73 Sea Ray restoration

[GSPLures]

I hope you are all well today. I apologize for the long post. I picked up a 1973 Sea Ray with a Mercruiser 140 last fall for $400 and not suprising found lots of rot. I quickly went into denial mode followed up by trying to find quick fixes until I stumbled upon this site.

I have read lots of restoration threads on this site and watched all of Frisco Boaters videos on YouTube.

I believe I have a pretty solid understanding of what to do but I am sure I am going to have a few oh crap moments and I am hoping some of you can share your knowledge and correct me when I am wrong. Also the encouragement would be nice. I already have a few questions that I will ask in a following post.

By chance can anyone confirm if this is a 180 I called Sea Ray with a hull number and they could not identify it and my paperwork only states 73 Sea Ray.

Thank you

 

[Mad Props]

:welcome: to Iboats!

You're in the right place... check out the stickies in the adults only sections... all the information you need to get started is there... we will be here to help you through the finer details.

 

[GSPLures]

Thank you. On my next break I will post pictures of my progress so far with my questions.

 

[GSPLures]

Sorry some of the pictures are blurry and for another long winded post.

The transom is shot it has delamination, and on the corner of the doubled wood has a hole full of mulch. The floor has a really soft spot just behind the front seats so I am assuming the stringers are gone as well. The boat has had almost 50 years of bandages put on it so I am not really sure what is factory or what was attempted to be corrected on it.

The front wood for the motor mount was not fiberglassed and is soaked but not rotten yet so I know that was more than likely done recently.

My next move is to carefully take measurements and remove as much wood trying to leave it in one piece for templates later. Right now it is a slow process because I am working 60 hours a week and my 7 year old is along for the project (which makes this all worth it!).

But I do have a few questions:

The transom wood went from the bottom of the hull to the bottom of the cap where the rub rail and rivets are is this correct?

(The sides ended just short of the hull and doesn't seem to have any PB or anything there is a gap between the hull and transom wood so I am assuming it was done after the fact at some point)

I have a bunk trailer and do not have to decapitate the boat should that be enough support to rip everything out without a cradle?

(If not I was planning on cutting half the floor out to replace the transom and inspect my stringers. Once done remove rest of floor replace 1 stringer at a time. Currently I do not have enough room to put the boat on a cradle because I also have a 14ft aluminum boat and do not have a big enough backyard)

Thank you again!

 

[Mad Props]

If you leave the cap on and have a bunk trailer that fits the hull well, you shouldn't need any additional supports.

 

[GSPLures]

That's good to hear I would rather get everything out and prepped all at once.

 

[GSPLures]

Good morning, I might not get the chance to work on the boat this week and I'm going out of town this weekend (have to keep my wife happy to keep the restoration going)

I just wanted to float a few ideas and think out loud and hopefully get some feedback.

Since the transom wood does not go all the way to the top there is about a 3 or 4in gap because the transom wood ends at the rubrail once I have that glassed in I was thinking about encapsulating a piece of 1x then glassing it above the transom wood as a sacrificial piece to attach my wire harness and other things to. Is there any negative to doing this?

Also I am pretty sure with how much flex the floor has that there is no foam under the deck. Once I have the floor out my idea was to see if I can build a rod locker in between the last stringer and hull. Is this a possibility or should I foam it for safety reasons?

I know without pictures it would be hard to tell but the gas tank was converted at some point from under the deck to on top under the enclosed bow. Is it possible to use the space that had the tank in it and convert it to a livewell?

These things are a long way out but I like looking at the light at the end of the tunnel

 

[GSPLures]

I got off work early today and started to do some work on the boat:whoo:.

I ripped the carpet up and have some good news and bad news. Most of the floor came up with the carpet and I have almost zero stringers left:facepalm:.

On the bright side tear out on this boat should be extremely easy. Hopefully I will get to cutting the transom out and remove the rest of the floor and the rest of the stringers before I go out of town this weekend.

The floor was replaced at some point and there is minimal foam. The cavities were only partially filled but they never replaced the pour holes so the foam was exposed to direct water.

By their workmanship I can guarantee the previous owner was not a member of this great forum.

I did find out my boat was manufactured in Michigan which is my home state so being this boat will be vintage in 3 years and built in my state gives me some motivation.

 

[KJM]

Good morning, I might not get the chance to work on the boat this week and I'm going out of town this weekend (have to keep my wife happy to keep the restoration going)

I just wanted to float a few ideas and think out loud and hopefully get some feedback.

Since the transom wood does not go all the way to the top there is about a 3 or 4in gap because the transom wood ends at the rubrail once I have that glassed in I was thinking about encapsulating a piece of 1x then glassing it above the transom wood as a sacrificial piece to attach my wire harness and other things to. Is there any negative to doing this?

Also I am pretty sure with how much flex the floor has that there is no foam under the deck. Once I have the floor out my idea was to see if I can build a rod locker in between the last stringer and hull. Is this a possibility or should I foam it for safety reasons?

I know without pictures it would be hard to tell but the gas tank was converted at some point from under the deck to on top under the enclosed bow. Is it possible to use the space that had the tank in it and convert it to a livewell?

These things are a long way out but I like looking at the light at the end of the tunnel

The rod locker will compromise your floatation. Depends on how important floatation is to you, i'd hesitate before messing with it. I'm doing basically the same job. Are you opening the transom from the inside or outside? I'd recommend the inside if you can access it from there,better to leave the outside untouched if you can do it. My transom also didn't extend above the rub rail, i'd think that any wood above that to hold the wiring wouldn't be a problem. If you do plan on less floatation you might want to beef up the floor support as pour in foam adds a fair bit of support to the floor.

 

[GSPLures]

Thank you for the response. I am definitely accessing the transom from the inside. With the amount of floor that came up I could see most of my stringers (or lack thereof my 2 main stringers were completely gone in the center due to the previous owners floor job). Where my initial idea to put the rod locker was has insufficient room for a rod locker and the foam that was there had very bad coverage only half the cavity was full. So I will be replacing the foam in those areas the correct way. (And of course all the stringers.)

The center of my boat has a wooden hatch going almost the length of the deck in the center that I am assuming is for water on the deck to escape into the bilge through drain holes in the bulkheads. So my plan is to keep all that the same but maybe add a few rod holders down there to keep them out of the way but not interfere with the drainage.

 

[GSPLures]

Unfortunately I have not been able to work on my boat but after friday I will have 3 weeks off of work.

My goal is to finish gutting grinding and glassing before I have to go back to work (I am being optimistic) I have decided to get the transom in first then gut and replace one stringer at a time to be on the safe side. I wish I had the room to take the boat off the trailer and build a cradle but since I have 2 kids I cannot take up the whole back yard per captain's orders.

I must be nuts because i cannot wait until this weekend to start!

 

[GSPLures]

On the stringers around the bilge I have a hole on each side that are approximately 1" in the same location on each side. Being that this boat was redone at some point I was wondering if these are weep holes or serve some sort of purpose. To me it looks like a place for water to enter and never escape causing rot.

So my question is should I omit these holes when I redo the stringers? I am not sure of the purpose if any.

 

[GSPLures]

Cracked hull need advice please

I am doing a resto on my 73 sea ray. (I have the resto on another thread) I just realized my hull was cracked all the way through on the center of the outermost rib and looks as one side folded under the other.

Should I just cut my losses and junk the boat or if it is worth fixing what would be the best course of action?

 

[GSPLures]

So doing a little bit of research I believe I will make the repair. Please let me know if my repair plan is a good one.

-grind the crack from the inside with a 12 to 1 bevel
-fill crack and grind area with thickened resin and 1/4 chopped strands.
-lay in 2 or 3 layers of 1708 over top of thickened resin

Once that is done I plan on finishing the transom and stringers.

Once inside is done. grind outside of hull crack to proper bevel lay some 1708 and finish with a layer of fairing and then paint.

 

[jbcurt00]

Its all related to your rehab of the SeRay, no need for a new topic about a crack.

Merged

Good luck w your project

 

[GSPLures]

Part of this may be a double post if so I apologize. The previous post I created i originally created another thread (sorry I went into freakout mode from finding the crack) after calming down I decided against junking the boat and to rough it out.

My plan is to do an inside/outside fix for the crack.

-grind a bevel on the inside fill with thickened resin and 1/4" chop, lay 2 or 3 layers of 1708 over repair.

continue the restoration of the inside. Then once complete

- bevel outside, fill with layers of 1708, fairing, then paint.

Is there anything wrong with that approach?

As of now I am continuing demo of floor removing foam and transom. After that I will replace each stringer and bulkhead one at a time. I will post pics later.

 

[GSPLures]

I have most of my floor out and have a couple of questions.

When measuring my stringers they seem to be about 1/4 off center. They are extremely rotten but even where they connect to the transom they are off center.

Should I shift then an 1/8 over to bring them center when I replace? Or leave them in the same position.

Also underneath my bow the floor goes up at an angle but is resting on the top of the stringers and is foamed underneath. Once I cut this out can I extend this piece all the way to the floor so it is an actual bulkhead?

 

[kcassells]

Square them up the best you can. As you see production boat mfg's are horrible.
Yes you can run it as a flat/level deck if that is your question.

 

[GSPLures]

Square them up the best you can. As you see production boat mfg's are horrible.
Yes you can run it as a flat/level deck if that is your question.

Awesome thank you. Yes they are horrible on the outside of the motor box the stringers were not glassed and underneath the floor the transom was not glassed. Wasnt hard to figure out how the boat rotted, wet foam against raw wood.

 

[kcassells]

Go for it! Pics Pics Pics.