84' Sylvan Sportmaster 18.5 rebuild

[Velislide]

Well, picked up my first boat. As title says, I found a deal on one with a roller ez-loader trailer, 83-84 90hp merc, minnkota autopilot trolling motor on bow, and drop down kicker plate. Guy I got it from hooked up ear muffs and started motor for me to show me it runs, bilge works, live well works, horn & lights, lowrance depthfinder, and trolling motor with foot pedal all worked. The catch is, transom wood and floors are soft, someone replaced floors a couple years back and did the worst job imaginable, especially when putting down carpet and interior back together, and wiring. Managed to drive off with everything for 800$, figured that's a good deal up in northern minnesota. Started working on the boat over the last month here and there, when I have time. No garage right now so doing it outside. Here's some pics to show my progress so far. Rebuilt transom using marine plywood, and floors with 3/4 cdx. As of tonight I put on thr first coat of helmsman on the floors. Also picked up a 84 Merc 9.8 for 60$, clean motor and decent shape. Just needed impeller, and a shift lever. Going to be using that as my kicker.

 

[Velislide]

Here it is bringing it home.

 

[Velislide]

Transom definitely was in bad shape, stretched back. Yanked it out and started working on a new one. First transom I built I used exterior grade plywood, and made it .25" too thick since I copied the swollen up old one without thinking. Ended up building a new one using marine plywood, laminated together with poly construction adhesive and triple plated deck screws that I counter sunk and filled back in with a wood filler, and used lots of coats of helmsman to seal it.

 

[Velislide]

Also made a new... Whatever that is out the outside of the skin, lol, out of 3/4 marine ply. 3 coats of helmsman on that also, first coat thinned to soak in.

 

[Velislide]

Gutting out interior, floor was.... Interesting. Just the large rear section was made out of 8 randomly shaped pieces of plywood, maybe only 1/2", but already rotted.

 

[Velislide]

Cleaned inside of hull, put gluvit on a lot of rivers and seams. Started dry fitting new floor. Also here is that merc 9.8 I snagged for 60$.

 

[jbcurt00]

Looks like some nice work so far. Are those seat base backer plates? Hang on to those, even if you don't choose to put pedestal seats back in. They'd be nice to have.............

Welcome to the iboats dry dock, tin division. Your step-bro's in Tin (the guys in the funny tin hats :tinfoil3: that own tin Starcrafts) will be along shortly I'm sure.

 

[Velislide]

They were some super thin aluminum plates, almost like tin. Pretty useless honestly, my new floor is 3/4" so I imagine bolting the new pedestals to it with wide backer nuts would be more then enough? Don't plan on using lag bolts, most likely some type of backers with teeth so I can bolt the new mounts in over the carpet.

 

[jbcurt00]

I'd still hang on to the thin backers. Going to 3/4" can cause some alignment problems w/ the consoles & windshield fitment. Plan to take extra time & be patient when you get to that point. Getting the center section to close & fit properly could be time consuming & frustrating.

 

[jigngrub]

Use stainless steel 1/4-20 "T" nuts and stainless 1/4-20 oval head machine screws for those pedestal seats

 

[Velislide]

Sounds good. Getting the consoles lined up perfectly was my biggest concern since the previous owner had them so out of alignment after reinstalling everything, that the center window wouldn't even come close to latching, was pretty sad. I was thinking if I need to shim them up or anything, I'll fab up some mounts out of aluminum I can snag from menards or something. I'd want it to be thicker then those bottom thin plates under the pedestals. Quick question. I've given the floors a couple coats now of thinned spar urathane. Would it be smart to coat the floors with rustoleum paint and then carpet? Would the paint hold up or peel back with the carpet? And does the higher end marine carpet have a full rubber back like they say, so it will help keep water out of the wood? I plan on ordering some of the higher ounce carpet next payday. And one last question, is it possible to say, two part foam the hull under the floor, and leave a center channel for water to goto the bilge and drain? Thinking as it would increase the rigidity of the hull, and handle slamming down onto waves better. Planned on using the boat on Lake Superior for little cruises every now and then, figured the stronger the hull, the better.

 

[jigngrub]

Yeah, my boat came from the factory with expanding foam and keel drainage:


Paint or spar on the deck before carpet, it doesn't matter. Just sand it good to roughen it up for the glue to grab.

 

[Velislide]

Another random question. Why do these boats generally have the large 3-4' long access hatch over the walkway in the center? Does it help for washing out the floors or something, as a place to wash it into? Seems more like a good place to lose lots of little items.

 

[jigngrub]

Are you talking about the water ski locker in the center of the deck?

 

[Velislide]

That...: would make sense.

 

[Velislide]

Well coated the top of the floors with rustoleum, need to flip them and coat bottoms I assume also with helmsman at least? Or would they last a long time going untreated. I'll still need to drill all my holes for mounting hardware and seal those up too. After looking at carpet, going with the gunmetal 20oz from boatcarpet.com when I get paid. Do I need to remove of sand down the carpet glue on the sides? Or would it glue fine over that.

 

[83mulligan]

nice project, check into using vinyl too. You may like that better than carpet.

 

[Velislide]

Choosing carpet since it will be easier on bare feet and knees. Cheaper and easier to install also.

 

[Velislide]

Latest progress.

 

[Velislide]

Been awhile since I posted any updates on this, lol. I'll post some pics of what I've done this spring on the boat.