1989 Celebrity 181BR Restoration

[samer0214]

I just purchased this boat for cheap as it is a project boat. Fell in love with the silhouette and the price!. It comes with a 3.0L Mercruiser/Alpha sterndrive (which looks to be in good shape), but the motor definitely needing work.

I will have a few questions along the way but the 1st one pertains to the carpeting that has been removed, exposing the plywood, which looks to be in good shape with no rot or soft spots. My question is: Can I lay/glue new marine carpeting on top of the plywood, or should I apply fiberglass 1st, then carpeting on top? It doesn't look like there was fiberglass before, and I can simply sand the plywood, apply a sealer, then install the carpet.

What say you?

Thanks - Samer

 

[Chris1956]

You will want fiberglass cloth and resin over the plywood to protect it. If it is original, I am surprised/shocked that it would hold up this long, without that covering. You might suspect it has been replaced.

I would get a gallon of poly resin and some light glass mat, and use that to seal the deck. Sanding to bare wood, if the coating is not poly resin, is recommended. If the deck is poly resin, sand with medium paper to get some tooth.

Wipe everything with acetone before applying resin and cloth.

Obviously check the transom for soft spots before repairing the deck as a bad transom often pairs with bad stringers and frames.

 

[todhunter]

Samer, before you jump in you need to make sure the stringers and transom are good. Can you get to any of the stringers and low on the transom to drill test holes? A 1989 boat with a plywood deck with no glass that had carpet over it but was not rotten sounds suspiciously like a relatively recent deck-over. Post some pics and inspect closely.

 

[samer0214]

Samer, before you jump in you need to make sure the stringers and transom are good. Can you get to any of the stringers and low on the transom to drill test holes? A 1989 boat with a plywood deck with no glass that had carpet over it but was not rotten sounds suspiciously like a relatively recent deck-over. Post some pics and inspect closely.

I removed everything I could from inside the boat, and maybe I'm mistaken in thinking that there was no fiberglass. You can see in the attached pictures the plywood in some areas, and in others, areas that look like they still have a fiberglass layer, albeit a thin one. There is a lot of flaking also, of what looks to be paint.

Please note that other areas where the deck meets the hull, it looks like whatever is there, that layer extends from the floor up into the sides of the hull. Those pictures were taken this morning prior to power washing the boat.

Now on to another issue that just crept up: As I said, I removed everything inside (excluding the motor), which included 2 crappy captains chairs, and homemade fishing rod holders, and the floor was obviously left with screw holes, and as I was finishing and in the boat, I heard sloshing noise coming from inside the hull at the keel. The boat is currently in my driveway with the sterndrive towards my garage doors, so the bow is the low point, so the hull is water logged! What is the least intrusive way of removing all that water? Would it be wise to drill a hole in the deck (the diameter of a garden hose), right above the lowest point in the keel and siphon the water out? I have an inline water pump I can use for that purpose.

Please let me know what you all think.

Thank you - Samer

 

[samer0214]

You will want fiberglass cloth and resin over the plywood to protect it. If it is original, I am surprised/shocked that it would hold up this long, without that covering. You might suspect it has been replaced.

I would get a gallon of poly resin and some light glass mat, and use that to seal the deck. Sanding to bare wood, if the coating is not poly resin, is recommended. If the deck is poly resin, sand with medium paper to get some tooth.

Wipe everything with acetone before applying resin and cloth.

Obviously check the transom for soft spots before repairing the deck as a bad transom often pairs with bad stringers and frames.

This being an I/O, where would I check the transom please?

When I inspected the boat, I check the entire deck for soft spots and didn't find any. Furthermore, while working on it today for a few hours, I there were no soft spots in the deck.

Thanks - Samer

 

[samer0214]

To the top.

 

[Chris1956]

That grey stuff on the deck looks original. My '88 SeaRay had something that looked the same. Not sure what it is.

Perhaps the boat was garage-kept and is in fine shape. That would be an exception.

Test the transom on the inside for soft spots, especially down low. Check the motor mounts as they are either the stringers, or attached to them. Check the floor of the ski well, if you have one.

 

[samer0214]

That grey stuff on the deck looks original. My '88 SeaRay had something that looked the same. Not sure what it is.

Perhaps the boat was garage-kept and is in fine shape. That would be an exception.

Test the transom on the inside for soft spots, especially down low. Check the motor mounts as they are either the stringers, or attached to them. Check the floor of the ski well, if you have one.

Hi Chris,

Thank you for the reply. That grey stuff looks like some sort of a polymer ( a hard plastic at this point), and since it's flaking I will have to redo it and would rather not deal with fiberglass, if there is a proper alternative.

The boat overall looks to be ok like it may have been properly stored, but was recently kept outside by the last owner I bought it from. I will check the transom as suggested.

Looking at pictures and videos of the boat online and on youtube, the boat is supposed to have a ski well, but it's not there. Not sure if someone deleted it, as they had turned this boat into a fishing rig.

Thanks,

Samer

 

[Chris1956]

Not sure of the advantage of deleting a ski well, as you could make it a live well or fish well for fishing. You should also be able to detect the spot where it was.

Maybe your boat was a slightly different model than the one with the ski well.

 

[samer0214]

Not sure of the advantage of deleting a ski well, as you could make it a live well or fish well for fishing. You should also be able to detect the spot where it was.

Maybe your boat was a slightly different model than the one with the ski well.

I hadn't thought of that, but it would make sense especially when you're turning the boat into a fishing rig.

Do you have an opinion on my issue with the water logging? Is drilling in the deck and dropping a hose with a water pump the best way to siphon the water out? I have to do this ASAP.

 

[Chris1956]

I purposely did not address that, as I was unsure how water could get under the deck, if the deck is in good shape as you stated.

Check the bottom of the boat for cracks in the hull. I had one on my '88 SeaRay. There must have been some sort of defect in the original construction, as it cracked on a pretty typical day on the water.


If there is water under the deck, I think you need to investigate how it got there, and how much damage it did to the stringers and frames. Getting it out is not the whole answer.

Cutting a hole in the deck to investigate is likely the next step. If it is cut side to side, amidships, you can access the most stringers.

It will be easy to repair after inspection.

 

[todhunter]

Drill a test hole (2"?) in the deck. If there is water logged foam down there, you've got to pull the deck up to get all of that out.

 

[samer0214]

I ended up cutting an opening in the open bow area, so I could siphon the water out, and look at the stringers and bulkheads.

I probably siphoned more than 10 gallons of water and stopped, only to have the compartments slowly fill up again. I will wait until tomorrow and syphon more.

Water seems to be coming from the back of the boat, but not sure from where yet. The bilge area and transom seem to be dry with no rot, but who knows what's below. It sounds like I might need to remove the entire deck to check on the stringers.

 

[Chris1956]

Yikes.

Where is the floatation foam? Does the water smell like rotten wood?
Obviously you need to find the source of the water.

 

[tpenfield]

You can go over to Home Depot and get yourself one of those moisture meters for wood. ($40 ish) then with a couple of small drill holes test the bulkhead and stringers for moisture level. I'm thinking the structure (stringers, bulkheads, etc) is pretty well saturated with water given the standing water you found.

Good wood in a hull structure will read about 15% moisture from my experience. It seems that wood once encapsulated with fiberglass still absorbs moisture over time, but never really gets rid of it. Remember - wood is like a sponge and fiberglass is porous at a microscopic level (thus the blistering problem of hulls)

 

[Chris51280]

I can see the rotted wood from the pictures. with the standing water, I see a rebuild in your near future. If the outdrive and engine are in good working order, it is well worth it with the current market and boat prices. If you are handy with tools and woodworking and are willing to get dirty and spend your free time over the next weeks, this is for you. otherwise sell the parts. I would say the cost to do the stringers, transom and deck with poly resin is about 4k now. not sure what plywood is nowadays.

 

[todhunter]

I can see the rotted wood from the pictures. with the standing water, I see a rebuild in your near future. If the outdrive and engine are in good working order, it is well worth it with the current market and boat prices. If you are handy with tools and woodworking and are willing to get dirty and spend your free time over the next weeks, this is for you. otherwise sell the parts. I would say the cost to do the stringers, transom and deck with poly resin is about 4k now. not sure what plywood is nowadays.

Agree - $4,000 is probably a good realistic number.

 

[samer0214]

Agree - $4,000 is probably a good realistic number.

Provided that the entire deck and sub-structure of the boat need replacing, please help me understand how that $4,000 cost breaks down. I estimated $1,000 for all the wood, but don't know what everything else costs or how much I would need.

I am handy and own the proper wood saws including a table one, and other power tools. I paid a $100 for the boat and already made that back by selling a couple of crappy captains chairs that came with it. The sterndrive is a Mercury Alpha One 1st gen., that appears to be in good shape with a stainless steel prop. The engine itself needs work, which again is something I can do myself (I have all the tools and skill), including a rebuild, if need be. I already know that I need a water pump, and all consumables (thermostat, tune up parts including spark plugs and wires, belts and hoses, a carb rebuild kit). The trailer is a "Trailmaster" brand that needs some rehad, but is otherwise in decent shape.

 

[samer0214]

You can go over to Home Depot and get yourself one of those moisture meters for wood. ($40 ish) then with a couple of small drill holes test the bulkhead and stringers for moisture level. I'm thinking the structure (stringers, bulkheads, etc) is pretty well saturated with water given the standing water you found.

Good wood in a hull structure will read about 15% moisture from my experience. It seems that wood once encapsulated with fiberglass still absorbs moisture over time, but never really gets rid of it. Remember - wood is like a sponge and fiberglass is porous at a microscopic level (thus the blistering problem of hulls)

I went out and bought a moisture meter, and inspection camera and will start poking around tomorrow.

 

[todhunter]

Provided that the entire deck and sub-structure of the boat need replacing, please help me understand how that $4,000 cost breaks down. I estimated $1,000 for all the wood, but don't know what everything else costs or how much I would need.

I am handy and own the proper wood saws including a table one, and other power tools. I paid a $100 for the boat and already made that back by selling a couple of crappy captains chairs that came with it. The sterndrive is a Mercury Alpha One 1st gen., that appears to be in good shape with a stainless steel prop. The engine itself needs work, which again is something I can do myself (I have all the tools and skill), including a rebuild, if need be. I already know that I need a water pump, and all consumables (thermostat, tune up parts including spark plugs and wires, belts and hoses, a carb rebuild kit). The trailer is a "Trailmaster" brand that needs some rehad, but is otherwise in decent shape.

Sounds like a similar project to mine. My boat is a 18.5 ft runabout, I paid $600 for it. Engine ran, drive was good, but both needed maintenance. Structure and interior of the boat were toast. I replaced transom / stringers / deck, new upholstery, and new dash. Spruced up all the little stuff. I'm probably into it about $10k total. Just so you can compare yours to mine.

Figure on using 3-4 sheets of 3/4" and 3-4 sheets of 1/2" ACX plywood. About 35 yards of 1708, about 20 yards of 1.5oz CSM, 25-30 gallons of resin, a few gallons of gelcoat, a few gallons of foam, a bunch of fillers, and lots of consumables. It adds up quick.