‘73 Bee Craft

[‘73BeeCraft]

I bought a ‘73 Bee Craft Tri Hull. They reinforced the transom with metal plates. Do I have to remove the cap of the boat or can I cut out the back and replace the transom and reglass?
I plan on launching a full scale restoration in the fall. Do you thing it would hold one more summer?

 

[GSPLures]

Hard to tell without any pics, you can replace the transom inside or out each is a different process of course but most remove the cap and replace from the inside. My opinion is if the outside is in good condition don't touch it. As for lasting another season that is something you must determine. A rotten transom is a dangerous situation because it will last until it doesn't and probably will give little to no warning. That may be 20 more years or 30ft after you leave the dock the next time. Boating is supposed to be fun not worrying if your life is in danger.

 

[Scott Danforth]

first, welcome aboard

second, I wouldnt trust a boat with a rotten hull patched together with metal plates. especially with family members.....

third, why did you buy a patched boat to begin with?

Fourth, remove the cap. the transom and stringers are gone, especially on a 49 year old boat. you are looking at a full on gut-n-restore. expect to spend about $3k just on the hull restoration.

 

[matt167]

There is a few videos on youtube of boats sinking when the transom lets go.. '73 is going to be completly rotten and the flotation foam will be water logged. It's going straight down when it goes

 

[‘73BeeCraft]

first, welcome aboard

second, I wouldnt trust a boat with a rotten hull patched together with metal plates. especially with family members.....

third, why did you buy a patched boat to begin with?

Fourth, remove the cap. the transom and stringers are gone, especially on a 49 year old boat. you are looking at a full on gut-n-restore. expect to spend about $3k just on the hull restoration.

So when I bought the boat Saturday I was far more less informed than I am today. Lots of YouTube over the weekend. I’m just trying to figure out how to proceed knowing what I know now with the guidance of those that knew all along.

 

[‘73BeeCraft]

Hard to tell without any pics, you can replace the transom inside or out each is a different process of course but most remove the cap and replace from the inside. My opinion is if the outside is in good condition don't touch it. As for lasting another season that is something you must determine. A rotten transom is a dangerous situation because it will last until it doesn't and probably will give little to no warning. That may be 20 more years or 30ft after you leave the dock the next time. Boating is supposed to be fun not worrying if your life is in danger.

I’ll get pics tonight.

 

[‘73BeeCraft]

There is a few videos on youtube of boats sinking when the transom lets go.. '73 is going to be completly rotten and the flotation foam will be water logged. It's going straight down when it goes

LOL. Oh Geez.

 

[‘73BeeCraft]

first, welcome aboard

second, I wouldnt trust a boat with a rotten hull patched together with metal plates. especially with family members.....

third, why did you buy a patched boat to begin with?

Fourth, remove the cap. the transom and stringers are gone, especially on a 49 year old boat. you are looking at a full on gut-n-restore. expect to spend about $3k just on the hull restoration.

The transom looks pretty straight forward. How hard are the stringers to replace. I don't have the garage space to remove the cap. What are my options?

 

[todhunter]

None of the work to replace stringers and the transom is necessarily hard, it is mostly just time consuming. I'm approaching 4 months of having the cap off my boat and I work on it nearly every day for at least an hour or two.

The tools you need are pretty basic - mostly woodworking stuff. You'll learn the fiberglass side of things as you go. Watch some YouTube of boat restorations and read some threads in this forum to see what you're getting into. For YouTube channels I recommend friscoboater's garage, boatworkstoday, jmink, and michael romer. Take notes you can refer back to.

I'm not going to say you can't do it all with the cap on, but cap removal will make it much easier. Initially I was very against removing the cap on mine, but I'm glad I did. I have my cap sitting in my back yard, on a wooden stand I built, covered with a tarp. I'm restoring my boat inside of a one-car garage.

 

[‘73BeeCraft]

None of the work to replace stringers and the transom is necessarily hard, it is mostly just time consuming. I'm approaching 4 months of having the cap off my boat and I work on it nearly every day for at least an hour or two.

The tools you need are pretty basic - mostly woodworking stuff. You'll learn the fiberglass side of things as you go. Watch some YouTube of boat restorations and read some threads in this forum to see what you're getting into. For YouTube channels I recommend friscoboater's garage, boatworkstoday, jmink, and michael romer. Take notes you can refer back to.

I'm not going to say you can't do it all with the cap on, but cap removal will make it much easier. Initially I was very against removing the cap on mine, but I'm glad I did. I have my cap sitting in my back yard, on a wooden stand I built, covered with a tarp. I'm restoring my boat inside of a one-car garage.

Now I imagine the stringers are tapered?

 

[todhunter]

Correct, the bottom of the stringers follow the profile of the hull and taper off, at least on my boat. Look in my thread in the December/January timeframe and you can see what my stringers looked like. I made foam-board templates and test fit them before cutting my stringers out of plywood. It doesn't have to be perfect - thickened resin (aka peanut butter or PB) is used to fill any gaps when bedding the stringers to the hull. We're restoring boats...not Swiss watches.

 

[‘73BeeCraft]

I will check it out. I’m about to post some pics of my transom. Robo transom.

 

[‘73BeeCraft]

I will check it out. I’m about to post some pics of my transom. Robo transom

I’ll get pics tonight.

 

[‘73BeeCraft]

Hard to tell without any pics, you can replace the transom inside or out each is a different process of course but most remove the cap and replace from the inside. My opinion is if the outside is in good condition don't touch it. As for lasting another season that is something you must determine. A rotten transom is a dangerous situation because it will last until it doesn't and probably will give little to no warning. That may be 20 more years or 30ft after you leave the dock the next time. Boating is supposed to be fun not worrying if your life is in danger.

 

[GSPLures]

If it were mine I would remove cap and as others have stated do a complete rebuild. No telling what is beneath the floors. When I pulled the floor on my 73 it looked like mulch from a garden center. (Pics are in my thread). The next step you must do is determine if a rebuild is worth it to you. You will not have a monetary return on investment, but you will have a boat that will out last you when done properly. So the big question is the boat worth your time and a few thousand dollars. Any boat you purchase unless new will more than likely have similar issues.

 

[Scott Danforth]

read this thread (link 14 from the sticky)

in its entirety (and watch every video, etc)

1995 Sea Ray 220 Signature Deck and Stringer Restoration

************************************************************ This is a condensed version of my original thread to provide instructional help to would be builders. If you would like to read the complete thread (and keep up with new additions to the boat) please click the link below to the...

forums.iboats.com

you will get the idea. also, keep in mind, Frisco's boat was 20 years newer than yours.

 

[‘73BeeCraft]

If it were mine I would remove cap and as others have stated do a complete rebuild. No telling what is beneath the floors. When I pulled the floor on my 73 it looked like mulch from a garden center. (Pics are in my thread). The next step you must do is determine if a rebuild is worth it to you. You will not have a monetary return on investment, but you will have a boat that will out last you when done properly. So the big question is the boat worth your time and a few thousand dollars. Any boat you purchase unless new will more than likely have similar issues.

read this thread (link 14 from the sticky)

in its entirety (and watch every video, etc)

1995 Sea Ray 220 Signature Deck and Stringer Restoration

************************************************************ This is a condensed version of my original thread to provide instructional help to would be builders. If you would like to read the complete thread (and keep up with new additions to the boat) please click the link below to the...

forums.iboats.com

you will get the idea. also, keep in mind, Frisco's boat was 20 years newer than yours.

Ok so today I was able to get 15 min with the boat before having to leave town.
my engine is a Chrysler 70. Idk what year. How do I find this out? Is it on the title somewhere?
Anyways. I did a compression test on the 3 spark plugs they all read at 94 psi.
Plus I got spark on all three as well.
Next I plan on getting it fired up on Sunday. If the works out then I’m off to the next thing.
I spoke with the previous previous owner who had done all the transom work. He added that the throttle cable is stiff.
However. I’m getting ahead of myself. I’d like to pull the floor up on Sunday. I’ll send pics.
Its getting real now. And so is my anxiety. I was really hoping for a boat this up coming season. But idk how practical it is going to be now.
polyester or epoxy resin for this year of boat? Does it matter?

 

[todhunter]

Don't look at the whole project - look at the task in front of you and figure out what the next task will be. Try to stay on track and not get down a rabbit hole of chasing perfection on something, or on working on things that aren't a necessity to getting the boat on the water. Pull up the floors and demo, demo, demo until you get all the rot out. Make a LOT of photos, sketches, and notes to refer back to when rebuilding. Don't throw away the fiberglass skins, rotten pieces of wood (unless they totally crumble), or anything else yet. You'd be surprised how many times I was glad I had a rotten piece of stringer or something like that under my trailer to pull out and re-measure when building new structure.

Your boat is almost certainly made with polyester, so going back with polyester should work fine and it will be cheaper than epoxy.

 

[‘73BeeCraft]

Don't look at the whole project - look at the task in front of you and figure out what the next task will be. Try to stay on track and not get down a rabbit hole of chasing perfection on something, or on working on things that aren't a necessity to getting the boat on the water. Pull up the floors and demo, demo, demo until you get all the rot out. Make a LOT of photos, sketches, and notes to refer back to when rebuilding. Don't throw away the fiberglass skins, rotten pieces of wood (unless they totally crumble), or anything else yet. You'd be surprised how many times I was glad I had a rotten piece of stringer or something like that under my trailer to pull out and re-measure when building new structure.

Your boat is almost certainly made with polyester, so going back with polyester should work fine and it will be cheaper than epoxy.

Ok. so here my 2 do list.
1) fire up engine and see if the prop actually moves?!?!
2) remove engine, transom aluminum supports.
3) remove aft section of cap to expose transom and the rest of the deck.
4) remove deck and transom and stringers.
replace transom. Then stringers. And fiber glass in with 1708. I’ll use a thicken poly resin with Cabosil as my PB.
4.5) foam (maybe)
5) replace deck. Fiber glass in.
6) Tuff coat deck.
7) reinstall aft cap. Fiberglass in.
8) reinstall engine, ect.
then it will all be cosmetic after that.

 

[GSPLures]

If you pull the cap you have to support the hull with a cradle before removing floor and stringers. The hull will shift causing big problems down the road. The boats original construction was poly. You will have some that will push for epoxy and some that push poly. At the end of the day yes epoxy is superior but poly is just fine unless you plan on flipping it to use as a bomb shelter. It is your boat so it comes down to what you are willing to spend and more comfortable working with. Each has a different lay up schedule so choosing that determines what glass you will use. I used poly on mine and so far it is a tank.