I saw this boat on craigslist and it really was exactly what I was looking for.





I already had a 1985 Fisher bass with a 35 hp merc that was a great little fishing tool.




.. However there were three problems with it. The first being that is was only marginal for 2.5 people. I really needed and wanted to be able to take up to 4 or even 5 people. The second problem was the beating this boat gave you in the wind and waves. I'm talking wet, "WHAM, POW Holy break the hull batman" rough ride! In smooth water it was great but still the 3rd problem loomed. It was slow... It only went about 22 mph. That take a long time even in smooth water to do what I needed to do... find bait then fish.

Ok so I see this Sea Nymph on craigslist. Certified for 8 people, aluminum, Deep V, 90 HP motor, Deep side wells, CC HECK YES!

I talk with the guy and let him know I was interested.. His asking price was 3900 but I heard he would take 3200. Meantime I had already listed my boat as a turnkey deal for 2800. I planned to sell my boat and then buy his. In talking with this guy I got the Idea that he wanted to fish but this boat wasn't quite ready (To me it was nowhere NEAR ready). He had traded a friend his truck for the boat. I ran the idea of a trade by him and he agreed! YIPPEE!

I go out and make the swap and ring home the sukker! I decide that I need to do this right and not just do the bare minimum... I am sitting on what can be a REALLY nice boat! Its 19' long with a 90 HP merc and Center console. The hull is in great shape and the CC was crack free.

Now I knew there was some issues with rats getting int he boat.. I was warned... however I would soon find out how bad it really was! I stripped this thing and when I took up the floors I nearly puked. It looked like a swarm of rats had eaten tunnels and filled the bottom with about 2+ inches of rat poo. There were Bugs eating it, spiders eating the bugs and a stench so foul it would gag a maggot! I probably should have been wearing a HAZ-MAT suite but I went at that stuff and cleaned it up! The pictures don't quite do the disgusting fair justice, jsut trust me.. its was gnarly!










Now after a good cleaning out of the poo and old foam, I hosed it out really well and then power washed it all out nice and clean.. what a good feeling!



I pulled out the fuel tank and in a completely unnecessary act painted it red... For some reason my brain just says anything that holds gas needs to be red!



Now to replace the foam... I was going to pour in some new expanding foam but we came up with a better idea found on an internet forum.. Pink Insulation foam. There are a few benefits to this. The best is that if for some reason I need to weld the bottom of the boat (yes I can weld aluminum) I can remove the foam easily. The other is that it is cheap!

(FoAM PICS TOMORROW)

I will continue to post pics as we go... if you don't see them now you will see them soon. Please any suggestions would be great!

Tomorrow we are going to finish the foam installation and cut the new floors. We plan on sealing the floors with Thompson s water seal on the bottom and using spray in ruck bed liner for the top.

Look forward to seeing the finished product. Looks like it is going to be nice.

use fiberglass resin to seal the wood, thompsons is not very good for that app.

even with Marine grade Plywood ?

Did you replace that damaged transom support?

What exactly are you referring to?

Looks like the starboard most transom support beam is detached from the cross member in the third photo of your interior.

good lookin rig

yes even with marine grade plywood do not use the thompsons, seal it with fiberglass resin, coat it till it has a "layer" of resin on it. thompsons will not last but about 2 yrs. at best and marine will rot if left wet, the resin stops this.
also make sure to seal any holes you put in the wood, marine Goop works good for this and academy has it.

this is plumbing goop it will work too.

Yes, that is all re attached now... That is actually the front of the boat...I don't know how those rivits becamne detached... they may have never been put in!

Boy you had me scared and thinking I missed something! ( which is a certainty!)

thank you sir... I will pick up the resin tomorrow... All but 3 small removable parts of the floor have been cut and are ready to be sealed and installed.

No expert,here but I don't think I would want home insulation under my flooring. I think an expandable marine foam would best strengthen and insulate your hull.

Make sure the foam or insulation you use is closed cell and WILL NOT absorb water.

+1 on the closed cell foam and on the resin coating for the floor. You will be sorry in a couple of years if you don't.

Great job bringing her back to life. Keep up the great work!

Thanks All... well MOST.. To the guy that called this a POS.. well, to each his own I suppose.

I looked up some info on the foam I used as per advice found on another boating forum, from the manufacturers site...

Foamular150 Product Shot FOAMULAR� 150 rigid foam insulation for exterior walls contains hundreds of millions of densely packed air cells to provide exceptional thermal performance. It�s also virtually impervious to moisture, preventing loss of...""

I do not believe this foam will get water logged... It is installed in a way that ensures it stays dry unless the boat gets swamped.

ANywho... here are the pics... The foam all cut and installed. I did it in a way to ensure water can drain freely out if it gets in. I have so far used about 4 sheets, each being about 120 lbs of flotation. There are other areas full of foam. I am pretty confident that I have put more foam INTO these areas than was in there before. The foam originally used did not fill the space very well and it blocked flow of water exiting the hull.



And the floor temporarily in place. It will be riveted down and then all edges will get sealed with a stout caulk and then will come the spray liner which will go up the walls a bit to keep gunk from getting down into those compartments.

But first I have to resin them!

do you ever need bracket or special mounts built i do custom machine work on cnc mill or lathe
i have access to design software
i can make a model and show you what it would look like
before i machine it
i could make some cool boat bling

FishinFruit It don't look like you are going to make friends very fast on this forum. With only 2 post & both being negative talk about another members project. You might do better by keeping your comments to yourself. Rant over!

This is not the place for rude comments like that. We don't talk like that here on this forum. Take it some place else........

The undertakeing is increadablely great. That cell insulation will work the way you have it, just as long as it stays dry and not setting in water. The old Sea Nympth boats as well as Starcraft used white cell block styrofoam. Worked for what it was intended to do, that being, keep the boat afloat for a short period of time. Did not do well if you leave the plug in and let rain fill the boat. Then it obsorbed the water.

I say its lookin good, keep us posted with updated pictures.



Gonna make her a good lookin boat again.

matt

It looks like this is going to be a real nice fishing machine when completed. Keep up the good work.

I don't post alot on here, but I will said this it LOOKING GOOD. I hope you keep us posted on your restore project. For year I had a 14 foot jon boat that I fix up with casting deck, floor, carpet, trolling motor, light, basely the whole work over the years. Spend more money on it there I got back when it came time to sale. But that not the point I enjoy fixing it up the way I wanted and fishing from it. What is important is that you enjoying what you are doing and what you are going to do with it.

This new boat is more suited to the conditions I am in frequently.. Strong Texas winds and big waves. The little boat I had was just well.. too little. This is way more boat and will be a better tool for me.

FishinFruit was sent packing. Nice project. I'm looking forward to seeing more photos.

Well a bit of a setback today. I knew I was going to have a bit of patchwork to do on the metal at the transom... However upon entering through the top cap I discovered a VERY mushy plank indeed. The entire piece will have to be replaced.

I will not be easy but it is far from impossible. At least when I have done this it will indeed be a complete restore and I can have a lot more confidence in my new boat!

Mushy is bad... Atleast you dont have to fiberglass.

OK got a lot done today... or at least it took a lot of work to get a little bit done!

First off was the mission to remove the old transom wood. Not an easy task. There were bolts running thru the wood and through some sheet metal... problem was the nuts were buried in the original factory foam thus this was a 27 year old piece of wood I had back there... Honestly that is pretty impressive considering it didn't appear to have been sealed with anything other than Thompson's or something of that nature. IT got tore up coming out. here it is in the trash!



I cleaned up all the wood chips and we cut the new transom pieces and laminated them together. They will probably go in tomorrow. Here is the empty transome w/ no wood



I stripped down the center console and did some preliminary sanding on it. I will be painting it white hopefully this week... It is fun to get past the DEMO parts and get to the building and reassembling phases!

Now I had a few places that needed to be welded so I took the boat to my friends house to use his TIG welder. I didnt take any pics of the welding and plasma cutting I did on the boat but I did weld up about 5 leaks in the Livewell.

Before:


After:



No JB weld on my watch! I really love welding aluminum... its a very rewarding thing.

I patched a hole in the transom plate and also cut an access hole with a plasma cutter. I then got busy cleaning up the inside of the area the new transom wood will go. After it was clean I sprayed it down really well with a zink primer to try to prevent any further corrosion. I will take pictures of this tomorrow and of the transom in place. Once it is I will be gin prepping for paint and bedliner.

I need some paint recommendations for the console.. anyone know a good paint that is durable and wont fade in the sun?


Ohh and I almost forgot the most exciting part of the day... The first and best of all the goodies I have purchased have showed up.. That being my Hummingbird Side imaging sonar! Cant wait to get this baby going!

Keep up the great work! Those welds look great!

I just finished rebuilding a fiberglass 1971 narrow trihull. My boat will never be as pretty as yours and I 'm fine with that. I feel your pain. At least your stringers and such weren't rotted out!

Yesterday I preped and painted the center console.

Today I Got the new transom all bolted in and all of the floors as well. Heading out now to do some caulking and prep for the Bed liner which still has not showed up

Will post some more pics soon!

you have a skill my friend.

Nah Just determination!

Ok here are some updates:

Today we bolted in the new transom. Looks great and is solid as can be.... should last until this boat goes to the recyclers!

Here it is in the boat:


Here is a close up of the 3sheets laminated together... can you tell where they meet?


After that was done I riveted in all the floor then started the messy job of Caulking all the crevices in prep for the bed liner. I will get pics of that tomorrow.

While I was knee deep in Caulk (easy!) the UPS guy showed up with my radios and Bed liner kit.

I finished up pookie-ing up the decks and then installed the radios into the Center console with my brother.:


Tmorrow I'm gonna give the decks some prep and another bit of caulking if needed and then probably do some wireing in the console.

HAPPY SPRAY DAY!

I got all the prep work done yesterday in aspirations of spraying the liner today. I found out real fast that you need a REALLY good compressor to spray this stuff. I had 2 compressors on hand with the thought of switching between them as they recharged... No good... This liner has 30 min of pot life which gave us very little time to go to my stepfathers and get a 220v compressor to do the job right... SHeesh!

So basically if this thread motivates anyone to spray line their boat.. do not mix your stuff unless you have AT LEAST a 6.5 Hp compressor standing by... even with 6.5 HP it ran continuously when the spray nozzle was held.

After getting the proper compressor things went a lot smoother.

Here are the results!
Before spraying:



After



Now as this cures for 3-5 days I will complete the console and do the engine work I need to and be ready to install everything back onto the boat in a day and then hit the lake for some trials!

That is really a good job you got going on there. The best thing about reviving an old girl like that is the pride of ownership and knowing exactly where every mechanical item is and how it got put in there....keep it up. We need more resto projects.

Great work,man.

I think I came up with a name for the boat finally!

"Fin Suite"

wuddyathink ?

Anything that takes that much work deserves to be named after a woman. (Dont tell my wife I said that)

LOL

FLOW-REEN

what kind of bend liner did you use? I used durubak on my bass boat and it worked well.. just curious as to what else is good..?

I used Liner Extreem. It was a 3 gallon kits for 200.00 that got great reviews on ebay.

Great work man.

its lookin awesome man! keep it up!

Great looking boat, can't wait to see the finished project!

WOW!!!! Man you've got some great skills. Not just determination. Obviously you have both. Looks great. As for the name, what about Phoenix? Not sure about the spelling but a name that shows it returned from the ashes.

Thanks Bama... It has certainly been more of a project than I anticipated.

As for he name, I think I have settled on "Fin Suite" for the double meaning/play on words

Very nice work there. You are almost on your way to many years of catching. +1 on having some skills and determination.

Amazing. Your skills are simply awesome. Wish I had a small part of them...

I cant find anything on liner extreme.. do you have any links? I really think I might use it for my bay boat project as well.

i bet the guy who traded you is kicking himself in the a** right now! hahhahahaha!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SPRAY-BED...sQ5fAccessories

I cannot stress enough how powerful of an air compressor you need!

What a day!

Worked last night at rebuilding the steering. It had been really bad when I got the boat. Sure enough lots of corrosion. Cleaned it out and mounted it on the console. I also mounted the windshield. My buddy helped me get it mounted int he boat today.. happy to see that.


I then got a lto of stuff ready for tomorrow where hopefully I will get the engine back on and start getting everything hooked back up. I still have a lot of wiring to do and Ill be darned if BOTH the in and out for the livewell are two oddball sizes one bigger and one smaller than the hoses I have going to them... ARG.

I had already picked up 50.00 worth of foam and vinyl for my seats.

I made the boards.. and cut the foam with some surgical scalpel blades I have and went right thru my finger... I officially have blood in the project now! The good news is that the blade is so sharp I barley felt it.



and then hit the sewing machine





The finished product ( well 90% anyway)



I have a third cushion for the front of the console on top of the live well not pictured. It is just white for now as I ran out of thread. I will add the maroon accents later.

Man, what a rebuild. You will be so pleased with it more than you know when you are done and as well as you should be. Great job!

Looks great. Did you use the original steering cables or install new?

Are you planning on installing a trolling motor? The reason I'm asking is there dosen't appear to be much support for one on the bow. Since you can weld a aluminum that should be an easy fix though.

Yes the original cables seem to be OK. I was worried the steering cable was bad because of the friction when I first got the boat. However after I pulled it I could move it by hand. Now that it is installed with the cleaned up steering wheel, it moves very freely.

I do not plan on installing a trolling motor anytime soon. Reason being that I only seemed to use them when I was alone and casting for bait. This was rare and in my SC. With the center console I can stand midships and throw the net while still able to reach the controls.

I have 5 horse 80 gallon compressor... that should do it??

THAT'S AN AWSOME REBUILD!

probably. I was using a 6.5 Hp compressor with a much smaller tank and it would kick off for short periods of time.

UPDATE:

Got the motor back on the hull today. Welded on a spike to accept my transom saver.

Installed some cup holders and hooked up some of the cables to the engine controls.

I am ready to tackle the wiring. This is going to be a big job but it is the last major thing before sea trials!

Sorry, no pics today. Got dark too soon.. I will post more pics once the seats are in and the center flooring is down.

Stunning job,man!

GREAT JOB! I dont think a rebuild can get any better!

Wow, can't wait to see her when she's done. Nice work for sure!

you can never have enough cup holders! nice job!!as many have said, you are very talented.
tom

Talented Yes not to mention determined, Looks good something you will definately be proud of.

UPdate:

No pics yet as nothing pic worthy has occurred.. I have been doing the wiring as I can for the last few days. Today I felT I made some real headway. I got all my Bus's( buses?) powered up under my console and got the VHF and FM radios powered off my accessory bus. I also got the antennas wired up and got to finally make some noise with these things! The VFH antenna I ended up with is 8 freaking feet high on top of a 4 foot console! Look out bridges !

I will take pics of my electrical work once it is all complete, otherwise yall might kick me off the board for showing such a mess.

An observation... for as simple and clean as I have tried to keep this, thereis a TON of stuff running from the transome under the floor up to the console:

Steering cable
Throttle cable
Gear cable
Engine start controls
Tilt/trim
Aerator input and output hoses
Bilge power
Aerator power
Power cable
Stern nav light power
Transducer ( not in yet arg)
Fuel quantity sender

and probably something I am forgetting.. SHEESH!

I will hopefully have her water ready Tomorrow and hit the lake monday.

Still "to do"

Run transducer cable
Connect tilt/trim hoses and ad fluid to system
Finish electrical wiring
Bolt down front seats
Connect aerator hoses
Change impeller in engine (is a bit weak on flow)
Install 6 more rod holders
Install nose cone
Tighten steering wheel
Bolt down floor
Bolt in rear seat

Waiting on report......

Always leave em wanting more Ehh

Ok so I haven't posted because well, Ive been too busy on the boat getting it ready for the water. The list in my last post was quite a chore to get done. I have however at this point had two sessions on the water.

Lake date 1 Captains log:

Felt a great rush as she pulled off the trailer. Great feel on the water. Engine is running really well! Full speed ahead to about 32 MPH... Notice a two large rooster tails behind the boat. 1 from the stair (accidentally left down) and one from transducer. Also notice a bad list to port at speed. Pull up stair, move 1 of my 250 lb friends to back and now 34 mph. We do a little fishing and then some tubein' just to put some miles on her and experiment. I realized the bilge pump wasn't working. A quick inspection found the wires hooked up wrong (would it really be so damned hard for them to just make the wire RED and black?) I did a MacGyver fix and went on my mary way. Battery is not happy.

Permanently properly wired the bilge at home. Moved trim tab to help with list at speed. Also removed "whale tail" from motor.


Day 2 (today)

getting off trailer I forgot to remove transom saver...Ran the trim down for a sec and when I came to reality The damage was done and the UP would not work. Even at that with 1 less person, the half fixed transducer and removed whale tails and full nose down trim (exaggerated list) I was hitting 37 MPH.. I hope once I can trip UP I will be able to hit 40 mph.

I cleaned her up a bit since we have been busy leaving finger prints and scraps everywhere... here are the pics.

from someone who is doing the exact same job to almost the same boat (21' starcraft yr.88 hull) YOU HAVE DONE A GREAT JOB!

WOW! I'm speechless.

Looks great man. Awsome job now you just have to enjoy it and not get too upset from the dents and dings that will come with use.

matt

Very nice brother. How much $ do you have in her now or expect to when complete? Bet you saved a small fortune doing it all yourself!

I had about 1500 In my old boat, I got it at a very good price and put some money and work into it. I have dumped about 2500 into this boat so far so All in all I have about 4k into it which includes:

an $850.00 Side imaging fish finder/GPS
All new floors
new VHF radio 8' antenna
and marine FM stereo
All new stainless steel bolts
New transom
New impeller
New aerator pump and lines
New rod holders ( 10 of em!)
New 7' Cast net
New life jackets and whistles for each
Fog horn
New Oar
New throw-able flotation
New ski rings on transom.

So all in all a pretty good deal!

Today:

I fixed my trim and got back onto the lake today... 41 MPH! yeehaw!

I also caught some fish and slimmed her up! Buncha blue cats. Kept 3 for dinner

Stunning industry,man. You will go far.

Great job now ya need to take it by the guy ya got it from and surprise him lol

What no new exterior paint job? Just kidding, man what a project and I know you must be proud and you should be. BTW what lake do you fish?

It looks so good people that see it in person and hear the tale of all your hard work will find it hard to believe!
WTG nice work!!!

nice work, hope she catches you some nice fish!

Different day different dollar.... I go to grapevine mostly but Hopefully I will make more lLewisville trips and also I want to hit Twok!

That is a GREAT Rebuild

Wow ......Just wow, Great Job, all u need now is a couple of downriggers and your set

i would like to talk about what kind of work i could get done on my boat to bling it up. please let me know some prices.
phil 214-336-7665

My compliments on your restore project. Truly amazing. You are to be congratulated on your hard work, ingenuity, and craftsmanship.

Very nice. You have done a beautiful job!

I have this same boat, I'll try to post pics in the daylight. Do you still have the boat, how is the floor holding up. How do you like it.

haha sorry to resurrect such an old thread... I do indeed still have the boat... I have had so many great adventures on this sweetheart...

I have been up rivers in 1 foot of water in the middle of the night catching blues swirling in the shallows.

I have had here out on the ocean in some extremely rough seas catching Kingfish, sharks, cobia, massive redfish sea trout and sea sickness. My "record" so far is 28 miles offshore ( I was well prepared)

I nearly sank one time when my buddy pulled a loose anchor line and pulled the plug out!

Ive done the catfish classic on Fork 3 times and won money on a few of them.

I caught a PB 45 lb blue cat on Grapevine.

I can pull the boat behind our Coleman pop-up camper and go wherever I want (quite the site running down the freeway.

I may post some pictures of my adventures on this boat (which I now call the "Chum shot") if anyone is interested

As far as how she is holding up... pretty well. She is definitely due for a facelift as the sun has gotten to the Console and the upholstery. I plan on fishing this season then pulling her down for an overhaul to inclued a pro clear coat job on the console. I also have a few leaky rivets I want to fix and to re caulk and paint the interior and perhaps even spring for an exterior paint job. The upholstery will get redone as well.

I just installed a new stereo that is great and over the years I have had to do a few things like get a new axle for the Dilly trailer (man I LOVE that trailer) and replace the steering cable. The 1983 mercury is running as good as ever, although I did break a tooth on the forward gear (which I replaced myself)

This boat has been way more than I ever hoped for. The versatility is unmatched. It makes me sad because I keep my eye on new boats and there is simply nothing available that is going to bring me the variety of capabilities this boat has. She cant last forever, it is after all a glorified pop can. Perhaps I can get 5-10 more years out of her.

Cheers!

Haha, I am going to resurrect this thread one more time... for ROUND TWO!

After a Decade of use and sun, this boat now needs more attention. A Lot of degradation has happened in the last 2 or 3 years. Time for a whole new overhaul! When I did this restore, I was younger and did not have much money to throw at the project. A luxury which I do have now. I started ripping into her today. I have often looked back at this restore project and thought about things I would have done differently... Well, this time around I will be able to!

Here is the plan:

Completely strip boat down
Take Hull to sandblasters
Repair any hull issues ( I have found a few places that welding is needed and some new rivets
Replace transom/floor/ any wood with Fiberglass coated Coosa board.
Completely strip Center console, sand and put on new gel coat.
I am going to consider purchasing a much newer 4 stroke engine and say goodbye to the tower of power. It still runs but I would very much like a quieter engine that can handle the ethanol in the fuel. I may throw a 115 on it, going up from 90 HP. that should give me a top speed of 45-50 Mph and a cruise of about 35. Rang should be improved as well with a 4 stroke.

Some random thoughts for this time around:

I will take special care to assure that no water/grime can get down past the decking or under the center console. These will be very meticulously sealed up
I want to cut a hole in the top of the bow and create a place to stow the anchor.
If I re power, I may drop some big dollars for an engine with all electronic controls.
I did find a company that will completely refurbish the tower of power I have to like new condition for about $5500.00
I am also considering going to twin 70 hp motors for a total of 140hp, which is the placarded max for the boat.
There was some wood I was not able to replace the first time around that is very buried in the stern... I am going to give a serious go to removing what I need to to replace it with coosa.

I would greatly appreciate input on what to do with the engine situation. I can see myself using it on the ocean again, so having 2 motors would be really nice.



Now, for those of you who may be wondering... why put any money into a 1983 boat that is in disrepair? The fact is that I cannot find a new boat that will be as versatile as this one. If I could, believe me I would buy it. I have searched high and low and simply put, nothing new can do what this boat can. Find me a new Center console boat that can move through 1 foot of water, go 40 MPH on 90 hp... Handle the ocean swells , comfortably carry 3 people and 16 fishing poles that are out of the way while under way, has a live well and cooler, holds 24 gallons of fuel, and has a swim ladder... Not to mention that this boat is very light and easy to tow and the Dilly trailer lets me launch it ANYWHERE so long as I can get the trailers tires to the water.

This animal simply does not exist in the new boat market, which is a real shame. The boat manufacturers seem to be more interested in producing things that look pretty rather than function for what they are intended. There is no reason a boat like this could not be made new and built to last 50 years.

Wish me luck, I have a LOT of work ahead of me.

So far I have taken off the center console, removed the battery, pulled the front flooring and taken as much as I can off the transom. I need helping hand to get the remaining bolts off as I cannot reach the backside nuts and the front of the bolts at the same time. Once those are loose the transom should slide right out. The motor is already off, If anyone wants a 90 hp merc and all the controls, hit me up and we can talk.

Looks like I am in the market for TIG welder as there is quite a bit of holes to fill on the transom.

The fiberglass I ordered showed up today and the Coosa board will be here tomorrow as will a friend to help me get that transom loose.

The notion of having the entire boat sand blasted is probably going to go out the window. A quote I got for just the outside was $2500.00 and it does not seem worth it. New plan may be to just lightly sand down, prime/fill the small gouges and then paint over the existing paint with a glossy white hull paint.

Great story! In the past we have owned two different Sea Nymph SS175's. Probably the best boats we have ever owned. Lost interest in the brand when they sold out to a larger aluminum boat builder. I always thought a 90 HP 4 stroke would have been great on one of the smaller Sea Nymph boats. If my memory is correct,Your boat was rated for a 140. Great memories and keep us posted on your latest restoration!

By the way, we just repowered or 2003 Boston Whaler 17 ft Montauk with a 90 Hp Mercury 4 stroke. Great combination.

I, for one, am glad you dragged this thread out of retirement. Really cool to see how you've matured over the last 10 years. Stuff that would "just pass" isn't good enough anymore. Looking forward to hearing about the new makeover. Keep em coming!

Thanks Texcajun and Ifish !

I have been quite hard at work on her. I have taken the rear end completely apart.
As I dug deeper and deeper I kept finding things I want done proper.

The aluminum portion of the transom was in shambles so I decided to go with a new one.

Got quoted $1400 to have one fabricated... Well, since I have a jigsaw and a TIG I decided to make it myself. I am close to being done and will post pictures when it is complete. It is .125 " compared to the .100 inch it had, so much stronger. I had to weld on the flanges as I do not have a way to bend them in like the original... Feels silly to weld then rivet it on, but that is just how it has to be.

As for the console, I was going to gel coat it, but have decided a high quality paint will be a better option. If anyone has any experience with 2 part paint and can point me in the right direction I would appreciate it.
I will not be using the aluminum livewell... instead I will be internally baffling off the portion where the aluminum sat and have the fiberglass itself serve as the live-well... This will add quite a bit of room and there will be nothing to corrode. I plan to gelcoat inside which should make it easy to see inside for bait.

The next step is to fix all the stuff with the hull, which will include putting 8 drain pipes in the cross members which currently have no path for water to drain out... I am really perplexed as to how anyone would build a boat with 8 places that water can become trapped. Ill be drilling through them and then welding in Thick wall 1" aluminum pipes. The added bonus is that most of them are cracked and welding in the aluminum will bring their strength back.

Hard at work today finishing and test fitting the new transom. Ill need to remember to either wear pants or put sunblock on my legs the next time I weld this much... I sunburned my legs pretty bad!




This got me really excited. This new assembly is going to be very very strong. Even with just the Cleko's holding it on it felt much more stout than the old one. Not bad, took me about 8 hours and 400.00 to get to this point. That is a lot better than 7 days and 1400.00 I was quoted!

I wanted to add that the Pink foam I had used on the first restoration held up extremely well for a decade of use. most of it looked as good as the day It was put in. If you are needing to put foam in your boat and do not want to use pour in foam, I think you will be happy with the pink foam. It was all dry and nearly perfect except for the parts rats chewed through... Maybe this time around I need some built in mouse traps!

That being said, I am not certain what I am going to do for flotation. Most of the pour in foam that was in the boat was completely waterlogged. This makes me very apprehensive to using pour in foam. If I use the pink foam again... i may get fancy and encapsulate it in fiberglass for a permanent and rat proof solution.

looking good!

You probably already have educated yourself on the pour in foam . I did a bunch of research on it and was shocked at the prices . From what I was able to comprehend the closed cell foam is the most resistant to becoming water logged but all of them are easily damaged by fuel and oil . I was going to use heavy plastic contractor bags to put the foam in to help create a barrier of protection for possible fuel spills .

I am still looking into pour in foam. There are some great advantages to it, however there are some drawbacks. The biggest being that it will be really easy to create places where water can become trapped and never dry out due to lack of any air flow. I am having to repair places on my boat that corroded due to the pour in foam retaining water against the hull. Not to mention, should a rivet become loose, getting to the backside to buck/tighten it will be impossible. The way I originally did the pink foam proved to be effective in keeping the boat afloat and also letting water drain well. It is just a lot of work to cut new foam and do it neatly. That being said I could create some templates and hot wire cut them this time around.

I still don't know what I want to do... The biggest thing on my mind with this 2nd go is to do things in a way that will last. I want this boat to last 15+ more years and It will if I am smart about it.

Got a little more done today in preparation of mounting the new transom. There were corroded areas that had made it all the way through leaving holes... No wonder my bilge was working so hard the last time I used the boat!

These holes were under where a transom support mounts and were underneath it and also hidden on the bottom from view by a center skid plate. I believe they corroded due to a design flaw in the boat. That being that the drain plug was not at the lowest point. Best case scenario there was 1.5" of water that would not drain out.




And here is after some time welding and cursing. For those of you that do not know, filling in holes in thin aluminum is a royal PITA.



I had to do some similar repairs on the side of the hull where the transom flange lays.



I am getting very close now to being able to mount the new transom plate. To address the issue with the old drain plug being too high, I will be relocating the hole to the very bottom of the V. There is an issue with doing this however because this means that in the bilge, the water and crud will have to move past and into the transom support bracket. This will make putting a plug into the hole from inside the boat impossible (it is very nice to be able to do this!) and will also potentially make removing crud that blocks drainage a problem. I have a few ideas on how to deal with this, one being to cut some extra weep holes in the transom support bracket, then use Stainless steel screen over them all to trap the gunk where I can suck it out when it builds up.

The other crazy idea I had today while looking at the empty hull was to build in a freshwater below deck rinsing system. I could run pex with spray nozzles and put a hose connector on the end... Then, after a trip to saltwater I could hook up to the system with a garden hose and let it run a few hours to try to rinse out any saltwater that finds its way into the hull. This is probably silly, but I cannot say I will never put her into the brine again and I have memories of being paranoid that saltwater was still in my boat even after a very long wash down.

Got some more work done today.

I went and drilled out the holes for the cross brace modification I came up with



I had 8 in total. These will get welded in which will strengthen the poorly designed bends.

I then pulled on another thread. I had intended to leave the front end mostly intact. However as I was prepping to pressure wash I realized that water had nowhere to go. So out came the drill and I attacked some rivets. A lot of work to get this all otu but I am glad I did it. There was rat tunnels in the foam and a nest. The pour in was also very shoddily done.


Once I got all the foam out I had great access to the hull to clean and bang out some dents. Looking much cleaner! You can see the difference from where I used spray on cleaner on the exposed aluminum prior to removing the bow assembly. I will probably hit that forward section.



I am starting to come around to the idea of going with pour in foam. I really like the idea of added rigidity and a quiet, solid ride. With the care I will be taking to keep water out... things like tightening any loose rivets and the sealing I will do on the exterior once I flip the boat for prep and paint, I think the new tech foam would fair pretty well as long as I can keep the rodents at bay (why do they love boats so much?).

UPDATE:

It's been a while! I have been busy with many things, including a new 35' magnum on the gulf that I am gearing up to re-power. That project is moving slowly due to getting the bracket, if anyone is interested I will post the link to The hull truth here.


As for the Sea Nymph, I have been at a stage where I needed a helping hand and getting one has been problematic. However I finally got my hands on a helper and the new transom is back on the boat!


Here is an inside shot

This is for sure the last major OH this boat will receive. Aside from the rivets, I used 3m 5200 everywhere, this ain't coming apart! This will be a solid foundation for the new motor.

So this brings me to a fun part of the project. The next step will be to put her on her back and start prepping the hull for paint. I have many rivets that need to be tightened and a lot of sanding and priming to do. I am still undecided on the color but I believe I will be going with a really flashy orange on the sides and black on the bottom. The interior will be gray to cut down on the brightness when on the water.

Sorry this project is going slow... I have a lot of attention on the Magnum, it comes out of the water in 10 days for the conversion from I/O to Outboard. I am still excited to get this boat going again. I miss being on the lake.

Cheers!

I went and looked at your Magnum project. You've done a lot of work on it.

Thanks, It just came out of the water yesterday for the conversion to outboard and a new rear deck. Cant wait to get out on the gulf!

Wow, really enjoyed discovering this thread...did you find the boat in Corpus? Not sure, but a high possibilty that I used to won that very boat. Did it have a straight 6 Mariner 90 on it? I sold the boat in 1995 to a guy in Corpus.

Wow, really enjoyed discovering this thread...did you find the boat in Corpus? Not sure, but a high possibilty that I used to won that very boat. Did it have a straight 6 Mariner 90 on it? I sold the boat in 1995 to a guy in Corpus.

No, boat was not in Corpus, it was out east of DFW.


UPDATE: I stalled on this project for a few reasons, one being a triple outboard boat I rebuilt at the coast that is an absolute blast... that saltwater is something addictive. The other reason being that I was sort of stuck at a 2 man job stage of riveting on new strakes and some other hull rivets. I just never could seem to get anyone to spare the time to buck some rivets. Well, after helping a friend A LOT with a car, I roped him in and we spent an afternoon getting all the bottom done.

The new strakes are on and I started the process of Stripping all the paint off the hull. Im going to go naked aluminum with some red accent paint.

Now that I am past what takes 2 people, I can work at my discretion.