1984 Bayliner Capri 16' restore

[newtoj1]

My dad, brother and I purchased this boat 10 years ago and have made some good memories with it. Due to "life" it has been sitting under the carport for several years now. The last time I had it out i noticed the deck was "spongy" in 2 places so figured I needed to re-deck it. Came on this forum last week and have spent hours reading various threads and watching friscoboater's videos (great stuff!). I pulled the carpet out last night and, as i figured based on reading this forum, I need to do a complete restore from the hull up. Stringers were rotten, deck was toast...at least it looked familiar based on all of pics I've seen on this forum

So... 1st step is getting down to the hull. I know i have a lot of foam to remove, i gouged out a bit of it last night with a screwdriver just to see it's composition. It doesn't appear to be water-logged as I've seen in other threads but that may be due to it being weather-protected for 2 years.

My 1st question is what do you guys recommend for getting the seat boxes and bow framing out? Sawzall/reciprocating saw? I know I need to be careful to not puncture the hull so trying to "learn from another man's mistake".

I will post pics ASAP, thanks in advance for all of your help.

newtoj1

 

[tpenfield]

Re: 1984 Bayliner Capri 16' restore

Welcome to iBoats:

Sawz-all is a better tool to use than a skill saw. If you do use a skill saw to open up the decking, set it to only the thickness of the decking. A few folks have made the mistake of cutting right through the hull, because they did not account for the cutting depth needed. Dust Mask, and safety glasses of course.

For the foam, various demolition "wrecking bars" or "pry bars" are the tools of choice, so that it comes out in larger pieces. It always makes a hell of a mess.

Once you get the deck opened up and the foam removed to a point where you get good access to the stringers and bulkheads, you can go right along the bottom of the hull with a sawz-all and cut them off cleanly without damaging the hull itself.

If you have a built in fuel tank, you will want to remove that in order to get the proper access to the stringers . . besides it presents a danger when using power tools around it.

I'm sure other will have some additional advice. . . .

 

[mwe-maxxowner]

Re: 1984 Bayliner Capri 16' restore

If the space between the stringers is wide enough, dig it out with a round point shovel. No pun intended I fought mine until I tried this. Came out in huge sections. Do it just like digging in dirt. Push down with your foot to the hull, pry up. I struggled with a two foot section for hours. Then I finished the rest in one.

 

[newtoj1]

Re: 1984 Bayliner Capri 16' restore

"If you have a built in fuel tank, you will want to remove that in order to get the proper access to the stringers . . besides it presents a danger when using power tools around it."

Actually, that presents another question I have. The boat has a Force 85 (2 stroke) which uses the transom compartment to store the fuel tank(s). I would like to eliminate the hassle of unloading/reloading each fuel tank. I did a search but found no results for swapping out external fuel tank(s) for an internal one. Is this practical with 2-stroke engines? Does the oil-mixing requirement force you into using external tanks?

 

[tpenfield]

Re: 1984 Bayliner Capri 16' restore

Yes, the bigger center consoles with twin outboards, etc have internal tanks. Just got to remember to do the oil mixing thing when you add gasoline.

 

[SDSeville]

Re: 1984 Bayliner Capri 16' restore

+1 on the Sawzall. A longer blade will flex to the angle of the hull and cut it pretty close.

 

[jkust]

Re: 1984 Bayliner Capri 16' restore

"If you have a built in fuel tank, you will want to remove that in order to get the proper access to the stringers . . besides it presents a danger when using power tools around it."

Actually, that presents another question I have. The boat has a Force 85 (2 stroke) which uses the transom compartment to store the fuel tank(s). I would like to eliminate the hassle of unloading/reloading each fuel tank. I did a search but found no results for swapping out external fuel tank(s) for an internal one. Is this practical with 2-stroke engines? Does the oil-mixing requirement force you into using external tanks?

I've actually still got that identical boat that we bought new back at the 1984 boatshow. The interior is still nearly showroom new...even the original carpet is very nice. Bummer is it takes all of an extra 2 minutes of effort each time you use it to keep it looking new and so many original owners couldn't spare the time. Removing the tanks, bringing them to the gas station, carrying them down to the dock and lifting them over the side of the boat on the lift is a pain I will grant you that. I honestly wouldn't spend the time or the effort to build a tank in regardless. Besides at least for us it is much cheaper to go to town to get gas tanks in hand rather than buy it at a resort. I love the look of those old Bayliners but that engine is an amazing gas hog.

 

[newtoj1]

Correcting my "oops" during demo

Correcting my "oops" during demo

While removing the rotten deck, stringers and that *&&^%^% foam I made some booboo's.... one is a cut around 8" long from my recip saw blade and the other is a quarter-sized "tear" where my prybar knocked off the gelcoat on the outside.

I've looked at a few sites including this one and see where some repair from the inside-out and others from the outside in. Looking at these what would you guys suggest? My thoughts on the tear is to repair from the inside and fill in the missing gelcoat. Not sure how to approach the long and thin cut-through....

Thanks!

 

[jmmacky]

Re: 1984 Bayliner Capri 16' restore

Lots of people have cut through their hull during restorations (including me)! The best is if you have access to both sides. You need to feather the edges on both sides and fill the gap with alternating layers of CSM and 1708 getting gradually larger. Obviously good prep is important to get a good bond by sanding the surrounding area and cleaning with acetone. Woodonglass and Oops have both posted more detailed instructions in other threads with some diagrams which should be easy enough to find if you search through the forum.