Taking off the cap/deck questions.

[JSchaumleffel]

What turned into a simple floor replacement/carpet has now turned into sleepless nights of wondering how far to go. I was thinking of going ahead and pullin the top off and redoing everything. What's involved with pulling off the top (how is it fastened, sealed, etc?)<br /><br />I'm thinking I would like to address this area under the fiberglass floor of the open bow part. I was able to coax the carpet out of there, as it was wet and sandwiched between the deck and the fiberglass floor.<br /><br />

 

[mckeemm]

Re: Taking off the cap/deck questions.

Hi,<br /><br />I'm also in the process of pulling the top off. I know that you need to remove the rub rails and what ever mechanical fasteners are holding it together. In my case it's staples. I pulled a couple of short sections off at the transom by sliding them inboard off the joint flange. I can't for the life of me figure out how to get the long ones off without damage. I'll be researching this tonight. <br /><br />Mark

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Taking off the cap/deck questions.

You need to strip everything off. Controls, windshield, everything, to make it as light as possible. This way it can be removed easier. Its not that difficult, you just have to remove the rubrail, the aluminum rubrail carrier, and about 1 million staples or rivets, however it was put together. You also have to hope to God that there wasn't some sort of mega-bonding sealing agent used to bond the parts together.<br /><br />Mohawk, how is the rubrail carrier (the aluminum part) attached to the hull on your boat? I assume that is the part you are having problems with.

 

[bigbad 4cyl x2]

Re: Taking off the cap/deck questions.

i had to drill out the rivets and or screws and hook up a hoist over head and pull and pry it apart . i would think a cherry picker would do .first get the front bow portion to seperate then keep lifting the chery picker till you can get the back to seperate to the transom etc. then slide a long 2x4 or such under the seperated deck in front ,and put two old ladders or somthing tall etc in front under 2x4 holding the splitted deck up .take cherry picker to back ,and seperate back section . and light as possible strip all carpet first, and wiring . plan on 1 day to seperate the hull and 3 years to rebuild boat . might as well buy cherry picker as you will use it again latter.

 

[lingcod]

Re: Taking off the cap/deck questions.

to get the sealant apart that is joining the two halves together I found that a fillet knife worked very well. it is flexible enough to follow the contours of the hull as you saw back and forth

 

[mckeemm]

Re: Taking off the cap/deck questions.

I separated the upper deck from the hull on the weekend. I used a claw hammer and a wood block to pry the rub rails off. There were no screws in the rails, they were locked on by the staples that held the two halves together. I then removed about 300 staples ant the top was free. There was no sealant of any kind. It was raining and all the neighbors were hiding inside so the wife and I removed the top. I lifted it and set a piece of drainage tube across the boat and rolled the top off as far as I could. Then held the front up and pulled the hull on the trailer out from under it. This is a 16-foot bowrider so it was heavy but manageable.<br /><br />Took about 4 hours start to finish. My back is still sore but it’s done. I spent about 2 hours pulling out stringers. I still have to remove the rotten transom.

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: Taking off the cap/deck questions.

The decks of my Starcrafts (pulled the deck on two of them now) were screwed to the hulls (with steel screws) with a backing board behind the top and hull overlaps. I had to drill off most of the screw heads as they were too rusted to grab with the Philips head screwdriver. Once the screws were out the caulk that had originally sealed the seam more or less fell out as it was quite dried up. The transom area took the most doing as it had just started to rot and was still fairly solid in spots. I had to break some of the fiberglass free of the transom with a crowbar. I lifted the deck off more or less as BB4Cyl described, lifting with a come-along from my garage rafters (gotta love 12-foot ceilings!). <br />- Scott