1989 Sratos 180CC Restoration

[ahmincha]

That is how mine was built plywood ontop of stringers and that is where the foam was. I was able to seperate it it was not easy but in the long run I think it made the work easier

 

[BayouWaters]

Ahmincha - thanks for the photo, I think this is real similar to what I am going to see under my liner as well. How did you get the separation to happen? I am not even sure where I can get a chisel or wedge between the floor and liner to start the separation.

 

[Shakedownscott]

I cut my liner out in three sections front, middle and rear. If I had to do it over again I would not do it this way.








The only sections that were glued down were under the deck area and the transom. Everything else came apart easy. If I were to do it again I would cut about 4-6 inches in from sidewall of the liner. Cutting through the deck only. It is going to be much easier to smooth the deck seams than ones on the side walls. I would cutout sections of the deck right through the plywood. Its going to be easier to separate the deck from the stringers vs trying to separate the layers of glass and plywood.

I used a circular saw set just shy of the thickness of the deck. If I got nervous about cutting too deep I would use a die grinder with a 3" cutoff wheel to cut just the glass layer.

 

[BayouWaters]

After spending some time with the remote camera it looks like the only areas that are bonded to the hull are the flat portion of the floor and the transom splash well. I think I am going to cut the floor out this weekend about an inch away from the wall. this will allow my subsequent re-bonding and gel-coating to take place on the flat floor surfaces versus the sidewall. I hope all goes well and that I do not have to cut the liner into pieces. I think I will be able to pull the liner as one piece after the floor is cut.

 

[ahmincha]

I would start at bow or stern get a 2x in the hatch do one end at a time use the hoist to apply upward pressure and floor jack under lip. It looks like from the picture you could get a 2x under the lip of your deck just behind the fuel tank? use it to pry up. go little at a time and keep adding pressure. my about kicked my butt but in the end I won and you will two.
from the look of the picture the top of your deck looks pretty good and if your able to get it out in one pc any soft spots can be done from the bottom

 

[ahmincha]

You may even be able to run a 2x front to rear over fuel tank to hook chains to?

 

[BayouWaters]

I constructed two separated lifting beams made by doubling two 2x4'a, gluing them together, and running an eye bolt in the center. I placed 1 in the front hatch and one at the back of the fuel coffin. I applied pressure to both and then used floor jacks around the perimeter of the bow. Nothing moved...I had enough pressure on the chain hoist that the boat was literally hovering about an 1/8' off of the bunks. When I ran the camera down the gunnels I can see where the PB has squeezed out from under the floor when they bonded the liner down to the hull floor. I am not sure I am going to break that bond. Wish there was someway of getting a prying tool underneath, but there is just no good points to access. I hate to do it, but I really do not see anyway of getting this liner off without cutting the floor. The following You Tube link shows a boat very similar to mine with the center cutout, this is what I am contemplating. Only exception is that I plan on pulling the liner to access the floor portion that runs all the way out to the hull sides.

 

[ahmincha]

Nothing wrong with cutting deck as you show or how shakes has explained. Sounds like your deck maybe in pretty good shape . I would think the more rot the easier it would seperate.

 

[Teamster]

I'd be tempted to get it lifting under pressure and walk away for the night and see if some time under pressure helps??

 

[BayouWaters]

Teamster - nothing to lose I guess.

 

[Tnstratofam]

If that doesn't work then cutting the deck may be your only option. No luck getting a hold of bakerjw sorry. He's not been active here since a few months after he completed his rebuild. I do remember that the wood on his sole was rotten, and he ended up cutting a section in the stern to ease with removal.

 

[Teamster]

I'd try anything and everything before I'd cut the deck,...

If you can find a way to make it work it will go back together much better,..

 

[BayouWaters]

Well, suspending the boat overnight did not yueld any benefit (was worth a try). This weekend I am going to proceed with cutting the floor out. I am going to try and be careful to minimze the amount of effort to repair the gelcoat. I have fixed minor chips and dings in gelcoat, but never this extensive of a refinish job. Hopefully I can get the seam to a barely noticeable state.

I appreciate everyone's feedback and input so far.

 

[BayouWaters]

Alright, just found an episode of Ship Shape TV that covers deck removal and re-coring. I am going to tackle cutting the deck out today. Besides, my HOA is giving me fits over the "Boat Tower" I have constructed so my time is limited before a court order arrives to remove it. Got to love HOA's...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTq5VjXX3zM

 

[Shakedownscott]

[SUB]Good luck on the demo. I checked out the video you linked and that looks like a good way to do it.[/SUB]

 

[BayouWaters]

Well, put in one solid weekend on the project boat. Very difficult task to get a small piece of the cap off and the floor is still resisting. Once I got the cap off I started in on the floor and I am really struggling to get the liner floor to release from the boat. I suspended the boat slightly off of the trailer and used crow bars, shovels, and pry bars to try and get a small section up with no luck. I am thinking about buying a pneumatic air chisel to try and get the copious amounts of PB to breakup underneath the floor. Any advice would be appreciated. I also got my first look at the transom and it is basically 2 layers of 3/4" ply with a layer of CSM in between. Should not be too hard to remove since it is basically dust.

Boat suspended - no movement on the liner floor


Closeup of the liner to hull - copious amounts of PB. Think an air chisel between the floor and liner will work?


Transom Cap - this was an all day affair to cut this one littel section out.


Transom core is dust - at least it will be easy to get back to good glass.

 

[BayouWaters]

This is what I am thinking of using to breakup the PB. Thoughts?

 

[Tnstratofam]

You might try a hand saw. Gradually cutting deeper and deeper in different spots. That may release some pressure. With the air chisel you just need to pay attention to how it pushes the materiall. You don't want it to start turning up towards the deck and bust it. Although if it does that to can be repired.

 

[Shakedownscott]

Hey Bayou, good progress on the demolition. It is a slow process, it took me several weekends to get the liner out of mine. Just take your time and think it through.

An air chisel will definitely get you started. I just used a hammer and chisel to break the bond, the polyester resin is very brittle and will fracture pretty easy. It should be easier to break the bond between the PB and plywood deck than the bond between the liner and PB.

The deck may fight you every inch of the way. I would start from the back end and get a chisel to start splitting the seam. Just work one small area at a time and if you separate it shove something in there to wedge it up and move over a bit. A thin flat wrecking bar would be good to get between the liner and deck. Just keep working around the perimeter shoving wood or whatever you have to wedge the liner up, while keeping force on the deck from the hoist. Should pop eventually.

 

[BayouWaters]

Just completed one long day on the project boat, but finally got the deck out. Shakedownscott was right, it fought me for every inch until the very end. The wood under the deck was in great shape which made for the difficulty in separating the bond between the floor and the deck. The stringers closest to the fuel tanks are a different story...hollow shells of fiberglass. My best guess is that the rot started at the transom and worked its way back up the stringers. I pulled some pockets of foam out down to the hull and all of it is bone dry. I was going to leave the cap on the front, but since I have gone this far I am going to go ahead and pop the front section off. It will give me better access to do a complete and thorough job. I plan on doing a little more bracing tomorrow on the hull and will then pull the cap the rest of the way off and then continue the demo.


Using wedges under the deck to break the bond. This was no joke, it took a lot of effort.


...but it finally got done.