89 Capri Transom + Stringer Replacement Planning (Yep another one!)

[89Crapi]

Hi all!

So my wife and I recently acquired our first "new" old boat... an 89 Bayliner Capri with a 2.3 sterndrive in it.

We've had it out about 4 times, amounting to 10-12 hours, and have enjoyed it superbly thusfar. Motor runs great and I've done some preventative maintenance on it to keep it so -- no complaints in that department.

As I've dug into the boat some, I've discovered that -- as could be expected on a boat of this age -- the stringers are rotted out. I haven't drilled cores on the transom to check it, but i assume it has the same problem to a degree. My first clue probably should have been that it has some plywood scabs added to the floor -- were right there to see when we purchased it -- but what can i say, I'm a n00b and didn't know to look for issues like the stringer and transom. My criteria were "does the motor run well" and "does it run on the water without taking on water", both of which this boat passed. So, here we are!

Anyway, now that I've discovered these issues with the stringers and (likely) the transom, I'm thinking it would be a good idea to replace them this fall. The wife and I are no strangers to DIY having done many home building and remodeling projects single-handedly, so while I'm sure there is much to learn to do this correctly, I'm confident that with the proper approach it's 100% doable. We'd really like to gut the whole interior and redo it anyway, so that would seem to be an opportune time to replace them. Until then, a few rules we've made for running it are:

* Don't run loaded to more than 50% of rated weight capacity
* No running on the ocean -- only on calm lakes (not much of an issue for us anyway since we're inland and would be mostly lake boating to start with)
* No pulling of tubes/skis etc
* NO JUMPING WAKES
* No hard turns on plane

I feel reasonably confident we'll be OK for the rest of the season with these ground rules, as despite the issues I've discovered, the following hold true:
* The hull feels pretty sturdy on the water (no observable flex)
* There aren't any observable stress cracks on the hull or the transom
* The transom does not flex when I put weight on the outdrive

I think it would be good, though, to start putting together the plan for rebuilding the transom and stringers after the season ends. The stringers seem pretty straightforward to me -- gut out interior, dig out rotten stringer dust, clean up and replace. The transom looks a little more involved though. Some of the things I'm thinking of and would like you guys' feedback on are:

* How to get the engine up out of the boat?
* What areas of the transom do I need to think of rebuilding here, and what is the best way to access it for repair without cutting the back of the boat off?
* From the research I've done, it's seems SeaCast would be a great (and PERMANENT) fix to the stringer/transom rot problem. I definitely plan to use it for the stringers -- with the design of my transom, will it work for it as well? Or do I need to stick to a generous portion of glassed up and epoxied plywood?

I'm sure as I get into planning this I'll have more questions... but this is a start! I've attached several pics of my transom to help you see what I have to work with.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Welcome aboard.

prior to doing anything, I suggest you read the stickies at the top of the forum. specifically link #14, which is the definative guide to boat restoration with pics and video.

to do your job correctly, you need to pull the motor, gut the complete boat, remove the cap, and go from there.

Estimate 500 hours of work, and about $3k in material sfor the stringers, transom, and floor. For interior, add another $2-3

you DO NOT cut off the outside of the boat. transom repair is done from the inside.

 

[89Crapi]

Scott, thank you very much for the feedback.

prior to doing anything, I suggest you read the stickies at the top of the forum. specifically link #14, which is the definative guide to boat restoration with pics and video.

I'd be happy to do that -- but I can't seem to find the link even after 20 of searching. Would you be so kind as to drop me a link to that thread?

you DO NOT cut off the outside of the boat. transom repair is done from the inside.

That was what I figured... just figuring how to go about disassembling that multi-facet transom is the tricky part!

 

[Scott Danforth]

here is a link to the sticky in the hull restoration forum (3rd of the stickies - first 3 topics are stickies)

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...r/295740-how-to-s-and-other-great-information

Here is link #14 http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...nature-deck-and-stringer-restoration?t=510077

the multi-facet transom is easy once you get the boat gutted. Read #14 in its entirety (including watching the videos)

 

[89Crapi]

So, the more I research on this topic, the more lucky I feel to have gotten the boat I did, even with the work it will need.

I paid $2,500 for it, which is about bottom dollar around here for anything that floats and has a running engine.

I could have gone ahead and paid another $6-8k... but even there I would have had something a MAX of 5 years newer, which by all accounts would have very likely had the same issues I have here. So even if I invest $4-5k in redoing the interior on this one, at least at that point I'll have something I KNOW is solid and that is build out exactly the way I like it inside. And if I'm willing to add some more on top of that, I could go ahead and replace the old OMC 2.3 with a small mercruiser power plant. Sure it will be a good deal of work up front, but the way I'm looking at it is that after it's all said and done I'll probably have something that's worlds better than what I could have bought at that price point -- and it will be configured exactly how I want it.

There's a light at the end of every tunnel!

So, for anyone who wants to chime in, as long as we're spending money, let's think about options! What would you do? Repower with a MerCruiser? A Volvo Penta? Any thoughts on cool interior layout changes we could make as we do this? I'd love to hear any suggestions.

 

[Speak]

I restored the exact same boat. See my signature. It's in my opinion an easy job in comparison to the boats that need the cap to come off. The 89 capris does not require this procedure. I put around 1500 -2000 in material including interior. Not including mechanical components. Probably another 500 there. Over all I have a solid boat that holds its own against the newer ones for a fraction of the price. I plan to re power to a 4.3 L merc in the fall. Good luck I will be watching

 

[Woodonglass]

I know you stated that you would NOT be jumping wakes and waves due to the poor condition of your boats stringers and transom, but...there are times on the lake when this is often just not possible. I would really hate to hear that you had a catastrophic event knowing that these conditions exist. I understand how much you want to use the boat but the risk you're taking could be great!!! If a sudden storm comes up you sometimes have no choice but to run hard for the dock on choppy water. Now that I've said my peace, make sure that you and all Passengers are always wearing their PFD's and you have a working air horn on board.

I wish you well!!

 

[fractalphreak]

I would echo what Speak said, the Capri design doesn't require cap removal.

My son and I have just splashed our 1983 1952 Cuddy, and based all our work off the stickies and projects we found here on iboats, especially WOG's stringer lamination schedule and FriscoBoater's Sea Ray project. It really is more about demo and woodworking than anything else. Lots of things to cut at angles and curves, and lots of opportunities to add your own finish touches.

We took the opportunity to build the boat bulletproof in a way Bayliner did not; we coated the bottom of the decks with CSM, made the stringer system a little beefier (we went from from the factory 1x4 dimensional lumber to laminated exterior plywood measuring 1 x 5.25, added 2x2 mini stringers along the outer full length strakes, glued cleats to stringers with epoxy, glued floor to cleats and stringers with epoxy) and adding some features we found on the next 10-15 years of their boats, went with a gelcoated deck with pecan shell no-skid so we can fish in it, etc... Ours was so rotten everything had to be rebuilt anyway, but we got it free...and expected to have to do that.

It took us 14 months from start to now (with a good five or six month break during winter in Western Washington when it was too cold to work in our outdoor boat carport.) We still have some finish work (sanding/varnish) on cuddy doors and stuff like that, but we took every single thing off the boat except the windshield and cap, and know how every bit went together and why, and where it came from. Its really satisfying, and it will be around for many years to come.

In our trek to obtain various needed parts and pieces we bought and stripped a 1988 1900 ski boat; it was also badly rotten and I did cut it up for disposal. I know the stringer system in the ski boats (versus the cuddy) is a lot more substantial in size based on my demo of that boat. Some of it was tough to get through! I trying to get to the point I can post some more information on what Josh and I did on our project for any other future Bayliner builds, its a testament to the depth of information available here on the forums. Even though I wasn't on the forums posting questions asking for help, I still found it by searching and reading most every night as I fought to get to sleep itching from bow to stern!

One mod we did is the rear seat boxes. My year did not have the corner of the boat boxed in and filled with foam like yours does. I did that to help with additional rigidity and floatation, and also to provide a stronger base for the seats. We also framed in around the opening for the rear seat box and put a removable plywood base so when the upholstered seat is removed, you still have something to step on to get in and out of the boat at the dock without the need to walk on your nice upholstery... We also cut down the size of the rear seat boxes (like yours, mine were too deep front to back) giving us more needed deck space in an already tight aft section.

 

[Grub54891]

Before going to far gutting it, once the motor is out, and during disassembly take tons of pics, lay a tape measure on most areas, and draw up plans as you go.​I did not do that and things took a fair amount of figuring out along the way. It's turning out nice though.

 

[52FordF2]

Measurements and Photo's lots of Photo's. And be sure to make back up copies after you take them :facepalm:. Sure I'll get around to it someday. Someday came when I lost my phone in Rota, Spain.