He's back....

[BarryCF]

Well, finally thought to look in the junk folder and found my password reset email

I do not recall the last time I commented here, but it's been years. Still have the same boat, 29 years now. 1983 Sea Ray 245 Cuddy Fish. I bought the boat in 1993 and we used it on the lake for about 15 years. Then the gimble ring broke and being cheap I waited to do the work myself. At some point I decided paying a small fortune to keep an unused boat in dry storage made no sense, but I couldn't sell her. So, I bought a trailer and found a place to store her outside at a reasonable rate. At that time I lived in a neighborhood on the typical half acre lot with restrictions. At some point I stopped checking on the boat, the cover rotted away, and she got real dirty And equipped with a hornets nest under the engine cover.

New owners of the storage place raised the rates to a level I was not willing to pay now that I have an 8 acre place, so I brought her home and have started the restoration process. After getting a pressure wash and hornet removal she looks OK. The sole is weak in a couple spots so I was afraid the stringers and transom might be rotted. However, so far it looks as though it is only the plywood in the sole, probably from the lack of any sealing where the seats bolt in and 40 years later...

I took off the swim platform today and pulled the outdrive in preparation for pulling the motor. I plan to go back with a bracket and a 300hp outboard. That free's up 3 more feet of space as I have also removed the old fishbox just in front of the transom. As long as I don't find really bad rot. All the screws I took out of the transom were clean and when I put them back in to fill the hole they torque down nicely, so far so good.

Lots of work ahead but I love the boat and it is the boat my kids grew up with. I need pictures of the grandkids on the same boat, and same old man.

I'll post some pics when I figure it out.

 

[BarryCF]

Lets see if this will work, a shot from this afternoon after removing the swim platform and stern drive.

Sure does, thanks to Boat Builder Central that hosts pictures for use in build threads. Good place for boating supplies for restoration and building. Well, a shameless plug since they are providing the picture hosting.

 

[BarryCF]

What she looked like upon arrival...

And after a little cleanup with water under pressure:

 

[Bill Curtis]

Ah, a resurrection of an old favorite and a labor of love and respect.

Will be following this one.

 

[BarryCF]

You are not the first person to replace outdrive with outboard. Do it right. Usually requires reinforcing transom, they weren’t built to have that much weight hanging off the back.

Understood. I'm just hoping the transom (and stringers) has no rot at this point. So far it looks OK, but I'll know more when I get the stern drive transom assembly out. I can then measure the current transom thickness and see if there is any rot. Since it has to come out no need to go drilling exploratory holes. Beefing up the transom, should it be required, will be fairly easy to do.

Trying to figure out the horizontal center of gravity of the old stern drive so I can calculate the change is a challenge. No where have I been able to find a reliable figure for this, so I'm left with best guess methods. The only weight I can move forward are the batteries. A couple of those weigh about 120 pounds and I'm pretty sure I can move those 4 times the distance of the outboard, which helps quite a bit and may be enough. I may be able to move the 120 gallon gas tank slightly, but I know there is only a few inches of forward space to work with.

 

[Gofirstclass]

Welcome back and I'll be following this thread like I do Nater Potater's thread.

 

[BarryCF]

Ah, a resurrection of an old favorite and a labor of love and respect.

Will be following this one.

Thanks, Bill. I just hope it doesn't have an amount of rot that makes it uneconomical. I think it's OK, all indications so far are just sole replacement, which isn't too bad. I probably will not get much further than the teardown in the short term. I'm also restoring a '98 Winnebago motor home, dealing with rotten wood with that as well. It's just about ready to start putting back together.

 

[BarryCF]

A short update:
In preparation for removing the engine I got enough stuff out of my way to get a bit better access to the transom on the inside. I discovered that all my prodding and pushing had missed a bad area on the port side of the transom. It's odd because the transom appears solid in the area the sterndrive mounts and on the port side from the outside. But it is definitely rotted on the port side. So, a new transom at a minimum along with the new deck. There will probably be at least some rot in the port side stringers that will need replacement. I will know more when I get a portion of the deck and stringers removed to provide the needed access to the transom.

Anyway, there is no rush for me. I can work on it when the weather is nice enough. And when I finish I'll know that it is better than when it was delivered due to the proper marine plywood and epoxy being used, plus I will do the job properly. Anyone contemplating this kind of rework really needs to check the forum at Boat Builder Central. Lots of help for the novice can be found there.

 

[BarryCF]

Slowly but surely...
I've been working off and on. I have built a gantry to get the engine out. I still have to get the 10 ft beam (double 2x10's + 1/2 plywood) up on the top and then fasten the supports.

I'm resigned to the fact that I will have to redo the transom, the sole, and some amount of stringers. To redo the transom requires cutting the stringer back 12-18 inches anyway. I have all the old material stripped from the topside and will renew everything up there. Inside the cuddy is in pretty decent condition, remarkable given the material is one year short of 40. I may just give it a good cleaning and keep it as is. So, a lot of work ahead, and I'm slower than I used to be, but not dead just yet In fact, I'm thinking about a 2nd boat after this one, something a bit bigger, trailerable, with enough room to spend a few days on. Thinking about a Sundancer 270 with the 10ft beam. Not too new, I like the classic style. Perhaps mid 80's to mid 90's.

I'm going to drive my bride crazy...

 

[BarryCF]

The beam is up, so now it's ready to pull the engine out. Much bigger pain in the rear than I expected, I'll be happy to get this complete. The gantry is pressure treated so I can store it outside and use it for other things.

 

[muskokamarc]

Barry, if you are interested... I have two brand new original SeaRay logo's I am willing to sell. I can see you are missing one. I am located in Canada and would have to ship them across the border to you.

 

[BarryCF]

Barry, if you are interested... I have two brand new original SeaRay logo's I am willing to sell. I can see you are missing one. I am located in Canada and would have to ship them across the border to you.

Maybe. I'll have to measure and get my dimensions. Some are different as I bought a replacement once that didn't fit.

 

[BarryCF]

A last update before the "big lift". Everything is ready, just need to go over my checklist again and then it should only take a few minutes. Tested the lift and the motor came loose. I set it back down as I wasn't ready just yet. Had to move the motor home, which had a dead and not recoverable battery so I discovered the battery price has doubled since I last bought one.

Got it out of the way and hooked up the trailer, just lift the engine and drive out from under...

 

[BillK2632]

"Just lift the engine and drive out from under it" simple right? What could possibly go wrong

Loving this thread and watching this old girl come back to life.

Where in NC are you?

 

[BarryCF]

"Just lift the engine and drive out from under it" simple right? What could possibly go wrong

Loving this thread and watching this old girl come back to life.

Where in NC are you?

Hello Bill, I'm just outside Huntersville. This boat has only been on two lakes, Erie (first owner) and Lake Norman.

 

[BillK2632]

Hello Bill, I'm just outside Huntersville. This boat has only been on two lakes, Erie (first owner) and Lake Norman.

Ok - well I might need to come check on the progress - I live in Charlotte and keep my boat in dry storage at Lake Norman.

 

[BarryCF]

Ok - well I might need to come check on the progress - I live in Charlotte and keep my boat in dry storage at Lake Norman.

You're welcome anytime. It will be a slow recovery with all the other stuff I have. I just want to make steady progress. I'd like to get the transom done over the winter and whatever stringer rot exists replaced. Then the sole. AT that point I'll be ready to start on the little things and getting the bracket and outboard mounted and rigged. I doubt it will see the water before the end of next summer. Just PM me when you have a chance and I'll give you my cell #

 

[BarryCF]

The motor is out and on the ground. That was the easy part and occurred drama free

I have to dismantle the gantry and drag the motor to it's storage spot, and get the boat back in place. After that I'll get the rest of the stuff off the transom and clean it all up. Then it will be time to add extra support to the hull while I'm dismantling and restoring the old rotted wood that I find.

 

[BarryCF]

I did get the bellhousing/transom parts all off the transom. Nothing left inside now. The transom is as expected, completely rotted at the bottom. The good thing is it will probably be fairly easy to get the old wood out with it being that bad. I expect the stringers to have a fair amount of rot as well, now that I see the transom up close. From my reading, the foam used by Sea Ray as flotation and cavity filling soaked up water like a sponge, which means that probably all the old classics have some degree of rot. In any event, it can all be replaced and it will be a better boat than left the factory when complete. I'll use all marine ply, okoume, and epoxy. It should outlive me.

It will be slow going for a while. I'm headed to the coast for a few weeks, and when I return have a large work project. After that I'll get started on the transom and finishing up some of my restoration on a motor home I'm rebuilding. Plenty to do this winter...

 

[Fahrphrompuken]

I feel your pain, am currently in the transom rot removal process as well. You aren't kidding about the foam soaking up water. I started poking into the foam between the stringers with wood skewers and let them sit for a few hours and then pulled them out to see how much moisture they picked up. They didn't start coming out dry until I was about 6 feet forward of the transom. Like you said, in the end it will be better than new.