Rotten Deck, but great motor?

[rockstar55667]

I just uncovered my 1986 stingray bowrider for the season. I just had a 1997 Mercury put on it last year. It has low hours and runs like a top. Unfortunately when I uncovered the boat I found a soft spot. Upon further investigation, the boat needs a new floor (the wood is like a sponge). The boat could also use a new interior, as most of the interior wood is rotten and the original upholstery is falling apart.

What are my options here? With work I simply do not have the time to do the floor myself, nor am I very good at that sort of thing. I love the new motor. Ive been looking for a hull, but all that I have found have been equivalent to the boat that I currently have (needing a lot of work).

 

[greenbush future]

Re: Rotten Deck, but great motor?

Find a boat with a blown motor, and slap that fine running Merc on it. Most of the value of a boat is the power plant.

 

[jayhanig]

Re: Rotten Deck, but great motor?

I restored my Galaxy and have dumped way more into it than I could ever get out of it. Then again I've got a pretty nice boat now. If you want to restore yours plan it out and get it done intelligently without adding on little jobs later.

Things you may want to tackle while you're into it:
1) Replacing corroded brightware with stainless steel.
2) Rewiring.
3) Possibly repainting parts of the boat. I decided my hull's paint was essentially OK but the horizontal surfaces of the gunwales were going to have to be patched after I fixed cracks and replaced the railings, etc. There is an Awlgrip color called "Eggshell" which perfectly matched the sun dulled color of the rest of the white portions of my boat. By using that color rather than white I was able to get away with a lot less paint and yet the boat looks pretty sharp.
4) Time to replace upholstery, you say? My 17 foot bowrider ran about $1800 for its.
5) Find somebody local who has a decent reputation for not taking shortcuts to do your deck. Since you're going to pull the engine, now is a fine time to look at your transom at the same time.

I chose to do all of the above because I had fallen in love with the boat. If I were in your shoes I might consider just buying another boat and selling your engine to somebody else. That also gives you the option to rethink your purchase: is a bowrider what you really want? Would you do better with an outboard engine next time? Think outside the box. Just because you went one way the last time doesn't mean you have to do it again.

 

[crabby captain john]

Re: Rotten Deck, but great motor?

If the floor is shot figure the stringers and transom probably are too.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Rotten Deck, but great motor?

is your motor an outboard?
if so, save it for next boat or trade.
Junk that boat and never buy a sofa boat again. Any boat that falls apart just sitting there over a winter isn't worth keeping. Get a self-bailing outboard.

Live and learn. welcome to boating.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Rotten Deck, but great motor?

Any boat that falls apart just sitting there over a winter isn't worth keeping.

No boat ever falls apart just sitting over a winter... it takes years of neglect to accomplish that, and I suspect that's what happened to this boat.

I'm sure the owner didn't think he was neglecting his boat and may have even thought he was taking good care of it... but boats need more care than most people think.


As far as the options for the boat go, if you don't have enough time to work on the boat, sell it... or you can pay someone to work on it for you, which will be expensive if done right. I personally would sell it because the quality of work done on the boat by someone else is more than likely to be less than desireable and an old rotten boat isn't worth that much to begin with.

 

[coolbri70]

Re: Rotten Deck, but great motor?

finding a sound hull with a bad motor may not be easy, i would find a hull thats easy to work on, something open. if you can get to the transom wood without decapping thats a big +

 

[rockstar55667]

Re: Rotten Deck, but great motor?

The motor is an outboard.

I like bowriders to take out to the lake an mess around with. I have only had the boat for a couple of years. I think it has had many owners in its life. I've known that the interior needed work but the floor is something completely new to me. I'm pretty sure the stringers are shot too. I was able to stick a screwdriver in a small hole that I found in the floor after I tore up the carpet, and the foam is saturated.

When I had the outboard put on (the one the boat came with caught fire) I had the guy check the transom, he said it appeared to be in good shape. It has been a very expensive boat to maintain (the fire/many many repairs to the old outboard, purchasing a new outboard, my trailer was stolen, and general maintenance) so it might be time to sell it and move on.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Rotten Deck, but great motor?

sounds like it's not worth fixing that hull, and waterlogged foam kills your performance (and safety) even if you run it as is. I'd look around for another hull, something that doesn't rot (aluminum or self-bailing), keep the motor, keep the best trailer if the new boat has one. The fact that yours has (make that used to have) a decent transom isn't enough to save the day.

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

Re: Rotten Deck, but great motor?

You've got a few options that make sense. (Using the boat as-is is NOT one of them - there's a high likelihood the transom is shot along with everything else).

IMO your best bet is to be patient until a decent hull without an engine, or with a sick engine, turns up. Sooner or later you'll come across something, you just never know when. If it has a sick engine you can sell many of the engine parts that are still useable and make back some of your money. You'll also now have a trailer you don't need, so you can recoup some of your money when you sell that.