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.