1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot

[bcupari]

I am looking at a 1987 Sea Squirt in beautiful condition except one thing--soft spot on front deck. I was told there is no wood underneath in the construction of this boat to rot and it simply is a case of the foam separating/unadhering to the fiberglass. At present it does not show any cracking. Any advice..the boat suit my needs perfectly in size and has a 48hp Johnson Special that also looks very clean and well kept.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: 1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot

Run

 

[1979checkmate]

Re: 1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot

I don't know much about sea squirts but i would say the chances of no wood used in construction in 1987 is very small. Unless you are prepared to do a full restore of the deck/transom.. i would look elsewhere

 

[southkogs]

Re: 1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot

Yup. Keep lookin'.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: 1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot

I am looking at a 1987 Sea Squirt in beautiful condition except one thing--soft spot on front deck. I was told there is no wood underneath in the construction of this boat to rot and it simply is a case of the foam separating/unadhering to the fiberglass. At present it does not show any cracking. Any advice..the boat suit my needs perfectly in size and has a 48hp Johnson Special that also looks very clean and well kept.

That is probably not true . . . I would expect to find some wood in the structure along with some issues. Fiberglass and foam separation is no walk in the park either.

 

[crabby captain john]

Re: 1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot

Unless you have a truck load of time and money for a restore or the 'seller' is giving you $5,000 to take it away~~ I'd leave it.

 

[bcupari]

Re: 1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot

Thanks for all the quick replies...really love this size boat and trailer as it easily will fit in my garage but I totally understand and will take the advice to leave this one alone.

 

[southkogs]

Re: 1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot

Plenty of 'em out there. Wait for your pitch.

Welcome aboard, BTW.

 

[roxyanne]

Re: 1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot

I would like to respond to the question above.
Before responding a person would need to know the boat's type of construction. Is it a single liner boat with a glass over plywood floor or is it a fully lined cap inside the hull?
I can tell you the Sea Squirt is a fully lined boat with finished gel coat throughout. The liner cap is fastened to the hull with stainless steel bolts and self locking nuts. (no cheap screws or rivets are used on these boats.)
The construction of this liner is foam cored with glass on both sides-no wood. There could be wood in the transom. However, this year I believe they used form coring throughout. The transom and hull are very solid.
This is why it's stated that the glass has separated from the foam coring. The term soft floor does not apply in this case.
Many people answered this thread without doing a little homework. The first thing is to Google Sea Squirt boats and read reviews of owners and previous owners at www.thehulltruth.com/boating forum or forums.capmel.com/post/sea-squirt-boats-3241617.
Please do research before answering questions. These are top of the line construction for a small boat. If

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: 1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot



This boat has a foam sandwich constructed deck. The floor was also foam sandwich. When I bought it, it was very cheap and the floor foam was waterlogged. I ripped up the floor and removed the foam and broken 1 1/2 inch square stringers. I replaced the stringers with fiberglass "I" columns and left the floor hollow.

The deck has about 1/4 inch foam with a very thin glass layer on each side. It is delaminating in some places but I elected to live with it. It has been this way for at least ten years and this boat, at 60 MPH, takes a beating.

SO: my point is that a soft spot in the deck is not necessarily a reason to run from the boat. Yeah, it is less than desirable but you need to balance your desire for the boat against what is out there now and what the price is.

 

[redneck joe]

Re: 1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot

deleted

 

[southkogs]

Re: 1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot

I would like to respond to the question above.
Before responding a person would need to know the boat's type of construction. Is it a single liner boat with a glass over plywood floor or is it a fully lined cap inside the hull?
I can tell you the Sea Squirt is a fully lined boat with finished gel coat throughout. The liner cap is fastened to the hull with stainless steel bolts and self locking nuts. (no cheap screws or rivets are used on these boats.)
The construction of this liner is foam cored with glass on both sides-no wood. There could be wood in the transom. However, this year I believe they used form coring throughout. The transom and hull are very solid.
This is why it's stated that the glass has separated from the foam coring. The term soft floor does not apply in this case.
Many people answered this thread without doing a little homework. The first thing is to Google Sea Squirt boats and read reviews of owners and previous owners at www.thehulltruth.com/boating forum or forums.capmel.com/post/sea-squirt-boats-3241617.
Please do research before answering questions. These are top of the line construction for a small boat. If

… sorta'

Most of us answer these questions based on an assumption that the OP is inexperienced with boats. Someone like yourself or Frank probably really won't even ask the major portion of the question because of some experience dealing with hulls. I probably don't understand hulls as much as you do, but wouldn't have posted the question mainly because I'd have weighed out the amount of work and decided I didn't have time LONG before I was even concerned about construction techniques.

Unless the OP has some previous experience with hulls or a working knowledge beyond my suspicion, I probably wouldn't change my answer based on your additional information.

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot

Hey OP, I think the seller of the 26 year old boat you're looking at posted above #9.

Expect to work on any boat that age, most people wouldn't even dream of having a 20 year old car now days but think a boat that age is going to be great. Not true, old boats need lots of work to make them reliable and safe.

 

[roxyanne]

Re: 1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot

If you have the money, you can go buy a new boat-not to say you won't have a problem at all.
BUT---if you don't have the money and want to enjoy the water in a top quality older boat, then Sea Squirt is one of the top of the line smaller boats. Additionally, most people trying to find an older boat for less than $4,000 don't usually have the opportunity to find this quality of a boat available. Granted it has one issue, but can be dealt with without a lot of money or could be used as is--it's been used for the last year and a half with no problem. They got their money's worth.

 

[bcupari]

Re: 1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot

If you have the money, you can go buy a new boat-not to say you won't have a problem at all.
BUT---if you don't have the money and want to enjoy the water in a top quality older boat, then Sea Squirt is one of the top of the line smaller boats. Additionally, most people trying to find an older boat for less than $4,000 don't usually have the opportunity to find this quality of a boat available. Granted it has one issue, but can be dealt with without a lot of money or could be used as is--it's been used for the last year and a half with no problem. They got their money's worth.

Interestingly enough, I really did want to buy the boat. However, when I asked the sellers agent if they could provide details on the construction of the boat (I tried to do research and had no luck) they quickly dismissed the idea and said they did not want to get in the middle for this "little boat". Even though initially they said they had this information. Ultimately, they caused the loss of the sale in my opinion. Well, I guess $4000 is small beans to some people and as we know that is just the start of it when you buy a boat. At any rate, I have purchased another slightly newer boat that is not the exact boat I wanted (a little bigger and slightly more complex) but it was less money and NO SOFT SPOTS!

thanks again to everyone...Excellent info and discussion.

 

[Watermann]

Re: 1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot

Good for you! It's always a good idea to listen to people who are in the know that have no vested interest in the outcome.

 

[southkogs]

Re: 1987 sea squirt 16 construction question-soft spot

Didn't happen without pictures bcupari … let's get 'em posted

Congratulations!