1989 Celebrity 181 Bowrider

[Celebrity181MN]

I bought my boat a couple years ago knowing I would come to this point sooner or later. The boat is a 1989 Celebrity 181 Bowrider with a 4.3L Mercruiser and alpha 1 outdrive. The wife and I got a year and a half of pleasure out of the boat before the need for floor, stringer and transom replacement. I have done a few car restorations from the rustbelt and know the ins and outs of metal and bodywork but have only dabbled in fiberglass and I am here to soak up the knowledge of years of experience and mistakes rather than learning the hard way myself which I have done a time or two :facepalm:. I have pulled the seats, carpet, motor, etc and I am coming to decision time about what to do next. So I have been scouring the forums and reading what I can find about what is best to replace stringers, transom and floor with and it seems like there are a few different opinions on the subject. I'll ask it again here. Is something like Coosa board worth it or is the OEM plywood skinned with fiberglass good enough. I plan on keeping this boat long term so I wouldn't mind the extra $ if it will last.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Start with reading the links in the DIY stickie at the top of the forum

Look at links 14, 15, 18, 2, 3, 4a, and 4b. Look at every photo, watch every video

 

[Celebrity181MN]

Thanks for the info and direction Scott!

 

[Celebrity181MN]

So over the last two weekends I was able to get the the interior and motor pulled. I also got a jump on ripping out the floor and to no surprise there is no end to the rot so all the stringers and floor will need to be replaced.

 

[Celebrity181MN]

I went to work getting the boat off the roller trailer today. I was able to throw together a few rough stands/supports out of some old rafters. Will be getting some plywood to match the contour of the hull tomorrow and taking some more measurements. I hope to get started ripping out stringers and sanding/grinding next weekend!

 

[Celebrity181MN]

This morning I dedicated to building a temporary "paint booth" structure around the boat to minimize sanding dust in the rest of the shop and to minimize contaminants when I start glassing. I am pretty happy with how it turned out! We will see how well it performs :biggrin: I had debated about using pvc but I figured I would have more use for the 2x4s for later projects when it is disassembled. I bought 40 2"x4"x8's and made a 10' x 20' working area. It is not the Rock of Gibraltar but should hold up the 6 mil poly just fine. I even got a little fancy and put in a zippered doorway. Hoping for actual boat progress soon.

 

[Chris51280]

you need some kind of air filter/exchange unit that supplies air and also sucks out air. otherwise you wont see anything and your mask filter will clog up really fast. you wont see the hand in front of your eyes anymore

 

[Celebrity181MN]

Update! I have not had alot of spare time for this project but have been making some progress. I took a few days off before the holidays to dedicate to this. Demo is complete and I have been grinding like a madman the past couple days. I hope to take some pictures to show the progress.

 

[Celebrity181MN]

you need some kind of air filter/exchange unit that supplies air and also sucks out air. otherwise you wont see anything and your mask filter will clog up really fast. you wont see the hand in front of your eyes anymore

I haven't had too much of an issue with visibility and I'm still on my first pair of 3m 2097s about 20 hours of grinding in. I'm using a 4 1/2" grinder with 16 grit aluminum oxide resin backed sanding discs. I wear a hooded tyvek with a full face respirator with activated carbon filters. My shop vac catches most of the fines while the bigger stuff settles pretty quick to be swept or vacuumed up.

 

[Celebrity181MN]

My cradle and how I made them with my "heirloom" scribe.

 

[Celebrity181MN]

More progress pictures. The transom was complete mulch.

 

[Celebrity181MN]

Grinding progress.

 

[Celebrity181MN]

When I redo my stringers should I PB in my strakes near them to make it easier to lay my 1708 over them. Original construction looks like they just laid woven roving straight over the strakes because there is flotation foam underneath of the tabbing

 

[Celebrity181MN]

I found my answer for PBing the strakes. I've seen others do this with hairy pb and it works out well and makes laying the 1708 for tabbing eaiser. I made some more progress today with grinding and I think I am starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. A photo .for some proof of the labors

 

[buxmj]

If it helps I used the curved ends of the tongue depressor type stir sticks to get the nice radius to make the 1708 lay down real easy. I tried the PB in a ziplock bag and cut the corner and squeeze it out like a cake decorator but it didn't work for me, found it easier to just slap it in there and form it as I go.

 

[Celebrity181MN]

If it helps I used the curved ends of the tongue depressor type stir sticks to get the nice radius to make the 1708 lay down real easy. I tried the PB in a ziplock bag and cut the corner and squeeze it out like a cake decorator but it didn't work for me, found it easier to just slap it in there and form it as I go.

Love the knowledge sharing on this site!