84 Sea Ray Seville Cuddy - Floor work, new interior

[Woodonglass]

Sorry to hear about the Knee!!!! Glad you're back on the forum!!! Keep us updated from time to time.

 

[Panoguy]

No Title

I'M BACK!

After almost 3 years, a knee and later a lower back surgery - I'm FINALLY getting work on the Sea Ray done!!!

QUESTION, I'm hoping someone can answer a question: bolting the gimbal housing to the transom - the lowest 2 bolts going through the transom (they have a square washer on them & go thru both the gimbal (outside) and the mounting plate (inside))... looks like a place perfect place where water can leak through.

Did I lose some seals, or something for those bolts? I'm attaching images of both the transom bolt and current progress pics.

Thanks! ... it's really GREAT to be back!!!!

 

[Panoguy]

Annnnd... we have IGNITION!!!!

 

[Broaters]

Hello Panoguy

We have the same boat as yours and we are facing the same questions about the strange stringers factory arrangement.

maybe you can have a look at our pics on: http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...-cuddy-restoration-stringer-and-engine-mounts

ours came with a Brocken 4.3 LX and we are also upgrading to a 350 V8. more or less same status as you on the engine, it started 2 weeks ago after 6 months of rebuild.

Your job on the hull looks very good.

Will keep looking at your progress definitely.

 

[Broaters]

also is there a reason you changed the floor /stringer arrangement on the back of the boat, close to the engine?
looks like you build some stringer that are going up on the transom

can you post a picture showing the back arrangement please?

 

[Panoguy]

No Title

also is there a reason you changed the floor /stringer arrangement on the back of the boat, close to the engine?
looks like you build some stringer that are going up on the transom

can you post a picture showing the back arrangement please?

Thanks for stopping-by, Broaters! Looks like you've got yourself a project!

My boat originally had a 4-cyl. engine, the front motor mount consisted of just a 2X6 tabbed-in across the bottom of the hulls "V". Both of my stringers needed replacement, so I put-in beefier stringers to replace the originals (the originals were very flimsy, I didn't feel good about thin stringers with a 5.7L V8!),

I also wanted to raise the floor up to span the width of the "V" bottom, so the new stringers replacing the originals were cut taller, and I ended-up putting another pair of stringers in, allowing me to raise the floor up to just above the "V" in the hull - about 4". My new stringers go full-length, from bow to stern (Yep, I stripped the inside of the boat to just a shell).

I'm going to have 3 sections to the rear deck, 2 side compartments (live well perhaps?), and the engine hatch in the middle, that's why I have that framing going up either side of the transom. I will bolt-on the section walls to this framing, I want the ability to remove the walls separating the 3 sections, should I need room to do more intense engine repairs in the future.

I looked at a lot of pictures, & at the mounts on the engines themselves, and decided to build my mounts the way I did... I'm sure that they are one-of-a-kind!

I just today put the engine into the boat, (see the pic!) and discovered that my motor mounts are just a tad too low - an easy fix - my engine will fit nicely after just a bit of fiberglass work. I'll be sure to post pictures, once I've altered my motor mounts and placed the engine into the boat, OK?

 

[Broaters]

ok thanks for the info.

our project is on the "dead slow speed" so far. I'm trying to source the hardware here in Belgium to start our re-inforcement job.
looking fwd to see more pics

 

[Broaters]

Hello Panoguy,

more question pops up during the meditation night :joyous:
Did you manage to get your stringer in one piece over the entire length of the boat? The longest plywood sheet i can get here is about 3m max (120'').
If not did you just but joined them and tabbed like that?

about the engine exhaust pipe: I guess you had the in-line single pipe and you are converting to the Y pipe for the V8. Did your engine transom have the correct bolt pattern? only 3 out of 4 are lining up on mine. It seems that the boat ran like that previously bu it does not sound very mechanical to me.
apparently some latter transom plate have the 2 options and therefore have 5 female threads to accomodate both design. how do you managed that?

Thanks

 

[Panoguy]

Hello Panoguy,

more question pops up during the meditation night :joyous:
Did you manage to get your stringer in one piece over the entire length of the boat? The longest plywood sheet i can get here is about 3m max (120'').
If not did you just but joined them and tabbed like that?

I purchased plywood that was only half the thickness that I wanted, then glued 2 layers together, offsetting the seams, for strength.

about the engine exhaust pipe: I guess you had the in-line single pipe and you are converting to the Y pipe for the V8. Did your engine transom have the correct bolt pattern? only 3 out of 4 are lining up on mine. It seems that the boat ran like that previously bu it does not sound very mechanical to me.
apparently some latter transom plate have the 2 options and therefore have 5 female threads to accommodate both design. how do you managed that?

This is something that I just found-out about myself, because I ran into the same problem. There are different (at least 2 that I now know of) bolt hole patterns... the pattern that my Y-pipe (which I got from the engine that I pulled from the junker-boat) has is almost a square, I guess you could call it a symmetrical 4-bolt pattern... but my outdrive needs an asymmetrical pattern. So I'm now waiting for my Ebay purchase of a Y-pipe with the proper offset pattern! Yay - more expenses!!!!

Thanks

You're welcome - good luck!!

 

[Broaters]

This is something that I just found-out about myself, because I ran into the same problem. There are different (at least 2 that I now know of) bolt hole patterns... the pattern that my Y-pipe (which I got from the engine that I pulled from the junker-boat) has is almost a square, I guess you could call it a symmetrical 4-bolt pattern... but my outdrive needs an asymmetrical pattern. So I'm now waiting for my Ebay purchase of a Y-pipe with the proper offset pattern! Yay - more expenses!!!!

For what it worth, I already read some fellows iboaters having the same issue and one post quoted an official e-mail answer from MERCRUISER tech saying that it was ok to run with only 3 bolts out of 4.

I think I'll give it a try and see how it behaves like this, the Y pipe is a very stiff parts and there is not a lot of presure to seal in there.

 

[52FordF2]

The bottom two bolts should be the anode bolts with rubber gaskets and sometimes 3M 5200 :lol:.

OK a lot of times, mine also used 3M 5200 to make sure it was water tight.

 

[Panoguy]

The bottom two bolts should be the anode bolts with rubber gaskets and sometimes 3M 5200 :lol:.

OK a lot of times, mine also used 3M 5200 to make sure it was water tight.

Thanks for getting back, 52FordF2 - I ended-up purchasing the anode bolts (I believe that the previous owner just had regular bolts, didn't bother with the proper ones) - they actually fit properly. I did seal the holes ("caulking" the bolts) with 5200... shouldn't leak!!

 

[Panoguy]

For what it worth, I already read some fellows iboaters having the same issue and one post quoted an official e-mail answer from MERCRUISER tech saying that it was ok to run with only 3 bolts out of 4.

I think I'll give it a try and see how it behaves like this, the Y pipe is a very stiff parts and there is not a lot of presure to seal in there.

It did look like it may have worked, but I've put so many hours into this project, over several years - I figured, "Meh - another $150... another week" Let us know how 3 bolts work out, OK?

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Thanks for getting back, 52FordF2 - I ended-up purchasing the anode bolts (I believe that the previous owner just had regular bolts, didn't bother with the proper ones) - they actually fit properly. I did seal the holes ("caulking" the bolts) with 5200... shouldn't leak!!

Right on!!! I didn't use 5200 on mine and they leaked. Sealing these after the engine is installed was a major PITA.
Nice job thus far. Looking great.

 

[Panoguy]

Well, I really dropped the ball with maintaining this thread; let's get caught-up to speed, OK? OK!

As it turns-out, the 5.7L engine does fit-properly into the boat, and I did obtain a new Y pipe... Things were really going well last summer, & I thought I was going to splash my boat (yes, unfinished - with no engine hatch, and really rough finish - ugly, but functional).

But -

As fate would have it - My wife & I downsized... bought a new (to us) house, and moved last August. Have you ever downsized after living in a place for 25 years??? 'Nuff said! The house is lovely, but the boat now needs to shelter off-property, so I didn't get to do much on it after mid-August, and I don't get to it as much now, as I could before it lived on my property.

I digress, back to the boat!!!

I managed to lose my "knock-about/don't-care-if-I-get-fiberglass-on-it" camera, that held many more pictures, it's around here somewhere (probably still in a box!), but I do have a few phone pics to show-off.

These pictures were taken last August. (Yeah, 'bout time I posted them, right?) These show my first attempt at marine carpet laying, seat installation & upholstery (the sides). All-in-all, I'm happy with the results. I'm very happy with the way the cuddy cushions came-out... but I can't find the pics of them. I'll show them off once I find them - or visit the boat again & take more pics.

I'm also very pleased with the look of my outdrive... the upper unit used to be "old Sea Ray white", & quite scruffy-looking - so I striped/cleaned/primed/sprayed... and bolted it to my new SEI lower unit, looks like new. It's on the boat (what a PAIN to align!).

I'll post more pics once I find them, & I'll post what I've been doing this winter in my next posting, shortly. Thanks for your patience in waiting!

 

[Panoguy]

Wanted to show-off my new dash panels... a work in progress: I play with Photoshop, so I did a mock-up of what/where I want my dash gauges. The upper panel is pretty-much finished, and work on the lower panel is well under-way.

RE: the upper panel - I wanted to add a trim gauge and a real-time chart plotter, which I'll also use as a speedometer. The chart plotter is really important to me, because... the reason for getting started on this project in the first-place, is that I messed-up my outdrive by hitting a (only slightly submerged) reef in the middle of Lake Champlain... it all snowballed from there!

It's all good though - Because my boat is going to be GREAT! (If I ever get it finished!!)

P.S. - forgot to mention, I had to buy a new tachometer, the old one showed 2X the RPMs, when hooked into the V8. Yep - a boat is a hole in the water that you throw money-into!!! ;-)

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Looking great!!!

 

[Panoguy]

Thanks for the props, Baylinerchuck!

I've been agonizing on what to do with the stern sundeck; paint, gelcoat, carpet... Yada. Thanks once-again to a FriscoBoater video, this time of his 81 Glastron Sx-190 restore, I think that I may now have a plan; use my spare vinyl over 1" firm foam, over the deck structure to make structural cushions, split the deck down the middle, hinge it on either gunwale, and put removable partitions to the port and starboard of the engine. This would make a thinner, firmer version of the sundeck on the Glastron in his video.

Pics are Photoshop mockups... STOP LAUGHING, I'm not an artist!! ;-)

The one thing I'm worried about is wearing/tearing of the vinyl, I want to use this craft for fishing, and may want to put 2 seat post wells, on both sides of the sundeck, so that I could slide "Fishing station" type seats in, & fish off of the sundeck.

Thoughts???

 

[Panoguy]

SPLASHED! (sort-of)

Well, it's certainly been a while! During my convalescence from back surgery in the spring, I've been slowly doing light work on my Seville. Even though there's still MUCH work to do on the boat before I call it restored, I decided to see how it would handle with the big small-block V8.

Answer... LIKE A CHAMP!!

 

[Broaters]

Hey congratulation on your re-splash with the engine in this time !
the video is looking good.

did you use foam below the portion of deck that you have in the front?
if so what type and method did you used?