"Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

[jumpjets]

I just bought my first boat, and I feel I got a great bargain on it. I have no experience with boats, so this will be an adventure and a learning experience for me.

Here are a few pics of the exterior. It is in pretty good shape, and the hull is still smooth and nice. The red area is really faded though. How can I bring life back into the red paint? Is there a special wash/wax/detail chemical set that will do this?

The interior is NASTY. I plan on replacing all of the seats. I have looked around the iboats store a little, but I don't know how compatible an aftermarket set of back-to-back seats will be with the current mounting config.

The boat was stored at the previous owners house with the outdrive trimmed full down. We trimmed it up to transport it to my house. Will it be OK sitting for the next 3 months with the outdrive up, or do I need to trim it down?

 

[jumpjets]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

The cabin is in good shape, except for the floor. I'll give it a hard scrubbing.

Are these holes on the floor of the cabin just drain holes for excess moisture, or do I need to plug them with something?

What can I do to get rid of the mold spots on the headliner of the cabin?

What is in here? There are two of these access ports on the floor. The aft port popped right open, and I found the fuel pump and the plastic fuel tank. What is in the front port?

The engine is in fantastic shape. It even has fresh oil. The previous owner winterized it for me by draining all the water out of 8 separate drain ports. I'd like to spruce it up by installing a vortec heads/cam package, but I need to learn the basics of boating before I start modding. Maybe next winter....

 

[jumpjets]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

It's pretty nasty under the engine. The hull drain plug has been removed so excess moisture can drain. I'll try to just scrub under there I guess.

What is this system? I believe the automotive style power steering pump on the front of the engine is the actual power steering. Is this the electro-hydraulic trim system for the outdrive? I've removed both batteries and stored them in my garage. I'll put a charger on them soon to keep them active.

Thanks in advance for all the help. I'll post progress pics once I start making progress.

 

[cpubud]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

welcome to the forum. nice boat ,on the big side for a first boat to learn on. but you will get the hang of it. trim the motor full down for the winter or anytime the boat is sitting on the trailer. less wear and tear on the bellows. congrates on the boat.

 

[fat fanny]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

Just for starters it would be a good investment to get the merc service manual's for both the engine and drive and read them cover to cover and then go from there ensuring the boat is actually in a safe runnable condition and then start the upgrades weather it be on the power plant or the interior and hull not necessarily in that order. M y priorities would be runability, structural and then astetics. Good luck nice rig and a better than average starter rig with allot of potential

 

[jumpjets]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

Just for starters it would be a good investment to get the merc service manual's for both the engine and drive and read them cover to cover and then go from there ensuring the boat is actually in a safe runnable condition and then start the upgrades weather it be on the power plant or the interior and hull not necessarily in that order. M y priorities would be runability, structural and then astetics. Good luck nice rig and a better than average starter rig with allot of potential

The previous owner was really good about keeping that stuff. I have the owners manual, the outdrive manual, and the engine manual. WHen I bought it I had the owner run it for over 20 minutes on earmuffs to ensure there was no overheating issues or anything. Once I de-winterize it, I'm gonna do a real thorough check of all systems again. I've checked over the entire structure, and it seems pretty good.

After xmas I'll go over the entire exterior with some quality west marine cleaning materials.

 

[jumpjets]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

welcome to the forum. nice boat ,on the big side for a first boat to learn on. but you will get the hang of it. trim the motor full down for the winter or anytime the boat is sitting on the trailer. less wear and tear on the bellows. congrates on the boat.

Stupid question: I have two batteries, with a dual battery switch. Just as a quick test before I left town for the holidays, I re-installed one battery, put the key in, and tried to trim the outdrive down. No luck. I moved the battery switch to all positions.

I'm guessing that even though the switch allows me to isolate individual batteries, I still need to have them both hooked up to complete the circuit. Is that true?

The battery I installed tested 12.3 volts when I hooked it up to my multimeter.

 

[fat fanny]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

It would sure seem to be enough juice but the circuit breaker may have been tripped (big red button) or you may have to have key on excessory? dunno the rig just work with her. Is that flooring just bare fiberglass? Got your work cut out for you on the interior

 

[jumpjets]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

It would sure seem to be enough juice but the circuit breaker may have been tripped (big red button) or you may have to have key on excessory? dunno the rig just work with her. Is that flooring just bare fiberglass? Got your work cut out for you on the interior

I didn't know there was a specific circuit breaker for that system, but it does make perfect sense. I'll check that, and install the second battery just to be sure I don't have to complete the entire circuit.

The floor looks like fiberglass, but on closer inspection, it seems to be 1" thick wood plate with fiberglass/paint on the surface. I don't like boats with carpeted floors, so I plan to scrub it and leave it that way. I'm already looking at new seats, and re-upholstering the other cloth interior. I'm not gonna completely redo everything.

 

[produceguy]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

Nice looking rigg. I really like that style.

 

[produceguy]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

What do the those wires go to comeing out of the transom under the ladder?

 

[TimberwolfFXDL]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

Nice one! I'm jealous! My biggest boat to date is just under 19'. I'd like to find a small cuddy boat like that. I'm assuming the 216 inthe name means it's 21'6"?

Mind if I ask what you paid?

I've been buying up several project boats during the winter months and restoring them. I'd love to find one like that as a keeper.

 

[jumpjets]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

What do the those wires go to comeing out of the transom under the ladder?

I'm 90% sure those are the wires going to the depth finder.

Nice one! I'm jealous! My biggest boat to date is just under 19'. I'd like to find a small cuddy boat like that. I'm assuming the 216 inthe name means it's 21'6"?

Mind if I ask what you paid?

I've been buying up several project boats during the winter months and restoring them. I'd love to find one like that as a keeper.

I had been casually browsing craigslist for almost a year. I found this guy up in washington DC, about 300 miles away. I paid $3000 for it. To my untrained eye, it seems to be in fantastic shape, aside from the seats and the faded paint.

I know that it's 21ft long, I don't know about the 6" though. That is very possible that it's 21' 6" I suppose.

For christmas, I got $150 in gift cards to West Marine. I'm thinking that I'll get the boat up to safety code by getting a new fire extinguisher, and throwable flotation device, and some flares with that money. I'll also look at getting some quality wax and wash, and any other products you guys recommned to restore the exterior shine.

Any recomendations?

 

[jumpjets]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

The weather was decent today, so I worked on the boat for a while.

First, I reconnected the batteries and lowered the outdrive to the full down position.

Next, I removed all spark plugs and opened the throttle with the transmission disengaged. I did a compression test on all 8 cylinders. The lowest was 145psi, and the highest was 165psi. The average was 150psi.

Next I fogged all 8 cylinders with WD40, as well as all 4 bbls of the carburetor, then put everything back together.

The engine built oil pressure every time I cranked it, and the compresssion was good, so I'd say the engine is in good shape.

I bought some earmuffs so I can test the engine once I de-winterize it. Are these the right kind of earmuffs? Is this the correct water inlet?

Is this how they should look properly installed?

 

[jumpjets]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

Well, I ran into a pretty big problem today. I found a soft spot in the floor about the size of a softball. I tried to avoid stepping on it the rest of the day to avoid collapsing it and falling in. It is immediatley behind the rear facing "front/back" seat on the drivers side. If the driver had a passenger sitting directly behind him, that passenger would have his feet resting on the soft spot.

How critical is this to repair? Ideally, I would like to cut out the soft spot, and put in a floor patch of the exact same size. I'm worried about cutting into the fuel tank or other important systems though if I take a circular saw to the floor of the boat.

I don't have the knowledge of time to replace the entire floor myself yet. I could think about that next year maybe.

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

You need to read my thread. I found a soft spot too, and it has turned into a complete deck and stringer job.

 

[jumpjets]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

THose videos you're making are the most helpful thing i've ever seen. I read all your thread and watched the videos. My soft spot doesn't seem nearly as bad as yours, but it's what's underneath it that matters I guess. I saw that your fuel tank in in the middle just in front of the engine. Is that a standard place to put the tank? WHen I cut out my soft spot, I don't want to inadvertantly cut the tank.

Please excuse this very ignorant question I have: what is the real danger in having some rot? As far as I can tell, the main dangers are increased weight, and decreased structural integrity. How much of the structural integrity is from the stringers? Are they the backbone of the construction, or is the fiberglass hull the main load bearing structure?

If someone took a rotten boat out on the ocean for a day and ran around at full throttle, would they be at risk for a total hull failure?

 

[fat fanny]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

Just a note on the use of the muff's it would be a good idea when in use to put them on the other way so the spring bar is behind the outdrive so in case the drive get's engaged on accident the prop doesn't trash it and your supply hose. Also Harbor frieght sells a good 7" polisher for around 30 bucks which I personally own and works great maintaining the the hulls up keep. By the way take Frisco's advice and see the tragic suprise he ran into on his new rig if it were me I would noot prolong the inevitable open that soft spot up and see what your in for besides that keep it covered up and water tight and re- winterize it after running it then start reading up on deck restoration.

 

[jumpjets]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

After reading friscoboaters thread and watching his video, the suspense was killing me, so I went out to my boat to investigate.

Sadly, I was able to stab a screwdriver right though the rot just as he described. The picture above is what I pulled up with a claw hammer and my fingers over a 5 minute period. Once I opened up that hole, I stabbed the screwdriver in every direction, and met ALOT of restistance everywhere I stabbed.

My plan is as follows. Tomorrow, I'm going to take a circular saw and cut out the affected area that I have found. I'll make the cut using a 30* blade angle. Next, I'll get a replacement piece of plywood and cut it to size also using a 30* blade angle. I'll coat the board with _______________(please fill in the blank) and drop it in place using_____________ as adhesive. Then, I'll cover it with _______________ in order to make it look like I haven't done a patch job. Following that, I'll enjoy the boat the rest of the summer, and evaluate whether I want ot replace the deck in summer of 2012, or sell the boat as a project and move on.


Right now I'm pretty confident that the mushy stuff is localized in the area depicted.
Opinions?

 

[produceguy]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

Only one way to find out.