1987 Sea Ray Seville II to be resurrected!

[mickyryan]

you will feel better with a clean slate strip the whole thing

 

[Mountain Bear]

I agree with that! It will bug me forever if I dont strip it all out...

 

[Mountain Bear]

Long weekend with many hours coming on Friday. Work has been crazy and haven't had the time to put into completing the demo. Hope to have her gutted by Monday. Pics to follow

 

[redneck joe]

Four inches is alot to raise a floor and i seem to remember from readings posts from smarter people than me that moving the floor height isnot as straightforward as you would think.

And yeah keep gutting until you can't get anymore crud

 

[mickyryan]

Raising floor can be dangerous for 2 reasons it raises center of gravity for boat and lowers sides easer for folks to fall out first one would be my major consern

 

[Pete_a]

Thanks for thread. Hope you put marine starter in. I too have roller trailer and want to replace my transom. Floor was done by previous owner. I'll be curious to see how you build cradle.

 

[Mountain Bear]

I've been running the numbers on raising the floor. Purely from an engineering standpoint. By my measurements, raising the deck by 4" changes the righting moment (the heel angle as it corresponds to the greatest righting moment) of my boat by less than 0.5 of a degree. For my beam width, this is the equivalent to about a half a tank of gas (around 65 lbs). For inertia or kinetic energy to undermine that particular righting moment, the boat would have to travelling at over 50 knots with an additional 800 lbs over empty weight, and be exceeding 55 degree heel angle. Which is possible, given skiing/tubing etc... It's also possible with the deck at factory height. Soggy foam, number of people on board, coolers etc all affect this more than raising the floor 4". Still on the fence.

Did not get as much time an I wanted into the demo this weekend. Spent some time piddling around with methodology. This week will be building a cradle, which i can pull the trailer from under the boat as required. Which will be great, since I need to replace the rollers and rewire the trailer also. Much easier when boat is not on it.

Got inventive with foam removal: Modified $5 dollar machete (heated and bent)




Drilled the hole on the end to be able to attached another handle.

This made really quick work in my test spot. I had already broken a scraper trying to get this foam out. Once I started using my foam removal tool, it came out in about 10 seconds. Before and after photos.

 

[Pete_a]

Nice tool invention

 

[Pete_a]

Also i like your idea of raising floor but true your occupants will be bit higer up? Yours may be different than mine with the seating, perhaps you could lower seats 4 in if you feel like your sitting higher at wheel. Id like to have storage in front of my rear seats, just width of boat and maybe a foot depth. Is your flooring area deep enough there?

Im not concerned with the lack of foam there

 

[Mountain Bear]

Also i like your idea of raising floor but true your occupants will be bit higer up? Yours may be different than mine with the seating, perhaps you could lower seats 4 in if you feel like your sitting higher at wheel. Id like to have storage in front of my rear seats, just width of boat and maybe a foot depth. Is your flooring area deep enough there?

Im not concerned with the lack of foam there

As it now, there's about 36" between deck and gunwale. I see zero reason why taking this to 32" would be an issue. I would most likely keep the seats at the same height, reduce the amount of foam in the seat bases, keeping the storage volume the same there as well. My flooring seems to be deep enough in front of the rear seats for that, although mine would be 2 compartments as the gas tank runs the whole length from engine to cuddy. My reason for wanting this is that I really want to install a live well, and set up the boat for a fish/ski functional combo. I've also thought about putting a captains chair in and using the rest of that original seat space for storage/live well. Kinda Grady white style. Still not convinced either way...

 

[Pete_a]

As it now, there's about 36" between deck and gunwale. I see zero reason why taking this to 32" would be an issue. I would most likely keep the seats at the same height, reduce the amount of foam in the seat bases, keeping the storage volume the same there as well. My flooring seems to be deep enough in front of the rear seats for that, although mine would be 2 compartments as the gas tank runs the whole length from engine to cuddy. My reason for wanting this is that I really want to install a live well, and set up the boat for a fish/ski functional combo. I've also thought about putting a captains chair in and using the rest of that original seat space for storage/live well. Kinda Grady white style. Still not convinced either way...

I like it, i think you should go for it. You have way more gunwale height than i do so it wouldnt be bad and doubt youll be making sharp full throttle turns.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

My Sea Ray has a lower floor. A few model years later they raised the floor and put a second bunk under it. From the brochure's I have looked at it appears they just added a higher rail around the cockpit of the boat to compensate for the higher floor. So if it appears you need higher sides, just add a higher rail.

 

[Mountain Bear]

Thanks for the input everyone. I am amazed at how quickly time passes and not much progress gets made. I've continued the demo work, stuff's pretty bad in there. My next step is going to be to take it to the local boat yard and have them pull the engine. My gravel drive and tight places just is not going work. I've tried several different cradle systems, and its just simply not effective. Once engine is pulled, I will finish stripping everything else down to the hull and then begin the new build.

Have spent some time this winter learning more about my engine and possible pitfalls there.I will have to see how she does once things gets settled in. I have decided to raise the floor the 4" to acomodate some other design mods I'm planning to make it a more well rounded craft.

Managed to get some time in getting my wife's grandmother's old Morse 4300 sewing machine going as well. That thing is a heavy old pig, and thus far seems to be handling marine vinyl with ease. I've been experimenting with it to make sure I'm comfortable, which means that I will also have some nice new uphostery coming soon.

Still have to get this thing splashed this year!

 

[Ianlinares]

I have an 87Sea Ray Seville like yours but the open bow. I will be following your work. Just a heads up on the controller. Don't use an impact screw driver on the screws The aluminum is very soft and you can crack the box easily. I was able to get them off with just a socket wrench with a Philips bit on the socket wrench. weight and a bar to extend my socket wrench for torque got them off pretty easily.

 

[Mountain Bear]

I have an 87Sea Ray Seville like yours but the open bow. I will be following your work. Just a heads up on the controller. Don't use an impact screw driver on the screws The aluminum is very soft and you can crack the box easily. I was able to get them off with just a socket wrench with a Philips bit on the socket wrench. weight and a bar to extend my socket wrench for torque got them off pretty easily.

THanks for the heads up on the control box screws. Those little buggers are in there!

 

[Mountain Bear]

Alright iBoaters... the questions for today as I get further into this tear down and rebuild:

1. I am going to go with all new gauges. For most of the wiring at the back of the helm, this means all new wires. There are a ton of 'homeowner specials' tied inthe wiring harness. What are the suggestions for the bare minimum of wiring to get back on the water? (i'm not looking for marine wiring specs here) In my head, it's really only the ingnition/kill switch and the wiring for the electric trim. I thinking about just scrapping the old harness and building a new one. Thoughts?

2. Control boxes. I hate mine. Where do I find information on what new control boxes will work with my setup? Can I just swap the old side mount for something more modern?

3. This also brings up steering, mine seems to be just fine, turns freely and is responsive. Are there steering upgrades?

 

[Mountain Bear]

No Title

Wow... crickets!

Since I've got a vessel and and engine rebuild, I'm doing bits on both at the same time. I will remove the motor in the coming weeks, but suring the rest of the demo process, i'm working on the engine in the periods that I no longer want fiberglass dust down my pants.


I have not heard this engine fire, yet. It does turn over and all of the fluids look really good.

Project: Ignition System

Starting with the old coil, which was tested with multimeter and wasn't in good shape (Hey, looks can be deceiving, but pretty spot on in this case). New marine coil ordered and installed. I'm going through everything component by component.

 

[mickyryan]

hmm i just finished a entire boat rewire and rebuild from ground up , not fun but fun i did wind up rebuilding from harness foward "as in the system not boat but forward was rewired as well
go with 16 gauge or bigger, led lighting can be smaller gauge however i dont think they have updated the standard yet, also keep eye on your runs. crimp shrink wrap everything and i used a new control box with newer fuse types.

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Climbing on board. Since no one really answered the questions maybe I can inquire for more information.

1. Try to think of all your wiring needs now. It will help you contain everything in an organized loom. Not doing this will ensure youre back on the path of home owner special status.
2. Think it depends on the outdrive you have and needs. Lots of options out there, but be prepared to replace the shift and throttle cables.
3. Yep, most definitely will be upgrades. Not sure what those maybe, not sure what you have.

Maybe that will help direct the conversation. Glad to see you posting on this thread again. Good luck.

 

[Mountain Bear]

Thanks for input!

Future wiring needs are the one of the biggest reasons for redoing things. I plan on new fuse block/switche etc, with room to expand. I was really more asking from the standpoint of what I need to save from the original wiring harness to ensure the engine still runs during the restoration process, as a water test is still going to be in order before buttoning everything up. I don't need all the gauges to operate the boat, but I don't want to replace things until I know what all the issues are as it sits.

I have an Alpha One, Gen I drive.

I have power steering, the original setup. I may just leave this for right now and adopt the "if ain't broke" mindset with the steering. Once the engine is running, I can better determine the state of affairs with the power steering setup. (Need the engine running to engage the power steering)


@mickyryan: THanks for the input on the wiring. I was planning on going with 10/2AWG marine duplex to the block. Hadn't really thought about it out from there. 16AWG should be plenty to run most any low voltage component from the block. That makes a lot of sense, thanks for the tip! Loving the wood in your resto also! I've been thinking about adding in some accent pieces during my build as well!