Surecast project

[igotit]

Bought this hull about 20 years ago,factory floor was soft.....so we replaced it.
Boat went thru around 7 different motors in 15 years of use,70 -115 hp.
She served us well .
About 5 years ago the 70 blew up and didnt have a replacement motor,and had a another boat/motor to use so this one sat under the trees.
As we all know leaves fall from trees,clog drain holes before long the boat filled with water.
After years the floor becomes saturated with water and falls apart.
Present day
Drained an ungodly amount of water from the floor,put on a trailer and brought her home.
My plans
Rebuilt floor and deck to an open hull layout,install my briggsmaha outboard,build a cabin on her and use as a weekend cabin cruiser.
This will be a slow build of course,limited funds like most of us.
For years i had been thinking about this project.
Shes an 18x6 ....16 ft actual hull space,2 ft fantail.
This boat handeled well in upto 2ft chop,draws 10 in water.
Should be a nice build
Wont be showroom quality,nor a restore build,but it will be a nice usable boat in the end.





Ill be pulling the frankenstein yamaha from my trawling boat to install on the surcast.
I also have a comercial series 35 johnson i may install....but prefer ol briggsmaha.

 

[sphelps]

Looks like ya got your work cut out for ya !
Brings back memories of my teenage years being a striker on a few shrimp boats ...
Good luck with your rebuild !

 

[igotit]

Looks like ya got your work cut out for ya !
Brings back memories of my teenage years being a striker on a few shrimp boats ...
Good luck with your rebuild !

Thanx
This ol surcast brings back alot of memories with my father on the lake.
Now comes the part we all dread.....the teardown.

Me n the sawsall are good friends.
This hull originally had 6 seats,setup as a fishing boat,then we eventually converted to open hull 2 seats.
Im certin ill have to replace the keel stringer,under the hull on center i see a crack with water dripping from it.
Supprisingly the transome is solid.....usually a old boat has a bad floor and transome.

 

[igotit]

To my suprise,the 6x18x11 foam floatation above the floor was water logged and heavy.
A 6x18x2 ft section weight around 30 lbs.

 

[igotit]

Ants

 

[igotit]

 

[sphelps]

I hate ants !! LOL !

 

[igotit]

I hate ants aswell.....ants hate brake cleaner.....instant death to thousands.
After finding out the side foam was water soaked.....guess im gonna have to pull the bow and stern foam blocks.
Guess that means cutting up the rear deck and rebuilding that aswell.
This was a boat that looked like it needed a little work. Floor has a soft spot about 2ft diameter.
Anytime a boat has a minor soft spot....you can count on alot more hidden damage.
Lots of folks down here always selling old boat with small soft spots asking high price.
They say "its only a little damage thats easy to repair"
They have no idea.
Lol
20 years ago we changed the floor the quick easy way.we slipped the new plywood under the existing foam,then glassed her down.
This time im completly redoing the floor.
My current soft spot really isnt that bad,i was actually considering just using the floor asis.
But i know theres alot more damage under that glass.its always worse than expected.

 

[gm280]

Proof positive that setting a boat out under trees for a few years with no maintenance will take its toll on it. Sure doesn't take long either. Looks like a total gut and rebuild. And ants, amazing how those things can get in and set up home. Keep posting the demolition and progress.

 

[igotit]

Will do,i may go finish cutting off the fantail tonight.
Hopefully the floor will come out easy. I dont remember how many screws we put last rebuild.
We used standard cheap exterior plywood.
Was gonna do the same this round.

 

[igotit]

The floor is next
You can see our peice together floor from last rebuild.
I have a old 1976 trojan cabin cruiser.....i may chop up to use the hulls 3/8 glass sides for this floor.
No wood to rot.....except stringers.
Hopefully these are reusable.

 

[igotit]

Not bad for nearly 20 year old regular grade plywood.
This boat never had foam in the floor.stringers need replacement aswell.

 

[igotit]

Not much progress today,managed to cut up all the peices to fit in trash can.
Trying to figure out hull layout.
Inside of hull total length is only 16"x5'10".
Not alot of space for all im expecting to do.
So im going to compromise alot.original intention was start cabin 2ft from bow and 10-11 ft long,leaving almost no deck space.use this boat as a sleeper....base camp to go use my kayaks and fish....ect.
A weekend getaway.
Ill build a cabin 6x8 leaving me 4' front deck and 4 " rear deck.
This will allow 2 beds,maybe bunk beds to sleep 4,a small helm and a 26x32-36 head.
If the hull was 6 in wider i could build her like a cuddy cabin layout and fit a twin size bed across the width of the hull and have 2 fold down beds and a head in a shorter space.
But for now she will be an open hull untill i can decide.
But the layout of my floor depends heavily on my cabin layout/style.

 

[igotit]

Finally had time to remove all of the old floor and rear deck.
Transome is solid and rotted at the same time.
Its solid....dont move with me hanging off of a 36 in pipe wrench.....but i can feel soft spots on the corners.
So the right thing to do is rip her out.
My photobucket aint working so no pics.
Nothing to really see anyway.
Just strippin n rippin up da ol girl.

 

[gsxrdan]

cruisin with it! at least you know what ur doin :joyous:

 

[igotit]

Lets hope i know what im doing.....lol.
Wont be as nice as your project.
I was checkin her out last week.

 

[igotit]

Still have alot of work ahead.
Also turning a 13 ft jet boat into my sons play boat.

 

[sphelps]

Making good progress on the demo !
Jetboat looks like a fun project !

 

[igotit]

Bought the wood for the stringers and transom 4 sheets of half in ply for the floor and 5 gal of resin with 4x20ft of angel hair matt tonight,plus the ply for making the jetboat into my sons play house/boat.
The jetboat uses a 90-140 omc powerhead.i dont have the papers.....so its about useless.hull is in great shape,jetdrive has fresh rebuild on it.
Be cool to cruise around in.
Ill get crackin on this jet boat/play house.... so i can get back on the real boat project asap.

I also bought a dremel multi max .....works great for fiberglass.slow but precise cuts.
Conna be usefull removing transom and stringers.

 

[DeepBlue2010]

You can use the dremel if you want but a cutting disk on an angle grinder can get the job done much faster and almost as accurate after couple of practice passes.

I started with the same dremel tool and when I switched to the grinder, I never looked back. Best of luck with your project