My 1978 Holiday 18 Resto Adventure begins!

[Poisonous392]

Hi all,
Just documenting my adventure here with my 1978 Holiday 18 that i just picked up a week ago. Look forward to hearing from u all and learning from many!
Building this for myself since I can no longer fish off the FishPro after a work injury and to take the granddaughters fishing.
Let the journey begin!

 

[IslandExplorer]

Sweet Holiday, looks great already! Curious what motor you have, good old Merc 165? Looks like you have a great starting point for your project.

 

[Poisonous392]

It has a Merc 140. I believe still the original motor and it runs but we'll see how it runs on the water next spring.

 

[redneck joe]

How the flooring and have you weighed it yet?

 

[Poisonous392]

Pulled all the flooring and replaced today. May have lasted another season so I tore it out. Foam under floor was excellent. Before i rivet it down, im gonna add aluminum cross members to stiffen it up. Increased it to 5/8 thick. I'll post pics tomorrow. Haven't weighed it yet. Heres the old floor

 

[IslandExplorer]

The switch from 1/2 (factory) to 5/8 makes a huge difference. Seems like it wouldn't but the 5/8 is a hell of a lot stiffer between the spans, feels way more solid. I chose the same for mine and am very glad I did. That's great that the foam made it!

 

[Poisonous392]

Well half the foam made it lol. The lower 1" pieces were filled with years of water. Gutted it for new foam and adding in cross bracing.
The 1/16 aluminum the used between each section is no bueno... and kind of a joke.
I'll post more pics when bracing is done

 

[IslandExplorer]

There ya go, nice to get that crappy old wet foam right out of there. The cross seam strips do seem extremely light on these decks, esp once separated from the plywood. They really only act like tape holding the seam together even, don't think they add squat for rigidity. The factory (2"?) width stuff doesn't leave a whole lot of space from the edges of the plywood for the rivets either. Looking forward to seeing the bracing!