Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

[Struc]

I hope this thread will be well recieved here - if not, one of the moderators can feel free to move it to an appropriate place. I thought with all the reconstruction that goes on here, you might be interested in some deconstruction pictures. This all started a few weeks back, and is about 85% complete now.

So, the story goes that I picked up my boat (1988 Sea Ray Seville 20') off Ebay for cheap, but it didn't come with a trailer. About the time the auction was coming due, I was scouring local Craigslist postings for boats as well, and found a 1989 "junk" boat identical to the one on Ebay with a good tandem trailer. When I got the winning bid on Ebay, I also called this guy and said I would take his boat. He bought it for the 4.3l heads for his boat, and didn't need the rest. He told me the guy he got it from had just spent a bunch of money to have the heads refreshed and had the Alpha One gone through and serviced, and on the first time out on the water, it started making bad noises and the engine seized, so he just wanted to cut his losses and sold it for junk.

The trailer is in above average condition, and is a nice roller trailer with surge brakes which work great. It looks like it might have been original with the junk boat, as there are pin stripes on the fenders matching the boat. Hard to say, though. Regardless, I look at it as I needed the trailer, and I got an entire boat of parts for free. But, now comes the time consuming part - stripping it.

First, I needed to get it off of the trailer, so I could pick up my boat. I built some wood stands for the boat to sit on my driveway, fashioned after the ones that Friscoboater built (thanks for the pictures!) for his Glastron. Here are the de-trailering pictures.

Boat in position on the trailer, tied to the I-beam in my garage, so I can pull the trailer out from under it:

Slowly pulling the trailer forward, back of the boat dropping onto the wood support

 

[Struc]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

And, safely sitting down on the wood supports, front and back

I'll post pictures of the deconstruction over the next few days as I have time.

 

[Struc]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

First thing, build a stand, and get the Alpha One off the back, so I can pull the junk engine.

Luckily, I'm a car guy, so I just happen to have a cherry picker and engine stand for the job at hand.

 

[Struc]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

I'm sure I'm going to get questioned about why I destroyed the boat when it could have been rebuilt. Well, I did consider giving the boat away after I took what I wanted off of it (although I'm not sure I could have even given it away).

First off, the boat was disgusting. The engine had been left open to the elements with oil in it, so it filled with rain water and the oil bubbled up out of places and into the bilge, and also into the ski locker. It WREAKED of oil smell everywhere. On top of that, when you didn't smell oil, you smelled mold. When I picked the boat up, there was probably a good 100 gallons of water in it (at least, it seemed like that much). The drain was plugged, so it (rainwater) was all backed up in the boat. The floors (carpet and wood) were damp pretty much constantly.

Structurally, it would have been a full strip down and rebuild. The floors were soft all over, the transom was pretty much gone, and of course, it needed a new 4.3l engine. On top of that, every seat was ripped or trashed in some fashion.

Given that I planned on pulling all the good parts off of it, I really doubted I could even give it away in that condition, so I made the decision to chop it up. Here are some of the pictures showing the interior condition.

Captains chair

The back seats plus parts everywhere

Side panels dirty and ripped

And here is where I pushed a screwdriver right through the outer skin of the transom, since there was pretty much no wood behind it

 

[Struc]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

I've posted this picture elsewhere here, but thought it appropriate again, since it was the ultimate reason for all this happening.

Took me a while to get that engine apart, given how the rod was jammed in, but it eventually did all get stripped down. A few of the pistons and rods are still OK, but most of the rods had spun bearings, since it probably lost oil pressure at some point. Block would be OK to use, but would need to be bored and decked to get rid of the rust from sitting out.

Next job, pull out the interior for the junk pile.

Front bow seats were trashed too - rotten wood and ripped / decayed material.

 

[pmillar]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

I won't speak for everyone else but I'm going to agree with your assessment based on the pics and description. That's a definite donor boat and not worth saving, imo. It also looks like a nice trailer so well done.

 

[starcrafter65]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

Sheesh - My first boat was a SR just like that - 18' - it was a great boat. You have to wonder what people are thinking for a boat to get that way....those glassers disintegrate don't they? That was a blessing as my Starcraft has a 3.0/Alpha One transpant from a boat in similar straights....

 

[erwinner]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

It was a nice boat once, but now she's ready for the sawzall. Happens to the finest hulls over time. This one was premature but that's hardly your fault.
Hope you get lots of good donor parts for your good boat and eBay/craigslist!

 

[Struc]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

Thanks guys. Glad to get some reassurance of the decision. It wasn't an easy one. To the point where I was careful not to damage anything on the hull in case I changed my mind along the way - right up to the point where I took the sawzall to it.

Here are some shots of the interior pulled.

The bow seat sides/back were in so-so condition. I saved the one that isn't all dry cracked, in case I can sell it.

Side panels would have been good as a template, but not much else. In the end, decided to chop them up too.

Pile of seats, etc

 

[Struc]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

And now comes the fun part (well, it started out fun at least). I drilled all the rivits holding the top cap on, and started pulling it apart (with a little help from my cherry picker).

With the cap loose, I started in with the sawzall, taking pieces off the bow first, and working my way around. Then I dug into the side of the boat down to the floor to make access in and out easier.

 

[proshadetree]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

Quit your murdering it. Its dieing quit. The pain the the pain .OK continue with the tear down.

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

I itch just looking at that. Looking at those manifolds I can see a crack in one of them. That guys spent alot of money on the motor and then put rotten manifolds back on. Water gets in the engine and the motor hydro locked and bent a rod.

 

[Struc]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

I itch just looking at that. Looking at those manifolds I can see a crack in one of them. That guys spent alot of money on the motor and then put rotten manifolds back on. Water gets in the engine and the motor hydro locked and bent a rod.

Good chance. the flappers seemed fine, so I doubt water got back in that way.

What you can't see in that picture (I'll have to take a better one), is that both manifolds are JB Weld'ed across the bottom, so they obviously knew there was a problem with them.

Here is my question... This must have all happened this year - maybe this spring. I say that because the registration was renewed this year, so he must have gotten it out on the water this year. All the rot in this boat could not have happened that fast just sitting out this summer. Why would you stick money into the engine and lower unit, knowing your floor was rotten? And not even check the transom? That thing has been gone for a long time - it wasn't recent. Just didn't really make sense to me, but eh, I got a good deal out of it. It also had a new starter, alternator, and a few other parts.

The alternator is already on my boat (it was sold to me with a defective one), as is the shift interrupt switch (also defective on my boat), and the entire gauge cluster, which was in MUCH better condition on the parts boat.

 

[Struc]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

Quit your murdering it. Its dieing quit. The pain the the pain .OK continue with the tear down.

[laugh]

Yeah, the couple pictures where the cap is lifted up with the cherry picker makes it look like a dying whale.

 

[erwinner]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

Here is my question... This must have all happened this year - maybe this spring. I say that because the registration was renewed this year, so he must have gotten it out on the water this year. All the rot in this boat could not have happened that fast just sitting out this summer. Why would you stick money into the engine and lower unit, knowing your floor was rotten? And not even check the transom? That thing has been gone for a long time - it wasn't recent. Just didn't really make sense to me, but eh, I got a good deal out of it. It also had a new starter, alternator, and a few other parts.

My guess is that the PO fixed the obvious problem (engine/drive) and never thought about or knew to think about anything else. It's floating and it runs, right? Well, ran a little.

 

[Struc]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

My guess is that the PO fixed the obvious problem (engine/drive) and never thought about or knew to think about anything else. It's floating and it runs, right? Well, ran a little.

I agree that some of the soft spots were not that noticable, but around the ski locker was just plain rotten and folding in. I'm not a small person (~265lbs), but I think anyone would have noticed how bad it was around the ski locker, and the panel covering the gas tank. Anytime I was in the boat, I had to make an effort to remind myself to not step there. I was afraid of falling through the floor and hurting myself.

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

That explains it. The manifolds have two chambers. One inside and one outside. He fixed the outside cracks with JB but the ones that count are on the inside. The leaked that way.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

Boy I bet your neighbors loved you for a while

 

[JBF 1962]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

It's sad to see. It's amazing how some people don't care for their stuff. At least you put an end to her suffering. Nice trailer

 

[Struc]

Re: Destruction thread - the end of my parts boat - 1989 Sea Ray 20'

Boy I bet your neighbors loved you for a while

I didn't hear from anyone, but yeah, I feel bad for anyone who has to look at it. Thus my urgency of dropping pretty much every other project, and taking some days off work to tear it down (I get 5 wks, so not a huge loss).

However, when the cars are parked, you really can't see too much of it. My boat blocks it from the neighbors to the north, and the other side (south) of my driveway is all woods, as is the entrance to the west, so nobody has to look at it too much except during the daytime when the cars are not in the driveway, and then, it's just mainly people driving on the road.

It's sad to see. It's amazing how some people don't care for their stuff. At least you put an end to her suffering. Nice trailer

It is pretty sad. It's hard to fathom that people spend thousands or tens of thousands of dollars on a boat, only to leave it sitting out in the elements to rot away. The thread in this area about the 2000 Bayliner makes me just want to bang my head against the wall. No boat that new should look that weathered.