87 Bayliner capri cuddy restore(Actually Citation Caprice)

[snobdr]

Been on the forum for a few weeks doing research before i purchased this 1987 bayliner capri 195 cuddy.
$400 brought the boat home. It has the volvo penta 131a, altoughh a bit dirty is in good condition, outdrive is a little worse for wear but also ok.
Deck is soft and needs redone.

http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m547/snobdr1/87capricuddy.jpg

Over the weekend i rip into it removing the interior. Everything that was wood is totally deteriated. I get down to the deck and i find it glassed in. I was under the impression these were just wood. I would assume this has been redecked once before. I have a few questions at this point.

http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m547/snobdr1/engine.jpg

In the above picture if you look above the engine there is a rail running down the side of the boat. The drill is pointing at it also. Is this an original stringer?

http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m547/snobdr1/deck.jpg

In the above picture we can see the deck into the bow or cuddy portion. I have heard of people lowering the deck to increase headroom in this area. There is a natural step in the side of the boat( runs foward from the bottom of the piece of blue carpet) Looks as if the deking would be on this step. From looking at the pic, is this the original position of the deck or has it been lowered?

So i tear into the glass deck and im sure you guess what i find under it.

http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m547/snobdr1/glassremoved.jpg

Wood totally rotted. I dig some of the foam up and it is all dry except for the bottom. i find a small bit of moisture. One stringer seems solid the other has a hollow sound when hit with a hammer. All bulkheads are toast. Definately alot worse then percieved with carpet on top. What felt solit was actually where the foam was filled up to the wood sheet.

I know what im in for at this point. If this was a redeck they obviously didnt know what they were doing.

Another quick question is the VP 131a dosent seem to have any engine mounts on it. It kinda just hangs there. Is this the way they are? Mounted just at the transom?

Ill leave off there for now and wait on a few answers to my questions and go from there.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: 87 bayliner 195 capri cuddy restore

Re: 87 bayliner 195 capri cuddy restore

Welcome to iboats.

Good motor and outdrive We have had quite a few B-liner restorations here. Sad to say but what you see is typical for that era of b-liner's

Yes you have your work cut out for you and yes there are mounts under the motor.

Please ....limit your photo's to 640 x 480

 

[snobdr]

Re: 87 bayliner 195 capri cuddy restore

Re: 87 bayliner 195 capri cuddy restore

Tried to resize in photobucket. i dont know why they were still so big. Ill make sure on future posts

 

[snobdr]

Re: 87 bayliner 195 capri cuddy restore

Re: 87 bayliner 195 capri cuddy restore

I was hoping for more help with my questions. I have found out the motor is mounted that way ( just off the transom) so i will be making sure the transom is not rotted.
Can anyone help with if the deck is in the original position or has been changed? I was told by bayliner guy that they always glassed in the deck. Is this true? Am i looking at the original floor?

 

[lowvlot]

Re: 87 bayliner 195 capri cuddy restore

Re: 87 bayliner 195 capri cuddy restore

I also have an 87' bayliner capri cuddy. And yes the deck is glassed in. You are most likely looking at the original deck.

 

[snobdr]

Re: 87 bayliner 195 capri cuddy restore

Re: 87 bayliner 195 capri cuddy restore

I have recently found out this is actualy a Citation 195 Caprice, not a bayliner. Either way im still going on with the resto. Ran the engine to make sure it works. Pulled it and the outdrive. Now coaxing the transom plate and bellhousing apart is the next step then rip into the rot.

 

[westexasrepublic]

Re: 87 Bayliner capri cuddy restore(Actually Citation Caprice)

been on the forum for a few weeks doing research before i purchased this 1987 bayliner capri 195 cuddy.
$400 brought the boat home. It has the volvo penta 131a, altoughh a bit dirty is in good condition, outdrive is a little worse for wear but also ok.
Deck is soft and needs redone.

over the weekend i rip into it removing the interior. Everything that was wood is totally deteriated. I get down to the deck and i find it glassed in. I was under the impression these were just wood. I would assume this has been redecked once before. I have a few questions at this point.

in the above picture if you look above the engine there is a rail running down the side of the boat. The drill is pointing at it also. Is this an original stringer?

in the above picture we can see the deck into the bow or cuddy portion. I have heard of people lowering the deck to increase headroom in this area. There is a natural step in the side of the boat( runs foward from the bottom of the piece of blue carpet) looks as if the deking would be on this step. From looking at the pic, is this the original position of the deck or has it been lowered?

So i tear into the glass deck and im sure you guess what i find under it.

wood totally rotted. I dig some of the foam up and it is all dry except for the bottom. I find a small bit of moisture. One stringer seems solid the other has a hollow sound when hit with a hammer. All bulkheads are toast. Definately alot worse then percieved with carpet on top. What felt solit was actually where the foam was filled up to the wood sheet.

I know what im in for at this point. If this was a redeck they obviously didnt know what they were doing.

Another quick question is the vp 131a dosent seem to have any engine mounts on it. It kinda just hangs there. Is this the way they are? Mounted just at the transom?

Ill leave off there for now and wait on a few answers to my questions and go from there.

redone to help ya

 

[Mark42]

Re: 87 Bayliner capri cuddy restore(Actually Citation Caprice)

Hey Snobdr! That Capri has nice lines to it. Going to look great when finished.

I have heard of people lowering the deck to increase headroom in this area. There is a natural step in the side of the boat( runs foward from the bottom of the piece of blue carpet) looks as if the deking would be on this step. From looking at the pic, is this the original position of the deck or has it been lowered?

From the looks of it, I think that is the original level. I'm guessing there was the typical V birth in the bow. So that level of the deck would have been covered by the v-birth base. Got pics before the de-construction?

 

[snobdr]

Re: 87 Bayliner capri cuddy restore(Actually Citation Caprice)

I didnt get any pics before the tear out. Was to excited to get started. The v birth cushions were right on top of the floor. The lever you see in the pics. After looking at some pics of the correct boat, that is the level of the floor. I will have to think about if i want to change this setup.

 

[Mark42]

Re: 87 Bayliner capri cuddy restore(Actually Citation Caprice)

If you want more headroom, the recessed floor is the way to go. The existing recessed area can be rebuilt to a slightly wider version (but will have to be 2 or 3 inches higher) so there is more foot room. Then build the V-Birth bases lower, maybe only 12-14" high. That gives sitting space when the center of the v-birth is out, and gives storage compartments. The bases also are good places for batteries, spare prop, tools, etc.

Just a thought.

 

[Mark42]

Re: 87 bayliner 195 capri cuddy restore

Re: 87 bayliner 195 capri cuddy restore

I have recently found out this is actualy a Citation 195 Caprice, not a bayliner. Either way im still going on with the resto. Ran the engine to make sure it works. Pulled it and the outdrive. Now coaxing the transom plate and bellhousing apart is the next step then rip into the rot.

Just an FYI.... It didn't look like a Bayliner to me, but what do I know?

If you want you can edit the first entry and change the title of the post so it doesn't say Bayliner.

 

[Paul Ryan]

Re: 87 Bayliner capri cuddy restore(Actually Citation Caprice)

Nope not a Bayliner. I have the same boat. Hull is a little thicker than Bay's of that year model.

 

[snobdr]

Re: 87 Bayliner capri cuddy restore(Actually Citation Caprice)

So the caprice is coming along slowly. Floor is up and the foam is coming out. Lots of wet foam and lots of rot. Im getting close to cutting the old stringers out.
Its on the trailer(has a 2x6 running up either side that it is sitting on). Should this be ok to hold the shape of the boat? The 2x6s run about 3/4 of the way up the boat.
The stringers and bulkheads make up a ladder like assembly in the center of the boat so i would like to replace this as one piece.
I wanted to get thoughts on this before hand.

 

[snobdr]

Re: 87 Bayliner capri cuddy restore(Actually Citation Caprice)

OK so its been a while and havent had much time to work on her but now things are slow and i can get some stuff done. The old stringers have been cut out. The first i cut pretty far down(maybe 2 inches off the bottom to leave some glass to position the stringers and then pried what was left of the wood out. It came out rather easy so on the other stringer i just cut the top off and pried the whole stringer out so i have almost a full stringer to work from.
The transom seems solid, i knocked around on it with a hammer. Its solid around the bolt holes and around the keyhole. I am going to drill some test holes. My worry is that the the stringers go right to the wood of the transom and wernt rotted in that area but are black. Ive read about using glycol and epoxy to stop any further rot or possibly ceps. Id rather not pull out the transom if i dont have to. For the most part its solid.
Any thoughts on this?
Another question is, I plan to pre coat the stringers with epoxy to protect them but when reinstalling the stringers i was planning on using some PL to seat the stringers, could i run pl down the sides of each stringer and clamp back onto the existing glass or should i coat the stringer with thickened epoxy and clamp in place to the existing glass?
More pictures are coming, have to charge my camera up.

 

[foobash]

Re: 87 Bayliner capri cuddy restore(Actually Citation Caprice)

How is the glycol working? Did you use anti-freeze from the auto-store, or find some old school (more toxic) glycol online? I just bought a 1987 Bayliner 1800 Cobra Bowrider that I am going to do the floor (just floor if stringers are ok). The weather here in Philly is going up to 67 tomorrow. The floor that is in there now is really solid in the bow, some soft spots near the ski locker. The seatbox on the starboard side towards the stern is rotted. Everything underneath seems solid as do the bulk heads. All the foam seems dry. I will try to start a new thread this weekend with some pictures. I only have pics of ripping up the old blue carpet.

I have spent most of the winter researching a lot on here. A lot of great information. I will be using epoxy over poly and glass everything. I was going to use 3/4 ply vs. 1/2 ,but instead going to use 1/2 marine.

Keep us posted.

Richard

 

[snobdr]

Re: 87 Bayliner capri cuddy restore(Actually Citation Caprice)

Yea i still havent made a decision yet on what im going to do. Still researching. I was hoping to get some replys on here but that didnt seem to happen. Im going to get to it over the weekend drill some test holes in the transom and see where that takes me. Geta get to gettin so ill have a water ready boat come spring.
Im looking US composits Epoxy but am up in the air over slow or medium hardner. Any opinions on this?
Also im going to drill test holes in the transom about every 2-4" or so to get a good read on if its rotted or not. I was thinking if not rotted or minimum rot id like to shoot something in the holes to stop any further rot, do i go with CEPS or can i just thin down some of the epoxy and shoot it into the holes. If i can what should i thin it with?
These on top of the questions about the antifreeze.

 

[snobdr]

Re: 87 Bayliner capri cuddy restore(Actually Citation Caprice)

OK so im almost ready to start putting it back together. I drilled some test holes in the transom and everything is dry and solid. The bottom 1" or so of the it did however come out a little on the black side. I really dont think its worth pulling the whole transom if i can effectively stop it from any further rot. Advice here would be appreciated.
Heres some more pics of the project
Heres the left stringer that came out in pieces

And the right that i cut the top of the glass off and pulled in almost one piece

Then 2 shots of the hull almost ready to start going back together.

 

[snobdr]

Re: 87 Bayliner capri cuddy restore(Actually Citation Caprice)

I guess im on my own with this project. All i can do is research and try and make the best decision. Thought i would get more help from here from those that have more experence but i guess not.

 

[proshadetree]

Re: 87 Bayliner capri cuddy restore(Actually Citation Caprice)

Hey man just caught your thread. Although not a baylinner I drilled my transom and it looked great. Then when I sat her in the water she leaked like a well pumping. Replace that transome if it is rotten at all.

 

[fat fanny]

Re: 87 Bayliner capri cuddy restore(Actually Citation Caprice)

Man going to all that work and not replacing a transom that is in ? @ best is a crap shoot do yourself a favor pull it and replace it! From what I see your on the right track. Just keep in mind overkill never hurt anyone. I would encapsulate everything before I tabbed it in and be patient the more experienced guys will chime in !