replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

[mcmarcia]

Hello all, My friend is helping me replace the decking on my sea ray 180 BR. Decking on top of the gas tank area was warped up some and we removed all the decking up to the console. good news is the warping was due to over expansion of the foam and not wet rot of the wood so we determined that the stringers and bulkheads and existing foam is in great shape. Only the rear floor decking seems to need replacing, but we are going to replace up to the console area. We cut the existing floor back to the hull in some areas, but only cut it to the boxes for the passenger seat foundation and the large drivers side box located at the rear of the boat. We are planning on reusing these boxes and felt they were in great shape and could just glass the floor onto the stringers and bulkheads and then glass onto the boxes. My friend is a carpenter and thought 3/4 inch acx plywood would be best since we are not replacing the whole floor and the 3/4 " would give us some extra strength in the areas that are going to be cut up to the boxes. (1) Are we on the right track here or should we deck across the boat from port hull to starboard hull? (2) is the 3/4" overkill?, they only have 1/2"acx at the lumberyard, no 5/8". Boat is overpowered w/ a 150hp merc OB, so a few extra lbs for being bomber seems ok for me, but I am a newbie???

We are then planning to resin coat the decking w epoxy and lay biaxal cloth on top of the decking. Probably cut up some of the biaxal cloth in 6 and 9" strips for tabbing the decking to the hull and boxes after mixing some epoxy paste up with some microballons. I have done quite a bit of fiberglassing in my life and way prefer epoxy over poly resin. I really like the west system epoxy, but it is quite expensive compared to some I found on Ebay. (3) Hoping I can use the ebay sc110 epoxy which I can get 2 gallons for $106 shipped for free. It is a 2:1 mix, has anyone used this epoxy w good results or should I stick with the west system resin and the 206 hardener? If west system is the preferred route, where is the best price? amazon prime does not have it. I found some good ebay prices on the biaxal cloth, brunswick NEMP 170/2001/1/50 10oz cloth for $8/yd w/about$20 shipping for 12 yards. Is this the best choice for cloth?

Looking at carpet options, want to get a decent grade marine carpet. Lots of choices on Ebay. (4) Any recommendations for a quality carpet source without breaking the bank?

I picked up a matching set of drivers/helm seat and a fold out double style passenger seat from veada on closeout a year ago and my friend was able to transfer the oem sea ray seat hardware over to the new seat so we can use the oem fiberglassed searay box to maximize the storage (cheap veada seat box had no storage and also had cheap hardware. The sea ray drivers seat pedestal should work fine.

Newbie here, thanks for all the great info and looking forward to being a iboat member. Any links, hints or advice is for our project boat is apreciated. Hope to launch at lake powell in a month if there is any water left in the lake. I wil try and get some pics posted of our work. Gone for the night, but will check back later. Thanks in advance.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

Post some pix of your project before & during the demo

Depending on the actual cause of the soft deck, you may be in for more work then you'd hoped.

Don't underestimate the impact of overpowering a boat, it's rated for a 125hp, correct?

Boat rehab isn't a cheap endeavor. Try US Composites for epoxy.

Good luck w/ your project, welcome back to iboats...

Boat & boat resto safely

 

[mcmarcia]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

thanks for your help. I did some research on the sc110 epoxy. It may work fine, but the viscosity is a bit on the thick side and not much info about it from boat builders. Here is the manufactures web site, Dynesic Technologies, Inc. The solution for high performance epoxy coatings for demanding industrial specifications Looks like it is used in industrial purposes. They claim it is a "novalac" epoxy, been a while since I took organic chemistry??? It was called sc1100, but they changed the name cus of a name conflict w/ another product.

I am leaning towards using Aeromarine 300/21 epoxy as it has many great reviews from boat repair projects. I can buy it direct from the manufacturer for about 40% less than the west system epoxy.

I think I can use the 10oz biaxial cloth described above on the back side of the decking and upgrade the top of the decking glass to a 17oz biaxial 1708 knytex.

Are we way overkill on the 3/4" plywood? How about our idea of only going the the factory boxes instead of all the way across the hull?

I will try and get some pictures for you. Had to cover up the project yesterday as we had some heavy rain come thru. Never rains in the desert,except when you are trying to work outside (moab,UT). Calling for some chance of rain today and heavy rain and flash floods tomorrow, go figure.

 

[mcmarcia]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

Oh, the boat calls for a max of 135 hp motor, we have a 1997 150 hp OB merc V-6. When I took the boat out at Powell a few years ago, it went 50mph and 5100 rpm at WOT with the 4 blade stainless prop it came with. It seemed to not want to plane out till we got it above 30 MPH. We put on the stainless 3 blade prop that also was included in the deal, it planed out better w the 3 blade prop. i picked up a set of set of 8x16"bennet v351 hydrolic trim tabs this week from craigslist to help w the attitude issue. A bit oversized, but my friend thinks they should work fine. I think the motor is rated at 5200 rpm from my memory?? Nice motor, the previous owner took great care of the boat/motor/trailer and is a mechanic for UPS. He had some problems with the motor and sent it off to a specialist in OK and had it rebuilt. He included the receipts for over $7000 of work to rebuild the motor. thanks for your help and interest. Any advice to keep us on the right track is greatly appreciated.

 

[mcmarcia]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

first attempt w picturesSki Locker, Foam, Stringers, Seat Box Photo by mcmarcia | Photobucket

 

[mcmarcia]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

few more pics
Solid Hull Has A Nice Shine And No Soft Spots Photo by mcmarcia | Photobucket

Over Expanded Foam Surrounding The Cooler Box Photo by mcmarcia | Photobucket

Pic Of Gas Tank Well Photo by mcmarcia | Photobucket

I think I have the links to photobucket, let me know if there is a better way to post.

I took all these pics a few days back. I will get some more updated pics soon, weather dependent.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

There's an IMG code for each pix in your PB acct.

Copy & paste that IMG code, it'll look like this:
IMG]http://i1158.photobucket.com/albums/IMG_20130819_142232_822.jpg[/IMG

And post IN your replies:

 

[mcmarcia]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

thanks, lets see if this will work w the img code. [URL=http://s1158.photobucket.com/user/mcmarcia/media/IMG_20130817_182536_835.jpg.html] [/URL]

 

[chconger]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

Picture worked great. I am using US Composites 3:1 epoxy, which works great too. Half price of West.


Have fun and go slow.

Cheers
Chris

 

[britisher]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

Hi there. Mine is an 89 SR 180 BR with a 4.3 motor, so I guess the build is the same as yours except that I see you appear to have a twin passenger seat, whereas mine were individual swivels. I had to do a full rebuild on mine last year, so me and the SR were as intimate as you can get. I used 5/8" ply on my rebuild for the deck. Got it from HD or Lowe's). I only used 3/4" for the transom and areas where I knew SR had used 3/4". I used US Composites for all my stuff, but went with poly rather than epoxy resin. I also bought my pour in foam from USC when it came time to re-foam. The bulk of my rotten wood was dash back, but I decided to do a full rebuild as I am sure that will count for more when it comes time to sell.

 

[mcmarcia]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

OK, I agree w the 3:1 us composite epoxy, prices,viscosity, and medium set time hardener looks to be the ticket, thanks for the tip. It looks like my rot is confined to the rear decking, probably from wet carpet(??), so a partial deck rebuild up to the kick panels and use existing stringers will probably be the plan. The bulkhead between the ski locker and the gas tank well will also get replaced w 3/4" acx ply. I am guessing my boat has been covered and properly "loved" by the previous owners and living out in the desert west certainly has its advantages when it comes to wood rot. Been looking into the plywood thickness issue, weight vs strength stuff. If I could easily get 5/8" ply, would probably go that route, but I have had so much disappointment w special order wood coming in all beat up, thinking w stick w the 3/4" for the floor to make it more bomber for the partial rebuild as we will keep the passenger rear cooler box and the passenger back to back seat box and be cutting the new decking around those existing boxes. My friend is suggesting we glass and screw in a 3/4" plywood ledger for the new deck around the boxes we want to reuse so the new decking will be well suported.

We still have a bit more of demo work to do when the monsoon rain stops. I have some new pics of our demo work, but I got a message that I can only post 6???? Whats up?? A picture is worth a 1000 words. Is it cus I am a newbie?? Is there a go around solution to be able to get my pics up on the site. thanks again

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

Your previous pic using the img code from photobucket worked fine. What seems to be the issue now??

 

[mcmarcia]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

when i put my pics in a quick reply, it tells me I am limited to 6 pics total for this thread???

 

[GT1000000]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

It is not for the entire thread...just the one post is limited to 6 pics...
Just "Submit" the post and start another with more pics...
BTW, nice looking boat to restore, subscribed...
GT1M

 

[mcmarcia]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

Sorry gang, still having technical problems w pic posting. I get a message telling me, "You have included 12 pics in your message (after adding 6 new ones to this thread on a new post), the max is 6. Please correct the problem and try again. The use of these (images) is subject to being controlled by an administrator." I did notice that my html code is off under advanced options. ???? I am guessing I am limited being a newbie and maybe a mod can help me out. I will update my profile in case that is related. Thanks everyone.

 

[mcmarcia]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

Lets try a couple of shots to see if it will work:



I forgot to resize, but if this works than the problem was related to the photobucket download as I just tried downloading the jpg files straight from my laptop. thanks for patience w tech stuff.

 

[chconger]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

Regarding 6 picture maximum; it means 6 pictures per post. A "post" is each time you hit "reply" to this stream. So...the next time you reply, you can add in 6 pictures to that post. Then, if you have more pictures to show, you can simply reply again to this stream with more pictures. Rinse and repeat.


Cheers
Chris

 

[mcmarcia]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

Yeah, pics straight from my laptop work just fine. I will post a few more pics so you can see some of the issues we are dealing with. Looking at the pictures, I am guessing we should go ahead and remove the seat box we want to rebuild to get rid of the split plywood supporting it. Not sure on the cooler box, guess it will be walked on getting around the boat so should be solid as well. I see how you get sucked into dumping way more money than an old boat is worth. I want/have to keep this fix bomber, but affordable.



this is the rear cooler box corner:



cockpit area :



I think the boat is a 1989, not 1990??

 

[chconger]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

I don't see too much rot (if any) there. Perhaps others can see things I am missing.

 

[mcmarcia]

Re: replacing deck on 90 sea ray BR OB/few questions??

Rain has slowed things down, but we got most of the demo done. I spent a few hours today cleaning up the demo mess inside the boat and made some measurements to start figuring out my material take off.

I figured out there will be 45 sq ft of horizontal decking for the boat that will need resin and glass, (1) layer of glass on the bottom and (2) on the top, so 45x3 =135 sq ft. I found a good price on 55 inch wide 1808 biaxial cloth on line ($7.00/linear ft). So one linear yard is roughly 1.5 sq yds. The 135 sq ft does not include any overlap for tabbing or overlaping where the plywood seams meet or for waste, so I will bump up the 135 sq ft to 160 sq ft (just a wild guess). 160 sq ft is about 18 sq yards. So w the 55" 1808 I would need 12 yards linear to get my 160 sq ft. I will probably add a couple extra yards to have some extra, so lets call it 14 yards of 55" 1808. Will this be good layup on our 3/4"plywood decking and did I do the math right (simplified in my head for now).

Tabbing: I found an 85 lin ft roll of 8" wide 1808 for just under a buck a ft shipped for free. The 55" would be cheaper and I could just cut up the 55" to the widths and lengths I need and save some money. If you look at the pictures below, you will see that because of the hull shape on the sea ray boat, the tabbing of the plywood decking to the hull is mostly horizontal. So I am thinking the best plan is to peanut butter the gap where the decking meets the hull and then cut the 55" 1808 about 4" wide on each side for the first layer of decking glass and then cut the 2nd (final) layer of 1808 and extra 8 " of width on both sides. Maybe a third layer (12" ?) would be good to run horizontally along the line where the hull horizontal and vertical lines meet which would tie the whole layup deck layup together along the edges real nice, might be overkill???



Stringer reinforcement: the stringers have no resin or glass on them. They run 9'6" to the kickplate and are about 6" high and 3" wide. I could order some CSM in a 12 inch width and try to glass over them by first by laying 3" of the strip onto the bilge next to where the stringer rests on the bottom of the boat then make the right angle and glass up the 6" height of the stringer and then fold the final 3" on top of the stringer. I read on iboats that I should peanut butter the bottom of the stringer to the boat bottom and smooth it out with a large kitchen spoon to eliminate the right angle so the cloth will lay down better. Probably then need a 2nd layer of 1808 on top of the csm cut to 14" so the bilge part gets 5" wide (2" overlap). Is this a good plan? I do not want to tear out the foam on the outside of the stringer unless I have to.

Resin: I am thinking w the weather in Moab still getting in the 90's, I get up early to get the morning coolness (70 degrees) for all the glass work. I am leaning towards the US composite 635 thin resin w the 2:1 slow hardener. I think it will work here and should set up good when the heat of the day comes after noon. Night lows could be 65, but w the boat cover on and 18 hours of set up time before the night really gets that low it should work well. I like the idea of having plenty of working time so I can lay down multiple layers without being rushed and will waste less resin. I can order the resin in a 7 .5 gallon quantity for 320 bucks and some shipping. If I have left over, my friend who is helping me is interested in buying some foam and building some stand up paddle boards this winter.

Peanut butter mix: never used it before, but I will need some cab o sil, chopped glass fibers and maybe some glass sphere fillers. Clueless on how much I will need?

Thanks for reading my too long of post, I would never make it on twitter. I hope I am on the right track.