1972 Sea Ray rebuild

[cedarlattice]

Re: 1972 Sea Ray rebuild

On the bill of sale its called 1708 Bi-weave. Its heavier than the regular 1708 though I think it is 24oz. I'm hoping this will work for wrapping my stringers.

 

[cedarlattice]

Re: 1972 Sea Ray rebuild

Well after a summer of an hour here, an hour there, I got my stringers in and wrapped. I have a couple of pictures in a folder somewhere. I have a friend that owns a roofing and insulation company and one day he was talking about installing floatation foam in a local passenger ferry. Well long story short, yesterday his crew foamed my boat for $150. The foam is within a 1” to 1-1/2” from the top of the stringers. I will have to buy foam for around the fuel tank, and I may fill the rest of the voids when the floor is in but I am not sure yet. I just wish that this was the end of May instead of the end of August.

 

[cedarlattice]

Re: 1972 Sea Ray rebuild

For the first time in 3 years. I HAVE A FLOOR!!!!!!!!

 

[cedarlattice]

I am about to drill the holes to mount the Gimbal Housing and inner transom plate. I believe that the holes need to be 9/16" I am looking for confirmation on that.I am also looking for a good diagram or manual that would show the gaskets and bolts needed along with torque specks. I have been away for a while now but I can see light at the end of my tunnel. I think if i push hard i can splash her next week. I may be sitting in green plastic lawn chairs for the first ride but who cares. My floor is solid.

 

[cedarlattice]

I thought I updated before I put her away from the winter. I have the fuel tank in, the floor in, tabbing and 2 layers of CSM on top. One issue I had was that the new floor is a half inch lower that the original. Well actually it was put it and sat on the elbow coming out of the tank and was tabbed in crooked at the factory. I straightened it out. The problem was that line coming out of the tank wanted to be at the same level as the floor. I ended up building it up and and added an access hatch. The engine hatch will sit over most of it so it won't be a tripping hazzard and should look like it is supposed to be like that. I then used up my resin and added microballoons and spread on the floor to level it up.






Heres my problem. I did not want carpet. I was going to smooth it out and paint it and add nonskid to the traffic areas. The resin and microballoons do not sand well at all. It is loading up my paper. I didn't add wax to the last coat because I knew I was going to add another coat. I think that is why I am loading up.

Is it possible I didn't use enough microballoons?
Is it possible to scrub it all down with acetone and spray a wax overtop so it will fully harden?
Should I just put carpet in it?

 

[Ike-110722]

It looks like it is really coming along nicely. Unfortunately I have little experience with using micoballons as filler so hopefully someone else will be able to help.

I put marine carpet in my boat and so far I have no issues with it, except powerbait stains seem to be impervious to stain removers. But I imagine that in a few years when it gets too yucky looking I'll rip it out and replace it with something more stain resistant (and probably a lot more expensive).

 

[cedarlattice]

Alright. So yesterday afternoon I burned through a box of random orbit sanding disks and got the deck fairly smooth. I needed one more coat of filler. I had a gallon of total boat finishing resin that I bought by accident and mixed up micro balloons and a little cabosile and spread it on. I then went to town and bought a bunch of wet/dry sandpaper thinking that I will sand the old fashioned way after it sets up. For kicks and giggles I tried the RO sander first. I am telling you it is like night and day. I don't know if it's the brand of resin or if it is the wax but it is sanding like it should. I should have it all smooth by noon tomorrow. Now if I could just figure an easy way to get the carpet glue off the sides of the boat

 

[cedarlattice]

I'm getting close. I made some fairing compound out of poly and glass bubbles and smoothed the floor. I should have did more. It came out ok. I painted the bilge with ford grey from tractor supply and the edges with IH white. I don't like the color but I can always change that at a later time I then taped the edges and applied Kiwi grip to the floor. A word of advice. Use white primer or a color that is close to the color of the kiwi grip you are using under it. I really like the kiwi grip. It really hides the imperfections in my glassing and fairing skills. I built new cuddly panels and side panels. I found a used seat out of a Thompson to use on the passenger side and it looks like my deck will be missing a green plastic lawn chair until I purchase a pedestal seat for the drivers side. I also built a new engine hatch (not pictured)





Monday morning I set the engine in place and bolted it down. I have been hooking things up all week. Thank god I took lots of pictures before I started taking things apart 4 years ago.

One problem I have is that the out drive won't go down. It comes up but the motor won't even try to go down. I can actually push down on the out drive and force it down. I don't think i should be able to do that.

If I can figure the trim out, I will fire the motor tomorrow and maybe splash it. I couldn't have done this with all your help. The answers to my questions and all the previous posts. You guys are awesome.

 

[cedarlattice]

Don't know if anyone is reading posts, but I will update anyway. The first attempt at starting I discovered the neutral safety switch was bad. I replaced it. The next attempt was yesterday. It wasn't picking up fuel. I need a new pump. water started coming out of the weep hole on the water pump. I also need a new water pump. I will update again when new parts arrive.

 

[Woodonglass]

Nope, I'm not reading your posts!!! I don't know what's wrong with your trim or I would have posted a reply. I kinda think the contrasting Grey color is Kool looking but then again I AM an Old Dumb Okie!!!! I think we kinda told you those pic's would come in handy!!!

 

[jbcurt00]

Post the trim questions in the motor forum, they're a helpful bunch too.

 

[cedarlattice]

Thanks I will post there. Wood...... Your roll on roll technique worked awesome. My parts should be here tomorrow. If all goes well this time tomorrow I will have pictures of it going real fast on Lake Huron.

 

[cedarlattice]

SPLASHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




It was running a little hot so I am going to chane the impeller in the morning. Otherwise it ran like a top. I'm so excited.

 

[cedarlattice]

I think I have some sort of sickness or addiction. I'm thinking about my next project. I'm thinking of converting a small fiberglass boat into a center console or walleye exterminator of some sort. I've seen a few threads on this and I think it would be a fun project. I put at transom in a tinny that I flipped last year. There are lots of them around. Maybe I should go on a mission and resurrect some of the poor orphaned tinny's that are sitting around in fields. I also got people asking me how much I would charge to replace their transom. Maybe it's just a phase. Maybe I should just sit on the deck and enjoy the rest of summer and drink too much beer. It's just that I don't have a project to help keep me awake at night. No problem solving. No planning every cut the night before. No researching. No wondering how I'm going to fix my f-ups. I guess I could work on my wife's perpetual project list. It's just not the same though. Her list isn't as fun and rewarding. Nowhere in her list is there an engine stringer that I can sit on and drink a beer and think. Nothing on her list involves drinking a beer. Is this postpartum?

 

[Woodonglass]

WOO HOO!!!! Congratulations!!!!! This is Well Earned!!!!