New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

[Maxx102]

Hello everyone,

As this is the Labor day weekend. We are ending the boating season soon for our cabin and boat.

Our boat is in bad shape and my cousins and I are interested in doing a complete rebuild on the boat.

The boat is an aluminum Sylvan about 16 feet open bow w/walk through window and 70 hp Evirude..We unfortunately have no idea what year it is (all of cousins and uncles pitched in to buy it). I want to say it's about early eighties.

Seating configuration is two swivel captains chairs on the right side and 1 front/back seat on the left with bench seating in the front.

The plywood decking is rotting and the seating in the bench area is all rotted and needs replacement. The hull is solid with no cracks or dents, but could use a paintjob. The wiring for all of the controls and gages needs replacement and the hydralics need replacement as well.

The only photo I have is of the sylvan logo on the back. Does this help narrow down the era?

Can anyone point me in the right area for rebuilding supplies?

Thanks

The only photo I have is of the Sylvan symbol

 

[jcsercsa]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

HI Maxx102 and welcome ,
it doesnt say where your from ?? if your on the east side of the nation?? US Composites .com is a great place for epoxy or poly,and foam,and glass , they have the best prices i have found anywhere!!!they even called me when i missed up my order,[ i ordered thick epocy when i should have gotton thin , they called me and asked if i was useing it to wet out the glass, the thick wouldnt do that ]
frist and foremost get the wood !! extirior plywood will work fine and that you can get at home depot or you can get marine grade at some hardware stores !!!! you have to get it drying, and that could take a month , if you get a fan on it 24/7 it will dry a little faster!! if you need vinyl ebay is a pertty good place I have found !! Other then that keep us post and keep the pics comming !! john

 

[Maxx102]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

Ok, here's another photo....i'm at the helm an my cousin Justin is tying up at the bow, that's my other cousin paddling in on the tube putting him around the lake.

There's supposed to be another captain's chair on a pedistal behind me, but the wood is so rotted there that we can't drill new holes.

The padding on the edge that goes around the front is what is really bad.

Oh, and I am from Minnesota, and that's where our family's cabin is.

 

[eaglejim]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

Well that looks like a nice boat to rebuild,We are in Atlanta so we have another month or two before we start our rebuild jobs durning the off season.good luck and keep those pictures comming.Jim

 

[EricR]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

That boat does not look bad at all, unlike a fiberglass boat where you may have to cut things to get at rotten wood I am pretty sure yours is easily accessible maybe just some rivets to drill out. I say go for it.

 

[bigred69]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

Go for it . She don't look that bad.

 

[Maxx102]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

Well I would be in favor of a new boat personally, but we have other things at the cabin that require more focus, attention, and most importantly $$$$.

Specifically the water heater, roof, and shower.

the OB Evinrude should have a tune up.....on Saturday when we were boating, I apparently the only one with the "touch" to get it started.

 

[eaglejim]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

Well I am in favor of no boat payments so rebuild it and you will have as much fun as a guy with a nice new payment I ment boat

 

[109jb]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

You can put a new floor in the boat for less than $200. I know that for an absolute fact because I have a 1974 Starcraft Supersport 16' that is just about identical to your Sylvan. I used 5/8" pressure treated plywood, and stainless steel screws all bought from Menards home center. You will read that the preservative in pressure treated plywood will cause corrosion in the aluminum. To insulate the hull to prevent corrosion, I used rubber strips that I glued to the stringers and hull where the wood touched. That doesn't use up all of the $200. The rest is for marine carpet.

As for seats, if you do it on the cheap you can get seats and base for around $100 each for flush base, seat post, seat mount, and seat. I put 4 in my Starcraft with a couple extra bases for moving the seats around for fishing.

The paint can be done with rust-o-leum. Menards near me has Rust-o-leum marine topside paint, but regular rust-o-leum should work fine too. Search the forums for the roll and tip method and you will find lots of posts on how to do it.

This along with the rest of the boat can be done over time and spread the cost out. You have a great boat. I have always loved my Starcraft and still have it, along with the boat in my avatar. There are still things I like better about that boat than any other I have owned. I say go for it.

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

A moment of clarity is needed here. Unless you are absolutely in love with this boat I would advise against rebuilding it. That is not to meant to be cruel but the fact is, you will easily have more invested than the boat will ever be worth.

Don't listen to him. The boat is an aluminum hull and is pretty easy to work on. Might be more than $200 to do it right, but is certainly less than new boat payments and you can still make this a solid runner for not a lot of cash if you are willing to do the work yourself.

I'm doing a complete gut and restore of a 1977 Starcraft Super Sport this winter using what other guys here have done as guidance. Yours will not be much different.

It's not like your planning to extend the hull or anything

 

[G DANE]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

I can only second everyone, that is not a very bad or difficult job, since its an alumium boat. Get the carbs cleaned on the motor, before it fries a cylinder, due to too lean mixture. Its too good for that. Onless you are familar with that kind of work, get a manual ( will pay for itself in no time ) or get someone who knows what they are doing to help you. Great boat - wish it was mine. !

 

[Maxx102]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

Thank you all for the replies.....as for the pressure treated wood, am I correct in using green treated wood?

As for the seating, we are most likely going to re-use the seating already onboard (the missing pedistal seat behind the driver's seat is sitting in the boat house).

Also, does anyone have any tips on painting aluminum?

 

[redfury]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

Someone will come along with the aluminum painting tip ( scrub the hull with TSP I think...not sure, but you do want to prep it by cleaning it to remove some oxidation for a proper bond ).

As to the floor, if this is a cabin boat, I'd be inclined to want to physically seal up the wood floor. We all know that a boat that sits in the water and isn't pulled up onto a trailer and brought into the garage is going to get some level of water in it, so the floor will rot out again no matter if you use pressure treat.

Personally, I'd put the extra effort into it and buy exterior grade plywood and then glass the top and bottom after coating it with a layer of fiberglass resin, making sure the sides of the panels got well saturated with it ( resin thinned with the proper solvent ). If you are interested in going that far to protect the floor, drop me a PM, I've got fiberglass that will work for cheaper than you will find online or locally.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

Aluminum boats are the easiest to restore and always worth the effort! Plus your Evinrude 70 is a fairly bulletproof motor. So you're off to a good start. I agree with redfury above. Get some exterior ply and glass it. Check the transom for rot and if it has some, do it at the same time.

 

[109jb]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

Thank you all for the replies.....as for the pressure treated wood, am I correct in using green treated wood?

As for the seating, we are most likely going to re-use the seating already onboard (the missing pedistal seat behind the driver's seat is sitting in the boat house).

Also, does anyone have any tips on painting aluminum?

As for PT plywood, others are right in that fiberglassed exterior grade plywood is a "better" way to do it. It is a lot more work and will likely cost you twice or more what PT plywood will in the end. I read your original post and figured you wanted to keep cost to a minimum. The PT plywood route would be cheaper and I did my Starcraft about 8 years ago and it stays outside (covered of course). It is still very solid. Cost was about $100 for the plywood, $75 for the marine carpet, and the remaining $25 for the SS screws, rubber, misc. There isn't anything wrong with using PT plywood as long as you insulate it from the aluminum. I used the green treated, but I don't think it will make a big difference. PT is also a lot less work simply because you don't have to glass it. As far as insulating the ply from the aluminum, I was in my barn late last night and saw a roll of this really thick vinyl electrical tape I got for something. It is about 2 inches wide and much thicker than a typical electrical tape. Looks to me like it would work well for insulating the PT plywood from the aluminum. Another option would be regular exterior grade plywood and sealing it. There is a product called CPES that gets deep into the wood fibers and really waterproofs well. Doesn't need fiberglass, but is also not cheap. Good luck whatever you decide.

 

[Joe_the_boatman]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

I just redid my 18' aluminum boat - floor/transom/paint. It shouldn't cost more than $400 if you plan right. Details are in the link in my signature.

As far as supplies sources, I used Benjamin Moore for paint, US Composites for epoxy, and Home Depot for everything else.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

PT plywood is not advised for an aluminum boat. The newer PT treatments will corrode the hull anywhere the wood touches it.

I'd recommend exterior furniture grade, or marine ply if you want to do things the high-quality way.

Erik

 

[Maxx102]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

Hello all,

Been awhile since I last posted......I haven't been back up to the cabin since my first posting.....work has been keeping me busy.

Anyway....I have been doing some research and I wanted to know if I am missing anything as of now that anyone can recommend.

5 Sheets of Marine Grade Plywood 1/2 in thick. - $55.00 - $57.00 per sheet from Home Depot (I don't have my notes handy).

1 roll of 20oz marine carpet - 8 feet by 20 feet. - $209.00.

Factored in $100.00 for stainless steel hardware (screws, nuts, bolts).



That's it so far.....am I missing anything thus far?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

add another $100 to hardware, steering replacement. control harness.

 

[Maxx102]

Re: New here, season coming to an end, family wishes to overhaul boat

Ok, done.

If given the opportunity, I would like to rewire the boat.....I guess some critters got in an chewed on the wiring.....Would split loom wiring conduit be thick enough to stop the critters.

Also I don't like the fact that we have removable nav lights....


Also, are there any places that anyone knows of (preferably online) that is able to make custom seats for the open bow area?