two strips of 1/4" x 3" polyethylene (from McMaster-Carr) running the length of the bottom of the tank and glued them on with polysulfide sealant. I used some self-adhesive foam strips on the sides of the tank, but I placed them vertically so they won't trap water, I hope.

I took the transom unit apart and replaced all three bellows, the water inlet hose, and the wiring to the trim sender and limit switch. There were long sections where the insulation had just disappeared from the wires - I'm surprised it still worked. The engine needed a new alternator and a fuel pump. I still need to get a new witness hose. The transom unit and engine are back in and alignment checked. I was amazed that I didn't have to adjust anything, but I'm still glad I finally sprung for the alignment tool.

A while back I bought an old Kenmore sewing machine on Ebay to do the trim work. I spoke with the sewing machine repairman seller who recommended this machine from the ones he had listed. I built an ugly but functional sewing table that my dear dear wife has graciously allowed to occupy our den for a bit. So far the machine is doing a better job than me. I've sewn a few pieces with piping and foam, and the machine has done better than I thought it would through all that stuff.

I enjoy a good project (or two), but sometimes I wish I could fast forward to the part where we're all at the lake having a blast!

Mike

 

[tomtnwlkrs]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

Hey Mike glad to see you are making good progress. I am in Ok as well and if ya need a hand let me know. Keep the faith. The end is near. Do you boat on Skiatook?

Tom

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

Hey Strat,

Check out my thread, I sewed my fishing seats for my boat. If you need some help let me know. I learned a lot and got it down pretty good now. I also got a good suppplier for the vinyl and etc..
Let me know if I can help in any way.

 

[Stratohammer]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

Tom - Thanks for the encouragement! Yes, Skiatook is my favorite, even though Oolagah is right up the road. So does your handle mean you have Tennessee Walkers? My daughter was just out Saturday riding her pony with a bunch of Walker people.

Wood - I appreciate the offers! I bought all of my materials from American Trim and Upholstery in Tulsa. They're close to where I work, the stuff is of good quality, and the people are helpful.

I spent the weekend cutting and stitching, and have gotten a bunch of components made. I finished sewing the lounge seat bottoms and they came out better than I expected. I won't get much done during the week (job) or this weekend since I'll be out of town. My original target for completion was the end of this month - Well, how about April? Four more days of sewing (I'm slow), two days of stuffing and stapling, a couple days of hooking up wires, cables, and hoses, and a bunch of other details. Oh yeah, I still have some exterior wet sanding and polishing, too. Might have to take a few days off!

I'm ready to hit the lake - just wish my boat was, too!

Mike

 

[Stratohammer]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

I'm still sewing. It's a good thing I'm not trying to make a living doing this! I spent a whole Saturday trying to sew one bow cushion and had to throw the whole thing in the trash - Grrrr. Anyway, I revised the design to more closely match my skill level, worked on it during the week and finished all three bow cushions on Saturday. I had already made part of the engine cover trim and completed it on Sunday. I'm down to the one part I've really been dreading - the bucket helm seat. I took it apart last night and we'll see how it goes.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

That looks awesome. Better than 90% of what I've seen on here. Seriously NICE work.

 

[Stratohammer]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

EZ - Thank you for the words of encouragement. I'm not a big talker, but I've learned a lot from reading and searching this forum - There's a incredible amount of information here if you take some time to look around. I still haven't covered the helm seat, but I've sewn the inserts and have done a lot of thinking about just how to go about the rest of it.

That doesn't mean I've been sitting on my dead a## not doing anything, though! I have finished hooking up all the wiring, mounting components, installing the lounge seat, etc. Yesterday I bought, cut, covered, and mounted new bunk boards on my trailer. What a pain - the originals were on with carriage bolts, most of which had to be cut off since I used to boat in salt/brackish water a lot. I put the new boards on with with lag bolts, and figure I can upgrade to carriage bolts sometime if necessary. That took more time than I thought, just like everything else does!

Today, I told my girls that all I wanted for Father's Day was for them to help on the boat. They helped with some cleanup and light assembly. I intend to splash next weekend and they agreed to some more tasks since I'm out of town most of the week. What good kids!

I had installed the upper part of the outdrive yesterday and tried to operate the trim this morning - all I got was the click of the relay and heating of the trim motor wires. I pulled the motor off the pump and found mucho water in the motor. I thought that was odd since it's been on a bench in the garage since October, but whatever! I disassembled the motor, cleaned/unstuck the brushes, dried out the whole business, and put it all back together. It works better than it has in a long time, but I'm still not sure how it got so wet. Guess I'll have to keep an eye on it. My next setback was finding the exhaust bellows off the forward end after exercising the trim system. GRRRRR!! OK - disassemble the part I assembled yesterday and fix the bellows. Done and outdrive installed and filled with oil. I finally broke down and bought an oil pump - wish I'd done that decades ago!

Then I checked the engine oil, put some gas in, and started it up. Thankfully, everything works great and I now feel much better. The thrash continues! Why is fun so much work?

Mike

P.S. Does anyone know where the heck my Mercathode anode is? I've turned this place upside down and I can't find it. If one of you guys "borrowed" it, you can set it outside my garage and I won't ask any questions!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 160BR Refresh

Hey Strat,

I thought you QUIT!! Good to see you back. VERY NICE WORK on the upholstery. I'm about to begin the fabrication of my bench seats for my boat. Got pics of what I want em to look like now All I have to do is build em from scratch. NO PROBLEM. Keep us posted on the SPLASHDOWN!!