Sunbird Corsair 185..the bird done flew the coop.

[MrRobMayer]

Picked up a 1996 Sunbird Corsair 185 for what I thought might have been a good deal. Now I'm wondering. Floor is shot. No seating, homemade engine cover, and the rest of the interior is gone. Trailer and motor are both in great shape. My buddy (shown) and I started gutting the floor out with a pick axe and sawzall. So far we've gotten a couple hundred pounds of rotten, water logged wood, carpet, foam and what looked like mud. I'm assuming we'll break out a couple of grinders and finish up removing what's left of the stringers. Wish us luck!

 

[sqbtr]

Re: Sunbird Corsair 185..the bird done flew the coop.

OK Good luck!!!!!!!

And welcome, looks like lots of rot in there, how is the transom?

 

[MrRobMayer]

Re: Sunbird Corsair 185..the bird done flew the coop.

We poked around with a screw driver and everything seems ok. But can't really tell with the motor still in. We're reluctant to pull it out because we're not familiar with restringing boats. We do have to change the exhaust boot so I think we will get a better glimpse when we pull the old one off. This is my first fiberglass boat and a first for both of us taking on a task quite like this.

 

[oops!]

Re: Sunbird Corsair 185..the bird done flew the coop.

welcome to iboats...

nice boat....worth the effort.

being a 96 i am guessing the transom is mostly ok.

but ya gotta find out why the water was in the hull in the first place.
either it was left out side, or there is a hole, leak in the boat. holes are easy to spot once all the foam is removed.

as far re stringing a hull.....no worries. there are tons of threads on iboats with the info you need and we can step by step, guide you.

cheers
oops

 

[zopperman]

Re: Sunbird Corsair 185..the bird done flew the coop.

cool gel job on that boat...
I would drill some core samples if you don't want to remove the motor and drive..

Welcome aboard

 

[MrRobMayer]

Re: Sunbird Corsair 185..the bird done flew the coop.

Thanks to everyone for the welcomes. The boat actually sat in the weather for quite some time. I kinda like the funky graphic on the side but my buddy talked me into taking it off. Plus it was scraped up pretty bad and will be tough to match it. I've looked over many threads on here on restore jobs, so I just decided to sign up. I went swing by the guy's house I purchased the boat from and he gave me a 1988 StarCraft with a 110 Evinrude. It's about in the same shape as my Sunbird but the motor needs work. Also doesn't have a trailer. I don't know if I want to even take on another project without even finishing this one. But again, thanks for the welcome and luck.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Sunbird Corsair 185..the bird done flew the coop.

Sunbirds were really really poorly built so I would not be surprised if you were in for a complete refit. Does it have an OMC powerplant? Most did. I would seriously consider whether it will be a worthwhile project. The outboard boat may be a better option.

 

[MrRobMayer]

Re: Sunbird Corsair 185..the bird done flew the coop.

Sunbirds were really really poorly built so I would not be surprised if you were in for a complete refit. Does it have an OMC powerplant? Most did. I would seriously consider whether it will be a worthwhile project. The outboard boat may be a better option.

It does have an OMC. The only problem with scrapping this project and moving on to another means I dropped 2 stacks on a boat only to not rebuild it. My wife would pistol whip me. Plus I like the look of the Sunbird better than the StarCraft. If the Sunbird is considered poorly built, hopefully with my buddy and myself putting our hands on it will put it in better shape than it was when it first was launched.