21' Chris Craft Scorpion 210 Restoration

[Kristopher22]

Hello everyone! This is my first post here, so I thought I would say hey, and tell you about my little winter project. This is my first attempt at a restoration project of any size, so please, any advice is greatly appreciated!

My wife and I just traded our 16'5 Crestliner (1977-ish) w/ 95HP Mercury (circa late 1960's), for a 1979 21' Scorpion, which is in need of a new interior.

The gentleman I made the trade with was very mechanically inclined (unlike me) and as such kept the motor, driveline and all other components in tip-top shape. The interior however, is a different story..... My intentions are to tear everything out and refinish over the winter/spring months. It is also worth mentioning, that we are on a semi restricted budget, and will be making every attempt at pinching pennies.

The plan is:

1. Tear all of the seats, carpet out.

2. Tear floor out, and replace with new wood (ideas?? 3/4" ply??)

3. New carpet, and seating. I can find everything I need, with the exception of the bank across the back which has the motor cover in the middle. Any ideas?

4. Replace cabin wall carpet/material

5. Remove all hardware and completely sand and fill scratches/dings.

6. Replace railing on the bow as it is pretty gross looking (unless it can be refinished?)

7. Paint top and bottom and interior base. My wife is very good at painting and has the patience that I lack for this type of detail.

8. Sand and refinish all wood trim and cuddy door.

So this is the major renos I intend on doing. Am I biting off more than I can chew?? Only time will tell!

Also, I was thinking of changing the main control panel (next to the steering wheel) as it is pretty rough looking. I wanted to maybe get something a little more streamline. Any ideas?

I am heading out to the boat this weekend and will take the before photos and attach them.

Thoughts? Ideas? Recomendations?

 

[Kristopher22]

Re: 21' Chris Craft Scorpion 210 Restoration

So tonight was my first real night of work on the boat. I took a super long weekend and my priority is going to be the demolition phase of this project.

The first thing I found tonight was a pile of documents that actually say that the boat is a 1982 rather than a 1979 like I originally thought it was.... That was a pleasant surprise!

What I accomplished tonight in the 2 hours that I had, was I managed to tear the seats out, carpet (well most of it) and all of the trim on the one port side. Which brings me to my first problem..... I thought I was going to be able to re-upholster the old trim and reinstall it, however, the ply wood holding it all together was completely rotten and therefore a complete loss. What I have now is a wide open space that I am going to have to fabricate something.... To be honest, this may end up being cheaper than the alternative. If you have any ideas, please let me know!

I also managed to start tearing the old deck apart. This was a laugh! The previous owner told me that he did some "patch work" which equated to the entire deck being installed using 2 X 1/2" particle board with some sort of grip tape over top...... Needless to say, it was a little soft!

From what I can see, the stringers appear to be in good shape. They are completely covered in glass and appear to be dry. Correct me if I am wrong (see pics).

Tomorrow I will continue to tear the floor and the opposite sides trim out and hopefully by end day, be finished the floor.

I am going to attempt to attach some photos here:

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 21' Chris Craft Scorpion 210 Restoration

Nice looking boat. Definitely worth the effort to fix up. Good luck with your project!

 

[Kristopher22]

Re: 21' Chris Craft Scorpion 210 Restoration

Day 2:

Completely covered in glass fibers as I write this..... I probably shouldn't have worn shorts to cut the old deck apart. Live and learn!

My day started with me taking the mooring cover of and tearing it in half while doing so. I guess I am getting a new cover too! Which leads me to believe that this project is going to be at least three times more expensive than I had anticipated.

I finished cutting most of the deck out and cleaning everything up. I started with 3 different saws, wondering which would be the best for the job and ended up using my reciprocating saw. I left most of my knuckle skin on the boat and chewed up about forty dollars of blades, but it is done!

Have a peek at the stringers and let me know what you think. They both feel, and appear to be dry and solid. The un-treated wood repairs were from the previous owners and will be coming out this afternoon.

The question that I have is regarding the wood to use for the new decking. Here in Ontario, marine grade ply is both hard to find and ridiculously expensive. I intend on laying 3/4" encased in glass, which leaves me wondering why I need marine grade ply? Will it not be water tight in the glass?

 

[m_87]

Re: 21' Chris Craft Scorpion 210 Restoration

if you have any doubts about the stringers than drill some holes and see how the wood looks if its dry fill them with 3M 5200 but looking at them they look good.. mine looked good in some spots and horrible in others tho. when i took them out they were hollow in spots and like a soil texture in others. check out my thread.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=427245

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 21' Chris Craft Scorpion 210 Restoration

With my restore it did seem like everything took twice as long, cost twice and much, and came out about half as good as I expected. Still worth it though. Grinding glass in shorts is definitely not a good idea. Very nice work on the deck removal. I do NOT say this often....but your stringers appear to be completely usable as is and I would not replace them. You are VERY lucky. We're talking like 2% of these projects look that good under the deck.

Is marine grade a superior product? Absolutely. Do you need to use it? No. Many of us are using exterior grade and properly glassed it will last a very long time.

 

[m_87]

Re: 21' Chris Craft Scorpion 210 Restoration

another thing why did the previous owner put the wood on the stringers?? maybe to make them stronger if they are rotten.. it any one part is rotten than it will probably spread and if your going to replace them now would be the time. if they arent when you take the wood off the stringers from the previous owner fill the screw holes with the 3M 5200 too.

 

[nauzzer]

Re: 21' Chris Craft Scorpion 210 Restoration

Ive seen 2x4s like that for floor patches. Hopefully your stringers are soild. I'm doing the same thing on a 21' scorpion to, but its a center console layout 214WA, my deck, transom and stringers are JUNK! I was surprised the stringers were only 3/4" ply w/ glass. I was expecting thicker wood. Save that old boat!

 

[Utahboatnut]

Re: 21' Chris Craft Scorpion 210 Restoration

The wood 1x and 2x that are scabbed onto the sides of the stringers are probably just a PO attempt to get backing for some floor repairs made along the way. I would remove those and reseal where they were, if more backing is needed do it the right way now while it is all apart. What is there looks to be in great shape as mentioned before you are pretty lucky if its in as good of shape as it looks. Now is also a great time to check the condition of the motor mounts and the transom, drill 3/4 or so into them in different places and check the shavings for their color and condition. Seal all holes back up with some 3M 5200 and begin the rebuild phase. Lastly if you use 3/4 CDX ply that is well treated and sealed it will last a long time.

 

[Kristopher22]

Re: 21' Chris Craft Scorpion 210 Restoration

Thanks for the input. As for the stringers, I was very surprised and happy to see the condition of them... Very solid and completely encased in glass.

As for the scab wood on the stringers: It appears as though the previous owner put them there to give him something to screw the particle board deck down to. It is gone now and they are being sealed tomorrow.

I intent on drilling some transom holes to see what is underneath. I tried to see if there was any movement while pulling on the lower end, and it seems to be pretty tight (fingers are crossed and knocking on wood).

This could turn into a laugh, but I am going to try and fix my mooring cover myself. It tore right along a seem and could be a very easy fix, with my wife's pink sewing machine..... Hopefully I won't sew my finger to the cover.

Question regarding paint: I have everything removed down to the stringers. My wife is going to paint the topside, but I want to paint right through the entire inside of the boat. Should we just use the same top paint and carry on, before replacing the interior?

Thanks guys. I am off to scratch my arms off.... Really should have protected myself a little better when cutting the glass!

 

[m_87]

Re: 21' Chris Craft Scorpion 210 Restoration

the glass wont peal away if the stringers are rotten. all my stringers came out in one piece becuase of the fiberglass just make sure and i could hop up and down on my outdrive and the transome wouldnt budge seamed fine but after getting the engine out i found that only the top of my transome didnt have extreemly rotten wood in int

 

[Kristopher22]

Re: 21' Chris Craft Scorpion 210 Restoration

I am going to drill some inspection holes tomorrow.

 

[m_87]

Re: 21' Chris Craft Scorpion 210 Restoration

i really think by looking at the pics that they will be good but everyone knows what happens when people including myself start thinking. good luck

 

[njmedic3306]

Re: 21' Chris Craft Scorpion 210 Restoration

I have to laugh I have that exact year/color/make/model boat. Its running straight exhaust out the back but runs like a rapped ape....Keep us up to date.