1986 Larson Senza V195 With a 360 Horse 454 Big Block Restoration

[nolimits80]

It all started when my favorite boat I sold years ago to a friend of mine who had it for 10 years and stopped loving it as the years went by. With the big block in the back, it burned too much gas for his small pocket book. So I bought it back because I recently sold a boat I had that was too small for the Ohio River. I knew I had a big project ahead of me. It needed an entire buffing, transom replacement, bottom paint, filling in some chips on the bottom (plus a saw slice in the bottom of the hull where the circular saw was set too deep and cut through the hull), and a complete trailer restoration. I bought the boat new in 1986 from the Cincinnati Boat Show and it came stock with a 350 and Alpha 1 drive. Beat the hell out of it for years until the ol' 350 finally wore out and the drive blew up, so what was the solution? A 454 and Bravo 1! Oh yeah!!! The boat became a totally different animal being as overpowered as it now is. All of the torque, redneck fixes and abuse, the transom and hull took quite a beating. Around 2001 I did a stringer replacement but not a transom replacement (that was when the saw cut through the bottom. Filled it back up with resin). The stringers rotted out because of just abuse and being left outside and getting wet from skiing and good ol river fun! Around 2003 I sold it to my buddy who had it for 10 years and took good care of it and didn't put many hours on it. He had no idea that the transom was about ready to let go after he had it for about 8 years. Luckily he stopped riding it because he couldn't afford the gas and now had a family that didn't like the loud old boat as much as he did. If he would have put it back in the water before I bought it back, the drive and engine would have fallen out and sunk straight to the bottom. So I bought it in early February of 2012 and got it home and found this!
The ol screwdriver doesn't lie when it comes to soft wood!

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1986 Larson Senza V195 With a 360 Horse 454 Big Block Restoration

Welcome to the iboats dry dock! Nice to have an previous boat back, eh?

Best of luck w/ the demo & the put back.

 

[SDSeville]

Re: 1986 Larson Senza V195 With a 360 Horse 454 Big Block Restoration

Welcome nolimits80! Should be a fun restore. My boat also is a boat I had once sold to a friend and then bought back. ...except my friend kept it outside and uncovered for 5 years. It probably would have needed a restore anyway.

Good luck!

 

[nolimits80]

1986 Larson Senza V195 With a 360 Horse 454 Big Block Restoration

Now the tear down begins. The transom, rear stringers, motor mounts and foam under the 2 side floors on the sides of the engine bay were FULL of water and the wood turned into mulch! It was a nasty and time consuming process to dig all of the foam out and get all the old wood out just like every restoration goes. The transom assembly started to crush the 1/2 inch thick hull on the bottom. When I put the Bravo and 454 in, I didn't use sealer on the transom assembly, just the rubber seal that came with the assembly. That was a HUGE MISTAKE on my part and was mostly the cause of this whole mess. But that was when I just wanted to get back on the water and threw everything together with not much care. Anyway, I had to use an air chisel, a pry bar, hammer, regular chisel and a whole lot of patience to get the old rotten wood out. The top half of the step on the transom where the gimbal housing mounts came out in one big piece so that saved a lot of work. The water and rot was so bad that it rusted the studs on the gimbal housing so bad that they were about to break. The pieces of 1/2 inch plywood used for motor mount spacers rotted so bad that the engine sunk about 1/4 inch and the outdrive wouldn't come off. The input shaft on the drive wore a big channel in the gimbal housing from grinding on it because the engine sunk so much. It smelled like a jungle in the boat for a few weeks from the rotten wood, but it will soon start to smell like FIBERGLASS DUST!!!

 

[nolimits80]

1986 Larson Senza V195 With a 360 Horse 454 Big Block Restoration

Here are some pictures of the outside of the boat. BEFORE RESTORE FINISHED It is kind of like a Miami Vice boat. I always think it could be Sammy Hagars boat. It's beautiful when it is all cleaned up. These were taken after I scraped off all the pinstripes and took off the rub rail to reseal it because the caulking was old and the screws all rusted out and the cap was separating from the hull.

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: 1986 Larson Senza V195 With a 360 Horse 454 Big Block Restoration

This is going to be a kick but restore!! Is the 454 and drive in good shape?

 

[nolimits80]

Re: 1986 Larson Senza V195 With a 360 Horse 454 Big Block Restoration

Yea, really good shape. Just needs a little paint. My buddy that I bought it off of got the lower unit rebuilt. I rebuilt the engine before I sold it and my buddy didn't put many hours on it.

 

[nolimits80]

1986 Larson Senza V195 With a 360 Horse 454 Big Block Restoration

After tearing the transom out I pulled up the carpet and the whole floor was soaked!! It NEVER ENDS!!! Where the wood from the floor is tabbed into the side of the boat, the glass cracked from so much flexing and let water straight down into the foam. No worries though because all of the stringers are all covered in a thick layer of resin and water can't get inside. The foam is closed cell so it didn't take in any water. I put in good 2 part expandable pour foam in when I rebuilt the boat 10 years ago. The drivers seat pedestal screws down into a piece of 3/4 plywood and it did rot because I didn't waterproof it, so i just replaced it.