"Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

[produceguy]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

You have a nice boat and if I was you I would do it right the first time so that way you and your wife could enjoy it longer without doing any future repairs.
Lets say you patch it for now. Later you'll have to pull everthing back out and start again.
Why? It's your boat and do what you want but I hate to see anybody half_ss anything.
Good luck and I mean it, it's not sarcasim.

 

[jumpjets]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

I remember feeling the same way my fiirst season as I to spend $ for purchasing , $ for repairs & debug, $ for fuel & water toys (tube & skis etc) and lots of labor as I made repairs and learned so many things as a die hard do it yourselfer.
My wife had actually suggested I make a boat purchuse and I was eager to fullfill her dreams with a used but basicly solid boat. She became less supportive as the size and cost of the project became apparent over the first few months. The boat was in good shape overall but needed lots of TLC on the trailer and misc boat items. Luckily we are into winter here in Vermont which is giving us a break and most ( but not all ) of the repairs have been done.

If you can get through the first season things should get easier after that. Or at least thats what I have been telling myself and still beleive as I look forward to season 2.

While this is perhaps not the perfect repair --If you can epoxy coat your repairs and keep your deck sealed you should be able to do it in sections. I personally dont feel that it is essential to have avery bit of rotten wood out of the boat at all times. Engine stringers and transom should obviously get reaired asap. The others will be their when you get to them.

As you said above these boats were very well constructed. The hulls are very heavy and I doubt a weak stringer will ever be noticed if the plywood is solid on top.

Its also a good idea to get some run time on the boat to allow for setting any priorities on repairs & maintenance and allowing for sime time to learn the finer points of operation. Hopefully having some fun in the process.

Good luck

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm glad to see someone who understands my point of view!

You have a nice boat and if I was you I would do it right the first time so that way you and your wife could enjoy it longer without doing any future repairs.
Lets say you patch it for now. Later you'll have to pull everthing back out and start again.
Why? It's your boat and do what you want but I hate to see anybody half_ss anything.
Good luck and I mean it, it's not sarcasim.

Truth be told, I'm really enjoying tearing into this boat, and I like doing the repair work. I have extremely limited time to work on it though. I'm deploying to Afghanistan this coming fall, and my whole unit is working ridiculous hours to prepare for it .(12 hours a day, 6 days a week average) My wife wants to spend as much time together as possible, and she doesn't want me to spend every weekend for the next 6 months repairing the boat. She wants a functional watercraft that we can enjoy this summer.

Once I get back from Afghanistan, I'll have lots of time and money to do a full restoration, and I'm looking forward to doing a full resto/customization.

 

[proshadetree]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

Jumpjets Thank you for your service to our country. Repair the boat as you wish knowing that you will be back in there. It will at least give you a serviceable ride until time permits better. I have seen but do not recommend several boats being tested without a floor or stringers. Not wake jumping just running. Check those bellows and make sire you have a good bilge pump. I know this is going to sound stupid. Raise the nose as high as you can get it, install the bilge plug and fill the bilge with water until it is over the lower cutout on the transom but not up to the drive shaft. No leak transom will probably last a season. If it leaks A transom repair is probably in order. Please do not run her wit ha leaking transom good way to sink it. Once more thank you for your service and I hope you get that time on her before you leave.

 

[jumpjets]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

Jumpjets Thank you for your service to our country. Repair the boat as you wish knowing that you will be back in there. It will at least give you a serviceable ride until time permits better. I have seen but do not recommend several boats being tested without a floor or stringers. Not wake jumping just running. Check those bellows and make sire you have a good bilge pump. I know this is going to sound stupid. Raise the nose as high as you can get it, install the bilge plug and fill the bilge with water until it is over the lower cutout on the transom but not up to the drive shaft. No leak transom will probably last a season. If it leaks A transom repair is probably in order. Please do not run her wit ha leaking transom good way to sink it. Once more thank you for your service and I hope you get that time on her before you leave.

Leak check the transom....I'll be sure to do that! Sinking is a big fear of mine.

 

[jumpjets]

Re: "Freshening" up a 1990 wellcraft eclipe 216

I got A LOT of work done today. The end of this project is near. I got the new stringer replacements finalized, and epoxied them into place. It took a little bit of work to get the aft stringers that connect to the transom shaped right. I ended up using cardboard templates. Once they were locked in, I precut nylon fiberglass sheets to fit over all the stringers. Next, I mixed up the resin, and got to work slopping that stuff all over everything. I put double layers on all the joints where stringers connect to other parts, and I went crazy with layers locking the stringers to the transom.

Afterward, I went back to the hardware store to get some plywood, and cut it into shape to patch the deck. The plywood was a fresh delivery, and it was wet. I didn't want to fiberglass in wet wood, since that was the root of the problem in the first place, so I'm letting it dry out in my garage for the week, and I'll seal/glass it in next saturday. At some point, I'll paint the deck patch white to match the rest of the boat.

She'll be ready for the water soon!