In the Process.....

[carpman]

I am in the process of a over-haul of a 1978 sea nymph......16' fishing machine

Question 1: Right now I am gutting the interior, and because it was a fishing machine, there is a lot of decking and rivets that go through the side of the boat. I am wondering what is the best way to take care of all the aluminum pieces that are riveted through the side of the boat. Right now I have been just sawzalling them down and leaving the rivets there because I didn't want to deal with them at the moment!

Question 2: I have taken the motor off and am replacing it with a smaller one. There was a 65 hp motor on there, and am replacing it with a 9.9. I am keeping the steering though.....Anyway, there are 4 large holes in the transom where the old motor was. What's the best way to fill those? Also, I took out both live wells and there are large holes in the boat from that also.

Suggestions please!!! and thanks in advance!

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: In the Process.....

1. I hope you are not removing structural aluminum.......

2. Plug the holes with marine epoxy ..... buy the stick that requires you knead it and plug the holes.

 

[5150abf]

Re: In the Process.....

I have an '81 model of the same boat that I stripped to the hull and rebuilt and if you plan to rebuild the boat as it was you need all those peices you cut in half and being a '78 there is no way to get new ones so what ever was attached to those brackets is gone now unless you have new brackets made.

As stated quite alot of those peices are strucural, casting decks included, when mine was stripped it was as floppy as a peice of tin foil and needs those peices for support.

Are you wanting just an empty hull with a floor, if so you may be okay but DO NOT cut any of the floor supports or you may as well throw away the boat, it has to have a floor in it to support the rest of the boat.

So I geuss first of all what do you want to accomplish when you are done with this?

And stop cutting peices off the boat, you may well be making it unusable, get up pics of what you have cut off so far if possible and we will go from there.

 

[carpman]

Re: In the Process.....

What I am trying to do is have an open floor, just like you said. I will some pics up quick! Thanks!

 

[carpman]

Re: In the Process.....

The first one is what I started with, the rest is what I have done!

 

[carpman]

Re: In the Process.....

Another thought that I forgot.....I would like to have side boards running the length of the boat because there are already brackets for them if you look at the photos.....Would that be enough to keep the sides from moving too much?

And yes, the floor supports all stay, and it runs the entire length of the boat. The console will stay in the same spot too, and is rivetted through the side of the boat.

My other question would be the two supports that run the width of the boat in the front. Am I going to be ok removing them and having just a sunk floor there? Or should I keep the framework there?

 

[JaSla74]

Re: In the Process.....

Your pics aren't posting

 

[5150abf]

Re: In the Process.....

Ya , your pics aren't coming up.

I wouldn't take out any of the floor supports at all, mine stiffened up pretty good once I got the floor back in so you should be okay.

 

[carpman]

Re: In the Process.....

sorry about the pics, they were showing up for me just fine last night....

Anyway, I am going to leave the supports for the floor, which seem to keep the boat very solid and go from there. If I need to brace the sides, i'll just fab something up after I replace the foam and floor!

I'll get those pics fixed when I get home from work!

 

[carpman]

Re: In the Process.....

Updated pics are posted in post number 5. Would really like some more input on this as I am going to start at it again tonight!

 

[carpman]

Re: In the Process.....

After looking at the boat tonight. I cannot make a decision whether to leave the sides without supports, or just throw up some fabbed support after the floor is done? The sides do feel more flimsy than before with the side bin gone, but not too bad. Also, the boat will be going a max of 10-15 mph with a 9.9 on it and 2-3 people!

 

[5150abf]

Re: In the Process.....

Man, that is exactly the same as my boat was when I got it down to that God awful brown astro turf!

You could get rid of the rod locker and keep the front and rear decks that would give you some more room and still have plenty of supprt for the hull.

Remember that boat was designed to run with the everything on it, the more you remove the more it flexxes and the more stress it puts on the rivets so the less you take out the better.

I kept all of mine for storage and even added a small peice of deck in front of the console, I originally had seat front and rear but I pulled the pedastals and now just have a floating seat that I put anywhere I want with the only fixxed seat being the drivers and I fish live bait so I kept both livewells although I moved the live well sideways for easier access.

I drilled my rivets and replaced them with stainless bolts and nylock nuts with some 3m 4200.

Heres some pics of mine after the second rebuild.

 

[carpman]

Re: In the Process.....

Yours looks good, but I still like the Idea of an open floor. I think I am going to take your advice and put the front and rear casting decks back in without the rod compartment and see what I like from there. I'll post up some more pics when I get more ripped out. I am sure there is probably 300 lbs. of soaked foam in the bottom.

 

[5150abf]

Re: In the Process.....

I put all mine in trash bags and weighed it when I was done and it was 420 lbs.

I had an old butcher knife I used to gack out the old foam, it isn't fun and you will get really tired of the SQUEEEEK it makes but losing a couple hundred lbs will really improve you handling.

And when you pull the floor mine had steel screws that were really rusty so I just broke most of them and then cut off the remainded.

Feel free to PM me if you have a specific question.

 

[carpman]

Re: In the Process.....

Found out first hand what you just talked about 5150. I expected to get the whole floor out tonight, that was just NOT the case. Just the back two supports of foam weighed close to 180-200. Had 4 trash bags full of foam from just under half the boat!

What a pain, but I feel better about what I am doing now, I think it will turn out really nice!

I'll post pics after tomorrow nights work, because I didn't get very far tonight!

OH, PS: there was standing water in the boat after pulling the foam, that's how bad mine was.....can you top that?

 

[carpman]

Re: In the Process.....

Hey guys, been a while since I last posted in the thread. I had the boat out all weekend working on it. I gluved the pretty much every seam and rivet underneath and inside, then put down sheet foam from menards. I have framed and put down marine grade 1/2 inch from menards in it also. I am getting the batteries tied down and everything else in place such as seats and such.

I got some cheap marine carpet to put down when I get the seats and such situated.

I do have a question about the steering cable. I don't know if it's going to fit the 9.9 merc that I just bought, but hope it does so I don't have to get a new one.....The connections to the motor look different than the one that came into the 65 hp I had on it....

I'll post some pics tonight so you guys can see the structure and such!

 

[targetpanic]

Re: In the Process.....

looking forward to some pics of the progress.