My abandoned Srv180 project

R

RogerFromHolland

New Member
Aug 27, 2013
15
Lanaken (Belgium)
Boat Info
1971(?) Sea Ray srv180, fully restaured, new upholstery, new wiring, and new paintjob
Engines
rebuilted mercruiser 3.0 130hp
Hi guys

I got myself already proposed in the who's who section, but for the people who missed that i'll tell you how i got my beautiful SeaRay.
I was on vacation and a few miles from the camping spot there were some abandoned boats standing in the bushes left to rot.
One of them was a SeaRay srv180. I felt bad abouit the fact that somebody just left such a beautiful boat there and i wanted to buy it so i began a search for the owner. After three months i got the message from the property owner where the boat was that the owner had passed.
we began a search after the owners family and the property owner found them and told me thje boat was for sale. i bought it right away!
So i took her home and gave her a big cleanse.
this is how she stood there for the last ten years



after the deep cleanse she looked like this...


a little bit better but still not how it should be, so i began the stripping and sanding...




then she got the white paintjob


after that she got her red paint, the color used is apple red from mercedes benz used on the A220 also known as the 1955 ponton.





then i played with some carbonfiber foil on the dash and started with the upholstery (custom made by my father)



after that she got new wiring and a new fuel tank, new fuel pipe and the rebuild engine came in. unfortunately i didn't take fictures of that.
so here's the to do list...
-polishing the windshield and built it on
-search light on the deck
-test the engine
-paint the bottom with white antifouling
-buy or built a new trailer, this one i got for free from a scrap dealer and it's all rotten and both axles have no brakes
 
Looks great, I assume the $$$ was very low as it was sitting in the weeds for 10 years, Nice find.

I have 2 questions.

Did you get a title in your name before starting the project?

How was the transom & stringers when you checked them?


LK
 
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Wow! Great work. And nice before and after pix. I look forward to seeing more!

Thanks and welcome to CSR.
John
 
very nice start...that one might have scared even me just a little to do
how were the transom , stringers and floors when you started ??
 
WOW!! Great rebuild project. Keep the pics coming.
Go to the "Hole in The Water" thread and enter your project. After stringent review your project qualifies for this prestigious honor.:thumbsup:
(I'm not speaking out of turn here am I Grand Poobah?)
 
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Nice project. Thanks for sharing.
 
OldSkool said:
WOW!! Great rebuild project. Keep the pics coming.
Go to the "Hole in The Water" thread and enter your project. After stringent review your project qualifies for this prestigious honor.:thumbsup:
(I'm not speaking out of turn here am I Grand Poobah?)
Click to expand...

Pyrojodge said:
As Sargent at arms I support you Bill!
Click to expand...
I will always support my troops decisions :thumbsup:
besides that ...I am getting one similar in a couple of weeks :wink:
 
Jack380AC said:
Wow. Great work! Too bad I will never be able to retire so I could do something like that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
you have to retire to restore old boats :huh:
I must be doing it wrong :wink:
 
first of all, thank you all very much for the nice comments.
I bought it relatively cheap indeed, but if i count the hours and materials it would have been cheaper to buy a complete one.
But i think this is more fun, and i made the wiring myself, made my own fusebox and made my own schedule of all the wiring, rebuilt the engine myself...
so i have much more satisfaction of it, and when something is wrong i know how it works because i made it myself.
and when you buy a secondhand boat, there is always 1 thing that you don't like. this i made exactly like i wanted it.
the floor, transom and stringers are in very good condition. I couldn't believe it when i saw it! I immediately thought ''i'm taking this baby home with me''

alwhite00: what do you exactly mean with ''Did you get a title in your name before starting the project?''
My english is not very bad but some sentences i have to translate. but this translated not very well on google...
Do you mean if i have a name in mind for the boat? i do ;-)
 
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Roger great work so far. I love the lines on the older Sea Rays. What Alwhite means is do you have the registration to legally own the boat? Or does the previous owners family still have it ? It would be foolish to put so much time,work and money into a project without legally owning it.
 
RogerFromHolland said:
first of all, thank you all very much for the nice comments.
I bought it relatively cheap indeed, but if i count the hours and materials it would have been cheaper to buy a complete one.
But i think this is more fun, and i made the wiring myself, made my own fusebox and made my own schedule of all the wiring, rebuilt the engine myself...
so i have much more satisfaction of it, and when something is wrong i know how it works because i made it myself.
and when you buy a secondhand boat, there is always 1 thing that you don't like. this i made exactly like i wanted it.
the floor, transom and stringers are in very good condition. I couldn't believe it when i saw it! I immediately thought ''i'm taking this baby home with me''

alwhite00: what do you exactly mean with ''Did you get a title in your name before starting the project?''
My english is not very bad but some sentences i have to translate. but this translated not very well on google...
Do you mean if i have a name in mind for the boat? i do ;-)
Click to expand...
the title here in the US is the transferable certificate of ownership
if you don't get a title for a vehicle and you do alot of work on it the person who DOES have the title for it can come take it and pay you nothing ...
That boat is probably old enough to not have a factory hull id number...no title either
 
aha now i know what you mean... No i have the registration and all the papers.
i think it would be very stupid to buy a boat without registration.
i allready have it registrated on my name and all the paperworks are fine. That was the first thing i've done after i bought her.
there was no hull number and the registration papers were old and ever been wet so they were hard to read.
so they changed the registration, the old one is signed out and it's now registrated as self build.

It's also required by law to have a name for your boat because it's also listed on the registration papers.
So i named her ''trovatello'' which means foundling or find in italian.

I really want the CSR stickers on my boat, but i can't figure out if it's possible to send them to holland...
 
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RogerFromHolland said:
aha now i know what you mean... No i have the registration and all the papers.
i think it would be very stupid to buy a boat without registration.
i allready have it registrated on my name and all the paperworks are fine.
Click to expand...

I buy them all the time...
as long as there are no HIN stampings our state will assign a number to be engraved into the hull
then send a title...very few pre-1973 boats have an HIN number cast into the hull.
without HIN all transactions are done with a signed and dated bill of sale.
 
WOW !!! Very nice job getting her back in like new condition. :thumbsup: . :thumbsup: .
 
You say you buy them all the time. So that means you know what you're doing and you know how it works in the us.
I had no idea what i should do if i bought a boat without registration. So i won't ever buy one without registration.
I don't know how usa is but over here in europe laws are very strict, and i really don't want any kind of problems so i always make sure there is a registration.
 
Hi guys

it's been a while since i posted here. Had some difficulties in my personal life, got divorced etc etc.
But now i have my life back together and i'm ready to pick up the restauration of my SRV180.

The paintjob and upholstery was done in 2013. The 3.0 Mercruiser also have been completely rebuilt and the wiring was completely new.
so two weeks ago i got her to the water on my old crappy trailer and she had her first run in almost 15 years!!
I think she enjoyed it just as much as i did!!
but as i expected there are some little problems i need to fix before she is completely perfect...
- one of the trim cilinders on the mercruiser alpha one drive leaks, seals are ok but the housing is rusted and could not handle the pressure so there is a very little hole in it.
- ignition timing has to be checked again and also the carb
- i have no 12v from ignition to coil. so i took a wire and took the 12v directly from the battery
- rpm gauge doesn't work
- trim gauge doesn't work
- fuel gauge doesn't work
- not happy about the windshield
- alternator doesn't work
- bottom needs to be painted. some idiot in the past painted it with antifouling so the only way to get it done properly is paint it with new antifouling.

So there are a few things needing attention.
I'm thinking about changing all instruments, but i don't want modern instruments. They need to fit in with the boat...
And also the windshield is giving me a headache. Does somebody know if SeaRay fitted real glass or plexiglass in this model?
Mine are plexiglass but i don't think it's original. i don't have the original seals and i'm having trouble getting the windshield fitted correctly.
 
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