90 Larson Senza Spectre total rebuild and restoration

[Spectre250]

Hello everyone, I recently purchased a white/black 1990 Larson Senza Spectre last September which the PO said only needed one stringer replaced and the floor replaced. He had already torn up the floor and ripped out that one port side stringer. Upon further inspection, I concluded that all the stringers and bulkheads needed replacing, and more than likely the transom as well; even though, from the looks and feel of it, it actually seems solid surprisingly.

A little back story to start off with:
Last May, I found on craigslist a green/white 90 Senza Spectre that had no title (I know, I know), but I only paid $150 for it. It has no engine, outdrive, or front bolster seats, but everything else was there (in very poor condition mind you, been sitting since 05). I brought the boat home and it sat there because I didnt want to put money into it without getting a title first. Fast forward to September, I was randomly searching google for any info on this boat, as it has been very hard finding any good information since apparently almost nobody has this boat except for 6 that I have seen for sale, and I came across a CL ad for another 90 senza for sale in detroit with a title! After a couple days of pondering, I called the guy and we agreed to meet each other half way (I live in new jersey). Got the boat home and went to DMV and put title in my name and registered her. Then it basically sat all fall and winter until two months ago when I decided to tear into it. And Im keeping the other no title boat for reference because I know Im going to need it haha, and for spare parts as the new boat was missing a few things when the PO ripped it apart. Also, the new vessel didnt have an engine, outdrive, gimbal housing, front bolsters, and other miscellaneous items.

In February, I found a 502 mag mpi complete take out engine with only 130 hours on it and got it for a great price, so that is whats going in her and will build and support with extra glass and wood in the engine bay because of the added horsepower.


This is my first boat and my first boat rebuild so any and all help with be appreciated. Ive watched rebuild videos on youtube and have done extensive research online (on here included) and am fairly confident that I can tackle this big job. I been watching and rewatching Friscoboater's videos and am currently reading his searay rebuild thread. Here are some pic for you guys to start off, and will be posting my progress as I move along.

Thanks for reading and helping!

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[Spectre250]

Ok, so since Ive been working on her already, Ill post more of my progress as I didnt want to make the first post too painfully long.

I bought a portable car tent to house my project.

I washed the inside really well and removed the interior pieces, fuel tank, engine bay stuff, wiring, cables, firewall, dashboard (which was a total PITA because it was super silconed in there!), cabin seating and storage. basically everything that was left inside the boat that was able to be removed.

I bought some drop down bolsters from a early 90s baja for a good price. They're a little short but I can still make them work, plus they look almost identical to what was in there, so thats a win. Totally dont match but everything needs to be reupholstered anyway so Im just gonna rock them for the time being.

 

[Spectre250]

Here's a little video of the engine running, sounds healthy and no odd noises. This was a cold start up

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205893008307901

and some pics. Gonna need to do an oil change and full tune up, but Ill worry about that once the boats done.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Nice! Love my Larson, so I'll be following along...

 

[Spectre250]

Alright guys, have some more updates from the few previous weeks. Ive removed almost all the foam from the hull, minus the engine bay, still working on that. But man I can tell you, it was saturated pretty darn good with water, and it was a pain to remove because I couldnt get in there totally with a sawzall for fear of hitting the hull, which Ive nicked a few times already. No damage done so we're good. Also, whatever wood was left in there that the PO didnt remove was sooooo rotted, it just crumbled apart as I was working.

And now onto the pictures!

Port side foam removed.

I also removed part of the starboard side foam, and removed the dumb rubber diamond plate floor mat that was glued down in the engine bay. I get why Larson did that (less expensive than gel coating and fancier looking I guess) but they didnt prep the under side deck at all! Barely any tabbing and just plain old exposed wood in the middle. Tisk tisk. A lot of this boat actually doesnt have any real tabbing at all, except for in key areas. Just a ton of sprayed in resin and chopped fibers against the stringers and bulkheads.

Look at all that rot on the engine bay decking!!!!!! Lastly, I deskinned and removed the plywood from starboard side engine bay, both sides werent completely rotten, only in the front where it met the open part of the boat. Back towards the transom was very wet but not rotten. We shall see if the transom is any good.......in due time. Plenty more to come.

 

[Spectre250]

And here we are again. This past weekend, I finished taking out the remainder of starboard foam and wood. There was this little cut out for the fuel fill and vent lines that I took out in one piece for reference when reassembling. As you can see from the pics, only one piece of tabbing and the rest is just globbed on resin, along with exposed foam to soak up any and all water! :facepalm: That was really all I got done for the weekend, as I wasnt in the least motivated to work on the ole girl. But I did get to go out on my friends Baja Islander 188 sunday afternoon and drive it around a little bit. That brought back some motivation.

Which bring me to today!!!!! Theres these box thingys that go under the gas tank for support I guess that were rotted out (surprisingly :lol so I deskinned and cut out those bad boys, no tabbing, just an excessive amount of spray resin and chopped strands. There was a little bit of foam under them that was soaked to the bone, felt like the inside of an apple as I was prying it out. Just horribly rotted. I wont be putting the tank supports back in, as Ive been trying to wrap my head around how I could replicate that and came to the conclussion that I just dont want to be bothered lol. I will however, come up with a different way to support the tank, a much better way.....

The way Larson applied the foam was through many 1.5 inch holes (in the one pic, you can see five holes in the wood) in the deck and those boxes, that were poorly sealed up if at all with resin, might have just been glue actually that cracked and shrunk. Thats definitely where the water was coming in, along with the hundreds of screw holes for seat posts and wiring and seat boxes and whatnot; and lousy glass work up the stringers too.

And I started digging into the cabin under the carpets. Mucho rot on the port side where there has been water coming in from a bad seal between the boat cap and the hull behind the rubrail. Ive watched water come in when it was raining and it just flows down and sits under the seat and soaks into the carpet, and the false floor too. Ive opened up quite the can of worms :frusty:

 

[Spectre250]

New update!

This weekend I removed all the foam from the engine bay and cut out the motor mount boxes, so much water and rot. It smells like a sweaty gym locker room in the middle of August! I left the boxes in one piece so I have a good template to go by. I remember reading an old article I found on this boat and they said that Larson used solid 4X4 blocks of wood for the mounts, which was a lie, because theyre obviously not there lol. Its just two pieces of 1 inch plywood stapled together and a 8 inch wide piece of 1 inch on top with foam underneath. Also the article said that marine plywood was used, but I think thats also a lie because the one motor mount came apart and on the wood EXTERIOR was printed, I could be wrong though. I have a picture of the printing, Ill let you guys decide if it is marine or not, but I dont think it is.

Andddddd the transom needs to be replaced :blue:. There was a spacer board stapled to it and I peeled it off with ease and it wasnt even glassed over between the layers. The bottom of the transom is soaked with oil and water and is a bit mushy. Plus, where it goes down to the hull in the foam cavities, it wasnt even tabbed to the hull, just open with a space at the bottom! So lots of water just wicked right up in there...... fun fun fun fun fun fun.

 

[JASinIL2006]

I don't know if the plywood you show is marine or not, but it really doesn't make much difference. Marine plywood is essentially a high quality (often overpriced) exterior plywood. Any good quality exterior plywood will do. Too bad about the transom, but not terribly surprising, given the construction. Amazes me how these boats are built at the factory.

 

[Spectre250]

I know right! Theyre built like garbage, its all about how fast you can pump them out the door. Its a shame though, because this is such a sharp looking boat but the build quality where you cant see is poor, and thats the most important part in my eyes. I knew I would have to do the transom, I was just delaying the inevitable. But now from what I see, Im glad that Im doing it, and it will be better than it was, along with the rest of the boat.

I am going to be using regular exterior grade ply from home depot or lowes as that is my only option really. Im also on somewhat of a budget because Im in the market to buy a house this year so Im trying to save up as much money as I can plus work on the boat at the same time. I know that if I buy a house and not finish her before (or at least close to finishing) then I will probably never finish because the mortgage will always come first plus other house things. So Im really trying to bust my hump and get her near completion over the summer. And when I say budget, its not really a budget, just trying to get good deals on stuff and not buy un-needed items or more than I need.

 

[Vintage Rider]

While I don't envy you the work you've already done and have yet to do I will most certainly will envy your boat when its done. Title or not, $150.00 for a doner/reference boat AND TRAILER? God likes you a lot! Keep posting. I'm going to enjoy watching.

 

[Woodonglass]

You might find this helpful when starting to work on your Deck, Stringers and Transom...Fabricating Decks, Stringers, and Transoms

 

[Spectre250]

Vintage rider- the trailer was extra unfortunately. I paid $1100 for it, it doesnt fit the hull well at all. Its meant for a late 90s baja and is only 24ft long (mine is 25), with welded winch tower (not adjustable at all whatsoever). I only purchased to transfer the boat to my house, once Im done with the donor, Ill sell the trailer. The project boat however, I paid $1600 for with trailer.

Woodonglass- Thank you! That one page I just read confirmed a lot of my suspicions. However, Im torn with using either epoxy or poly....... I know theres major debate on the two and I dont want to start any trouble. Im leaning towards epoxy as I have a friend who just redid his boat and says epoxy is a must and used just 1708 for everything. One thing Im confused about though in your attached thread, is with epoxy, do I need to use just 1708 or no? Because some parts say 1708 and other parts say 6-8 oz cloth. Can you please clear this up for me???? Thank you so much in advance!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Woodonglass]

You don't use CSM with Epoxy. It adds no benefit to the mix. It just soaks up additional resin and adds to the cost. 1708 has CSM stitched to it. It's used when using Polyester resin which DOES require CSM. When using epoxy all you need is Fabric. If you need bulk and strength then multiple layers of 8oz fabric would be the way to go. 2 layers of 8oz over your stringers would work great. That would be 16oz of fabric but would be stronger than one layer of 17oz fabric and epoxy.

 

[Spectre250]

Well, after over a week of not doing anything on the boat because I hurt both my wrists, I got back into it today and started tearing out the transom. I deskinned it and got to chipping away at the wood. Surprisingly enough, it wasnt rotted at all except for maybe an inch around the garboard drain, and even that wasnt terribly rotten.... All the wood was saturated though with water and oil towards the bottom, it was chipping away fairly easy but there wasnt any deterioration, Just wetness. Smelled like pine. They used 1 inch plywood, so I was pooped after halfway removing it. Plus I didnt want to hurt my wrists again so I stopped.

Im going full bore on her tomorrow though as I have off from work still from the holiday weekend. Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend! Thank you for all who served for this great country of ours!

 

[alldodge]

That stuff is tough going

 

[Spectre250]

Hey everyone, I'm trying to figure out the best option for cloth that I need. On US Composites, they have 6 oz E cloth but not 8 oz, just some in between weird sizes and materials. Would I be fine with a few layers of 6 oz or should I get some heavier cloth, or get a biax 17 oz no mat? I would like to try to keep the weight factor on the low side if possible. I really don't want to mess up and buy the wrong stuff and have my boat be a death trap.

I added a link to the page, please tell me what I should get as I'm almost ready for reconstruction.

Will have updates posted soon

 

[Woodonglass]

Are you using epoxy or Poly?

 

[Spectre250]

Epoxy sir

 

[Spectre250]

Alright, so I'm ready to buy the materials this week. I'm using epoxy, should I get 6 oz cloth and use say 3 layers, or get 17 oz and use 1? layer??

Woodonglass, looking for you input here, your linked thread is confusing as it says use both? I uunderstand the rest of it though.

 

[Spectre250]

Got a lot done on the boat since the last update, finished removing the transom, and tore out part of the cabin wood and floor, and started the grinding process. I started grinding in the cabin first so I can start there to glass every thing in, as there is a major bulkhead that needs to go in place before anything else. Then I'll proceed with transom and come forward to that bulkhead. I'll have some more pics up later of the current state of the interior.