1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

[schmidty2009]

Hello everyone!

New to posting on the forums, but have been secretly lurking around and reading the forums for a while now. Recently decided to start a restore/rebuild project on a boat we purchased about 6 mos ago. We've realized the transom is going soft, and the floor was starting to go soft too and figured it would be a good time to pull things up and start from scratch. We've been planning on rewiring (nothing was marine grade, is that usually the case?) and changing the floor plan too.

We recently stumbled upon this great SN restore/rebuild by jasoutside and decided to make the jump. We have been really impressed, and due to the similarities plan on adopting some of his approach.

Now that the heat is dissipating (for now, in AZ) we're hoping to knock this out over the cooler winter months! We've already got the front deck and consoles out, and half the floor up, going to tackle the rear deck and supports over the weekend mos likely.

Anything we should know as we start the process, anything notorious about Sea Nymphs in general? Needless to say, we may be pestering you folks with questions! I have no pics yet, but here she is in the catalog, and we'll have plenty of pics to come!

Peace,

Schmidty

 

[schmidty2009]

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

Ok, so I took a few photos today, nothing major. We bought this off CL roughly 6 months ago, and I must admit, were completely ignorant about what to look for.

After getting it out on the water the 2nd or 3rd time, we hit some nasty weather, took on some water, and soon found out the bilge pump was bad, however the previous own had wired the aerator to the bilge switch, so we started putting more water into the boat. Then, because of some wiring issues (it was a mess) we blew a fuse and couldn't electric start the motor (and in our frenzy didn't think to pull start it either.) Turns out there was a reset-able 40 amp that was tucked into PVC piping that we found after limping back to the dock on our underpowered trolling motor.

Needles to say, we bought a new bilge pump, fixed a tidied quite a bit of the wiring. And went on our merry way.

Everything went well for a few more trips, and then all of sudden we started taking on water. After some investigation, we found out the transom on the port side had pulled away from the bracket in one spot and we were taking on water through one of the through bolts.

That is when we decided it was time to either fix this one, or start looking for a new one. All things considered, we like the boat, the hull is still in good shape, and we decided it would be best to fixer 'er up.

Best pic I've got so far of pre-demolition. Hanging out at Bartlett Lake, horrible day fishing too, but you know what they say, bad day fishing is better.... And no, Coke is not paying me for advertising!




Got everything out of the front so far, next step is to take the throttle controls and engine off and get the back decking out, that'll give us better access to assess the extent of our transom issue as well. The foam in the front isn't as bad as we thought either, but the further back we go, it's evident it's holding on to water.


The floor wasn't in as bad of shape as we had anticipated, but it wasn't perfect either. Our plan is to use the epoxy method to seal our new flooring. We wont be putting seating in the front like before (aside from a pedestal), and are hoping to install a gas tank. Depending on how things go we'll likely install one under the deck in the front there.


And here is where the transom has pulled back from the bracket/frame. At this point we can only assume there is rot in at least the bottom portion. It appears that the transom has bowed a little bit, but there are no visible cracks at this point. Once we remove the motor and the rear decking we'll be able to get a better assessment.


More to come as we pull 'er apart!

-Schmidty

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

Welcome to the iboats dry dock, tin division

Great looking possibilities w/ that rig! Patrick & Jason both did great work on their SN's, lots of good info in both.

Best of luck w your project

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

We recently stumbled upon this great SN restore/rebuild by jasoutside

That guy is a bone head:facepalm:

Anything we should know as we start the process, anything notorious about Sea Nymphs in general?

Looks like you found it! Pour in foam! I emptied hundreds of pounds of completely soaked foam from my rig at tear down, it was bad.

Man, all that water you took on during your first couple of runs, yikes! Glad you guys are ok and you still have the boat! She should make a great for you!

Cheers and welcome to the iboats drydock:becky:

 

[Pmccraney]

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

Welcome to the Sea Nymph club. Your hull looks to be in pretty good shape (minus the leak). I think it should be a fun and manageable rebuild for you. Just take your time, don't cut corners and have fun with it!

Pretty much the exact model boat as Jas; Glad you found his thread; it will be a good road-map for you.

Looking forward to following along.

 

[schmidty2009]

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

Hello again,

So, we've made a little more progress, got the entire floor out now, as well as the transom. Surprisingly enough most of it was solid, but man, where those through bolts were, it was nasty! Got a better look at all that lovely foam, and as far as we've been able to assess, it's all very dry, and we're thinking they got wiser from 1980 to 1985 because the back 3/4 of the boat has channels running along the V, so water isn't getting trapped liked in Jas's case.
So right now we are considering leaving it in and saving the expense of re-foaming (and the time of getting it out.) On the flip side, we're considering taking it all out to make absolutely sure everything is sound, kind of on the edge in that respect.

We also utilized dh4winn79's plans in the Engine forums and built ourselves a wooden outboard stand. Turned out great! Very thankful for the resources we've found here! Our motor is an '86 Mariner 60hp with a CMC tilt. We're also considering a new motor as well, we'd like to put a 75 on it, and we like the fact that the tilt/trim is part of the new motors. One things we really don't want to do with the new transom is drill through bolts for the CMC again.

So that leads me t a silly question, do the new motors have through bolts, or do they fasten/clamp to the outside? I can't seem to see anything obvious when looking at them online.

Ok, so, some pictures:











Any opinions on the foam situation? Would it be a good idea while we're this far into it to just pull it? Thanks for the feedback, hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

-Schmidty

 

[Landof9000lakes]

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

I've seen large chunks of foam that seemed dry only to have gallons and gallons of water absorbed into the layer down by the hull.

I think any boat that has rotten decks that are being replaced should have the foam removed. That's my opinion.

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

I have read where people will take core samples using a piece of pipe in several areas of their boats. You might try that to determine if in fact you need to replace the foam. If you find water lower in the foam then you'll know you need to replace. If you are interested in a bow mount tank pm me. I have a 19 gal one I removed from my blue fin. Good luck and welcome to iboats, will be tagging along to see how things progress.

 

[Houndsman911]

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

Welcome to the forum! I've noticed on my hull that towards the front at the vee, I have small cracks in the center of the ribs. So you may want to look close at that. Other than that, they seem to be really solid boats! Good luck, you're gunna have a sweet boat when you're done!

 

[schmidty2009]

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

Thanks for the encouragement and input! We've pulled all the foam out, the bottom 1/2 inch of the foam in the front was soaked, otherwise it was all pretty dry. Obvious that the front was not able to drain very well with the foam in there, so we are glad we pulled it up. The bottom cleaned up pretty well with a little coercion from the pressure washer, the sides will take some elbow grease where the carpet was glued in.

This too will give us the opportunity to check all the rivets to be extra thorough. We plan on using foam board as a replacement. It'll be about $1.30 more per square foot than pour in, but we like the idea of leaving a channel for water to run down the front section. And who knows, if we keep our eyes peeled we may be able to score some.

Next steps are to clean up the stringers, we plan on running Gluvit as long as we're stripped down, and of course lay our foam and patch up and rebuild the transom. Then we need to start considering what exactly we want to do with this guy.

Temps have been on the rise again, so for the sake of sanity we've been working only about an hour or so in the evenings. Really looking forward to October! Anyways, here are some pics of (nearly) foam-less boat.







The only area where we found any noticeable hull damage was in the very front where we've got a dent (red arrow in the closeup) There isn't anything that would suggest it will be a problem, so for the sake of not wanting to cause damage trying to fix it, we plan on leaving that alone.

Have a good night all, until next time.

-Schmidty

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

Looks like you are making some good progress. Always like to see these tinnys ''naked''. The pictures help to understand what works and what doesn't. Boat looks like it has really good structure. That carpet glue was a pain. I found that stripper and a pressure washer did a pretty good job. Good luck.

 

[schmidty2009]

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

Hello guys!

Nothing too new and exciting. Still trying to work around the heat and sun as we don't really have a garaged or covered option here in the city. Got some more bits and pieces of foam out, took out the wire/tubing troughs running up the back half of the middle, and picked up some adhesive remover to work on the carpet glue on the sides.

I swear, that foam resurfaces the next day, even when you think you've completely cleaned an area out! Once that's all taken care of we'll be wire brushing, sand papering, and gluvit-ing her up.

One question on that Gluvit product, (my ignorance is showing). I was reading somewhere NOT to apply it in sunlight at all. I understand it doesn't have any UV protecting qualities, and to paint anything that will be exposed, but that seems a little overkill to me. Would it be safe to apply it, let it cure, and cover it up with the foam?

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

[jasoutside]

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

Would it be safe to apply it, let it cure, and cover it up with the foam?

Yup, you should be just fine:thumb:

 

[schmidty2009]

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

OK! I know it's been like three months. We got a little busy planning a last minute hunting trip to Wisconsin and our time and finances shifted toward that. Now, we still haven't gotten to the Gluvit, and it's not quite warm enough (nor do we have a heated garage or anything) to apply it. So it looks like we'll be on break until we reach some consistently warmer days.

Regardless, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and the best and happiest New Year!

Peace,

-Schmidty

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

Right back atcha...

 

[jvanhees]

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

great looking SN Schmidty! Keep up the good work...and I like that model boat. Best wishes to you and yours!

 

[glnbnz]

Re: 1985 Sea Nymph SS-155 Fish & Ski

Signing on to follow along.