1989 Sratos 180CC Restoration

[BayouWaters]

I am starting a full restoration on a recent purchase of a 18' 1989 Stratos Center Console boat and I thought some folks would like to follow along. I will certainly need some advice along the way.

When I first surveyed the boat the seller was trying to convince me that the boat was solid and just needed a motor. Upon inspection, the floor was solid and the transom had no hollow sounds when struck and no visible signs of flex. The gelcoat was slightly oxidized, but the hull appeared to be in great shape with only a few minor chips and scratches. When I opened the covers the glass over the stringers was completely delaminated and the inner transom skin was as well. The floor felt solid when you walked on it because of the amount of glass used on the outer skin, but the core was completely gone. There were tell-tale signs of issues with some minor spider cracks in the corners around the floor edges. Hard to tell what the original core was, but I think it was 1/2" plywood as that is what I found in one of the compartments. Anyway, needless to say I was able to get the project boat for a very good price.

My plan is to pull the cap off of the boat to access both the stringers and transom. I do not see any easy way to perform this restoration without pulling it. Cutting the top cap into pieces is just not in the cards for me. Any advice on how to properly support the hull prior to starting the restoration would be welcome. The boat is a 2 piece...hull and liner with floor, fish boxes, etc. all molded into it.


Pictures to follow...

 

[BayouWaters]

A few Pic
tures...

 

[Tnstratofam]

:welcome: to the best place on the web for everything boats.

Not surprised about the rot. People tend to leave their boats outside and uncovered which leads to water getting into places you don't want. The foam is more than likely waterlogged too. There have been a few of these Stratos center consoles restored here. The following link is to one of the best documented and best excecuted restores of one of these boats on here.

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat-...re-we-go-again

Read through amincha's rebuild thread and you will gather a wealth of information. Hopefully he will swing by with advice too.

We have a Stratos bowrider on hold for resto right now. The center consoles look like good boats and certainly worthy of restoring. Good luck and agsin welcome.

 

[Tnstratofam]

I just realized amincha's Stratos is a cuddy cabin. :facepalm:

He did start a center console resto, but sold it and upgraded to the Stratos. Still you shouod be able to get some good info from his Stratos thread. You may also want to check out his center console thread as it too has good info even though not complete.

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat-...mplete-restore

 

[BayouWaters]

Thanks "tnstratofam!!! Both of these projects help answer some of my initial questions.

 

[Shakedownscott]

Great looking boat Bayou, going to be a real nice fishing machine when you get her back on the water.

You can add some 2x4's to your boats trailer to add support while working on it or you could remove from the trailer and put it on a homemade cradle. When you remove the liner/cap the top of the hull wants to open outward. Also when you are walking on the hull with the stringers out is wants to flex all over the place. You want to support it under the hull to keep it from flexing and along the sidewalls to keep them from opening at the top.

I am working on a similar center console project, there is a link to it below in my signature. I had to cut the liner in pieces to get it out. I tried to pull the liner out in one piece but it was glued in place real good. After removing the rubrail and all the screws I could still pick the entire boat up by the liner. I could not get under it in anyway to pry it free from the deck. My boat wasn't that rotted so it came apart hard. Hopefully yours will come out easier.

Good luck, looking forward to following your project.

 

[BayouWaters]

Update from the weekend...

First of all I have to say that I have found some muscles that have not been used in awhile. LOL.

I pulled the center console, hatches, and gas tank coffin lid then proceeded to remove the rub rail and cap screws...unbelievable how many screws this was. I built a gantry to use with two chain hoist for pulling the cap.

This is where I have a question...what is the best place to attach lifting straps too? My initial thought was to use the cleats on the gunnels but I am afraid that might be too much weight to use as the sole lifting point. Any advice?

 

[Teamster]

Tagging along,..

 

[ahmincha]

Welcome bayou
I would use some 2x4s and cut them to a length to straddle the front hatch or fuel coffin if you can get one in there and apply some lifting pressure from gantry.
Also use a floor jack and cut some 2x4s from jack to outer edge of lid.apply pressure with jack. Go very slow they are pb together as you get it to start separating place yet more 2x4s under the lid til you get is all to release.
Again just take it slow and you should be able to do this.

 

[ahmincha]

Oh yeah obviously great boat

 

[BayouWaters]

Thanks ahmincha, that was kind of what I was leaning towards. Will be giving it a go this weekend. Hopefully it does not fight back too hard.

 

[BayouWaters]

No Title

Okay the weekend is finally hear....

Getting ready to lift the cap and I am trying to determine all attachment points from the liner to the hull. I can physically see a couple of areas on top of the stringers where the floor was bonded to the top of the stringers with globs of PB. I am going to cut between the liner and stringer tops using a multi-use tool. In the transom area inside the rear transom hatches it appears that the liner is bonded to the floor by tabbing.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I am contemplating using the multi-use tool to cut the tabbing in this area.

 

[Tnstratofam]

Here is a rebuid of a Stratos 1850 center console that was done by a member who is not active any more.

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat-...ssible-rebuild

He lives about 20 minutes from me in Johnson City. His thread is missing its pictures, but maybe if you read through it you can get some idea on how he removed the deck for his rebuild.

I will try to find his number and see if I can get a hold of him, but I've not talked to him in a few years.

 

[ahmincha]

Bayou can you get bigger pictures of the inside also of your deck

 

[BayouWaters]

This is bow looking toward the transom...inside those two hatches in the rear it appears that the liner is tabbed to a separate floor underneath the liner. After reviewing link you sent me on the Stratos 1850 I am worried I am going to be in the same exact situation with a double layer floor glued together. I Googled the 1850 Stratos and it is the exact same hull and liner design just 1 foot longer. I am going to cut the tabbing today and see if there is any movement of the liner.

 

[BayouWaters]

Okay...the weekend is over and round 1 goes to the boat. I was able to accomplish getting the tabbing cut inside the back hatches, removed all compound from inside the cap to hull mating surfaces, and made an initial attempt to raise the liner. The liner did not move.

I had 2 chain hoist and floor jacks around the perimeter with 2x4's and could not get the liner to budge. I can easily run a putting knife around the hull and liner with no resistance so whatever has the liner stuck is inside. I was anticipating have to work to get the liner to release from the transom, but the bow section would not raise either. Unfortunately the project will have to wait until next weekend, but I am starting to think I may have to cut the floor section out to get the liner to release.

If I have to go this route does anyone have any recommendations of where to cut it? Floor versus sidewall?

Also, are the pictures for the link shared by "tnstratosfam" gone for good? Are they gone because the thread was archived? It would be very helpful to see these photos since it is the same hull as mine.

 

[Tnstratofam]

The pictures are gone from the thread I linked because the original poster or OP used a photo sharing site like photobucket to post his pictures. Then either he moved them on photobucket or closed his account which by default deleted his pictures. That is the downside to using photobucket or another picture hosting site to upload your pictures to websites. If you upload to iboats directly from your device the pics file is on iboats server and will still be here as long as iboats is in theory.

Most people don't upload directly because it usually requires the pictures be resized and the photo hosting sites do it for you so to speak.

I am still trying to get ahold of the bakerjw to see if he will chime in with help.

 

[ondarvr]

It's not uncommon for them to bond the liner to the hull in several places, they don't plan on it needing to come apart later. They slather up the hull and/or liner with bonding putty and drop it in. You might be able get inside and tap with a hammer to see where it's bonded, do this with some lifting force on the cap and it may lead you to the right spots.

 

[BayouWaters]

I picked up an inspection camera today (one of those cameras that you snake into drains) and I am going to do some inspecting through some of the inspection ports. Hopefully it will show me the points that are holding up progress.

 

[BayouWaters]

Well bad news, after running the camera into several spots under the deck. The boat was build with a plywood glassed floor on top of the stringers and then the liner with a plywood floor was bonded to the top of it. There is no way of pulling the liner without cutting the liner from the floor.

I guess I am back to where is the best place to make the cut? I am think about making the cut along the inside bottom edge of the liner basically flush with the floor. Any thoughts?

Also any advice on the best tool to make the cut with?