1986 Bayliner Capri question

[SoConfused]

My daughter asked me to help her find a boat for her husband. When I looked over this Bayliner, I saw no gauges, scratches or cracks on the hull. Today she called and said a guy told my son-in-law the hull was shot/rotted and it would take $3,000 or more to fix it. I couldn't believe what I heard! I asked how could that be when nothing showed up visually and the guy told him that the only way the cracks could be noticeable was if we would've ran a hose over it. Ok I had never heard of that before, so obviously I didn't do that. Dummy me.....

The floor is solid with no give to it at all. If there was that much so called damage/rot wouldn't the floor be bad also? Admittedly, I'm clueless here.

Is my son-in-law being taken for a ride here? Is it true that cracks and damage/rot won't show up on a dry hull? If the hull is that bad, am I to assume the stringers are too? Oh and I guess the guy said the hull could be patched for a lot less, so it would last one more year on the water. Please be kind to this dummy with your replies.... Thanks in advance for your answers/help!

 

[surge006]

Re: 1986 Bayliner Capri question

Well i just got my 86 capri and im new, but whatever was there for damage was there and visable when i got mine. He could mean the inside under deck in the hull area if floor near open bow is rotted, like seen on some other projects here. But im sure you will get better replies from others best i could do. goodluck

 

[F14CRAZY]

Re: 1986 Bayliner Capri question

To know for sure, core samples need to be taken from the stringers and engine mounts (or transom, if an outboard).

You can search the site for plenty of examples and instructions, but basically you drill a few holes in a few places and examine the wood shavings. If they're dry, you're good. If they're wet, pulp-like, mulch-like...that's not good.

The gelcoat on the hull should be looked at very carefully for stress cracks. They typically show up because the deck and stringers are rotten and thus weak. A hull by itself is pretty weak. The wood itself in the stringers, the fiberglass encapsulation over the stringers, the deck itself, the seat boxes...everything inside the boat helps support the hull. Take a boat with rotten stringers, throw it in a small craft advisory, and it'll most likely come back with the stress cracks. Or the outboard could fall off the back, I/O system can come off its mounts, or the whole hull can break in half.

It'll cost a little but you can hire a local marine surveyor to evaluate the boat too

 

[SoConfused]

Re: 1986 Bayliner Capri question

Thanks for your replies! Well I finally talked to my son-in-law yesterday and saw pics of the hull problem. How that wasn't noticeable when the hull was dry, I have absolutely no idea. I looked over the hull and saw nothing visible, which actually surprised me for that old of boat. It's near the bottom towards the stern and almost looks like a good scrape about 8" long or so. I'm still at a loss as to why that wouldn't be seen on a dry hull, but would on a wet one. Have any of you ever heard of this?

Anyway I come to find out it wasn't just the hull that was bad, but the transom where the 125 Force outboard motor attaches also has issues around a bolt. Now I understand why the quote was $3,000 to fix it. He told me he is going to keep the boat and only fix the hull. I told him the transom was nothing to neglect and important, as he could be running the lake and the motor could fall off/the boat might come apart/sink. That much I did know. I reiterated that hitting waves is bad for the boat and perhaps now he'll believe me, by not going out with advisories or at least running very slow.

Again thanks to the 2 of you for your replies!

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1986 Bayliner Capri question

I'd pull the floor and see what's doing in there. The hull repair will be easy and inexpensive to do from the inside. Plus you may uncover more rot that needs to be addressed. An 80's Bayliner with a Force is absolutely not worth dropping thousands on for a professional repair job.

 

[SoConfused]

Re: 1986 Bayliner Capri question

Well he's not one to listen to me about much and took it one place who said they'd patch it for $600. I'm assuming that's from the outside, am I correct? As I stated previously, the floor is solid, no soft spots whatsoever. That I did check, as I thought a weak floor would mean worse problems. I pulled all seat cushions and no sign of water ever being in the compartments. Just didn't look in the the one spot that would've showed the transom issue, my bad.

I told them it's not worth sinking $3,000 into and even offered to buy the boat back to take the hit, since I missed the transom issue. Damn I hate when people want to rush into buying things, as it's almost always a bad thing, but my kiddo wouldn't listen to me and wanted a boat in 4 days or so. Anyway, he loves the boat, his first, and declined my offer.

I was a mechanic years ago, but know nothing about fiberglass repair. Besides he doesn't know about it either to do it himself nor would I think he'd want to try. I would give it a go since there's nothing to lose, but my time and materials. Thanks for your time and reply!

By the way, have you ever heard of damage to a hull not showing up when dry, but only wet?

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1986 Bayliner Capri question

I would assume the $600 was from the outside. The only thing I can think of regarding wet/dry would be that the materials involved in the damage area darken up and look more obvious when wet (like a piece of paper would). Some pics would help us IMMENSELY to help you. Have you ever heard or SeaCast or Nidabond? They are pourable compounds you can use to replace the transom on an otherwise solid boat you don't want to tear apart. Basically you pull the motor, removed the cap off the top of the transom, dig out the mushy old wood (believe it or not an electric chain saw is the preferred tool for this) and pour in the new material. It's expensive but it's a permanent solution.

 

[dorelse]

Re: 1986 Bayliner Capri question

Well, I can tell you, from experience, that floors can be redone to mask problems...

However, I could easily see every ding, gouge, scratch on my 86 Bayliner, and it didn't leak 1 drop...so I'd think anything that allowed water in would be easily visible.

Is it possible the drain plug needs to be resealed? Does your son know he has an active leak?

Like others have said...pictures would tell the story.

 

[jkust]

Re: 1986 Bayliner Capri question

Not sure which Capri you have but the one we have we bought new in 84 and it wasn't a whole lot more than 3k brand new. That is a lot of money to put into one of these boats.

 

[SoConfused]

Re: 1986 Bayliner Capri question

ezmobee..... Well it makes sense that it seems to be the case. I never saw the damage when it was dry. So I guess that really can't be my fault. Yes after I found out the transom had damage, I did some research on here and the web. Saw a lot of pics of chain saws in hand and read about what people used to fill in the new transom. As I said, not sure he'd want to tackle that himself, but I'll gather up some info and send it to him. I'll see if I can get the few pics he took with his cell phone and post them.


dorelse.... Yes he said everyday he'd find about 1" of water and ran the bilge pump. Now that you mentioned it, we did talk about the drain plug. The guy we bought the boat from put in a brass plug and I don't remember seeing a washer or anything put on it to assist in making it water tight. My son-in-law said he was going to replace it with a rubber plug, but I don't think he ever did that. Man this could be a costly mistake/lesson for him, cause again it was rushed into to fix it instead of checking things out first.

I did email him about it, but hadn't heard anything so I assume the patch work had already started and it's too late to troubleshoot if it was indeed the drain plug that was the problem. I was surprised, although nowadays I'm not sure why, when you mentioned that people would fix floors to cover up damage. Whatever happened to the most important things a person could possess was: Integrity, Character and Honor?!!

By the way, I looked over your thread regarding the '86 Bayliner and have a question about the pics you posted on the Force. I only looked at the kids motor a couple of times, so don't remember if it was the same. I can tell you the motor sounds/runs strong. I saw nothing that would concern me when I looked it over. Like leaking gaskets, bad hoses, wiring problems, etc. and it actually looked like it had very few hours on it for an '86. You showed a new nipple and hose attached to the block that ran to the outside of the motor housing. What is that for? I guess it's too early and not enough coffee for me to figure it out, so be kind.

Thanks for all the replies and help!

 

[Azonic]

Re: 1986 Bayliner Capri question

I have seen decks over decks to hide a rotten core...

And once I wised up to how a boat really works...

Rots from bottom up... and that transoms are very rarely "Solid"


I started seeing the "re-enforced" transom as a warning..

also, "new deck" is a warning now too... since the stringers and transom may have had issues that were not done..

and the best of all, is when they were done by someone with no fiberglass knowledge... that always spells to much money and to much work!! As they did nothing to fix any problems...