Good boat, just needs cleaned and polished

[Way2slow]

This is my Stratos my brother has had for 8 - 10 years.  Said he hadn't used it for three years, the transom was bad and started to replace it.

I guess since it gets pretty hot in the summer here, he wanted a couple of shade trees also.

Now I get the fun of making a nice boat out of it again.  This was my dad boats and he left it to me when he died so I figure I will pay it a little respect.

 

Actually, there ain't nothing about it good.  Caps gotta  come off and new floor and transom goes in.  I have a sneaky feeling it will need new stringers also.   Probably go ahead and make a full front deck while I'm at with storage under it.  

My wife came in yesterday after we got it here and asked what that boat was doing here?  She was not happy another piece of junk has showed up in the yard, especially when I told her I was going to restore it and use it for my bass boat.  She has been through a few of those and gets p***d at the mess they create when pulled apart and scattered everywhere..  

[Way2slow]

Motor is in excellent condition also.

It actually has a Mercury 115 I6.  

This is a Evinrude V-4, 130 I'm building and modifying to go on it. Hoping for about 170hp when done.  That should do OK on a 900 pound boat.

 

Just in case you notice, no there are no sleeves in the block.  I've pulled them out to do all the port work and grinding needed to make the power I'm looking for.

 

 

[lo n slo]

the EAGLE depth finder takes me back a few years. can’t wait to see the updates brother. ?

[Way2slow]

I just made a post in another forum that made me realize, I have to be nuttier than a fruit cake.  I mean totally certifiable.

In June, I will be 74 years old and getting ready to rip a boat apart to restore it, and building a go fast motor to put on it, so it will maybe run 65 - 70 mph. 

People ask me all the time how I do all the stuff I do, and keep telling them my 35 year old brain hasn't caught up with my 73 year old body, and keeps it in trouble all the time.

[J Francho]

I love the lines on these boats.  The design just screams, "I GO FAAAAAASSSSSST!!!"

[InfantryMP]

This is going to be an exciting build to see the progress! I am stoked for you! Good luck!

[Hammer 4]

I will also be following the restoration. My guess, it will look like a million buks when done.

[Ski213]

I’m excited to watch this go down. Hopefully your wife doesn’t stay mad for too long about it. Can you just pull the top cap with boat on the trailer or do you have to kind of shore up the hull to keep everything from moving? 

[Way2slow]

Just to pull the cap is not usually a problem with one sitting on the trailer.  You just can't take the floor out or do anything to disturb the structure of the hull.  A lot of people lift the cap off while on the trailer, and then pull the boat out from under the cap.  What will get you in trouble is start messing with anything on the inside of the hull and especially pulling the floor out.  You definitely don't want to try pulling the floor out without it braced extremely well.   I normally slide it off the trailer, onto a bed of sand and then pack sand all under the hull.  The last one I did, I put four 4x4 post in the ground down each side, braced them and then using bracing off those to support the sides of the hull.  Then, before I take the floor out, I mark places on the top edge of the hull and make supports the exact width of the cap at those points I can lay across and lock down on the hull to hold it in position when I put the floor back in.  When the floor comes out and any supports inside come out is when they will open up like a clam shell and can get twisted out of shape.  

Replacing the strings, you have to be super critical everything thing is well braced.  They can twist, and distort in all kinds of way then.    Some don't even pop one out of the mold until the stringers and floor are in.   If things are not back exactly where they belong, good chance that cap is not going back on. 

I'm can almost bet it will have to be totally gutted.  Back then Stratos used open cell flotation foam and I feel fairly certain it will be saturated and have to come out also.  When I did a 1989, 285 Pro I bought years ago, I removed eight 27 - 30 pound buckets of saturated foam from it. 

 

If it wasn't for the fact it was my dads and I'm planning on giving it to my granddaughter because It was her gramp's  in a couple of years, I would even dream of doing this.  It's going to be a lot of work.  Also, it only had a 2,400 pound tow weight, so you don't need the 2500HD to haul it.

[Ski213]

Gonna be one heck of a project for sure. Cool that you are doing that for your granddaughter. Hopefully you’ll get lucky and it won’t need the full gut. Either way I’m sure you’ll have it one nice rig when it’s done. If it’s as bad as you think it might be, what kind of time commitment is it gonna be?

[Way2slow]

Not sure, but it won't be in the next few weeks.  My plate went from empty to overfull almost overnight.  

After three months, I finally picked up the block and parts for the 90hp Mercury I'm building to go on the pontoon boat and still need to get it ready to go in the water.  Which I've still got to come up with a trailer for, or build one.  I'm trying to avoid the building one, but I sure do hate to pay $2,000 for a trailer.  That's as much as I have in the boat and motor.  $1,500 for the boat, $517 for parts and machine work to rebuild the motor

I'm still working on the porting on the V4 130 I hope to build for the Stratos, if I can ever get a crankshaft for it.  Even then, I've still got to build it.  I took it apart 10 years ago, and the parts for it and couple V6 motors are all mixed together and buried in different covey holes. 

I'm working on the Stratos off and on between other things.  I pulled the rub rail off and all the screws holding the cap around the outside, except for a couple I need to take the TM off to get too.  That's easy stuff, the real work with it starts once I get the cap off.

Then I have a 12x24 metal storage building being delivered in the next couple of weeks I've got to get set up and shelves in so I can hopefully find part of my garage.  

Last year I built a nice 12x24 building, with 12x8 overhead lofts on both ends to give me plenty of storage and a work area.  I got a couple of shelve and about 4'x8' of floor space.  The wife and daughter took all the lofts and the rest of the floor space.

I will say, my granddaughter saw it today, and asked what I was doing to gramps boat. when I told her I was going to restore it to use it and eventually it was going to be hers, she lit up like a Christmas tree with a huge grin on her face. 

[GRiver]

Please keep us updated with lots of pics.

I’m almost finished with mine.... wife got it for me as Xmas present. It was a basket case with everything piled inside the hull, but it’s all aluminum. I just had to fit the pieces back in, I’m ready to put the non-skid paint on as soon as weather permits. 
But I’ve never seen what your going to do , so please lots of pics. 

[Way2slow]

Close enough with porting I could do all my calculations on the motor.  I'm usually accurate to within about 10%.

If that's the case this time, it's going to have a little more ump than I  thought.  

Basing it on 6,000rpm (it will probably be closer to 6,200) and if I run the compression at 130psi, which is on the hairy edge for 87 octane, it comes up to 203hp at the prop.  If I drop it down to 125psi for a little cushion, for 87 octane, it's 196hp.

My V6 motor is almost the same identical motor, just has two more cylinders and it dino'd at 327hp but it also runs 150psi compression, and this motor is going to be ported almost identical to the V6, just less compression so it won't have to run premium gas.

So, if it is in the 200hp range on a 17', 1,000 pound riser hull, she oughta get on down the water.

The old Mercury 87, 115 I6 pushed it 52 with two people and gear.

[Way2slow]

Yea, the floor may have a soft spot or two.  Actually, it's totally rotten  

 

[Ski213]

Looks like the floor has definitely seen better days. 

[Way2slow]

Yea, it's so bad, I've got to rethink how I'm going to chase that rabbit.  There's not enough internal structure left to support the boat when the cap comes off, it's totally rotten, like he left it with the nose down so it was holding water.  It's going to twist, distort and open up on me so bad, even if I did get the cap back on, it would be one ill handling boat. So, before I even pull the cap off, I've got to have the hull fully supported almost as good as it would have been in the mold.  About twice a much work as I was wanting to get into right off the bat.

[Ski213]

I can’t imagine tackling something of that scale. I imagine you have a solid plan though. How flimsy are they when they’re compromised like that?  Is it something you’ll be able to support at just a ton of points or more like the sand deal you talked about where it’s almost like the mold type of support?

[Way2slow]

I will probably have to put a couple 12' 4x4 down and level them end to end and side to side, and then fill the center on outer sections with sand to get a firm, square and straight base for the hull to sit on, and then brace the sides.

I learned back in the 80's fiberglass is not as strong and stable as you think if it's not well supported.  The first boat I did was open type 14' glass boat that needed a bottom and transom replaced.  After getting it stripped out and ready, I got sent on a special assignment for two months.  I flipped it over and covered it with a tarp.  It was in the summer and when I got back and pulled the tarp off, the hull has about the 3' dip in the middle.  After several unsuccessful attempts to get it flat and straight again, I just put it back with a huge hook in the hull.  Before I started, an 18hp Evinrude pushed it 28mph, afterwards, it pushed it 25mph.

Trust me, I should have looked at this Stratos before I told my granddaughter it was going to restore it and in a few years, it would be hers.  I am totally sure, I will regret the work I'm going to have to put into this thing.  

[Ski213]

I wish that I had the skills required to tackle that kind of project but I don’t envy the amount of work your undertaking. It’ll be better than new when you’re done and I’m sure it will mean a whole lot to your granddaughter though.