1989 Chaparral Transom Repair

[alldodge]

Coming alone nicely, your going to have some fun with it soon

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Nice work on that wye pipe. It looks like brand spank me new!! She's coming along nicely!!

 

[rad1026]

Didn't really get anything done on the boat this weekend. I had to do ball joints on my daughters car, along with a bunch of other chores that I have been putting off. I did get a chance to start up the engine yesterday though. Its amazing after a year and a half she started right up and purred like a kitten. What a good feeling that was. I didn't post any pics of my rotor a couple weeks ago. It was broken and not sitting on the coil wire connection in the distributor cap. I replaced the plugs, rotor and cap. I am not really sure how she was even running with the rotor like that. I think I was probably loosing some spark.

 

[rad1026]

Mercruiser 5.7L starting for the first time in a year and a half.

 

[alldodge]

It sounded OK, would been good if it can run without starting fluid, and it may not have run long enough to get water to come out fully. That said if the block was full of water then the pump is not pumping very well.

Lastly, running with the drive that high is bad and real hard on the U joints

 

[rad1026]

I wanted to just squirt a little gas in the carb, because I don't like using starter fluid, but I figured a couple squirts would be okay. I wasn't watching how much he threw in there or I would have stopped him. The engine was completely drained of water. It took a couple minutes for water to start flowing back through the outdrive. Yeah, I know better about starting with the drive in that position. I was watching the remote oil filter to see if there were any leaks and not thinking about the drive position. Thanks for the reminder. I did have leaks in my remote oil filter. The story behind that is I cut and custom bent the stainless steel tubes to fit my engine and it worked out really well except I could not flare the ends good enough on the stainless steel. I took them to my mechanic who said he could do it, but when he looked at them didn't have a die that large. Then I took them to a hydraulic hose place in town and they said all their tools were designed for soft metals. They said if I had saved the ends I cut off they could braze them together to give me the flare back, and of course I had already discarded the ends. Dummy. So I used some Vitron O-rings and that seems to be holding the pressure and not leaking.

 

[rad1026]

No Title

I worked pretty hard this weekend. I was not looking forward to this part. Its just a lot of messy, dusty work. If I never have to sand fiberglass again I will be okay with that. Took about 3 hours of sanding. I got one coat of paint down. I think for a floor that was never meant to have a finished look its going to be okay. Two more coats and some non-skid and I think it will look pretty good.

 

[alldodge]

Looking real good, nice work

 

[rad1026]

No Title

Just in case you all thought I have been sitting around doing nothing on the weekends. 5 total coats of 2 part epoxy paint with the last two containing a non-skid additive. I'm really happy with the results. I also kept working on the upholstery. Here is a before and after of my bow cushion. Had a bad stain on it. I found a company in Colorado, rub n' restore, that specializes in leather and vinyl dying. The actual fabric is still in really good condition after almost 30 years, but so faded I wanted to try and brighten it up. I am using a bright white and ivory mixture to get as close to the original color as I can. You can still see the stain a little so I'm going to get a couple more coats on that part but it is doing a really good job. Its just amazing how much vinyl there is in this boat.

I ordered some woven vinyl (sea grass) flooring today. I went with the teak look but with white instead of the black lines. I'm going to have it trimmed in white. I have seen this stuff in new boats and it really seems to be a great product.

 

[rad1026]

No Title

I'm still working away. I have all the seats back in, wiring all set in place, the radio hooked up, bilge pump, blower all working. I drilled a hole in my brand new transom to feed the speedometer hose and transducer wire. I did not like doing that, but I coated the hole with resin and then mixed up some putty and also coated the inside, so I feel like it is well protected. I am trying 3M 5200 to adhere the transducer, speedometer pick up and wiring tabs. I am hoping that holds instead of using screws and drilling more holes.

She is going in the water tomorrow! Wish me luck????

A couple years ago, while pulling away from the dock I got a rope caught around my ladder. It twisted the ladder and broke one of the stainless steel welds. I tried to re-weld it but it did not come out very good. It is still twisted slightly and just looks like an old Frankenstein. I found the exact ladder on ebay last week and for a very reasonable amount of money I have the exact same, original ladder that looks almost brand new. Just got it today.

 

[rad1026]

No Title

This is how I roll to the lake.

 

[alldodge]

Pulling a double

 

[Baylinerchuck]

I'm still working away. I have all the seats back in, wiring all set in place, the radio hooked up, bilge pump, blower all working. I drilled a hole in my brand new transom to feed the speedometer hose and transducer wire. I did not like doing that, but I coated the hole with resin and then mixed up some putty and also coated the inside, so I feel like it is well protected. I am trying 3M 5200 to adhere the transducer, speedometer pick up and wiring tabs. I am hoping that holds instead of using screws and drilling more holes.

She is going in the water tomorrow! Wish me luck????

A couple years ago, while pulling away from the dock I got a rope caught around my ladder. It twisted the ladder and broke one of the stainless steel welds. I tried to re-weld it but it did not come out very good. It is still twisted slightly and just looks like an old Frankenstein. I found the exact ladder on ebay last week and for a very reasonable amount of money I have the exact same, original ladder that looks almost brand new. Just got it today.

Amazing what can be found on eBay!! Nice work!! Hoping everything goes well.

 

[rad1026]

No Title

First the good: my family and friends got down to the lake and back safe, had a really great weekend and the boat ran great.

The bad: after a day on the water I pulled the plug and at least three gallons of water drained out of my bilge. I was so bummed. Now, my ice chest drains in to the bilge so I don't know how much of that was from the ice chest but still there was a lot of water in my bilge.

More good news: I put the boat in Sunday morning and just cleaned all the water out of the bilge. I could eventually see some water trickling in from the starboard side down in to the bilge. I removed the starboard rear seat and noticed some water had pooled in behind the seat base. I cleaned all that up and went back to the bilge and it stayed dry for a long while. Okay that was good. While I had everything open I inspected for any cracks or failing in my engine mounts and everything looks absolutely perfect.

More bad: So now I started the engine and after a few seconds noticed some dripping off my starboard exhaust manifold. After further inspection I saw a small hole on the inside of the manifold spraying water. Bummer, but really the manifolds are nearly 30 years old and I have been wanting to replace them for a couple years now. I am really pretty lucky that the leaking didn't go in to the cylinder. So I guess its time for new manifolds.

More good news: I get new manifolds!

Has anyone run the aluminum manifolds? I would like to hear any experience with them.

 

[alldodge]

Aluminum manifolds will last a long time in an open cooled system provided your in fresh water. Have been running aluminum in the cruiser for some time now Eddie Marine type

 

[mr300z87]

I have been quietly following along now for some time. Great job, those old Chaparrals are good looking boats. Just mentioned on baylinerchuck's thread to check exhaust for leaks, mine was leaking there when I splashed. Enjoy the rest of summer. Can't comment on aluminum exhaust since we boat in salt water and they would last about 5 minutes. LOL

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Awesome awesome!! Congrats on your splash....now let's get enjoying these girls!!

 

[rad1026]

Thanks guys! Yeah I plan on enjoying her as soon as I can gather up some fun bucks for new manifolds. In the mean time my woven vinyl flooring came in and I want to get that cut out this weekend so I can get it edged. Still have a lot of upholstery to clean, that will keep me busy. Then I have a clutch job to do on my wives VW Beetle, which does not look like a fun job. Then I can think about going back to the lake. I will take some pics of the flooring this weekend.

 

[rad1026]

No Title

Got the Sea Grass (woven vinyl flooring) cut and laid down yesterday. I'm super happy with this stuff. Very dense, lays down really nice and with the non-skid surface on the deck it really sticks in place and doesn't move. I'm not sure I'm really going to need snaps, but I will probably put in a few here and there anyway. The padded bottom make it really nice to walk on. Took quite a bit longer then I thought it would and just crawling around for 4 hours is hard on the knees and back. I have a nice vinyl edging to sew on. I really don't think I need it though. This stuff is so well made that I really don't think the cut edges will fray, but since I bought it I might as well see if I can get it sewn on. I really hope this product lasts a long time.

 

[alldodge]

Looks great