1990 Sea Ray 190 BR Floor Repair

[SeaRaySalmon]

Hey guys,

So I have been searching google for the last few years and have gotten a ton of info from the iboats forums. I bought an old 1990 Sea Ray 190 BR from a buddy of mine (boat has been in our circle of friends for over a decade) my buddy, who is a mechanical engineer and builds race cars from the ground up, and I dropped a crate 350 in it (mainly him and I helped where I could lol), added a wake tower and I did a bunch of DIY cosmetic work to get her looking decent. I know the boat needs a total overhaul (mechanically she's sound and anything that arises we can take care of) I want to bring it to a marina for floor (from what I've learned on here it's going to probably need much more than that as well) The boat has a lot of sentimental value. I am fully aware I am going to be spending WAY more than it will ever be worth in a million years but to me she's my muscle car. No payments, a toy and overall poor investment that I am going to be sinking money into lol. But I enjoy it.

I have some soft spots currently that I wanted to repair (and repair/reinforce what I can underneath) this spring before I put her in the water again. We service her fully every season and always check alignment and she's always dead on so I am not worried about the boat being unsafe. My goal is to tear out all carpet, cut out bad spots, strengthen supports or add them where I need to, put it back together and spray white raptor liner (bed liner) over entire floor and use that instead of carpet.

My question is what's the best way to do this? Is this just a bad idea?; should I just leave it alone until I have the money for a marina to go nuts?

I live in North NJ if that means anything to anyone on here lol Thanks for taking the time to check this out and sorry for the long post!

Thanks,
Sam

 

[chevymaher]

If you going to do anything do it. Band aids are not the answer. Either deal with your feet reminding you as they sink in the floor your about to sink. Or take it apart.

Remember Egypt is the boating vacation mecca for a reason. It is the home of denial.

You already know the answer your looking for weedhopper you said so. No one here will say risk it temp death.

 

[racerone]

The work to properly restore and make it better than when it left the factory is not rocket science.------Did / helped with a 25 foot sail boat about 10 years ago.-----Boat was leaking around keel .-----Removed all the factory junk under the floor and glassed in new ribs with West System epoxy.------No more leaks , no hint of any cracks.--------I believe it is now the strongest one of the 250 or so that were built.-----Messy work sometimes but very satisfying knowing it won't break in ice cold water.

 

[JASinIL2006]

If you have soft spots in the floor, you very likely have problems beneath, and those potential problems should be assessed and corrected before you use the boat again.

As for the bedliner product, you might want to think twice about that. I used a roll-in product (Durabak) that was highly touted but proved to be pretty worthless in terms of durability. Once you've used bedliner, you can't go change it out if you don't like it or if it doesn't wear well or it gets damaged, short of removing the entire deck. You can't really cover bedliner with anything like snap-in carpet or Hydroturf or vinyl. If you're committed to a nice looking, long lasting boat, you'd be much better off using a textured gelcoat and then covering with snap-in carpet or some of the soft foam coverings (like Hydroturf).

Personally, before I spent a dime on the floor and floor coverings, I'd make darn sure the underlying structure is solid and safe.

 

[SeaRaySalmon]

Thanks I appreciate the responses. I wanted to bring it to a marina to have the whole thing done but I wanted to wait until I had what I imagine would be close to 10k once they really opened her up. I know for certain I want the floor done and gimbal ring replaced but I'm expecting stringers and possibly transom too. I just wanted to use it this season and make some minor repairs and strengthen it. The boat was fine last season (other than a couple soft spots in deck) and like I said she kept drive alignment after plenty of boating and wakeboarding which leads me to believe the structure isnt too weak. I also only use the boat in the lake (lake hopatcong and lake George)

Thanks for the tip on the bedliner. what about seadek or vinyl flooring? Is that the same? Does it need to be gel coated anyway before that's installed?

 

[kcassells]

Just fix the boat the right way first then come back with questions.

 

[SeaRaySalmon]

With all due respect kcassells, if I had the ability and knowledge to fix it the right way, why would I need to come back with questions?

 

[racerone]

I visit a shop on a regular basis.------Dozens of boats scattered about that have been deemed " not fixable "-------And they are not if you have to pay a shop $100 + / hr.------Fixing what you have is possible for most willing to learn and roll up the sleeves.--------Given the price of new boats then finding one for $1000 and fixing it up is worth it.---------But then again free time / leisure time is treated different by every body.

 

[kcassells]

With all due respect kcassells, if I had the ability and knowledge to fix it the right way, why would I need to come back with questions?

Check into the stickys above.
Watch vids

You can do this project on your own. All guys here to support you.
1st step would be to open up the soft spots and take from there. Lots of pics!

 

[Chris1956]

On my '88 Searay 19 footer, there was fiberglass cloth on top of the foam, under the plywood deck. There were some soft spots in the deck, but water had not rotted out the stringers, due to that fiberglass covering. Not sure if yours was built that way, but you might get lucky.

Also, a chop gun was used to cover the deck with resin and chopped cloth, which is pretty standard. Unfortunately, the covering was only resin on some parts, and sufficient chopped glass on other parts of the floor. The deck with just resin was where the rot was.

I would recommend you tear up the carpet and see what you have. Check the cover over the fuel tank and the inside, cover frame and floor of the ski well, if you have one.

 

[Mad Props]

Agree with kcassells If you love the boat, go for it, plenty of help here to get you thru it.

 

[SeaRaySalmon]

Thanks all and kcassells and MadProps

It seems overwhelming to take on a project like this and I am just worried about not doing it the right way and having to have it redone anyway. Again I am assuming it needs everything, it may not, but I am not getting my hopes up lol Best to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. I'll take the advice and inspect the soft spots and start from there I guess.

I have also seen that when you gut a boat you need to support it on the trailer otherwise it will lose it's shape?

 

[JASinIL2006]

Thanks I appreciate the responses. I wanted to bring it to a marina to have the whole thing done but I wanted to wait until I had what I imagine would be close to 10k once they really opened her up. I know for certain I want the floor done and gimbal ring replaced but I'm expecting stringers and possibly transom too. I just wanted to use it this season and make some minor repairs and strengthen it. The boat was fine last season (other than a couple soft spots in deck) and like I said she kept drive alignment after plenty of boating and wakeboarding which leads me to believe the structure isnt too weak. I also only use the boat in the lake (lake hopatcong and lake George)

Thanks for the tip on the bedliner. what about seadek or vinyl flooring? Is that the same? Does it need to be gel coated anyway before that's installed?

Seadek is fine (it and Hyrdroturf are pretty similar). Vinyl flooring is fine, too. I would gelcoat before installing Seadeck, but i don't really know if it's necessary for vinyl. I think as long as you had a good, fiberglass encapsulated deck, you could probably install vinyl right over it, but there are others here with lots more experience with vinyl flooring than I.

 

[chevymaher]

When you gut it yes a bunker style trailer is your friend. When stringers rot the stresses deform the hull. A jack some shims and 2x4's and while your working you can whip it into shape.

The assessment of if I cant afford to pay a fortune there fore half azzing it is okay. No then you just can't afford to have a boat. It is unsafe and what you want to do will not make it safe. That is why we all are here we are not rich either and had to do it ourselves.

Paying to have it done it is cheaper to just buy a new boat.

 

[Woodonglass]

If you have the time, sticktoitiveness, and a place to work, you CAN do all the work. Almost NONE of the projects on this forum were done by anyone with a LOT of expertise. They relied on the knowledge and expertise of the experts here on the forum to get them through the process. Nothing really difficult about the work, it's just dirty, itchy tedious work but almost anyone with decent Handyman skills can produce "better than factory" work. I'm not kidding. It'll take about 200 man hours, and 3-4K to get the work done but YOU CAN DO IT!!! AS stated paying for it is NOT the way to go. Better to buy a New Boat!!! Lots of guys work outside, under a temporary tarp with heaters and fans. You can build a support structure for the hull and everything else you'll need. Bottom Line is this...Do it yourself or buy a new boat!!!