1987 Stingray Restoration - BY A ROOKIE!

[StingrayMike87]

Picked up this 1987 Stingray beauty and the trailer for free... did you get that? FREE!.. will be a great story when complete. It's my first time working on a boat so I didn't want to put out any capital before I got myself in over my head... which I'm sure is coming soon.

So far I've pulled up the floors and found "partially" rotten stringers (if that's a term) most people I've read say if you're going to replace a piece replace the whole thing... is that my best option at this point? Still not sure. My thought is to replace what's bad and keep the good for the sake of simplicity... definitely not looking to get this thing back to its glory days, just want to know I can get it back to running and floating... not sure what got into me.

Anyways, other than the floor I haven't touched the transom, mostly out of fear. I have some of the outboard pieces as you can see but I'm not too worried about the engine side of things yet. And there's still some wiring, which I'm sure is shot... but it makes me sound a little ahead of things when I talk to my girl who has no clue what she's allowed me to get into this time..

Want to upload Pics to show the progress but can't I guess, any tips on repairing the stringers are welcome. Also looking to polish up the outside so any recommendations on products or tools best for that would help.

Maybe I'll have a boat someday, right now I have a eyesore for my neighbors! To hell with them, I love it!

I'll keep posting as I make more progress, great story to share on this thing. Will spill more later, looking forward to hearing from the gurus I hear roam this forum! Thanks, Mike.

PS. oh! And as cool as it sounds I do not want to "pop the cap" so let's try to work around that, OK? OK. Thanks !

 

[archbuilder]

Mike, welcome to Iboats!

I'm sure others will chime in, but my opinion is to replace all of it while you are doing it. Why, 1 its a lot of work, 2 doesn't cost much more, 3 there is probably more rot than you think lurking in there. Also repairing other parts later may cause you tear out what you have already done!

Pics would help a lot, without them it is hard to give any advise. I think there is a tutorial on doing that in the stickys. I'm sure one of the moderators will know where, or correct me.

I have replaced the deck, stringers and transom on two without popping the cap, but it really depends on the hull design, again pic would help.

Looking forward to seeing you build, you have picked the right place for help, there is a ton of experience lurking here!

 

[briangcc]

Welcome. Upload your pics to a photo hosting site such as Photobucket, and then copy the IMG line to insert it into your post. Turns out like this:




​Here's the scoop...if your stringers are partially shot, you're going to have to rip up the floor to replace them. Once you're in that far, unless you have a very large boat, you'll be further ahead to rip them completely out. And since the stringers are shot, you're more than likely going to find that the transom has issues and needs replacement. Depending on the configuration of the boat, it may be easier to pull the cap off the boat to facilitate replacement. Only way to tell that is to get some pics up and let those who are much more knowledgeable than I advise you on a course of action.

So ahem...pics??

 

[sphelps]

Welcome aboard Stingray !!!
Well the first thing ya have to do is pop the cap ...
As the others have said it really just depends on the lay out of the boat and what needs to be done ...
Good luck and let us know how we can help !!

 

[mickyryan]

welcome pics pics pics

 

[CrazyFinn]

Sounds like you're in somewhat the same situation as I was when I started. Easiest for you if you just assume right now that you do have to replace the transom, stringers, and floor. If the boat is what I think it is, you probably don't have to pop the cap - but pictures will help (the photobucket option is easiest).

Be careful though - this boat rebuilding thing is addictive. Not finished my boat yet (but the end is in sight), and I'm already browsing Kijiji for my next project.

Listen to the advice of the experts on this site - they know what they are doing. If you take shortcuts, or ignore damage now, you will regret it later.

P.s. The fact that you got a free boat is not surprising - Kijiji is full of free boats. The fact that it came with a trailer is the good part. Seems that buying a good trailer alone costs more than buying an old boat and trailer combo - so most "free" boats will cost too much if you have to buy a trailer to move them.

 

[Woodonglass]

Most boats powered by an outboard that need to have new decks, stringers and transoms always need to have the cap removed in order to gain access to the transom. Open a Free Photobucket account and upload your pics there. Then click on the pic and in the right portion of the screen you'll see a box for IMG Code. Click on it and it will say copied. Now return to iBoats and Paste the code into your thread.

 

[StingrayMike87]

First of all thanks for the quick reply, and the help on the photos! Since my last post I've done a lot of souk searching and have slowly come around to popping the cap. Partly because I think I have to to get to the spots I need to replace, and partly because why the hell not. I got into the to get in way over my head and come out the other side. You guys give me some confidence that it's somewhat possible.

OK... pics so here it goes

 

[sphelps]

With those kind of helpers anything is possible !
Yep with the work under the bow section pulling the cap is the way to go ...
And probably saving some work down the road .