1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

[further]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

Finally spent some time on the boat today. Built the stand, pulled the motor...

Super tight work area but making due...

Cutting the old seat boxes out I found where all the ants I've been noticing are coming from!!
Thousands!!

All up in the foam

I unleashed an entire can of ant killer
Done for the day. Will have to vac the boat tomorrow of all dead ants and continue on the demo.

Slowly but surely

 

[Streffpilot]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

Personally, I wouldn't cut the cap. What I did on mine (17' glass Starcraft) was drill all the rivets holding the cap to the hull then just lift the cap strait up and place on 2x4's stratteling the hull (3 or so of them). Then, you can slide the cap foreward by a foot or so to replace the transom. I personally believe that this is far superior to cutting the cap.

First, it saves ANOTHER fiberglass repair.

Second, you can keep that nice gel coat color with no weird line

Third, the cap IS STRUCTURAL holding the boat together, and without substantial repair, won't be nearly as strong.

Just slide it foreward, you will feel better not hacking another hole in your boat.

 

[further]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

I totally get what you're sayin streffpilot and your points are valid. Still not 100% decided on full decap or just rear. I am leaning towards just the rear though. Good methodology though.
First, saving on fiberglass repair ... I hear ya but what's another repair. That's all there is to do on this project. I've already cut through the hull in two places so ill just need a bit more PB.

Second, I'm planning on farming out the gel coat on the hull. Wanna get it done by a pro so not worried bout matching up.

Third, I understand the cap adds structure although prob not a whole lot but I don't see how repairing the cut the right way would cause loss in structural integrity. I'm more worried bout getting to the transom and stringers and having limited room if I took the cap off let alone dealing with removing the glass etc.

 

[scottmm73]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

Scottmm73, It is too bad - would be good to have and give a hand. In any case, hopefully my restore will go smoothly and I'll be able to help you out through this medium (which is fantastic btw). I read your regret thread. I too was having denial syndrome for the past 5 years. Bought the boat in 2009 and used it the first 2 years quite a bit up in the poconos (where in PA are you?) with soft spots and all but I paid almost nothing for it so... then went through a divorce and boat sat till this summer. My fiancee (yes I'm doing it again) likes boating so is urging, and actually supportive with the resto (she's a keeper lol).

Further, I live in North Central PA, a little over an hour west of Elmira, NY.

I see your living arrangements appear to be in the burbs, hope the neighbors don't mind the noise and FG dust.

 

[further]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

Yep in the burbs. Staten Island actually so more like urbs. Very tight quarters. Renting at the moment and landlord doesn't mind as long as I keep things neat. Neighbors are great actually. Always coming by checkin out the progress and offering help and tools if I need. Def lucky in that respect. Although they don't know what's coming with the grinding lol. I'm planning on tenting up tho to keep it contained.

 

[further]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

How are the interior back rest panels supposed to come out without brute force to yank them out?? They are screwed into the gunwale/cap from the outside in, so looks like either its brute force to yank them off or removing the vinyl, getting under the foam and unscrewing. It's like the original installation was done with the foam and vinyl attached only at the top, the plywood was screwed into the gunwale, and then the vinyl and foam was brought down taught and stapled. Really amazing the manufacturer couldn't have used a more effective method of fastening these. I'm trying to avoid dis-assembly of these cause I would like to have a reference/pattern for re-upholstery. Any suggestions or insight? Also, how the heck do I re-install these when all done? I've tried searching as I'm sure others have dealt with this issue but haven't found too much good info on it. I was thinking of using my prybar but worrried bout damaging the FG on the cap. Here's a pic of the port stern panel that i took the bottom to sections of vinyl off to expose the top section.. I later peeled the top vinyl up and found the first screw - just seems very tedious to do this and will ruin the reference/pattern I want to maintain for re-assembly...

 

[britisher]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

If you are cutting the gunwhale off at the back, I'd leave the backrests on as they will be part of the cap that comes off. Then you can carefully remove them in one piece as you'll be able to see what's behind. My own boat is an 89 SR180 BR, so construction methods appear to be fairly standard around that time period. Whilst my boat rear is an inboard with a full width sunpad/engine cover, all the upholstered panels that attach to the boat are vinyl covered ply panels attached with SS tee nuts and bolts, then held to the boat side by SS nuts. If you haven't much room at the back of those panels, then maybe they used another method of attachment. One thought springs to mind and that is constructing new sunpads using a thinner ply backing and then using large velcro panels to 'stick them to the boat rear. Velco should hold them really good and removal will be a breeze. Another method (and I don't know where you'd get the bits from) would be slider bracket arrangement. The panels have a metal slider and the gunwhale has a shaped bracket that the slider slides into. Basically you hold the panel above the brackets, then push the panel down to locate the sliders into the brackets. A similar action would be sliding a bolt shut. Apologies if I haven't explained that well.

 

[further]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

I'm actually going to be cutting about 6" into where the back rest currently is so I'm going to have to remove it. I removed the section along the stern as you can see in the photo above and also the back rests at the bow against the dash. These were removed by brute force cause there was no other way to get at the fasteners. The manufacturer screwed the ply from the outside then covered the screw heads with foam and vinyl so there is no way to get at the screw heads without removing the vinyl and foam. Very annoying. Looks like i'm going to either pull them off or maybe use a metal blade on the sawzall and cut the screws carefully.

 

[further]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

Got all the back rests off with a little force and sawzall to cut the screws between the back of the ply and gunwale.

I got the fuel tank out over the weekend and would like to clean it up. Any suggestions on how/what to use? It's a 21 gallon belly type aluminum tank. Doesn't appear to leak but would like to pressure test it to be sure its good before it goes back in and is sealed up for the next 25 years. Looked around for a shop that could maybe do the pressure testing but am not having too much luck...

 

[chconger]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

I got the fuel tank out over the weekend and would like to clean it up. Any suggestions on how/what to use? It's a 21 gallon belly type aluminum tank. Doesn't appear to leak but would like to pressure test it to be sure its good before it goes back in and is sealed up for the next 25 years. Looked around for a shop that could maybe do the pressure testing but am not having too much luck...

Hey Further;

Just been there. I have an '88 Glastron so our tanks are the same vintage. Before you pay to have it pressure tested, simply scrub it with one of those green scowling pads and some water / Vim or what ever. Clean it up, check for pitting.


Here is what I saw; lots more of this on the bottom;

That would have passed a pressure test.

If you have pitting then it would probably be cheapest , cleanest to just replace it. I went plastic.

 

[further]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

Planning on getting to the rest of the foam tomorrow between honey do's and cutting some of the lips to make for a bit less grinding. Still haven't decided on the cap. Should I cut the stern section to remove just the splash well or take the whole cap and slide it back and forth on 2 x's someone had suggested previously? Can't decide. Someone talk me into one or the other.... Anyway here's a few pics...

 

[further]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

Nice glassin eh? What the??

 

[chconger]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

That looks like chopper gun (EDIT: I think mat now after looking again) My Glastron of the same year was rove.

Would be good to start a table of that kind of data.

 

[further]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

Chopped

Ripping out the transom and stringers next.

 

[further]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

Some progress pics. Got the stringers out. Starboard came out in one piece. Port side not so much. Bout 1/4 of the full height of the wood left in the fg wrapping. Amazing stuff.

Also got the transom out and cleaning it up.

I feel I'm coming up on the grinding part...:-/

 

[chconger]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

Great progress here.

When you get to grinding, cover yourself in baby powder before you get in the coveralls. I don't know why, but it takes out a lot of itch.

Chris

 

[saginawbayboater]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

Some progress pics. Got the stringers out. Starboard came out in one piece. Port side not so much. Bout 1/4 of the full height of the wood left in the fg wrapping. Amazing stuff.

Also got the transom out and cleaning it up.

I feel I'm coming up on the grinding part...:-/

Nice progress further!! let the iching begin!! Hey nice factory swirly of adhesive holding that transom in.

 

[further]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

Thanks... Yeah heard talc powder is good for that.

The transom wood was a PIA to get out except at the bottom where it was pretty soft. Chiseled away at for a while and got it all out. Have to tent up next in prep for grinding so as to not **** off the neighbors.

 

[scottmm73]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

Thanks... Yeah heard talc powder is good for that.

The transom wood was a PIA to get out except at the bottom where it was pretty soft. Chiseled away at for a while and got it all out. Have to tent up next in prep for grinding so as to not **** off the neighbors.

Are you going to have some sort of vacuum system in place to suck up the dust?

 

[further]

Re: 1988 Maxum 1700...There's no turning back now!

Just a shop vac which ill try to hold near as I'm grinding. We'll see what happens.