1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

[slow joe]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

So tonight was an interesting night working on the boat. I finally started cutting into the deck. I learned a few things some of which frustrate me, some of which... Well are what they are.

1. The previous owner (one of them) was an idiot, you'll see why below.
2. I would like to kick whoever installed the carpet that I just ripped out in the groin. (probably a previous owner).
3. I'm going to have to remove the cap. I really didn't want to do this since it means I need to find storage for my convertible, but I guess that's life.
4. Random foam?? WTF. (see pics below)
5. Even if you're just ripping out the deck, wear a facemask, goggles (did that), ear protection, and a tyvek suit. Otherwise you may be itchy (which I am lol).
6. Well, this is the number six. LOL I needed to find the humor somewhere tonight. Anyways.

So this, just looks like a speaker that was screwed in... Wait, which way is the thread facing there?


Wait, WHAT?!?! This can't be what it looks like (yeah it is)... Whoever installed these speakers (one on each side) seemed to think it was brilliant to drill from the outside in... Yeah. I'll have to repair that. I'm thinking I'll look that up on here (or maybe someone can give me some hints )


Now on with some more deconstruction pictures. When I started ripping out the carpet I kept running into staples, and similar other things. I also noticed this brilliance in the ski locker.

With the carpet... Where's that drain to?


Remove the carpet... :facepalm: And of course there's water in there. That goes under the gas tank. I guess I'll have to figure out a way to make this a non-issue.


More pics coming in the next post.

 

[slow joe]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

Here's why I think I have to "decap" my boat. The carpet under that part goes under it and the carpet on top goes under there... Any ideas would be nice.


Well, this is a random chunk of foam... One would think it would have filled the cavity.


If you look at the top to the left of the cut portion of the deck, you'll see a bit of a factory blemish. It looks like a lump of CSM.



And here's a picture of that box filled with foam on the sides. I didn't realize it's an actual box originally. I'll have to figure out a way to re-engineer this so water can't get into it with the cup holders in it. I'll also try to find a way to put speakers in this area... Seems like a better idea than the "drill through the boat to install speakers" idea...

 

[slow joe]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

And just a chunk of deck...


This is how this all started off tonight... Yeah, it was pretty much wet mulch...

 

[Natesms]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

Is that screw coming through the hull?!

Was the boat out in the freezing weather before you got it and drained it?

 

[slow joe]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

Is that screw coming through the hull?!

Was the boat out in the freezing weather before you got it and drained it?

Yes, the screw is through the hull. :facepalm: Luckily it's small, and well above the water line.

I got the boat in September and it has been in in my garage since, which is heated to 45* all winter long. I was having an issue with the heater and the temp in the garage dropped to 36* so I drained it just in case something else happened and it dropped below 32*

 

[bajaunderground]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

Joe,

I commend your efforts thus far. I am often amazed at what people will do to "fix" a boat. At least she's in good hands now! I have no hands on experience in redoing decks, transoms and stringers, but I love to watch the projects from start to finish...it's a great way to learn without getting itchy/dirty!

When it's time to name the boat, might I suggest something along the lines "SCREWED" or "LOOSE SCREWS"

Ciao,

~Brett

 

[redneck joe]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

ok I've seen alot, but never a screw form the outside.

 

[Natesms]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

Good deal on the motor. I was a little worried.

I am not sure but I don't know that you have to take the cap off. Hope someone else chimes in here. Can you just drop the floor out from under it?

The screw from the outside is something else.

 

[slow joe]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

Good deal on the motor. I was a little worried.

I am not sure but I don't know that you have to take the cap off. Hope someone else chimes in here. Can you just drop the floor out from under it?

The screw from the outside is something else.

I'm not sure about the cap either, but I can't seem to see it any other way. I'm going to mull it over, but I see having to remove the cap because of the front section. And I agree, the screw from the outside is something else. I just can't even fathom why someone would think that's a good idea.

Regardless... Got a few hours in today on the boat. Stringers are trashed, there literally wasn't more than mulch in spots encased in a thin layer of fiberglass... Interestingly enough it looks like the stringers are all 2 1/2 (or larger) pieces of plywood pressed together, I'm going to have to measure them to make sure before I start removing them.. The left side of the boat had probably a hundred pounds extra in water soaked in the foam. Luckily I had a friend helping me out. Learned a few lessons (such as Harbor Freight respirators are trash, and 48" gorilla bars are great for removing foam). I think we made some decent headway.

Next up I think I'm going to remove the lower unit, gas tank and engine. Which hopefully I can get done this week, however we're supposed to get snow Tuesday, and my garage ceiling isn't tall enough to remove the engine in the garage... Which will pose a problem. Then we have plans all weekend, which will set me back a bit more on this.

Here are some pics of what all happened today...

I found the spot where the deck goes from rotten to solid...


Not sure if you can see the water or not in this pic...



Where the back half ended up for the day


Where the front half ended up for the day...


Couple more pics coming up in a minute...

 

[slow joe]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

Pretty sure this screw isn't really holding the gas tank in anymore...


The stringers are kinda interesting in this back half... I wonder if there's a better way to route the gas lines...

 

[Natesms]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

Making a lot of headway! You got a heck of a project for your first boat. So is the motor and drive known to be good? I can't remember if you said if it was for sure good.

As someone else mentioned, if it's bad now is the time for a mercruiser swap. The OMC out-drives are hard to get parts for. So if something is wrong parts could get tricky.

 

[slow joe]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

Making a lot of headway! You got a heck of a project for your first boat. So is the motor and drive known to be good? I can't remember if you said if it was for sure good.

As someone else mentioned, if it's bad now is the time for a mercruiser swap. The OMC out-drives are hard to get parts for. So if something is wrong parts could get tricky.

From my lake test, and taking it out after buying it the engine and out drive seem solid. Engine starts every time with no issues (other than the time I accidentally flooded it... LOL). And the out drive goes into and out of gear as an early 90s out drive should. I'll be inspecting further as I pull everything apart.

On the engine I'll most likely pull the valve cover and oil pan just to see how things look. And on the out drive check all of the pieces I can easily access...

As for names, I like Screwed, and Loose Screws... I came up with "Thru-Hull"... My dad's an electrical engineer so he always use to talk about Through Hole soldering, and solder joints so that's one that I thought of... Not decided on the name, but we'll see as time goes on...

 

[slow joe]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

First off Happy MLK Day Everybody! I fortunately work for a company that observes the holiday today and had off, I FINALLY worked on the boat again since last week. It feels like it's been forever!

Today I removed the swim platform and out-drive, and started labeling the wiring for the engine. Unfortunately I won't be able to pull the engine till next week most likely since I leave town tomorrow for some meetings and don't get back til late Thursday, then at that point we have plans this weekend, and voila it's next week. lol

Couple of things...

1. Somebody loved silicon sealer! (see swim platform pics) -- I'll most likely be buying a different swim platform for the boat, or figuring out some new mounting hardware for it.

2. Should I replace the u-joints? They don't seem to have any play in them, but since the out drive is off, maybe I should just do them for the fact that it's off. These don't seem to be serviceable, since there aren't any grease zerks.

3. How much lube should be in the out-drive? there's enough that when the dipstick is screwed in it's just on the end of that, but if it's not screwed in there isn't any touching the dipstick.

4. Do you store your out-drive full of lube or drained?

5. Is the black plastic thing below a plug? I couldn't pull the two halves apart (see picture).

On with the pics...

In removing the swim platform I learned two things... First off the support on the left (closest to the camera) wasn't attached to anything at the top. Second whoever owned this boat either before me or the owner prior decided to re-drill the holes for the swim platform brackets... Then fill them with silicon sealer... lol At least they didn't leave them exposed.



Just a more close-up picture of the extra holes.


The Cobra beast prior to me doing anything to it...


Here is what I mean by the out-drive lube level. See the "drop" on the bottom of the dipstick

 

[slow joe]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

Got the eyelet in, and the hydraulics off...


Engine hoist in place.. Funny thing about this engine hoist, I bought it last summer used from a guy off Craigslist. He was telling me when I bought it how he used to use it for when he was restoring boats and removing motors/out-drives... I never knew I'd use it for the same thing... lol


Seeing that there's paint on these threads, and I'm sure this isn't the first time this out-drive has been removed I'm guessing this has been painted. At least they did a decent job on that...



And it's off.. It really didn't put up a big battle...

 

[slow joe]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

These look relatively new, however there aren't any grease zerks, and there's a bit of surface rust on them... To replace, or not to replace? That is the question.


This all looked amazingly clean, and the grease looked pretty good.



Here is where the disclaimer comes in... I'm not liable for any poorly constructed out-drive stands if you decide to build one like mine. I'll be the first to admit that it needs reinforcement. However! I made it with wood that I had laying around, and without any directions or any real measurements... It didn't turn out bad in my book...


And here is the plug that may or may not be a plug... Is this a plug or just a chunk of plastic holding a bunch of wires?



One thing I do need to say is that I need to go through all of the wiring in the engine bay. There are so many splices and butt connectors that I'm just scared of why they did it.

 

[slow joe]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

Alright, well... I got a little work done tonight. First things first though. I posted my questions in the OMC forum and here are the answers: http://forums.iboats.com/omc-i-o-inboard-engines-outdrives/cobra-outdrive-questions-637134.html

I got the big black plug pulled apart. Found quite a bit of corrosion in there, so I'll have to clean that up, and when I put it all back together use some dielectric grease.

I got all of the cables, wiring, etc disconnected. I did find some neat surprises with the wiring too.. (see pictures)

Regardless. The engine comes out tomorrow, as well as the tilt/trim housing, etc. I think I may take off on Friday to get the cap off and hopefully finish cutting the floor out (depending on how tomorrow night goes and whether my cousin decides to go to FL or not).

Here are a couple of pics. I'm sure that I'll have a bunch during & after removing the engine tomorrow night.

All those butt splices, so many... And they aren't waterproofed at all (just the regular ones). Looks like I'll be doing some wiring repairs...


Oh and I found this bit too. I'm not 100% sure where these wires go, however they were connected with covered connectors, and that's duct tape... :facepalm:


So the work rundown goes kinda like this.
1. Remove Engine
2. Remove Cap
3. Remove the rest of the floors/stringers (after documenting stringers)
4. Remove transom
5. Rebuild boat
6. Launch! (LOL ok so I skipped a few actual steps in there).

Just a quick question though. Once you remove the cap, how/where do you store it? Here in WI I'd be putting it in the snow if I put it outside. If I keep it inside I need to find storage for my convertible (which I may need to do anyways).

Any thoughts or ideas are much appreciated.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

There may be a few secondary steps to #5, but yeah sounds about right...........

 

[slow joe]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

There may be a few secondary steps to #5, but yeah sounds about right...........

Yeah, that step #5 is probably going to have points a. b. c., etc... :lol: At least once the engine is out and the cap is off I'll be at a point that I'm not so reliant on other people helping me work on it... That's what slows me down.

 

[slow joe]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

Good news! The engine (and remainder of lower unit) is out!

Bad News... The transom is trash. I guess I expected that...

This at least gets it all cleared up so I can get moving on this thing. I'm waiting to see when my cousin can come over and help me pop the cap tomorrow, and maybe he and I can make some headway on it. I still have to remove the gas tank, but I figured I'd try to drain it somewhat before removing it... I have absolutely no idea how much gas is in there since the gauge didn't work.

Since I'm a picture taker, here are some pics of the progress...

The engine finally free


And it's all gone!


Well, there it is!


The transom -- you can see it's all wet.

 

[slow joe]

Re: 1991 Conquest 1650 "Restoration"

And last but not least... Sweet paint job! :lol: