1994 Crownline 196br restoration

Superjet511

Seaman
Joined
Oct 22, 2018
Messages
65
Hello all,
I am recently new to this site. My wife had asked me in the past if I had ever wanted to buy a boat. I said that although I love being on the water, I never had the desire to own one. You always hear about the best 2 days of a boat owner's life etc, etc. Well, we now own a boat. We bought a 1994 Crownline 196br toward the end of September. The hull is in really good shape as far as the gelcoat and it has zero stress cracks. The 305 engine runs like a top and everything looks, sounds and feels good with the Alpha 1 gen 2 outdrive. Everything electrical works as well. It did need quite a bit of interior work and I did notice a soft spot in the floor in front of the ski locker. I felt confident that I could put a new floor in and whatever else was involved. After taking it out a couple times in early October and even tubing (we live in Michigan so it was a tad chilly) I started removing the interior. There was extensive rot on one of the bow panels. I did quite a bit of research into local shops to do the vinyl and decided on a guy with a lot of experience about an hour from us. After bringing him the pieces we wanted done and discussing the project with him we ended up deciding on an entire custom interior. The stuff that was in decent shape still wasn't great and with the age we figured it would fail soon as well. To go to a full interior versus trying to match bits and pieces wasn't a huge sum of money. We thought why not just do it all and have exactly what we want as far as colors and textures? I now under stand the acronym B.O.A.T. We went with an off white, grey and black carbon fiber.

Back to the floor. I figured I would tackle the interior this winter, enjoy it next summer, then do the floor restoration. Well, after pulling out the interior my mind got the best if me. I started looking at the ski locker area and started peeling some carpet back. I soon realized that it will at least need some stringers replaced but likely all of them. I then decided to do it all this winter instead of putting a brand new interior in a rotten boat just to take it out again. We ended up taking it to a friends house where it could be worked on all winter in his pole barn. We had the majority of the floor removed and started tackling the foam. After removing the foam from a couple of cavities I called it a day. I was suddenly dreading digging all of that foam out. After thinking about a little bit I tried a different method the next time I worked on it. When we built an addition on our house we went with spray foam. The installers used a really long saw similar to a bandsaw blade but very thick and rigid to remove any foam beyond the face of the studs. They left that at our house and I held onto it. I took that blade over and ran it along each side of the stringer. Since the blade was so thick I could actually slide it horizontally and pry with it as well to separate it from the stringers instead of sawing. I would then use a pry bar to pull it out. It worked great and a lot of it came out in big chunks.

I did some spot checking and see that the wooden supports for the engine mounts is bad. So, tomorrow I plan to winterize the engine and then start pulling it. We shall see how it goes.

I wanted to start a post because after our purchase I really started reading the forums and enjoyed seeing the progress that others have made on their boats. Up until about a month ago, I knew very little about boats. I have already learned a lot and feel like I will know this boat inside and out by the time it is done. I am crossing my fingers that it will be ready for summer fun by May. It may be optimistic, but that is our goal. Regardless, in the end we will have a solid boat and will be confident in the fact that it is done right. Here are a few pics of the boat and the progress so far. Not sure of the best way to upload but read that some people use photobucket. Not sure if that is due to file size? I was only able to add one pic due to file size. I will resize some and add later. Have a great night all.

p.s. sorry for the long winded introduction..
 

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Superjet511

Seaman
Joined
Oct 22, 2018
Messages
65
Some photos of the interior. It all came out. Not sure what the caulk was all about in the 3rd photo. Their attempt at keeping water from going behind the cushion? Obviously this was the panel that was completely rotted away.
 

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Superjet511

Seaman
Joined
Oct 22, 2018
Messages
65
Most of the decking removed.
 

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Superjet511

Seaman
Joined
Oct 22, 2018
Messages
65
Photo of the saw blade I used. It worked great!
 

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Superjet511

Seaman
Joined
Oct 22, 2018
Messages
65
The wiring is a mess! LOTS of electrical tape and butt connectors. This will all be addressed. But, by some miracle all of the accessories work....
 

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havoc_squad

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Messages
694
The wiring is a mess! LOTS of electrical tape and butt connectors. This will all be addressed. But, by some miracle all of the accessories work....

At least it isn't like a 30 year old dried up engine wiring harness that's ready to shed all its insulation if you breathe on it.

Yay for another fiberglass boat project floor/stringer/transom job in the forum. Better long term entertainment than anything on TV these days. You know you're probably going to get about at least 3 to 6 months of content. (hopefully)
 

JASinIL2006

Vice Admiral
Joined
Feb 10, 2012
Messages
5,525
Superjet, this looks like an interesting project... I'll be following along. Looks like you're diving right in!
 

Superjet511

Seaman
Joined
Oct 22, 2018
Messages
65
Some pics from yesterday. Not a lot done. But pulled the outdrive and engine. It was much easier to pull the drain plugs and fill with coolant with the engine on the stand I made. The u joint assembly and gimbal bearing look like they are new and everything felt smooth. I will put a new water pump in while the outdrive is out since I am not sure of the age. Alignment was right on. New bellows as well will go in. Next up is pulling the fuel tank and cutting the cap out. It will be nice to work on the hull with everything out now.
 

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skno

Cadet
Joined
Jul 31, 2018
Messages
6
Looking good! Can't wait to see it all back together with that new apholstry.
 

dezmond

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
760
Nice work so far :) looking forward to seeing the new go back in. Seems like forever when you gotta grind grind grind grind. But remember once that’s all finished the fun part begins. I’m almost ready to start my templates for stringers and bulkheads. Have fun and carry on :)
 

Superjet511

Seaman
Joined
Oct 22, 2018
Messages
65
Thank you all for the compliments.

Dezmond,
Is there a forum for your project? Interested in seeing ideas for stringer templates. I am thinking the existing stringers aren't going to come out solid enough for a decent template. I was actually thinking of making templates out of 3/4 polystyrene using a hot knife. At least with that material I could trim and adjust the templates without getting in and out of the boat and maybe mock it all together prior to cutting any stringers out of plywood. Not sure if anyone has done that on others forums? I would think it would be a huge time saver.
 

chevymaher

Commander
Joined
Mar 29, 2017
Messages
2,914
Cardboard and a hot glue gun. Used a chalkline like setting up concrete forms at deck level. Cut the cardboard in 3-4 foot sections. Hot glued the pieces together.

Marked and cut the stringers. Now the bad news no way out of climbing in and out a thousand times. I used the grinder to make fine adjustments/trimming the stringers.

I made a false deck. Just a peice of wood side to side in a few sections. Where the wood could lay on the chines flat. To make sure the 4 stringers mine had were all in the same and correct plane.

It is time consuming. But once you get going it isnt to bad just alot of exercise.
 

dezmond

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
760
Cardboard and a hot glue gun. Used a chalkline like setting up concrete forms at deck level. Cut the cardboard in 3-4 foot sections. Hot glued the pieces together.

Marked and cut the stringers. Now the bad news no way out of climbing in and out a thousand times. I used the grinder to make fine adjustments/trimming the stringers.

I made a false deck. Just a peice of wood side to side in a few sections. Where the wood could lay on the chines flat. To make sure the 4 stringers mine had were all in the same and correct plane.

It is time consuming. But once you get going it isnt to bad just alot of exercise.

Yep what he said... I used the string line technique but will be doing the cardboard/hot glue this time... It's really not too bad. You don't need to be exact. That's what the PB is for to help fill imperfections etc.

Don't over think it. There are tons of rehabs on here that show all different ways of doing it...
 

kcassells

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Oct 16, 2012
Messages
8,578
Right on the money D.Exacto is almost impossible. Nothing in a boat is square orlevel. A good ehabber can make it look purty.
 

sopwithcamel74

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Aug 15, 2018
Messages
203
I'll be following along, too.

Almost bought one of these earlier this year - months before I bought my Capri. Interior looked to be in even worse shape than yours, and it was missing an engine. Even still, it was a tough offer to walk away from... Either the trailer or the outdrive alone would have fetched more upon resale than the asking price!

At the time I was way too intimidated by the scope of the project. Knowing what I now know (thanks in large to this sites and others like it), it would have been totally doable.
 

Superjet511

Seaman
Joined
Oct 22, 2018
Messages
65
Thanks for following guys. I will definitely be leaning on you here and there. In addition to templates I was planning on measuring the heights of the old material at each stringer/bulkhead intersection as well as other points in between and recording them on a drawing of the layout. I will be something to refer to later if needed.

One question I have though is regarding embedding the stringers in pb. I keep seeing different methods. Some people are saying to use 1/4" dowels or polystyrene to lift them off the hull. Others pb them down right to the hull. Which method is best and what is the reasoning for the spacers? If I should use spacers, at what spacing do i put them? Any insight is appreciated.

Also, can anyone give an estimate on material amounts, specifically resin? I understand that my inexperience may require more resin but I have heard anywhere from 5 gallons (which I am skeptical) to 20 gallons at which point do I just buy a drum lol...
 
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