Australian Caribbean Crusader 23'

[AussieCaribbean]

Hi everyone, have lurked on these forums for a long time and greatly appreciate all the info. I have a 16 foot glass runabout with 70 horse johnson (1994) but have just bought a mid 1970's-early 1980's Caribbean crusader 23 foot. It has a mercruiser 888 sterndrive (302 windsor) and has had the hard top extensively modified, raised with custom glass.

The boatyard left the drain plug in the transom and the boat has filled up with water. I have found a lot of water trapped in between frames and up forward. I have removed all the carpet and removed the false floor and fuel tank, to find a mess. It seems a combination of sawdust from a interior fit out, fibreglass dust and general muck have collected and been sitting for a long time, and mixed with water. The fuel tank cavity runs from midships aft to engine well, and i have completely cleaned this out and its in good shape.

From midships forward, the floor is sunk (lowered) and is ply sheet, glassed in. This forward section of floor consists of the V-berth floor, then a bulkhead, then the helm floor. This section of glassed-in ply foor has a cavity beneath it, maybe only a couple inches above the bilge. There are limber holes beneath this section of floor, but a lot of muck is trapped underneath the floor and its damp.

The only option i really have is to gain access to this forward section of flooring, and clean it out and let dry, then ascertain if there is any damage. I am about to start cutting inspection holes with a holesaw to see what is below, and will progress from there. If everything is ok beneath once cleaned, i plan to cut out the centre section of both forward floors but leave a perimeter of a couple inches still attached around the outside, provided the ply is in good condition. I would then like to seal all exposed ply with epoxy, and make new floor panels (ply encapsulated with glass) that simply drop into place over the remaining rim.

Does it sound like I am on the right track with this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Chris

Pics to follow

 

[AussieCaribbean]

Re: Australian Caribbean Crusader 23"

Re: Australian Caribbean Crusader 23"

 

[AussieCaribbean]

Re: Australian Caribbean Crusader 23"

Re: Australian Caribbean Crusader 23"

 

[AussieCaribbean]

Re: Australian Caribbean Crusader 23"

Re: Australian Caribbean Crusader 23"

The first few pics of what was beneath the fuel tank- its a long rectangular fibreglass unit. I cleaned all of this out and the hull is good in this area. The small rectangular glass floor section is the helm area- note the unit fitted to hull behind frame. I don't know what this is, but it has a cable coming from the top, and an inspection plug. It seems to be filled with brake or hydraulic fluid? I cant see any pipes/lines coming from it, although forward of it I can't access because of glass floor. Any ideas on what this is?

A drain hole can be seen at the aft end of the glass helm floor- this whole area is solid but the bilge below is damp and needs to be cleaned out. V berth floor inside cabin is identical, but without a drain. I will be opening up the helm floor first. All advice will be greatly appreciated!

Chris

 

[AussieCaribbean]

Re: Australian Caribbean Crusader 23"

Re: Australian Caribbean Crusader 23"

Well I've cut out a series of holes through thru the sunken floor at the helm. The ply is all good throughout, but there was a lot of rubbish beneath the floor blocking the limber holes. I will be giving it a thorough clean out and then sealing the open end grain in the holesaw locations with resin. I'll make a new floor panel that drops over the top so it can be lifted for inspection. I am undecided as to whether I will take a look in the V-berth floor, all the glass below the helm floor was intact and there is no frame forward of this, so it seems all the rubbish has washed back to this point.

I also found the strange thing in a box to be an old through hull sounder transducer, is it common to have these mounted in a box reservoir and filled with some form of lubricant or anti corrosive?

Chris

 

[Moggy23]

Re: Australian Caribbean Crusader 23'

Hi AussieCrusader
Just finished a complete rebuild on a Caribbean Crusader and very happy with the performance

The anchor well drains through the bilge, under the floors, so I glassed the drain and driilled drainholes through the hull and fitted stainless clam shells over drain, which was done to later 23 Caribbeans and Bertrams.

Can be checked out on this site
http://www.strikehook.com/forum/29-boat-brag-board/67337-caribbean-crusader-23-project


Moggy23

 

[Dazz66]

Re: Australian Caribbean Crusader 23'

Nice!
This is the kind of boat my Dad had, although yours looks a little more modern.
I remember the big stonking V8!

 

[Capt'n Chris]

Re: Australian Caribbean Crusader 23'

The container filled with oil is occasionally used that way for "shoot-through" transducers. The oil is an acoustic medium which tries to fool the transducer into believing that it is in direct contact with the water. Water in the reservoir would evaporate. These types of installations reduce the effective sounding properties as the boat hull substrate retards or absorbs the "ping" and is generally a trade off for transom-mounted transducers which require screw holes.

Having installed all sorts of transducers for almost 35 years now, I can't say I have seen it all, but I have seen most of it...to include ruined boats from installation damages.

Captain Chris

 

[SC's Forever!]

Re: Australian Caribbean Crusader 23'

Darn it Capt. Chris.....Ya beat me to it!!! This type of mount will ONLY work with a SOLID FG hull.....No balsa/foam core, ply, etc.....
Usually you can turn the gain up enough on your DF unit to compensate for the small loss of signal strenght.......

 

[SJW]

Chris, what happened with your boat?

 

[jbcurt00]

Chris, what happened with your boat?

Its been 10yrs, Chris is no longer listening

Closed