Help please 1992 Century 2180 bay boat transom and floor repairs

[nolaboater]

hi all, I am new here, and might have a slight problem or two. I am the 3rd owner of the boat. The guy i bought it from was a good friend back in 2009, and the boat appeared to be well taken care of. When I bought the boat, I noticed it had soft floors, nothing too serious but soft none the less. I didnt think to check for water damage (my fault, young and ready to own a boat) so here I am now, worried about the transom and floors. Last year I noticed the floor was getting softer in some spots, and a few cracks in the transom corners. When I started looking at the transom, I noticed when they powered the boat, the screws they used pulled into the transom about 1/8 of a inch. There have been a lot of penitrations on the transom...two transducers, latter/diving board,bigle drain, deck drains, and live well drain. I tried shaking the motor this evening and didnt really notice any flexing, however, i have noticed in the past when loading the boat the transom gets a little flex to it. I'm not even sure how to get to the back of the transom, all i have is a 4"Hx8"W access hatch. Also I noticed the floor doesnt touch the stringers?...there seems to 1" inbetween the floor and them. How could I go about replacing the floor w/o anything to put wood down on? I've been looking over some of the other threads, and must seem to lay the boards down the stringers and screw them into place. Doesnt appear that i have that option. One thing I considered was to pull the shell out of the hull and try to repair it that way. I also started noticing a good bit of water holding in the bilge, the pump doesnt come on(yes i've tested it to make sure it does work). After looking over the other threads, I feel I am in a good place, everyone here seems very helpful and I'm sure someone can point me in the right direction. My budget for this project is about 2k. Please send all the advice you can, and see the photos below. Thanks again.

 

[nolaboater]

Re: 1992 Century 2180 bay boat

Re: 1992 Century 2180 bay boat

Here are some more pictures

 

[nolaboater]

Re: 1992 Century 2180 bay boat

Re: 1992 Century 2180 bay boat

Few More

 

[nolaboater]

Re: 1992 Century 2180 bay boat

Re: 1992 Century 2180 bay boat

last two for now!

thanks again for looking.

 

[nolaboater]

Re: 1992 Century 2180 bay boat transom and floor repair help

Re: 1992 Century 2180 bay boat transom and floor repair help

anyone? I know everyone here works on mostly older ski/ride around boats, but someone has to know about bay boats/center consoles.

 

[nolaboater]

Re: Help please 1992 Century 2180 bay boat transom and floor repairs

Someone? Anyone?

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Help please 1992 Century 2180 bay boat transom and floor repairs

Let's break this up a bit into smaller bites:

I am nowworried about the transom and floors. Last year I noticed the floor was getting softer in some spots, and a few cracks in the transom corners. When I started looking at the transom, I noticed when they powered the boat, the screws they used pulled into the transom about 1/8 of a inch. There have been a lot of penitrations on the transom...two transducers, latter/diving board,bigle drain, deck drains, and live well drain. I tried shaking the motor this evening and didnt really notice any flexing, however, i have noticed in the past when loading the boat the transom gets a little flex to it. I'm not even sure how to get to the back of the transom, all i have is a 4"Hx8"W access hatch. Also I noticed the floor doesnt touch the stringers?...there seems to 1" inbetween the floor and them. How could I go about replacing the floor w/o anything to put wood down on?

It's an OB, correct?

I've been looking over some of the other threads, and must seem to lay the boards down the stringers and screw them into place. Doesnt appear that i have that option. One thing I considered was to pull the shell out of the hull and try to repair it that way. I also started noticing a good bit of water holding in the bilge, the pump doesnt come on(yes i've tested it to make sure it does work). After looking over the other threads, I feel I am in a good place, everyone here seems very helpful and I'm sure someone can point me in the right direction. My budget for this project is about 2k. Please send all the advice you can, and see the photos below. Thanks again.

Gotta go, be back....

 

[Georgesalmon]

Re: Help please 1992 Century 2180 bay boat transom and floor repairs

Looks like your floor is part of the deck. Its a whole part molded just like the hull and then attached to the hull. As such it may not touch the stringers and be a free supporting floor built with a cored construction like balsa, maybe. Some pictures of the whole boat will help. Just thinking that you have some rotten core in the deck floor and from a nut and washer pulled into the inside of the transom maybe a rotten transom as well. You need to drill some small holes into the transom and deck floor and see what comes out. Dry wood or wet black mushy wood.

 

[zool]

Re: Help please 1992 Century 2180 bay boat transom and floor repairs

You have the pre yamaha century 1987-1994. I have a 1996 century 1800 cc with a soft spot but havent dug into it yet. I believe yamaha used a foam filled hull with foam wrapped stringers, and the molded deck is spaced off with blocks.

This is a 1994, when Marine Group bought them from Glasstream Group, which I believe Glassstream still used wood wrapped structure.

Glasstream Group - pre 1987
Marine Group - pre 1995







Im not sure how different the bay baots were constructed...

 

[nolaboater]

Re: Help please 1992 Century 2180 bay boat transom and floor repairs

Yes, it's got a yamaha 150 2 stroke outboard on it. I'm not 100% sure about the transom...I tried jumping on the motor to get it to flex, but haven't had any luck. Before I start drilling into to see of the wood is rotten, is there some kind of test I can do? Maybe tapping with a hammer or something to try and locate rotten wood.

On a different note, I drilled a small hole in the floor near and soft soft, I confirmed water in the wood. I then removed a the housing and found wood so rotten that I could remove it with my finger. It does appear to be a layer of gel coat/fiber glass then the wood, then more fiber glass. So replacing the wood shouldn't be as big as project as I thought. Any suggestions on what type of wood and fiber glass I should look into buying?

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Help please 1992 Century 2180 bay boat transom and floor repairs

Can you post some pics of the entire boat, both inside and out so we can give you more educated answers???

 

[nolaboater]

Re: Help please 1992 Century 2180 bay boat transom and floor repairs

Sorry for the delay, we are in the middle of a three phase company move! oh the joys!! (dont mind the seat saying blazer bay, the person that i bought it from had it installed. its actually a Century).

here are some more pictures of the whole boat and the area that needs repairs. I stopped by a local shop today just to talk with the owner about the repairs, he is guessing $1200 for the supplies and about 4-5 weeks worth of work? doesnt sound right to me. Let me know your thoughts and if you need more pictures or anything.

thanks again everyone.

 

[swadeab]

Re: Help please 1992 Century 2180 bay boat transom and floor repairs

You surely have a wet transom core. It's a laminate wood between 2 fiberglass panels. Things don't push or pull in (creating the recessed spots around bolts) unless the core has compressed, normally from rotting around bolt areas (improperly installed). Could just be a bit of rot around bolts (surely) but probably the core is wet too, it could go many years that way though. But there does seem to be the usual stress cracks which would tend to indicate you have soft areas up top as well. They don't look too bad though, if there's no movement when running you could go awhile like that.

Though not bad...the transom wood is only in that extended square section in back the motor mounts to, not where the drain plug is or the sides (ladder,etc) or the various accessories, those are likely in solid glass. Those aren't like flat backs where the whole back is wood laminate. I just did a transom on a similar setup.

But likely ends of stringers will be wet too. As builders lay a wood frame, then glass over. Wet in one area travels to an adjacent area. If the stringers seem solidly glassed you could theoretically replace from the outside, if they seem not heavily glassed you'd better get it repaired from the well side so the ends of the stringers can be examined. There will likely be knee braces in there as well.