Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

Piece715

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Been surfing around iboat forums for a little while now and I have found tons of useful info. I'm a newbie to the boat world and I'm looking forward to the adventures ahead of me. Here is a little back ground on my boat. It is a 15' 1986 Sea Nymph Fish n Ski. The motor is an Evinrude 50 horse model# E50BELCO. This was my grandfather's boat but he was not the original owner. I inherited this boat after he passed but unfortunately it has sat for about 5 years before my grandmother offered it to me. I have big plans for the boat and have already started some of the work. I figured that I would start a thread so people can help me with my restore. Like stated earlier the boat world is new to me but I love working with my hands and eager to learn what I can. I am 24 and currently a physical therapy grad student in Arkansas, so this will be a after school/ weekend project. Also all my work will be done outside since I have no garage to work in.

Model research: The first thing I did when the boat was in my possession was find out what model it was. In my research I discovered... if my memory serves me correctly through iboats... that the model was an SS-155. Soon after I learned that Lowe bought out Sea Nymph so I contacted them for info. This is the info that i received:

Mr. Simmons,
Unfortunately we do not have a 1986 Sea Nymph catalog.
We received very little documentation when we bought them out.
However from the 1984 catalog, it lists a SS-155 Fish & Ski.
The capacities should be similar but are not exact, they should be used as a reference only.
Max. Persons- 825lbs or 5 people
Max. Weight- 1250lbs
Max. H.P.- 80
Hull Weight- 615lbs
Remember these are not the specs for your particular boat, however they should be fairly close.
If you have any questions please contact me.

(I am now for certain that it is an SS-155; I have since ripped up the carpet and ss155 is written in marker on the original floor.)

My impressions of the boat: I feel that it is in great structural condition. There are no dents or dings in the hull. Cosmetically the boat needs some work but that's the fun of it, building a boat that suits you. After further inspection of the boat it has had many customizations over the years unfortunately none done by my grandfather so knowing what exactly has been done is based on what I can see with my own eyes. The person who owned the boat probably loved night fishing because of the wiring that has been done. There is a 120 plug on the back, outdoor outlets up front, and all these running on 12v. Oh and when it comes to electrical I'm well not very knowledgeable so if i screw up anything in this thread please correct me it would be greatly appreciated and don't be afraid to explain things in detail TRUST ME i won't mind. From what i can tell the electrical used two batteries running in series in the back with one battery up front for the trolling motor. The main floor seems sound doesn't give at all. The front deck on the other has some give to it in places so I plan on replacing at least that part. Well here are the pics of when I picked up the boat from my grandmother. Please feel free to ask questions I will do my best to answer then. There is more to come but I need to find a camera so I can post pics of my recent work. Suggestions and comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance
 

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jonesg

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

Looks like it will clean up nicely, how is the deck and transom?

I would definately rebuild the carbs using carb kits, change out the water pump impellor and the lower gear oil, don't re-use the drain seals.
Do all that before putting into the water and you'll be ok.
Carbs tend to gum up and its easy to fry a piston if one carbs is clogged.
 

Piece715

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

Looks like it will clean up nicely, how is the deck and transom?

I would definately rebuild the carbs using carb kits, change out the water pump impellor and the lower gear oil, don't re-use the drain seals.
Do all that before putting into the water and you'll be ok.
Carbs tend to gum up and its easy to fry a piston if one carbs is clogged.


I hoping it does clean up pretty well. The main deck is pretty sound although the person who owned it cut a lot of holes to put pole holders in. The wood looks good though not dark or rotted looking. I am actually impressed with its shape so I'm hoping the transom is the same way haven't been able to really look yet, just starting to get warm enough to get outside and work on it. I will post pics of it as soon as I get use of a camera since I now have the carpet ripped up and removed most of the interior. Haven't had a chance to look at the transom yet. I planned on this week taking it into an outboard shop to get the motor checked out. I am really new to all this and really don't know much. I do know that the motor runs started it up for like 5 secs literally just to see if it was worth restoring cuz a new motor is not in the budget. If these things are pretty simple I'm all up for trying it myself but again not really sure of all that is involved.
 

5150abf

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

I believe OMC didn't sell Sea-Nymph till the late 90s early 2000s.

I have an 81 16' Sea-Nymph and it is a super solid well built boat, I stripped it to the bare hull 2 years ago and rebuilt it, the insides were worn out but the hull is still dry.

Mine has a 50 BEL too, super good motor, easy to work on and pretty bullit proof.

When I redid mine I found alot of OSB(?!?) and steel screws that were really rusted but other than that there were no suprises, had to replace a couple loose rivets in the floor supports and the keel finally wore through from being beached so many times but being a welder in an aluminum shop that was a pretty easy fix.

I also had to remove my foam as it was really water logged.

I would say you have a really nice boat there, enjoy your restore.
 

kaferhaus

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

That's going to be a very fine boat when finished. Right now a good cleaning would go along way.
 

Piece715

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

I believe OMC didn't sell Sea-Nymph till the late 90s early 2000s.

I have an 81 16' Sea-Nymph and it is a super solid well built boat, I stripped it to the bare hull 2 years ago and rebuilt it, the insides were worn out but the hull is still dry.

Mine has a 50 BEL too, super good motor, easy to work on and pretty bullit proof.

When I redid mine I found alot of OSB(?!?) and steel screws that were really rusted but other than that there were no suprises, had to replace a couple loose rivets in the floor supports and the keel finally wore through from being beached so many times but being a welder in an aluminum shop that was a pretty easy fix.

I also had to remove my foam as it was really water logged.

I would say you have a really nice boat there, enjoy your restore.

Definitely a solid boat from what I can see. How did you go about redoing yours? Fortunately for me the boat has never been beached so the keel is in great shape. The original floor still has the factory rivots so no rust and as for the foam... it seems solid to me the boat was never kept in the water again another plus for me
 

Piece715

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

That's going to be a very fine boat when finished. Right now a good cleaning would go along way.

That's exactly what my Dad and I did when I drove to Virginia to pick it up. We spent the entire day scrubbing it down and cleaning her up. It did make a big difference.
 

Piece715

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

While I'm waiting on a camera to show what work I have done thus far I figured I'd throw out a question I have. I'm just wondering people's opinions on carpet vs a liner like rhino liner. I'm leaning towards the liner but i figured I'd weigh all my options equally.
 

ezmobee

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

I put carpet in my restoration project and I hate it. However the dark color I chose has a lot to do with that. Navy blue shows every little speck of dirt. I can clean it all up and then step into it 1 time from the ground and it looks filthy again. I think I would explore alternatives should I tackle another project.
 

jonesg

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

Save some serious money by getting the factory manual for that engine
wwwkencooks.com
or www.kencook.com

they charge around $100 per carb to rebuild, buy rebuild kits yourself right here on iboats $20 ea , took me 2 hrs to rebuild 6 carbs first time around. My bill woulda been $600 , I spent $119 for parts.

PS. don't test run engine without a water hose hooked up, the water pump will fry in 10 seconds due to friction.
 

Piece715

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

Save some serious money by getting the factory manual for that engine
wwwkencooks.com
or www.kencook.com

they charge around $100 per carb to rebuild, buy rebuild kits yourself right here on iboats $20 ea , took me 2 hrs to rebuild 6 carbs first time around. My bill woulda been $600 , I spent $119 for parts.

PS. don't test run engine without a water hose hooked up, the water pump will fry in 10 seconds due to friction.

My grandfather was really meticulous about his machines so i have the original owners manual and i also have clymer's shop manual for evinrude/johnson outboard shop manual 48-235 hp 1973-1990 (includes sea drives) may look into a specific manual though may make things easier. Looks like ill try tackling the carbs myself... after a little research of course. Oh and i have a pair of muffs that i used when i started the engine. I tested it for such a short time cuz i dont know what shape things like the water pump and stuff was in so i didnt want to screw anything up.
 

Piece715

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

Alright here we go finally found that camera. These pictures show the work I was able to complete before it got too cold to work outside plus I needed to save money. As you can see the floor is solid despite the holes from the pole holders and what looks like to me a gas stain behind the drivers area. The tubes coming up from the floor is where the live well is located (under the drivers seat).

Walked around the floor today, did some bouncing too, and can't find any place that gives under my 165lbs. The front deck has also been removed. That unfortunately was not is such good shape. It basically crumbled in my hands as I ripped it out. I need opinions on the floor... would it be worth replacing??? It still has the factory rivets holding it in place and there are TONS of them. Didn't have time to check the transom but not really sure how to check its condition... any ideas?

What makes it nice is that the aluminum stringers of the boat hull are spaced ~6in apart. I also threw in pics of the engine since it was covered in the previous pics. If anyone wants to see a picture of anything else on the boat just let me know.

The only corrosion I can find on the boat was behind the padding on the sides of the boat but this is also the only part of the boat that is still bare aluminum besides the bottom of the hull.

I have pictures of the wiring... which to me is a nightmare and totally customized. All together on the boat there are 4 outdoor outlets, 3 on/off switches, and a 120 plug plus wire strung everywhere. I'll post some of them in a couple of days. You can see some of the nightmare in the pic that shows the front deck removed.

Feel free to throw me ideas about how to restore her. I love getting other people's input they may have ideas I would never think of.
 

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5150abf

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

If the floor seems solid and you are sure the foam isn't wet there really isn't a reason to tear out the floor, If the boat sat uncovered for any length of time the foam is probably wet, I pulled 360lbs out of mine.

Our boats look pretty similar but mine is more of a "bass boat" with a front and rear casting decks and I have a single con, I have a rod locker where your port side con is.

I sort of cheated on my restore, I work for a boat company and I am buddies with all the r&d guys, all the vendor samples go upstairs in r&d and if they don't use them they are up for grabs,bilge pumps, fittings, switches, hinges ect also when we redeck a boat the wood is up for grabs so I paid about $40 to redo my entire boat from the bare hull up.

If I had to actually pay for the stuff mine wouldn't be nearly as nice, I am also in the weld shop, welders , brake and a shear and tons and tons of aluminum so I can weld up anything I can think of.

Probably easier to pull the wiring and start over, I had a 5 gallon bucket of wire when I stripped mine, you can of coarse pull the wires and reuse them.

To check the transom stand on the motor, it should be able to take your weight, at full throttle the motor is putting way more than 165lbs of force on it, if it moves more than an inch or makes any noises I would look into replacing it, I maybe would anyways since you have the boat torn down anyhow, it takes less than half of sheet of wood and some glue and then you now it is good.

I wish it was warm ehough to even go outside here, hasn't gotten above 18 in a couple weeks now.

Here is a couple pics of mine.
 

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Piece715

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

I'll give the transom a check with the stand on motor thing. The less I have to replace the better i just dont want it givin out on me a year or so after i redo it. The foam i felt yesterday doesn't seem waterlogged at all. The boat sat covered in canvas and under a carport for the 4-5 years and the plug was out of the boat so the foam should be good
 

ezmobee

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

Your pics are working great for me.
 

Piece715

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

Your pics are working great for me.

Thanks just checking... my cousin couldn't enlarge the pics cuz she wasn't signed in... figured that out right after i posted but thanks for the quick response
 

Piece715

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

Been in Las Vegas for the past week... great fun by the way... so I had to put the boat on hold for the time being. Lookin forward to getting back into it. Ordered some parts off ebay waiting to go pick them up.

Got a really good deal on a windshield so i went with it. It was one of those things that if i had money in the end i would replace it but really couldn't pass this one up it was super cheap and in great condition.... let me know what you think.
 

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ezmobee

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

Got a really good deal on a windshield so i went with it. It was one of those things that if i had money in the end i would replace it but really couldn't pass this one up it was super cheap and in great condition.... let me know what you think.

Looks very similar to the one I scored for my boat. I forget, what was wrong with your original one? If it's intact, you should definitely put it on craigslist or eBay so someone else doing a project can find it. Windshields are tough to find typically.
 

maxum247

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

My Maxum windsheild looks something like yours, mine has solid side panels and a angle at the back end of the panel. When I had it on the boat I was happy with it. Well made and solid.
 

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Piece715

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Re: Restoring 1986 Sea Nymph SS155 (pics)

Looks very similar to the one I scored for my boat. I forget, what was wrong with your original one? If it's intact, you should definitely put it on craigslist or eBay so someone else doing a project can find it. Windshields are tough to find typically.

There really isn't anything wrong with the old windshield it just needs a little cleaning but it looked fine when I cleaned it up. The side rails are the worst thing about it they could prob be replaced for aesthetic purposes. Structurly its great the glass is clear with no cracks and the latch works fine. I'll prob clean it up and sell it now that I this new one
 
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