86 Sea Ray Restoration [Splashed Oct 2017]

[BevoHoward]

Permission to come aboard?

I guess us newbies come out of the woodwork this time of year. I've been stalking these forums for awhile now. And first off, I'd like to thank everybody for their willingness to be so helpful. I can't tell you what it means to have this wealth of knowledge at your fingertips.

Goldie: I've browsed many of your videos, along with Friscoboater's. And several others for that matter. But-- My ears perked up when I found yours because you have a Sea Ray Seville. I plan to go back, study them further and take some notes

I bought a 85 Seville about a month and a half ago. It has the 3.0 engine that purrs like a kitten. The hull is in like new condition. Some surface scratches, but I've already buffed most of those out.

My intention was to use it this summer and then come winter do whatever repairs are needed. Well, after reading what you guys have to say, I realized I was just fooling myself. The stringers are all shot. The transom seems ok doing the tap test. I didn't do any core samples. No real point in it. I feel like you Goldie. If I'm going to go to the bare hull with this, then I might as well do the transom..

So I'm planning on a complete restoration. That's the only way to go and feel comfortable with it.

Again, Thanks everybody for all your help and advice so far.

 

[Mark72233]

Bevo just a heads up that Tap test is not very accurate,:doh: the only good way to test transom, stringers and bulkheads is doing core samples and even that is not 100% it only tells you that the wood is good or bad right where you took the sample. If you have any bad stringers your transom is most likely bad also. Mine felt solid, banged on it everywhere. Took some core samples and it showed a little wet wood here and there but when I finally cut the inner fiberglass skin and started prying the wood out wow was it a mess . That fiberglass shell is very strong and makes it seem like its all solid inside. Don't be fooled:nono:. Goldie sorry for the high jacking :eagerness:

 

[BevoHoward]

Thanks Mark!

"That fiberglass shell is very strong and makes it seem like its all solid inside. Don't be fooled"

You're probably right on that. I found that very thing on the forward engine mount. Tap Tap Tap, it sounded nice and solid. Once I looked closer and started poking at it, I thought, Ought Oh. Nothing but mulch

 

[Goldie627]

1) I have a carport that is more of a garage exempt it has no door on the front. When I get around to painting I'll just put some of the plastic liners that they sell at lowes to tape up to the front to keep just from getting in or out.

Sounds good, also check out harbor freight, sometimes i think the have the small blue tarp as a free item or its super duper cheap on sale, tarp may last longer than your garbage can liners for a door, also depending on how close your garage is to your neighbor you could position a fan to blow as much as that dust out as posible

2)Time? As of right now I have plenty. I was just laid off from an oil field company and they have already called me back to work so I'm waiting for my drug test to come back. Once I go back I'll be work 15 and 6. So I'll have 6 days straight to work on it. I'm married with a baby on the way. So it might be a little trouble once little man gets here, but my wife is the director of a preschool so the baby will be with her during the day and I'll be free all that time.

Congrats on getting called back so soon, and right on time with the baby coming

3) TOOLS. I have my fair share of tools. I have everything on your list except the angle finder(just not a fancy one like yours), and betty crocker but last time I made some filets I used the 1" popsicle sticks. They came out great.

You have tools, excellent! That angle finder isnt too too important but does help you to document measurements so that you can put things back

4) Do dads, like I said in my first post, the fella I bought the old boat from pretty much took everything out when he did the deck and never kept it. So I have no templates for anything except where the throttle control was. With that knowledge I have decided that I'll be just making everything out of fiberglass the wait I want and like.

One plus for me in restoring my boat was that I could design the reconstruction to fit my needs (fishing and comfort). The only down side to this is that you have to make sure you put strength and support back from where you've removed it (engineering reasons). As well as replacing the same amount of foam or more foam if your coming in heavy. This is where it gets a lil tricky. In my case, im not venturing too far away from stock but enough to suit my needs. Boats are engineered and designed to carry a certain amount of weight so you just want to be mindful of this in your reconstruction. In my case, now that the bow is almost finished I may throw the motor and outdrive on to go have it weighed before i add any more new construction. I also need to find out what the all up weight was for my boat when it was new. Please take this advise with a grain of salt as im positive there are others among us with more knowledge on this subject

5)knowledge: I'm no sure I know exactly what you are talking about when you say core samples. Well if removing the motor is the same as my 7.3 or my old chevy 350 this should be a breeze. Oh and tell Scott he has a one nice burban. I currently have a 1972 Blazer 4x4 I'm restoring. Not in any rush to finish that one. Although my outdrive looks nothing like your. It has like 20 SS screws all around the dang thing. When it come to the paibt does it have to be sprayed on? When I was on bateau.com they used a technique called roll and tipping. Where you roll on the paint and then with a high quality brush you brush it and it makes a very nice mirror finish.

If you dont plan to remove all the wood ie complete restoration, you should take core samples of what you plan to leave untouched. A core sample is simply a drilled hole into wood be it a stringer, bulkhead, transom to inspect the shavings. You will be able to tell dry shavings from rotted shavings. What happens is you may think the part your inspecting is good but, it may just be the outer casing of fiberglass that is good while there is tapioka pudding inside mmmmm I'll let scott know you like the burb, we call it the Huckbus If i told you what he had under the hood i'd have to go into the whitness relocation program!! He keeps his stuff top secret he looks to the left and right before he opens the hood! LOL He's gonna kick my but if he reads this . I think that the application of exterior paint/gelcoat is determined by how much you wanna spend, which application you think youd be better at, and if the boat will be trailerd or not. Painting is by far easier than gelcoat, cheaper than gelcoat, takes less craftsmanship than gelcoat for a good finish, but cannot be stored in the water, not as easy to fix scratches as gelcoat, not as tuff as gelcoat. Personally, im going tractor paint all the way!!

6)GREENBACKS: I hope this doesn't come off rude, and feel free not to answer but do you have a rough estimate of how much you have spent so far? As I'm not rich and can't place an order for $1500 like you did but I do have a local fiberglass shop that I speak to the owner every now and then. I have built a connection enough to get him to order me resin from his supplier at his cost. Same with his mat. Which is another thing, when I spoke with him today he told me to just use CSM. He was telling me in his 40 years of him and his father before him owning that shop. He has only used CSM. Whats your thoughts? Oh and also on bateau they used wood flour mixed with the resin to make my PB. That's what I used for my filets on my last filet project and it seams to be holding up just fine.

Your not coming off rude at all but unfortunately i stopped keeping track. I did that for my own sanity You got it made if you can get your products at cost and no shipping fees, id solicit myself for that deal! Also dont order a boat load of stuff unless your sure you can use it before its shelf life. Oh, i made a funny... "boat load' heh heh heh

40 years of csm only has saved him alot of money, but if we were in some heavy chop id rather be in my boat than any of his! 1708 is strength, csm is waterproofing. Im not familiar with wood flour but you have to be careful with thickening agents as all dont smooth out as well as others, I went cabosil all the way and never looked back.

7) BLOOD, SWEAT, AND TEARS: I've worked in the oilfield since 2007 and work on all my own vehicles. So getting dirty, working hard, and staying up at all hours working on something that seems pointless to everyone else is right up my alley. I'm the guy that is always working on stuff and does it by myself.

You've definetly got the right temperment

8) TIPS: Why weigh the boat? Lucky me I don't have anythibg to measure lol. Is all pretty well crap and rotted away. I'll definitely be documenting everything. I'll prolly be doing it through pics, as I dont own a computer just an IPad and my Telle. I'll probably be starting a restoration thread of my own. I hope to see you, WOG, TP, GEORGESALMON FRISCOBOATER, CORGEN1 and all the others there. Sorry about the caplocks.

Refer to number 4 for the weight question. Documentation is so you can go back and see what needs to be done or what hasnt been done or to show your work that you may have a question about. Im not to active on the forum but stop by here and let me know when you start. I'll try to follow your thread and help wherever i can. Also if your not sure about something ASK, this could save you alot of heartache, time, and money. Alot of these guys have already been through what your about to embark on and sometimes the littlest tip could really make your day.

Dont be shy TX, we are all rallying around each other :grouphug: thats what makes this forum so great!!! If just one person benifits from reading our long winded memoirs then all this darn typing was worth it

 

[Goldie627]

Permission to come aboard?

I guess us newbies come out of the woodwork this time of year. I've been stalking these forums for awhile now. And first off, I'd like to thank everybody for their willingness to be so helpful. I can't tell you what it means to have this wealth of knowledge at your fingertips.

Goldie: I've browsed many of your videos, along with Friscoboater's. And several others for that matter. But-- My ears perked up when I found yours because you have a Sea Ray Seville. I plan to go back, study them further and take some notes

I bought a 85 Seville about a month and a half ago. It has the 3.0 engine that purrs like a kitten. The hull is in like new condition. Some surface scratches, but I've already buffed most of those out.

My intention was to use it this summer and then come winter do whatever repairs are needed. Well, after reading what you guys have to say, I realized I was just fooling myself. The stringers are all shot. The transom seems ok doing the tap test. I didn't do any core samples. No real point in it. I feel like you Goldie. If I'm going to go to the bare hull with this, then I might as well do the transom..

So I'm planning on a complete restoration. That's the only way to go and feel comfortable with it.

Again, Thanks everybody for all your help and advice so far.

Welcome aboard!!

 

[Goldie627]

Bevo just a heads up that Tap test is not very accurate,:doh: the only good way to test transom, stringers and bulkheads is doing core samples and even that is not 100% it only tells you that the wood is good or bad right where you took the sample. If you have any bad stringers your transom is most likely bad also. Mine felt solid, banged on it everywhere. Took some core samples and it showed a little wet wood here and there but when I finally cut the inner fiberglass skin and started prying the wood out wow was it a mess . That fiberglass shell is very strong and makes it seem like its all solid inside. Don't be fooled:nono:. Goldie sorry for the high jacking :eagerness:

The more the merrier buddy excellent advice by the way

 

[Goldie627]

Im going to make a video on evaluating the wood structure of a typical fiberglass boat like many of us own. Any info that should be included in such a video please post so that the video can help as many people as possible. Thank you all.

 

[Woodonglass]

Are you talking about the wood to buy to restore the boat, or the wood when inspecting the boat at the time of purchase?

 

[Goldie627]

Are you talking about the wood to buy to restore the boat, or the wood when inspecting the boat at the time of purchase?

Hey Wood, how are ya feeling? both topics would make awesome videos but yes, inspection of wood at the time of purchase. Many noobs don't understand the basic concepts of evaluating stringers, bulkheads, floors and transoms before purchasing. I know what i wanna say and show in the video but thought it would be nice to get some input from others before i make the vid. Its tuff because most salers will not allow core samples and surveyers are pricey but could be worth it if the boat is expensive. I wont go into too much detail in the vid but just want to arm potential fiberglass boat purchasers so they dont go in blind.

 

[Woodonglass]

I'll try to put some thoughts together and send you a PM.

 

[Goldie627]

 

[Goldie627]

I'll try to put some thoughts together and send you a PM.

Thanks Woody, no rush, whenever you get around to it

 

[Goldie627]

This is the first time my restoration has stopped me in my tracks. Does anybody know how to remove the windows? This is actually a little embarrassing :faint2:

 

[Goldie627]

Being a window and once I take the screws out, I don?t wanna excerpt and unnecessary pressure on the glass...

 

[Woodonglass]

There should be bolts under the dash.

 

[Goldie627]

There should be bolts under the dash.

Thats the kicker, where we think the bolts would be under the dash, there is what looks like a strip of wood covered in fiberglass, check 3rd pic down on post #373

 

[Mark72233]

My bet would be Its going to be covered in fiberglass. Cut or grind a small section clear and give it a look.

 

[Goldie627]

My bet would be Its going to be covered in fiberglass. Cut or grind a small section clear and give it a look.

Thanks Mark, I could not find a service manual, actually i don't think one exists, the only manuals are for the engine and outdrive :grumpy:. Google search for 1986 sea ray window replace and variant searches come back blank. Ive been thinking about your suggestion and comparing it with possible methods Sea Ray would have used in production. In the building process I cant see a manufacturing advantage in covering those screws/nuts, just seems odd. I thought they started with a fiberglass shell and built around it. I hope im not overthinking or over complicating this, If a better solution doesnt pop up by the time i get back to the boat your suggestion will be in full effect!! ​

Thanks again for the hint

 

[89 resorter]

Goldie, have you taken a look behind the rubber/plastic strip at the base of the window? It looks like that might pop out and maybe the screws are under there. I agree, I would imagine the factory would have installed the windshield after all glassing was completed and doubt they would of ran the screws up towards the windshield.

Good luck!

 

[Woodonglass]

Uhmm yeah, I think 89 Resorter might be on to something. That black insert is lookin suspicious.