Hoping for some guidance

[Johnnyski33]

Hi all, I’ve come looking for a little guidance as I don’t really know where to start. Several years ago I came to be the owner of my uncles beloved boat after he passed away. Unfortunately between the time of his passing and me acquiring it, it had been left uncovered and in the elements for a year. Since I got it I’ve kept it in my garage but haven’t had the means or time to go through and work on it. I’m finally ready to but have no idea where to start. The boat is I believe a 1979 260 weekender. The cabin is in ruins, looks as a squirrel got in and shredded the cushions and the carpet on the deck is shot. The seats don’t appear to be in too poor of condition. The teak platforms down the center were apparently taken out somewhere along the way and someone put plywood down which has pretty much turned to sawdust. I’m a former mechanic of 15 years so I have plenty of mechanical ability and do a large amount of custom woodworking as well. If anyone has restored their cabins and could share some pictures and ideas that would be awesome. I would also like to come up with a new design of rear seating over the engine if anyone has ideas to share for that as well. Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[JVM225]

That boat looks like it could be a real beauty!
You may want to just make sure there are no problem areas in the hull and stringers before you get too deep in to it.
Look for soft spots in the deck, transom, etc..
Once you know the boat itself is solid, you can really use your skills to make it a fantastic boat.
There is a guy in the Classic Sea Ray section that is documenting his restoration of a big 1987 Sea Ray (link to his blog https://my1987searay.com/author/1987searay/ for some great reading) and if you spend some time reading threads in that section of this site you’ll find lots of other guys who have done some great things with their older boats.

 

[dvx216]

If you really want to bring this boat back to life there is more damage then you can see on the surface. This boats internal structure is made of wood and if not maintained and stored correctly the wood gets wet freezes and rots in your neck of the woods. The stringers and transom the bones of the boat if damaged they need repaired or replaced before anything else is fixed.

 

[sbw1]

I bought a 1979 26 foot Express Cruiser brand new at the boat show in 1979 and put 3800 hours on it without any problems. The construction standards and practices were very elementary back in the day. Lots of of plywood was use in the boat and it delaminated even with with good care. I'm talking about deck hatches specifically. Everyone of mine needed to be replaced within 4 years. The stringers were something else. Many were not tabbed to the hull. I never did anything about that and ran the boat through some pretty big Lake Michigan seas without any problems. The only thing that saved us was the hull was apparently strong enough on its own as to not come apart. I'm not sure I would invest time or money in an old boat built to 1979 standards. Sea Ray improved its quality quite a lot by 1986 when I bought my next new boat.

 

[Golfman25]

Get yourself a moisture meter and a hammer. Check the transom thoroughly. You're looking for the dreaded "hollow" sound. Then check the stringers. If both are good, you could have a nice project. If either are bad, maybe the engine is worth something. Good luck.