1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

[TheCamel]

Ok guys, I was told I should document all the stuff I am doing to my project here, so here goes...

On May 11th 2008 I jumped into buying a boat off ebay, not having a clue what I was getting myself into. Boat was purchased from Boatangel industries. these are the photos from the ad...

 

[TheCamel]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

The boat was picked up and brought to my house, where it was found that the motor was shot (was bought knowing this) and that the outdrive had a crack in it.

So I began the task of taking out the old motor, and clearing out the deck so I could see if I was going to be putting a floor in this as well.

 

[TheCamel]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

Engine was pulled out and all the wiring laid to the side.

I went through and checked the outdrive, turns out the motor and the outdrive were victims of someone not winterizing properly, and all the oil was out of the upper and lower sections.

So I had to find a new drivetrain for this project. I looked through the local paper, and ebay. Only to find out I may have bought something and gotten in over my head as far as expenses.

I went through craigslist, and found a second boat that had the drivetrain I needed, but the hull was cracked, and the interior was shot...

So the motor and outdrive have been removed from the parts boat, and I am currently going through them.

More updates to come

 

[oscar80]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

Were are you located I need some side windows for my bayliner.

Dave

 

[Coors]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

Before you install anything, you might want to check it for rot...

 

[oscar80]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

Its surprisingly solid. I am obsessive compulsive about rot and cannot find any. Its all how the boat is taken care of. This one has been under cover and dry.

Dave

PS I know the 2 PO and know the records back a few years. Oh and it was free from my mom. Seems Upstate NY only has a 3 month boating season and storage was the straw,

 

[TheCamel]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

I looked through the first boat well, in all the areas that were open, no sign of rot, believe it to have been kept in a barn in the off season.

As far as my location, I am in Dover DE. one of the side windows are already missing, and the front left is a plexi replacement already, like I said, the boat is ROUGH!

 

[Coors]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

2nd and 3rd pic; that bulkhead doesn't look sealed, could be camera angle.

 

[TheCamel]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

Ok, what do you mean by bulkhead? the center hole in the boat?

 

[oscar80]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

I need the front right on the side and the left back one on the side. I am in NC but my bother was stationed at dover and goes there a lot. You know anyone that worked in Fleet Service? Were did you find rot? I have been hanging upside down int he engine compartment and the middle storage and under the consoles. Another question are the console on the bayliner sagging in?

Dave

 

[Coors]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

The plywood in front of the engine.

 

[TheCamel]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

its sealed with a white caulk looking material, but I do see what you mean now, guess I will be digging out a screwdriver to check it out...

 

[TheCamel]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

Found a great deal today, just could not pass it up...

I am in the military, so money is pretty tight. And as you can see by the photos above most of my interior was missing when I picked up the boat. So I have to basically start from scratch. My partner and I went to the local stores to see what we could find in vinyl and carpeting for the boat. I strolled into Jo-ann Fabrics and talked extensively with the store manager, explained what I was thinking about and she asked if I was part of their mailing list. Explained to her that I get about as close to a sewing machine as I get to a nuclear reactor, but knew what materials I would be needing and that my wife would be doing the sewing aspect of it.

She showed me the marine vinyls that they had, and explained that the new flier for those on the mailing list would receive a 40% off coupon on one item. They had a pretty nice selection of colors, but white was not available on the rack. So I asked her when the next shipment would be. She checked and found that there would be a 10yd bolt of white vinyl coming in Monday, and that is the same day of the sale. So she signed me up, handed me the flier and I returned Monday to see if the vinyl had shown up. When I walked into the store, she smiled, and told me that she did not even display the material to see if I was going to purchase it. She was going to hold it 24hrs for me. So I handed her the coupon she had given me, and off she went to the back to retrieve the bolt of vinyl. She scanned the item, and off to the register I went.

Their normal price is $9.99/yd
picked up the 10 yd bolt for $59.90

So I will wait to see if they come out with another coupon later to buy the grey and the maroon to match the rest of the interior.

Since most of us would never even think to stop in, thought I would pass this information on to the rest of you.

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

My wife and I bought all of our vinyl at JoAnn Fabrics, also using that coupon you get every month. We redid the seats, side panels and armrests in ours...
- Scott

 

[TheCamel]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

Well today was the first time I really took a good look at the boat, having all this new found knowledge on here, I can say its not pretty

As Coors suggested, I took a good look at the bulkhead, signs of life in the board are probably not a good thing...
Straight down the bulkhead

Fuel tank fill

Under the floor above the bulkhead

The only soft spot I knew in the boat was around the center well area. And it looked like the PO's had attempted a few repairs over the years. Under the floor they had screwed in bracing under the floor. Not sure if this was like this from the factory or not, but I assume it was used to retain whatever cover was in place on this boat. I pushed down on the remaining brace that was still there and it was mush.

So. since I was in the area, I threw the camera down there to see what else was gonna make me cry...

 

[TheCamel]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

Now before you all say it, I am gonna hold off on drilling through the floor to see if the foam is soaked, or if the stringers are shot just yet...

Here is why. The boat will float, will get me through this season and possibly next. Right now I cannot take on a major gutting of this boat. Not that I do not have the ability, its that I may not have the funding available for a major rebuild on this right now.

So the plan is to get the motor back in the boat, clean up the interior as much as possible. lay some cheap Lowes carpet on it for the next couple seasons.

The upholstery will be done as well. As this can be removed again when I take on the major side of this.

Now you all may be scratching your heads as to why I am doing it this way. Well I am in the military, and in Nov 09 I am retiring after 20 years of service in the Air Force. So I have to get ready for a complete relocation in about 15 months. My wallet is not that deep at the moment. I have to move an entire household to Florida (Tampa area) So to spend $3000 on a complete refit right now is not in the budget. But it is in the future. The moving fund comes before the boat fund...

Part of the reasoning also is that in order to do this right, I am going to have to remove the cap on the boat, due to the bow being all glass. This is something I will wait until I get settled in Florida for.

I will keep updating this as I move through the steps, and not sure if I will go ahead and continue to update this thread, or make a new one when I do the complete tear down.

Or am I completely wasting my time at this point?

Thoughts?

 

[fixb52s]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

That sounds like a good plan to me. I just retired from the AF (22 years) and moved here to Tampa last Sept. Boat heaven down here!

I was stationed at Barksdale and had a Supra I was working on. Well, I tore into it WAY to deep, and it got damaged from a hurricane, so I sold it before I moved here. If I planned it like you currently are, I could have got some use out of that boat, moved it here in one piece, and done the complete restoration here. I picked up a 17 ft Chris Craft that I have been restoring for the past few months. Retirement and a wife with a good job has afforded me the time, and believe me, there is a lot of time going into this.

I will say the weather here is perfect and boats are plentiful, and there are a lot of great sources for things most have to mail order (ie: fiberglass material, etc.). If you are like me, you will make a lot of road trips to the boat junkyards up in Hudson. A lot of good used parts can be found here.

Keep the chin up. The retirement life is GREAT, and I don't miss the day to day aircraft maintenance world!​

 

[TheCamel]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

Too many times I have been in those shoes before, no sooner do you finally get settled in somewhere and the Air Force decides you need to go somewhere else. I am not mad that I found this, glad in fact. But it just came at the wrong time.


Now I have time to buy all the materials slowly, and look for deals, rather than tear this thing down and find that I have to spend a lot of money at one time. Just need to start picking some brains now, so I know what to buy.

I read in Oops's thread on the whole process, and I believe in overkill. Now I get to design the floor plan the way I want it. I already had to re-do all the rear seating, and the dogbox, now I may actually add some compartments that will allow me to store some more of the gear we all carry.

Being an automotive mechanic, I have the mechanical background. I will have the motor running without much trouble. The outboard side of it is where I may need the most help. Already have another thread started on that fiasco.

Motor should be going back in to the boat this weekend, just need to locate a lineup shaft for the transom and engine in the local area.

 

[TheCamel]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

Well my buddy stopped by after work, we talked about what was going on, and curiosity got to both of us... are the stringers bad? So out came the circular saw, and away we went... First cut was from the center storage area to the engine well, 2 strips, since I had to be able to replace the fuel line on the tank anyhow.

Well that showed that the box around the tank was not in that great of shape. so a 6x6 hole was cut into the opposite side of the stringer to see if the foam was soaked or not. Turns out it was dry but the stringer was shot.

So the fun begins, this weekend were going to figure out how to get the cap off the boat, and start gutting this thing. I know I said above that I was going to wait, but I think I can swing the cost of the floor repair this year after looking at some of the stuff I have laying around that can be put on ebay.

 

[Coors]

Re: 1986 Landau Bowrider restoration

Think about this; Just use anything, as a form, and coat it with glass or epoxy.
3/8" thick. Then you dont care about rotten stringers- the plastic is the strenght.If it rots again, which being sealed, it shouldn't. You will need some wood in the mounts, douglas fir, in epoxy is good.
Then just use 4200 on the lags.
And it will hold up better for the trip down South...