VAsmallies Posted May 28, 2006 Posted May 28, 2006 Ok well me and a buddy of mine have decided to fix up my grandfather's bass boat. He passed away in 2001 and this boat has been sitting in my grandma's yard rotting away. I'm not sure about much but yesterday we started cleaning it up. It's gonna need a new floor and a bunch of other stuff. I was wondering if you guys have ever restored a boat. I have some more pictures if yall want to see them. Any pointers or helpful hints would be great. It has a 1979 Johnson 2 stroke 70 on it now. Quote
Ben Posted May 28, 2006 Posted May 28, 2006 From the looks of things, the boat is pretty much history. I will bet you almost any amount of money the transome is rotted also. All the stringers have rotted out. It's going to take a good bit of skill with laying fiberglass, a lot of hours and close to $1,000 in materials. The cap will pretty much need to come off to do all the work needed. The hull will need to come off the trailer and well support before you start the work or it will get so far out of shape, you will never get it back togheter. With the floor and stringers out, the hull will bow, twist and all sorts of things. With the cap off, it will open up like a clam shell, so the cap won't fit back on. You will have to completely remove everything down to the bare hull, cut and glass in new stringers, removed the old rotted wood from the transome, and glass in a new transome, lay in a new floor and glass over it. Good chance the all the control and steering cables will be frozen or too stiff to use. The whole fuel system will need to come appart. The tank's going to be a mess inside and will need to be cleaned along with all the lines. Being a steel tank, most likely it will be rusted and need to be replaced. The carbs are going to need to come off and rebuilt, unless you've done those, they are not as easy as they look and cost about $200 to have them done. Fuel pump will need to be rebuilt or replaced also. All rubber hoses, fuel and water, will need to checked and possibly replaced if dry and cracking. Water pump impeller will need replacing also. I would look at getting the motor going and make sure it's good. Then look at trying to find another hull to sit it on. One problem you run into after a motor sits for years is over that time the condensation that's created from the daytime heating and night time cooling will eventually break down that thin film of oil protection on the internal parts (crank, rods, sleeves etc) and cause them to rust. When this happens, the motor pretty starts coming apart within several hours of operation. Quote
Super User cart7t Posted May 29, 2006 Super User Posted May 29, 2006 Ben nailed it. That thing isn't worth the work. Chop the thing up with a chainsaw. The trailer might fetch you a couple hundred on Ebay. Try and salvage the motor and put it on a boat that isn't ready for a scapyard like that one is. I started adding it up. Stringers, floor and transom repair, wood or seacast. $1000 Steering helm and cable $100-130 Throttle box and or cables $90-200 Fuel tank $100 Motor (this price could vary upwards) minimum. $200 Carpet $80-100 Seats & pedestals $200-300 1 graph $100 and up. TM (does it work) ??????? TM battery and engine battery $120- up Trailer hubs $90 Trailer bunks (new wood and carpet) $50-70 Winch and strap $40 Trailer wiring and new fixtures (the old ones will be corroded) $50-100 That's just off the top of my head. $2600 bucks and it could be more and that's doing it yourself. Quote
northgabassfisher Posted May 29, 2006 Posted May 29, 2006 looks like the cup holder is still good lol. thats a lot of work man Quote
VAsmallies Posted May 30, 2006 Author Posted May 30, 2006 Ok well what should we do to see if the motor is good? Clean the carbs, new lines, gas tank, what else? I have no experience with boats so any help would be good. Whats a transom? What are stringers? I think we might just put the floor in this summer and make sure the motor is good, but besides that it may be a little to pricey to finish everything this summer. Thanks for the help fellas. And here is a pic of the motor with the cover off. Quote
abelfisher Posted May 30, 2006 Posted May 30, 2006 The transom is the back wall portion of the boat the motor is attached. The stringers are the long runners that run the length of the boat on the floor that provide the structural integrity of the boat. I agree that boat is toast. Take all the money you were going to spend on the boat and go buy one that runs today, and start fishing it immediatley. You should be able to sell the motor and trailer and use that money as well. That boat is unsafe to use. Sorry, I am sure you did not want to hear that! Quote
Ben Posted May 30, 2006 Posted May 30, 2006 Trust me, you're not gonna just put a floor in that boat and use it. The stringers are those long runners going from front to back that used to be wood with fiberglass covering them and the floor was fastened to. They are what reinforces the hull and keeps if from flexing breaking into when the water pressure start hitting it going down the lake. Rotted out the way those are, most lilkely the hull would split the first wake you hit and you would be swimming back to the bank. Plus the fact, you don't have anything to fasten the floor to. The Transome is the rear section of the boat the motor is mounted on. There is about 1 - 1 1/2" of plywood laminated to the inside of the hull back there with another layer of fiberglass layed over it from the inside. This is what supports the weight and force the motor generates. When it's rotten, it's very easy to rip the whole back of the boat of under heavy acceleration or hit something, dropping the motor in the water and sinking the boat since that boat has no flotation foam. The cap is the upper white part of the boat. To properly replace the transome, it needs to come off, the inside layer of glass over the transome will need to be cut out (DO NOT CUT THE OUTSIDE) all the wood removed, new plywood bonded back in to the hull, and fiberglassed over again from the inside and a new drain hole tube installed. Quote
VAsmallies Posted May 30, 2006 Author Posted May 30, 2006 Well guys thanks for all the help, I'll show my buddy this thread and see what he thinks. I might just have my uncle sell it and do some stuff to my car instead. How will we know if the transom and stringers are bad?? Quote
Ben Posted May 30, 2006 Posted May 30, 2006 We are looking at the pictures you have and already see the stringers are gone. Quote
Super User cart7t Posted May 30, 2006 Super User Posted May 30, 2006 We are looking at the pictures you have and already see the stringers are gone. Yep, that port side stringer top is exposed. You can see the rot. The transom is gone too I'm sure. Quote
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