New to boating - it leaks, among other problems

[JayBoater]

So, I've been the proud owner of a boat for about 48 hours now. I bought an 88 Imperial 164 with a Volvo Penta AQ171C. I have no experience with boats, and I think the guy that sold me this one knew it. For now I have a $2000 lawn ornament. The engine ran long enough to convince me it ran. That's about it. I didn't realize it wouldn't stay running. I think it has a fuel issue. I'm not to worried about that, I've been an auto mechanic for 10 years, I can fix an engine. I originally thought the soft floors would be a simple job of replacing some plywood. I had never herd of stringers of had any idea of what was involved in redoing them. Now on my failed first attempt to go play on the lake I noticed accesave water in the bottom where the engine sits. So now it has a leak some where. The bottom all looked good and felt solid. Two questions. How difficult, time consuming and expensive is it to repair/replace the stringers and floor? And, I am assuming the leak is coming from the back. Are there seals or something on the out drive that are common problems here or am I going to have to figure out how to tear this thing apart. I'm not afraid to dive into a big do it your self project. Any thoughts on this from you guys is greatly appreciated.

 

[Goldie627]

Hey J, soft floors is almost never simple, a soft floor isn't really the problem, the real problem is whats holding up the soft floor? In many cases of neglected boats its just fiberglass filled with rotted wood. The area where the engine is located is called the bilge area. As far as expense and time, expense is relative but on average depending on where you live, availability of supplies, and quality chosen, I would say around 1500 to 2000. Please keep in mind that if you have bad stringers you may very well have a bad transom also, Surprise! Happy Birthday!! You will also spend time and resources gathering specialty things and tools needed for the job. These little odds and ends add up. As far as time goes, if you have a job or family or wife or kids or heaven forbid a girlfriend.... good luck! LOL its very time consuming, definitely not something you will do over the weekend...

Regarding the leak, if your hull is not damaged and your drain is ok, bellows would be first on the hit list as far as the leak is concerned. But then, possibly an engine cooling hose?? Im just throwing out ideas...

My thoughts... The restoration will take time and span months if you are a weekend warrior, break out a note pad and access the damage, take core samples of transom and stringers, develop a plan, take plenty of pictures and post them here or have them to show whoever you find that may be of some assistance, a pic is worth 2000 words, look up friscoboater here and on youtube, I call him Mr Jarretts :joyous:, google your boat name with restoration you may be lucky and find someone whos gone threw what your going threw , look up woodonglass, in his signature there is directions for stringers and transoms

Acceptance
Take pics of everything, for future reference and help
Determine if you need to pull the outdrive, gimbal housing, transom plate and motor
Deconstruction
Grinding - during this phase start looking for glassing materials and 2 part foam
Cutting new wood
Waterproofing new wood
Installing new wood
Glassing new wood
Foam
gelcoat or paint the deck

I wish you all the best :welcome:

 

[JayBoater]

Thanks for the input. It sounds like I would have been better off burning the money in the winter for heat. It looks like the motor is kind of rare and parts are expencive and the Volvo Penta 290 outdrive goes for a some decent cash. I think I'm going to tinker with it over the summer and make the decision as to weather I should fix it or part it out. It sounds like I might be able to get my money back. Then I can try again. At least this time I will have a better idea of what I'm looking at.

 

[Goldie627]

I hope I didn't discourage you. My suggestion is to pull back the carpet and take some pics, then upload load them here. There are people way more qualified than me to assist you in making the decision to restore or not.

 

[Goldie627]

I also think you have a double post going...

 

[JayBoater]

Yea, I do have a double post. I had some trouble getting it started. and accidentally started a second one. You didn't discourage me. I'm just ranting a little. I don't normally let myself get scammed on a sale like this, but I really had no clue what I was doing. I wish I had found this sight before I bought the boat. I will probably get around to getting some pics posted. I was more concerned with getting it running, which I managed to do about an hour ago. Gives me the worm and fuzzy knowing I'm making some kind of progress. The fuel was bad. Now I need to clean or rebuild the carburetors and It should smooth right out. If I can fix the leak I will probably use it for the rest of the summer and then decide if I want to spend the time and money on it this winter.