Winter Work List - Sea Ray 560

Nope. No Sea Ray contributions anticipated... I had been told that this could be a $5,000 repair to grind down the outer fibreglas in that area, repair/replace the coring material and rebuild it. Let's see if anything is necessary first.

Paul
 
Met with the marina manager and service manager yesterday at the Toronto International Boat Show. It's nice to have folks you know and trust to do the work. We dropped the prop rotation as it was deemed unnecessary. Other stuff is in process. I'll get quotes on each item before they proceed. I'm excited because with the fibreglas work done and the boat polished up, it'll look great. It was a little grubby last year and in need of a good polish. Didn't want to waste the time or money late in the year with the need for some fibreglas repairs.

I'm definitely going to get the NuTeak at least on the swim platform (to cover up the crappy fibreglas work that had been done before).

The guys thought that adding the square aluminum tube to raise the platform was a great idea - which came from fellow CSR member Jack - Earthmover17 - thanks! We'll also make some adjustments that were suggesting by fellow member Boatingfool - Mike - Thanks.

There were also a number of other times in the conversation when I said, you know a member on the Club Sea Ray site recommended... You gotta love this site as a valuable resource to help me with my boat. To all who have chipped in - thanks!:smt038

Paul
 
Met with the marina manager and service manager yesterday at the Toronto International Boat Show. It's nice to have folks you know and trust to do the work. We dropped the prop rotation as it was deemed unnecessary. Other stuff is in process. I'll get quotes on each item before they proceed. I'm excited because with the fibreglas work done and the boat polished up, it'll look great. It was a little grubby last year and in need of a good polish. Didn't want to waste the time or money late in the year with the need for some fibreglas repairs.

I'm definitely going to get the NuTeak at least on the swim platform (to cover up the crappy fibreglas work that had been done before).

The guys thought that adding the square aluminum tube to raise the platform was a great idea - which came from fellow CSR member Jack - Earthmover17 - thanks! We'll also make some adjustments that were suggesting by fellow member Boatingfool - Mike - Thanks!

There were also a number of other times in the conversation when I said, you know a member on the Club Sea Ray site recommended... You gotta love this site as a valuable resource to help me with my boat. To all who have chipped in - thanks!:smt038

Paul
 
Further update - core sample completed and everything is fine!:smt038 Core is dry and there's no sign of delamination.

Other work is in process...
 
Do you have the updated bow thruster prop? http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=11673

I have the old design but recently read some comments that it is a worthy swap.

You may also want to have your props scanned. It doesn't cost you anything and you can get an idea on the condition and than repair if needed. Sometimes the spares look great but are actually way out of tune.

I am curious, do you know why the moisture readings were elevated on that section of the hull when in fact the core sample was dry? I know some times when a repair is made the Silica can throw off the meters.

It shouldn't be a problem, but if you plan to raise the lift, just make sure you don't need the 4 inches of extra depth to get your inflatable on the platform. Guy I know purchased a brand new 48 and had to have extensions added (poor design) to lower the platform more to get the same inflatable lifted that he had on the back of a 46.
 
Cruisinguy,
I have the original props in my bow thruster. I read with interest, another thread on the Vetus upgrade and did some investigation. Turns out it is not relevant for my bow thruster. Mine is a "American Bow Thruster" with two counter rotating props. ABT says that they "got the design right the first time" and thus won't be changing the design. Sounds a little snootie to me.

As for the hull - I had brief discussion with the Service Manager who has found that they have sometimes received false readings in these cored Sea Ray hulls (marina is part of a corporate group of marinas that has been affiliated with the local Sea Ray distributor). I will need more details as to why, and will also personally inspect the core sample when I visit the marina in a couple of weeks. Not sure - maybe it's the silica issue you referenced. :huh:

Good news for now is, doesn't look as though I'll have to embark on this expensive repair!

Paul
 
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Further update on the moisture reading. Current explanation is that sometimes false readings are caused by reapplying the antifoul paint. The explanation goes that there is sometimes a degreaser used as part of the process, and unless cleaned properly, can lead to false readings in subsequent moisture tests.:huh:

I had thought it odd that the area in question was clearly repainted. See below:

2Jewerbottomarea.jpg


The area clearly repainted, happens also to be the are bracketed by a wax pencil indicating the concern area.

I thought maybe that it was an area subject to traumatic damage, however there's no other evidence of that. Maybe the explanantion makes sense? I will continue to investigate.

Paul
 
When I first bought my 560 a year ago, I found that there wasn't a whole lot written at the time on the 560. I've decided to keep updating this thread in the hope that someone finds it useful at some point in the future.:smt024

Yesterday was a glorious day in Southern Ontario so we decided to head up to the marina for an update. Staff are busy working at prepping for another season. I was amazed to find that the temperature up north at the marina was warmer than at home. According to the thermometer on porch at the office (in the shade), the temperature was 31C (that's 88 degrees F!!!!). When we were driving away, temperature per the car was 29C (84F) on April 2nd - unreal:


TempperCar-1.jpg



One of the areas of focus over the winter was repairing a few spider cracks and a couple of areas of very minor damage in the fibreglas. One example was the transom locker door where a previous repair didn't match the hull colour and spider cracks emanated from the repair (pretty cloppy job overall). I'm pleased to report that the guys at Beacon Bay really know what their doing. Here's the repair to the lazarette and you can kind of see that there is no evidence of prior damage and I can also say that you couldn't identify the repair even with close-up inspection.


1LazaretteandSternThruster.jpg



You can also see the Sidepower Stern Thruster that was added over the winter as well.


Here's another upclose shot of the repair:


2LazaretteCloseup.jpg



The various other repairs are also complete except for the final application of gel coat, which has to wait until boats are moved around in storage to provide a little room - hopefully next week.


Another area under investigation related to a slight "droop" in the swim platform when under the full load of the dingy. Appears that the play is related to the small gap between a "stop" on the arms of the hydraulic hoist and the resting place of the stop. Confused? See below:


3Swimplatformhoist.jpg



It appears as though the hydraulics are strong enough to hold off the stop under the weight of the swimplatform, however when under load (including when I was hanging my carcass off the fork on the swimplatform), the hydraulics would give way to mechanicals allowing the stop to seat. To fix this, we are simply going to adjust the threaded rod under the swimplatform such that the platform tips up (and this is ever so slightly as per the pics in the beginning of the thread) until it's under load.

The primary reason for the investigation was that the platform was dragging a little in the water, while getting up to plane. This was an area where I think Sea Ray did not get the design right on my model year. While it looks nice and makes it easy to get in the water, having the swimplatform so low is an issue when you're underway in rougher conditions or when you're coming off plane. It seems as though Sea Ray adjusted this in later model years (at least on the 480).

Other modifications to address the dragging included removing a cosmetic fibreglas skirt on the bottom edge of the swimplatform (which was acting as a scoop) and adding spacers between the forks and the platform to raise the it another three inches. We figured that this was the most we could raise the platform without leading to problems in getting my dingy on or off the platform with the custom chocks.

While the platform was off for these modifications, I also decided to get NuTeak installed:


4NuTeakonSwimplatform.jpg



This shot is of the installation in progress. Next step is to glue the stuff down and then it's back to the boat for the swimplatform. I may also get this stuff installed in the cockpit and on the stairs leading up to the bridge.

I spent a fair bit of time investigating whether to use Flexiteek or NuTeak. Turns out the stuff is all made by the same folks (under a complicated history involving lawsuits and licencing arrangements). Here's a shot of samples of both FlexiTeek and NuTeak:


5FlexiteekvsNuTeak.jpg



Flexiteek is the stuff on the top and NuTeak is on the bottom. You can see the FlexiTeek is a little darker than the NuTeak. I like the fact that the NuTeak is a little lighter for heat in the sun. Although the shade is a little different, physically the materials are identical. FlexiTeek (the Company) says that its primary product is for the custom (high end) market while the product they produce for NuTeak is for the do-it-yourselfer. Note that it would be a HUGE project for do-it-yourselfer to take on for a single application (as my marina is finding out in ramping up their learning and experience). I believe the Flexiteek comes as a custom mat from the factory versus the NuTeak is supplied in strips and the installer has to design, cut, weld and install. It's a big job folks. In the end, I decided to go with NuTeak as it was what my marina had taken on as a dealer. I think the end product will be the same and I'm excited about the look.

Another big area of investigation related to the detection of potential moisture in the cored hull. This was an area reported in the marine survey at the time of purchase. In the worst case, we thought it might be a $5,000 repair and thus while a pain and a cost did not impact my purchase decision. I am happy to report that the "issue" turned out to be a "non-issue". A core sample revealed that there was no indication of moisture ever having penetrated the hull (and I was a little perplexed at the outset as it did not appear that there were any points of potential entry in the identified area). Here's the core sample:


6BoatCoreSample.jpg



The bottom of the sample is about 5/8" of fibreglas (the outer hull) and then there's about 5/8" of balsa core. Presumably there's another 5/8" of fibreglas for the inner hull, however this was left intact. It is clear from holding the sample (and reasonably clear in the shot) that the balsa has never been damp - good news.

The technicians also went about taking the plug apart to see if there was any evidence of delamination. Here's another shot of the segmented sample:


7BoatCoreSample2.jpg



Apparently, it took quite a bit of effort to ply apart the different layers of the fibreglas, indicating that there was certainly no evidence of delamination - more good news!

The marina service manager thinks that the false reading in the moisture monitor may have been due to the touched up bottom paint containing moisture. The area identified in the survey coincides exactly with an evident application of bottom paint. Who knows....

Finally, I also purchased and installed new helm chairs over the winter. Here are the new Pompanettes:


8HelmSeats.jpg



and another shot:


9HelmSeats2.jpg



I really didn't like the original chairs. I did a fair bit of research looking at Stidd and upgraded Pompanettes. The problem is that these things are expensive. I decided to watch eBay and see what I could find, thinking that I'd go with something from Todd or another manufacturer.

These seats got listed from a vendor indicating that he was a remaunfacturer. I managed to pick them both up for under $5k (total for two). While that's still nothing to sneeze at, consider that these chairs new from Pompanette are $6,400 EACH. When I the chairs were delivered, they were in new condition - if there were any repairs, it certainly was not evident. Also the shipment came straight from Pompanette! I am very pleased. The vendor was Nemarine.123 and if anyone is interested, he/she continues to list similar items.

Long post....hopefully someone finds this useful or at least interesting.

Cheers,
Paul
 
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Nice work, I really like the new chairs!
 
Those helm chairs are SOOOO comfortable. I ran a 54 Viking a year or so ago with those and I didn't want to get up out of the captains seat.
 
Pompanette makes great stuff. I had them custom make my new bench seats- the foam is so dense and comfy...
They'll make those extended cruises so much more enjoyable- and you got them for a killer price.
 
First of all-The guages of your car showing the date and temp- I'm catching the S5 logo-NICE RIDE (I've got an '01 TT Quattro)

Second of all while the seats are very slick! But I can't believe your not getting FLAMED over the material! Ostrich??? I do like the color though!

Third good job on all the other maintenance and upgrades!
 
I'm looking forward to getting into my leopard skin leotards and getting my fat butt into those Ostrich skin chairs....:smt043

Seriously though... I generally avoid faux anything, however I like the look of these chairs (and I am doing the NuTeak...I guess that's also a faux thing...).

Another 560 that I looked at buying in the past had this stuff on all of the interior surfaces, which I thought made the salon dark and it was a bit too much in my mind.

Here's a pic of the other boat.

898226_101.jpg



And while I was looking for that I found a pic of my old helm seats:

pics031.jpg



Cheers,
Paul
 
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Gotta give ya some flack! Don't think your gonna upgrade to something that sharp without some well-intended jokes. Ya they look way better than the original seats!
I think the salon couch looks sharp? To each their own though.
Keep us posted on the other updates. Keeping the oldies hip is always cool!
 
Great list! I see you're as anal retentive as me :thumbsup:

I have a mentor/friend at Bayport with a DelRey 47. He is meticulous and keeps on me to be the same.

My list before April: 1) Hull repair (done), 2) new Lewmar H3 Windlass/200" chain (in process) 3) Inverter + Battery bank (Did this on my old boat...) an absolute must or a divorce is in the offing 4) All canvas is being restitched etc (in process) and if there is anything left: 5) Install a camper back (not fond of the sloped canvas on the 440EB).

I also have issues with the swim platform... to be expected with my style of boat and V Drives. The rear is back-end loaded. Should be interesting to figure out the most efficient design for the battery banks for the inverter (more weight in the back). We'll figure it out! Hey, I could've been born in Somalia... nice problem to have.

Cheers!
 
"Great list! I see you're as anal retentive as me :thumbsup:"

I hate to admit it, but yes ... :smt100 . Although those of us so afflicted prefer the moniker "disorganizationally challenged".

Two things to think about in your list, if you haven't already:
1. While the camper back would be a great addition from the standpoint of being able to get better use of the cockpit when the canvas is up, make sure it doesn't interfere with the view from the helm when backing into your slip. When I bought mine, I looked at another 560 that had the camper back - which I thought was great on first thought, however it impeded the view from the helm. Maybe the layout of your boat is different enough that this wouldn't be a concern.
2. You've already got this in the noggin' however the weight of the battery bank can really be something. It was enough to be noticeable on my boat. Layout will be key.

I especially understand the need for the inverter in our neck of the woods. It was first on my list of mods when we got our boat.

Here's to hoping for an early launch!

Paul
 
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