1989 Sea Ray 180 transom replacement question

[Bumperlt12]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 180 transom replacement question

I am a little jealous, I can't do any more on mine til I get some more money. Aside from yours being a I/O and mine outboard, looks the exact same. I very curious to see how your stringers turn out, What kind of wood are you using for them to get them that long?

 

[britisher]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 180 transom replacement question

Hi Bumper,
I eventually bought some 'topchoice pine' or something like that from Lowe's. TBH there was no choice as that was the only stuff they had in 12' lengths. The timber is 1" planed (reality is 3/4" x 8" x 12' so I will have to saw some of the height. Price was $13.86 each plank. I'd had enough of trying to make plywood work with joints, etc. To much hassle and failure. Friscoboater went to plan B too I recall. Finding a way to 'hang ' the plank on the boat was a laugh too. The top of the boat slopes and unlike Friscoboaters boat the small SR has no full length horizontal shelf like on his. I leveled the boat and just ensured that when I nailed the plank to the upside down L brackets, it too was level.
I know what you mean about money or lack of. My pot is dropping fast. I have already decided that any vinyl work will have to wait until later in the year, a) to allow me to enjoy the boat, b) to put aside more cash and c) when the temps are lower!

 

[ShellBack89]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 180 transom replacement question

Brit

Nice work this weekend. We know how the heat can just suck the life out of you, especially when its in and out of the boat. Keep up the good work and you'll be on the water sooner than you know. I had to replace almost everything on the lower end; bellows, trim tab seals, etc. I don't know how to do that stuff so I paid, and boy did I pay. I think boat shops were used car salesmen who went to night motor school. Again, keep it up!

 

[carlfarey]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 180 transom replacement question

Looking Good Mate, wont be long now.

 

[britisher]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 180 transom replacement question

Didn't accomplish too much this weekend as it was Mother's Day. Good time to spend with family and try and relax. That said me and my eldest son managed to install the stringers this weekend and at the time of writing this, the PL is still curing. The PL is not the easiest thing to put down. It is messy and the Florida heat makes it harden really quickly. Things weren't helped by a faulty cartridge gun I bought from Lowe's and I had to see the job through before taking it back to Lowe's the day after. Also learn from my mistake guys WEAR RUBBER GLOVES when working with the PL. It is horrid stuff and is impossible to remove from your hands. We tried everything bar the power sander!! Only time will wear it off. I will start with the PB on the joint areas, ready for the tabbing later this week. I also did a few non-wood jobs. I cleaned up the elbows and Y pipe for the motor. We discovered some corrosion on the Y pipe at the bolt holes. I took it to a guy today who will be able to weld the aluminum and thereby save me hundreds of dollars. Also brought home the stern-drive from the boat shop and I intend to start cleaning and prepping that for respray. I decided to totally refurb the transom unit, so that will be going back to the boat store where they will dismantle it for me, I will bring home the 3 main bits to prep and respray and then return it to them for the rebuild. I should end up with a transom unit that will do good service for me.
I have to say, seeing the stringers in made me feel I was turning a corner, albeit a very slow one. But not long I don't think before I'll be putting in that floor. I'm aiming for early July for the water. Do you think the 4th might be good? Doesn't seem to be much happening on that day!!LOL.

 

[ncbovid]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 180 transom replacement question

Looks good! Looks pretty dang familiar actually.

One side note - make sure you watch how much filleting you do in the gas tank compartment. Depending on the extra width you included for the gas tank, it doesn't take much to impact the final fit of the tank. (Speaking from experience here)

 

[britisher]

Re: 1989 Sea Ray 180 transom replacement question

Thanks for the positive comments. Last night I went out to remove the clamps and dry fit the gas tank. Guess what? It didn't fit!!. In my rush to get the PL pumped around all the seams before it all started to harden I had gotten the for bulkhead stringer just off the 90 degrees on one corner. It also started to rain just as I found it. Luckily I have an EZ Up canopy over the aft section, so could work on it. I chiseled out the PL, pulled the stringer and then re-set it, but ensuring that the gas tank had space all round to fit and cope with the fillets. Phew...caught that one in time.