How long does she have Doc?

ninhalo5

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jan 11, 2013
Messages
112
Hi everyone, I have a dilemma.
About a month ago against my better judgement I bought another used fiberglass boat (which I said I'll never do again, glutton for punishment I guess).
It's a small 15ft 600lb 4 winns marquise 150 bow rider. The previous owner claimed it was garage kept for the past 5 years when her late husband bought it.
I checked out the boat, walked the floor, knocked on the hull and transom and everything seemed solid and looked good. I went ahead and bought it and had it out on the river a few times now. That being said, after the kids getting back in the boat from swimming tracking water everywhere the floor now is really getting soft. The only place the floor isn't sinking when you walk is across any stringer below it.
I'm figuring this boat is in for a floor and stringer rebuild at minimum.
I've been looking through the forums learning about everyone else's misadventures and checking out their repairs, I unfortunately unlike everyone else do not have a garage or a driveway to do my repairs, I have a small gravel lot behind my house with 1 semi level area that my boat may fit on, so right now I'm not even sure if a rebuild is possible with my situation.
Most of the repairs, and cradle posts I've found are for different styles of boats, tri-hulls mostly.
The trailer I have is a run of the mill 2 board bunk trailer that more or less only supports the stern with a couple keel rollers.

My questions are:

1. Is it possible to use the trailer as a base for a cradle?

2. Would this style cradle work for me? http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...8-boat-hull-cradle-help?p=6164689#post6164689

3. What are the possible outcomes of just replacing the floor itself and nothing else?

4. What happens if my hull does somehow get twisted during a rebuild and how would I be able to tell before the job is complete?

5. With fall around the corner, will the cool temperatures make much of a difference on the rebuild?

Thank you
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
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Jul 23, 2011
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50,430
1. yes. thats what I did, build the cradle on the trailer
2. not sure
3. you will be replacing the floor again in a year or two when it re-rots because everything under the floor is rotten now
4. your ride quality will suffer
5. depends on your drive, ambition, pocket book and skills. some people knock out a hull refurb in a few weeks, some in a few years.
 

ninhalo5

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jan 11, 2013
Messages
112
Thanks for the reply, do you happen to have a picture of your cradle creation?
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
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50,430
wish I did. was on the laptop that the ex got in the divorce back in 2010
 

ninhalo5

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jan 11, 2013
Messages
112
Those darned ex's lol. Well, thanks anyways maybe I can come up with an idea.
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
50,430
it was 1/2" plywood gusseting a bunch of 2x4's. built it in place. I think I spend a total of 4 hours with a chop saw, table saw and jig saw in addtion to the chordless drill for screwing it together.
 

tpenfield

Moderator
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Jul 18, 2011
Messages
18,209
Most folks use a bunk trailer (a roller trailer would be no good for a rebuild) then they add a bit of bow support. If you do a cradle, make it like a set of bunks and you should be fine.
 

ninhalo5

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jan 11, 2013
Messages
112
No Title

Thank you, when I build a cradle, I just need to support the bottom half of the hull, below the red line in my image, or should it go higher?
 

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ninhalo5

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jan 11, 2013
Messages
112
No Title

I just got around to taking a couple pictures of the hull, from the bunks to the first keel roller is about 4 ft. On a 15 ft boat shouldn't this be enough support on the hull to begin a rebuild? I was also thinking of placing a couple jack stands under the keel for extra support.
 

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