1990 Sea Ray 180 OB - Refit project by a newbie

SeattleHawki

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Aug 22, 2016
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Hello everyone. I have spent the better part of the day on this site and am SO GLAD I found this resource. What a relief.
Two weeks ago, I 'rescued' a 1990 Sea Ray 180 OB with a 135 Mercury Black Max. Long story short, my neighbors father passed away after a long illness and his boat has been sitting under a tarp (not cover) in his yard for 10 years. The family finally decided that they weren't going to fix it up or use it again; so they called a parts dealer to come get it. I remember the boat well, fished on it several times when it was running and always liked it a lot; so I offered to buy it from them for more than the parts dealer offered. I know they are happy that I am going to try to breathe new life into it. I'm hoping I didn't bite off more than I can chew.

The good news: the hull, trailer and motor all appear to be in great shape. I have the mechanics receipts from when it was serviced right before it was parked and it looks like everything checked out just fine.

The bad news: the floor is rotten and needs to be replaced. I'm assuming the stringers are shot too. I'm hoping the transom is OK. I think I can save the vinyl and canvas with a good cleaning. I'm sure I will need to replace all of the lights, etc

But what the heck? I'm going to try to restore this thing and get it back in the water. I'm an avid fisherman and have spent quite a bit of time on boats through the years... but I'm a total newbie to boat repair and boat building. I've always wanted to learn more about it. Please bear with me when I ask dumb questions. I'm sure there will be a lot.

The journey begins... (I'm going to need all of the help I can get)
 

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DeepBlue2010

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Aug 19, 2010
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Welcome to iBoats m8. Glad to see a Seattler around here. I will be tagging along. Any questions... ask away.
 

SeattleHawki

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Aug 22, 2016
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Thanks DeepBlue. I just read through your 2252 restoration thread. What an incredible project.
Today I will set up a photobucket account and post pics of the progress I made on my first weekend.
Before I go any further, I need to get the gas out. From the way it sloshes, it sounds like almost a full tank. I bought a little siphon from Harbor Freight that I am hoping will work. Do you have any suggestions for where to take the gas once I get it out? I live on a hill above a salmon stream so I need a responsible solution. I wonder if the county will take it?
 

DeepBlue2010

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Aug 19, 2010
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I went to a recycle station in Bellevue. I can't remember which was it but I can find out. You can locate these stations by calling your city hall or using the power of google. What city/county are you in?

I remember, there was no fee to get in, not for fuel recycle anyway, back then but they keep the containers. I had few brand new 5 gallons buckets with lids and they kept them all.

I think it was this one...
http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/facilities/factoria-transfer.asp?ID=418
 
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SeattleHawki

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Aug 22, 2016
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Just discovered that the Household Waste Station in Everett will take up to 40 gallons free of charge.
 

SeattleHawki

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Aug 22, 2016
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Just like most college football teams, I wanted to start with an easy win; so the first thing I did was rewired the trailer and installed a Seachoice submersible LED trailer light kit. So far, so good. Then I started pulling everything out of the boat including the seat boxes (wet, need replaced), boards covering gas tank (both rotten), stereo and speakers (rusted), seats (I think I can dry, clean and save) and carpet. I saved and marked each piece of carpet which I am thinking I might be able to use as a template for the new later on. Now I'm down to the rotten floor.





 

SeattleHawki

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Aug 22, 2016
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17
DeepBlue - Before I going any further, I'm going to take the gas out. Do I need to take the gas tank out too?
 

SeattleHawki

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Aug 22, 2016
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Also - do I need to take the side panels off? They seem to be in pretty good shape. I guess I'd rather leave them on if I can. Thoughts?
 

DeepBlue2010

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Aug 19, 2010
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You will be taking it out anyway to replace stringers. Now or later, it doesn't matter. I would make it a priority to get rid of this fuel out of my house ASAP, though.

When you take the gas tank out, check it very carefully for corrosion. You don't want to put it back unless it has no sign of pitting. When it passes the corrosion visual inspection, pressure test and see if it will hold pressure but we can get to all of that later.
 

DeepBlue2010

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Aug 19, 2010
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Your next step after demoing is grinding. So, there is a lot of fiberglass powder/dust in your future m8.

IF, and this is a big if, you think you can wrap the side panels and keep them protected so that nasty itchy powder don't hide in the creases to bit someone later, so be it, keep them in the boat.

From experience, this is a wishful thinking though. This powder has its one legs and it crawls everywhere specially where you don't want them.
 

Sunspots

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Joined
Jul 3, 2012
Messages
11
Welcome aboard! I just stumbled back on the boards. I have the same exact boat, except it's a 1989 model and a previous owner replaced the 135 Mercury with a 150 Mariner. I'll be watching in case I have to do any upgrades. The previous owner redid the seat cushions with just plain white vinyl. It's nice to see what the fabric panels are supposed to look like. Good Luck!

-Johnny Sunspots
 

SeattleHawki

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Aug 22, 2016
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Hi Johnny. So how do you like your boat? Do you fish and ski on it? Knowing what you know about your boat, would you take on this project if you were in my shoes? I'm not afraid of hard work, but I'm still unsure if the time and investment I have coming is going to be worth it. I really have no idea what this is going to cost and how that stacks up to the value when I'm done. It's a cool boat, and I really can picture it being awesome when its done. At the same time, I don't want to spend the next 5 weekends (or more) and thousands of dollars, working on a boat that I'm not going to be happy with. Have you been happy with your Sea Ray?
 

Sunspots

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Jul 3, 2012
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Yes, I'm happy with it considering what I paid for it which was a little more than what I would have paid for a week of rental that I was planning on the Lake of the Ozarks. I picked it up from a relative of the previous owner who passed away and when I went to see it, he couldn't get the motor started, so I got them to discount the price for me to take the risk of a broken engine. It turns out that the engine was just fine, so I lucked out.The electrical was a mess from the previous owner, but I have most of it straightened out.

I've had it for 3+ years now and had to sort out a few things, but my floor is solid, but the fuel tank cover feels spongy I think due to small supporting edge and no stiffeners under the plywood. I've used it for tubing and skiing with the kids without problems. Fished with it a couple of times.
I love the layout of the seating compared to boats of that era with the back to back seats. I've used the center sun cushions once and the center table fiberglass is shot, but haven't missed it. The center table support hole could be used to put in a fishing seat, but with these types of boats, the mounting of a trolling motor is a bit of pain. I don't do enough fishing to get one.

As far as taking on the floor rebuild, I highly suggest you spend sometime looking through this forum. There's great build stories and you'll see exactly what you'll be getting into. Luckily in Seattle, you might be able to work on it over the winter unlike here in Chicago. From what I've seen here, to do the floor the right way will probably put you closer to the $1k mark.

-Johnny
 

Speak

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 29, 2012
Messages
467
I think it's worth it based on how nice the boat looks. In the end you will have a nice solid boat u will be able to trust for many years
 

SeattleHawki

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Aug 22, 2016
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17
Got all the gas out and removed the tank. Now i need to cut this floor out but its abindantly clear that i am now in a foreign land. The deck is clearly rotten but it sounds like hard fiberglass right under the floor just past the ski locker. On my phone but will try to upload pics.
 

SeattleHawki

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Aug 22, 2016
Messages
17
Good morning DeepBlue. I made a little progress on weekend 2. Cleaned up all of the vinyl (Meguiers worked great) and removed the gas tank and gas. Got a full 30 gallons that was put in 10 years ago so I know there are no leaks in the tank. Then I made a couple of cuts. I am hoping you can help me figure out what I'm looking at. The plywood floor is obviously rotten, and so are the stringers around the ski locker. The foam seems to be dry, and so does the area around the gas tank space. The bow floor also feels solid. So I guess I'm a little stumped as to what needs to come out and what can stay. I appreciate your guidance on what I need to do next.

 
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