is this bsd

N

nathan005

New Member
Jul 29, 2008
22
saint clair shores
Boat Info
25 sundancer
Engines
5.7 260
is this bad

is this bad

I just bought a 1986 SD with only 467 original hours, very clean boat. After i brought it to my marina started poking around in the engine compartment and discovered some rotted wood that is located on the starboard side, its 3/4 ply and looks like a box that only about 6" to 8" tall from bottom and stops at the forward divide. not all of it is rotten just a small area closest to transom. CANT BELIEVE IS MISSED THIS!!!!
 
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nathan005 said:
is this bad

I just bought a 1986 SD with only 467 original hours, very clean boat. After i brought it to my marina started poking around in the engine compartment and discovered some rotted wood that is located on the starboard side, its 3/4 ply and looks like a box that only about 6" to 8" tall from bottom and stops at the forward divide. not all of it is rotten just a small area closest to transom. CANT BELIEVE IS MISSED THIS!!!!
Click to expand...

You're going to get the lecture about getting a survey, but not from me. That's water under the bilge at this point. That repair by itself is probably not going to be too much. It's the possibility of others like it that might be a little scary. From your description, it sounds like the worst place for holding water, so hopefully it's the only bad spot. If the box is not structural in nature, you may be able to replace it yourself. Good luck.
 
Would help knowing what your "1986 SD" refers to. Far as I know, Sea Ray was not making Sun Decks back in the 80s.

Best regards,
Frank
 
Re: is this bad

there was a survey done on the boat in 2007, but anyway i was at the marina all day yesterday but forgot take a picture, i will try explaining what i am talking about a little better. the wood that is rotted are basiclly shelfs sea ray installed in the engine compartment on each side of hull, for mounting freshwater holding tank, water heater ect. only a small portion is rotted, someone advised me to just cover it with starboard.
 
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Re: is this bad

nathan005 said:
the wood that is rotted are basiclly shelfs sea ray installed in the engine compartment on each side of hull, for mounting freshwater holding tank, water heater ect. only a small portion is rotted, someone advised me to just cover it with starboard.
Click to expand...

if any of those mentioned items are mounted in the area that is rotted the starboard is no good, it wont hold screws well.

You really should remove the shelf and repair it properly, if thats not something you want to do then screw a piece of gelcoated wood over the bad spot and keep boating, but remember that "box" probably has some water in it, and if they did not fully encapsulate the stringer or bulkheads for and aft inside of it then that too is rotting away.
 
my plan is to cut out just the areas that are rotted and insert a new piece of plywood
can anyone recommend a how to book or video on repairing this rotten bilge wood. never done anything like this before
 
tobnpr said:
Got a picture so we can figure out what you're talking about?
Click to expand...

+1 on the pic and info.

Hey man...again.... you are going to get better responses to your questions with a better description of your boat.

What size, model, power, etc.

We are all here to help you and really want to but "Crystal Ball" wasn't our best subject in school. :thumbsup:
 
It would be unusual to have rot only in that section. Check the stringers and transom too. Especially look around the limber holes. That is where most of the rot began on the old SRs. Sound the boat with a small ball peen hammer. Listen for dull thuds. That's where the rot will be.
 
transom is in good shape. stringe are good as well
just need some advice on what materials needed to fix and what steps to follow or some opinions on how to fix
 
I had a 1989 268 Sundancer, so I'm familiar with the "shelf". Never had rotting issues, but water did accumulate in that area.

I'm not a pro, but here's what I'd do...:smt115

Starboard would be the easier fix, but you want to open up the rotting section and check out what's under there. It might be foam filled, but you want to make sure any water that managed to get in there has a chance to be removed or at least evaporate. Once it gets in, there are no limber holes to drain the void. :wow:

Once you know its dry, cut the starboard to the same size as the shelf (or whatever will be sitting where the hole is such as a water heater) and screw it to the old shelf but make sure you use sealant between the starboard and old shelf. You don't want more water getting in there! Also seal between the hull sides/transom where the starboard butts up to it so you don't have standing water there either.:thumbsup:

There's my 2 cents - Good Luck!:smt038
 
Re: is this bad

nathan005 said:
only a small portion is rotted, someone advised me to just cover it with starboard.
Click to expand...

Best rip out all the wood in the area. Rot and mold aren't always visible. There's no sense in leaving any portion of a questionable piece in there only to have to do the job again when the rest rots out.

Starboard is great stuff. But it doesn't have the same structural rigidity as plywood. That and you can't use anything but screws or a special glue to hold it together. The special glue being a two-part adhesive that requires a special applicator gun and tips to apply. It's 3M Scotch-Weld DP-8005 and the glue, tips and gun are pricey (around $100 retail to get started).

If you went with starboard you'd probably have to make some changes in the design to properly support the weight of the tank on the shelf. An extra vertical piece here or there, for example.

You might also consider just making a new box out of marine plywood with the parts encased in fiberglass and resin and then painted with something like Awlgrip. That'll pretty much last as long as the rest of the boat. Just make sure your pieces can actually be put into that space. As in, don't assemble it whole and 'glass it only to find out it won't wiggle into the space).

If you do use wood again, use marine grade. Be sure to use stainless steel screws and use sealer on them.
 
nathan005 said:
here is a rough drawing to help
boat is still shrink wraped cant get any pics
Click to expand...

What size and model boat is this? There may be some one on the forum that has had the exact same problem and can tell you exactly what they did.:huh:

I would not be surprised if somebody has done this exact repair.

In any case, I suggest that you remove the piece or pieces that you need to replace, use the old pieces as templates and cut new pieces from marine plywood. Once you do that, get some fiberglass mat & resin and coat your new part. Assemble it with stainless screws and re-install. You might even end up glassing your new work back in it's original location. Fiberglass is easy to work with but requires caution. Take your time and you will get a lot of satisfaction from doing a good job.
 
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1986 searay 25 sundancer

some things i am not sure of are

1 what is inside the close offs

2 how to work with fiberglass/resin

3 what is going to support the new wood where it meets the
exsisting wood, transom & side hull (do i overlap the
new pieces with the old for support)
 
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Nathan,

What would be good for you is google some youtube videos on this stuff and watch how it's done. Then go get a small fiberglass mat and resin kit an a scrap piece of plywood and practice with it. Get a feel how the resin and hardner mix up. Get a small roller and coat the wood, then lay the mat on the wet surface. roll more resin over the mat. The goal is to totaly encapsulate the plywood with fiberglass so it will never get wet.

That was the intent with the pieces that are rotting on you but over time they were compromised and water got to the wood and it eventiually rotted. What is disturbing is that there may be more areas that are rotting since all of this fiberglass work was done at the same time.

Once you get a feel of how all this works,schedule a time to tear into your project and build new pieces for it. If the original pieces were glassed into the hull you will need to re-do that. It's easily done by sanding the old paint away to expose the original fiberglass work and by creating a mat/resin bond new to old. This is sort of like using paper mache when you were a kid...same basic concept just different materials.

Hope this helps.
 
Nathan,

Doing things yourself is a great idea and can be a real money saver but I think you need to ask yourself if this is something you should be tackling. There is absolutely no offense intended here but from your posts it doesn't sound like you have too much boat experience.

This may be a great time to bite the bullet and take the boat to a shop that specializes in this type of repair. If this were to turn out to be a structural issue you don't sound confident enough to really attempt this repair. Do you want to chance having a serious structural failure while offshore with friends and/or family on board?

Keep in mind the old, but true adage, "There's never time to do it right but always time to do it over."

Take the time and spend the money to ensure it's done right the first time. I would recommend you save money doing tuneups and impeller replacement and leave this type of job to the experienced expert.
 
I appreciate everyones advice, still not sure if it is something i want to do myself. Plus there is a lot of other minor maintenance i can do myself. On the other hand the only way to learn is by hands on experience.

Any one know a fiberglass guy in the metro detroit area.

What kind of price should i expect
 
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