1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

[Silly Seville]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

Sea Ray 1987 300 Sundancer Parts Boat Twin Mercruiser 5.7

This link should be enough to end this thread nicely.

Thanks for playing everyone!

 

[saginawbayboater]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

Sea Ray 1987 300 Sundancer Parts Boat Twin Mercruiser 5.7

This link should be enough to end this thread nicely.

Thanks for playing everyone!

HA HA LOL just a drive by!!!! Thanks Silly

Shame on you n00boater!!!

 

[n00boater]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

The cuts from the pictures in the link I provide are not in any of the pictures they provide on their site. It's not a "drive by" I bought the boat and plan to fix it. I'm not in Rhode Island, i'm in Georgia. The boat was donated to them, but I don't know how it got from Florida to here. Cosmetic work is of little to no consern to me, niether is anything inside the boat. Only the hull and getting it some good strong patches that won't fall off. For example, if theres nothing wrong with the gelcoat then i'm not going to change it. I don't need paint for the whole boat. I find it hard to believe it is impossible, or costs thousands of dollars to combine two halves of fiberglass into one for a permanent hold. At any rate thank you Jigngrub. If anyone has any advice for me just drop it here and my email will alert me that I have another reply. I will continue searching the web for cheap ways to fix this boat and will update the link when I do. Home Does anyone have any good ideas for a strong adhesive filler for the cracks, after the plywood backing?

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

So you bought that hull stripped of everything for $500, or did you pay more for it and have them leave the other stuff on?

The below deck structural parts (stringers) are of concern for the seaworthiness of the boat, and you'll have to tear out the inside to get to them.

The decks are also structural in that boat and support the hull, if they're rotten (and we all know they are) they won't support the hull as designed and make the boat weaker.

The transom is another structural concern to make the boat seaworthy.

It is your boat, and you can build it anyway you want... but I'll tell you right now that if it isn't put back together right it will come apart on the water and sink leaving you and anyone else with you stranded.

... invest in some good life jackets.

 

[floattest]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

Mind if I ask what you are going to do with the boat? You have mentioned a couple of times you don't care what it looks like but it needs to carry a heavy load in rough seas.

"carry a heavy load in rough seas" ? really? This sentence should be pondered very carefully.

You could patch this thing to keep out water, maybe, for awhile. But is what you are going to put on the boat of so little value that you would ignore the concerned voices of very experienced boaters, not me, but those other smart posters.

This hull is past the time in its life to carry heavy loads on rough seas.

These guys are just trying to help you avoid wasted effort.

You also mentioned powering it with a 140 outboard or something like that?

What ya building? a materials barge? Or maybe one of the skiffs the somali pirates are using? Just wondering.

I like those old searays but this is about the worst condition boat you could start with.

If you bought a boat with an intact hull but no engine, interior, accessories, seats, cleats, lights, glass, wires, batteries, connectors, fuel tank, transom, canvas snaps, rub rail or trim of any kind you would still be far ahead of this boat you have.

Sorry bro, I wish you the best in your endeavor.

 

[n00boater]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

I'm not sure whats still on it now because it has been sitting at the boat yard for almost 2 weeks now. The bill of sale was for the boat and engine. Life jackets are a must, thanks for reminding me. I need it to carry a ton i'm geussing, not counting the outboard motor so I can turn it into a small shrimp trawler. It only needs to trawl. Do you think I can keep it out of rough seas by docking it in a marina during storms?

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

Wow, really, seaworthy for $500?? Maybe I need to rethink my materials list for the FireFlite :facepalm:

Thats about all I've got....

Best of luck, and as mentioned previously, buy really good life jackets....

 

[GWPSR]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

When a salvage yard takes a chainsaw to a hull like that, it's their way of saying "This vessel must never, ever, ever be placed into the water again. Ever."

(Not that those picture don't also scream the same message, but sometimes people don't hear so good :facepalm

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

I sat here ans read this thread with my jaw laying on the ground. This boat should have never been sold to you at all... matter of fact they should have paid you to take it. That boat would take years and years to fix and thousands and thousands of dollars. Your big money parts are not there.

Here is a list of what you might expect.

Used 350 V8 engines 2K each
Outdrives and gimbal housings 750 to 1k each
Hull repair... who knows... I am guessing 2k in materials and hundreds of hours of labor
Windshields... if you can find them... 1k
All the supplies to rebuild the stringers will cost you around 2k

Please take a look at my three restoration threads. My first glastron I had over 5k in just parts and labor in that thing. My sea ray is well over 15k, and the Carlson I have over a grand in supplies right now, not including the purchase of the engine.

With that being said, yes anything could be fixed, but why put yourself through this? There is no way you will get it anywhere close to the water for 500 bucks. Heck it may take that much to just transport it. You can find another good boat for 2 to 3k and have a little fun. Start small, and then go up.



There needs to be a intervention here... please get rid of that thing.

Ok... I have said my piece... and I am sorry to sound so harsh, but this is a bad.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

Guys this is a joke!!! Please tell me its a joke,lmao!!! For one the op said cheap fix and boat in the same sentence lmao. Theres no such thing. He also said something about putting an outboard on her I think,lol Let me guess, your going to tie it off the back and hit the starter button. Bye Bye thread

 

[lowvlot]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

Why did you buy this thing ??? Who are 'They' . . . nothing about this is practical . . . Are you having fun with us ???

My thoughts exactly.

 

[carribbean soul]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

A good coat of wax and she will be ready for the summer.

 

[MarkS]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

Seriously, n00boater, I don't think ANYONE with any experience in renovation/restoration/ or general boat repair is going to agree with attempting to fix THAT project! It's going to take a lot more than some plywood and resin or glue to do it right and SAFELY. There are several decent project boats in GA for a couple hundred bucks that wouldn't need any where near that much work. Please do some research on what would be required to do the job properly, then shop around for another project boat. Expensive mistake, yes. Throwing more money at it to attempt a (futile) repair job wood be foolish, IMHO!

 

[rotaryboots]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

I think I speak for everyone when I say, cut your losses and leave that thing in the junkyard where it is and let it die. You live on the East Coast for one thing; finding a big, cheap, floating, drivable boat with trailer shouldn't be all that hard. Like most everything in life, when you take shortcuts on really important pieces, it will only come back to bite you later.

Hypothetically speaking, it will cost you more than you paid for the boat to even get it to your house, not to mention buying a trailer for a boat that size, and hopefully you have a truck that can tow something that large (safely). How about the outboard, how are you going to mount that? I'm guessing weld some sort of heavy together and bolt it to the probably rotten transom? I could write a novel on how bad an idea like trying to cheaply fix this boat is, but I'll just say, let this be a life lesson about investing wisely and move on.

 

[Nivekt]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

This guy is a troll. 5/10 for effort. No one would be that dumb.

 

[tallcanadian]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

This has got be be a hoax. No way in a 100 hundred Sundays will you get this repaired for 400 bucks, and have it safe to use. And no way you can use this for shrimping. LMAO. Do you know who else has a shrimp boat? Wait a minute..............

 

[sphelps]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

It.s gunna take a pile of money even if for some chance you can make it float for all the rigging needed to pull the shrimp nets . In rough sea,s with an outboard . Would think you would need at least 2 really big o/b . Do you have a shrimping license ? If not grandfathered in probably hard to get and expensive .
Take everyone's advice save some money and look for something else ..

 

[glnbnz]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

First of all I want to say that some of the posts on this thread are just deplorable. I can understand wanting to give someone advise to see your point of view but you don't have to be mean about it or make fun of the guy. I thought that iBoats was the best forum on the web with the best bunch of boaters but this thread has me questioning it.

Secondly this is to n00boater, I am sorry you have been duped into buying this. I love to go window shopping for boats and I see it all the time where there is a boat that just needs a little "TLC" or "has a soft spot on the deck". I look at one of those and I see at least 1,000 dollars of money and 200+ hours of time.

I bought a 16' boat that had a soft deck and thought "I have tools and can work with wood, surely I can fix this". I fixed it all right, I did the back half stringers and deck and just that alone cost me around a 1,000 dollars and over 200 hours of not just my time but sometimes I had up to 4 people helping me. So what I am trying to say is definitely take Friscoboater's experience and advise. A boat has many pieces that work together. First is the hull, which maybe able to be fixed but then there is stringers, bulkheads and the deck which are very important structurally in keeping the hulls shape. Then there is the drive for the boat, you mentioned using an outboard, your transom will have to be majorly modified.

I like your enthusiasm for wanting to take on this project. But I do believe, in my humble opinion, that you where sold this boat under false pretenses and should have grounds to get your money back. Good luck to in whatever you do!!

 

[n00boater]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

Thanks alot Glbnz and also caribbean soul, but I think I will need a little more than wax. I'm watching this video on youtube and will basically follow his same instructions.Sunfish Sailboat Fiberglass Hull Repair - YouTube The only difference is that I might be using marine grade plywood and possibly some sort of filler. If I don't go that route than I might just use nothing but fiberglass and epoxy to fill the whole thing in like he does. Tell me whats different about my hull damage and his. To me they are both just cracks that need to be filled. The transom and stringers I will have to take a look at when I get the boat nearby. Until then i'm looking for any product and/or work related advice that I can take into consideration before I begin this project. I'm sorry, but this thing is getting washed, repaired, mega jury rigged and sent out to sea.

 

[74bayliner]

Re: 1987 Searay sundance major hull repair advice needed.

Take your advice from smallboatlover, search his name on the threads although i have a suspicion you have a good idea who he is... listen to the advice given to you please and quit endangering lives taking this ship out to sea