"There is nothing...absolutely nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
River Rat

No truer words were ever spoken!

Tony,check your email.I sent you some pics of the window weatherstripping that I have left over.About 20 feet of it.
If you didn't get the email let me know and I'll re-send it.Having a few issues with my computer,and getting signed off before I finish my words.

A little more progress on the Seafari, and a perfect day for boat work.

Installed the window gaskets I received from Big Easy (Thank you again
John!) The old gaskets were a bitch to remove, and I worried about
breaking the glass several times. Some industrious creature had
packed straw behind the old gaskets, and it took quite a bit of time and
blasts from the air compressor to get all the plant fibers out of the frames.

Finished the trailer, scrubbed the decks, installed my newly varnished
wood, a helm chair, decals, the compass, etc etc.

The port bulkhead is nearing completion, and then it'll be time to dive
into getting the cabin sorted out.

Still no motor. I'm being picky and waiting for the right deal.
Have looked at some real junk in the last few weeks, but I'm
sure the right engine is on the horizon.

This is a great boat, and I look forward to getting it in the water
in the not too distant future.

Wow!!! that was quick work,I think I want it back now.Daaam,the trailer came out beautiful,and It looks like you just painted the boat.
Did you accomplish all that just by buffing it out?
Keep up the good work it looks great.

I really like the California type "Moon" wheel covers. Must be old age.......:)

Thank you, John!
Yes, a few hours of wet sanding, polishing and wax and she's shiny
again. Thank you for the kind words!

Thank you! I think they look pretty cool with my antique boat.
And now I'm ready to attempt a land speed record at Bonneville...;)

I think the Moons looked Cali-cool too. But then I envisioned salt water sitting inside those assuming you need to dunk the trailer. Is there any space for drainage along the rim?

And by the way it absolutely looks great. I can't wait to see it with power. What did you do for the deck? Did you wet sand around the non-skid? It looks just as shiny as the hull. You have inspired me to get my Seafari out of storage early next year and earmark 2-3 weeks of beautification. It's hard up here when you know the boat works as-is and the season is so short.

Yes, the moons will drain well, and the whole assembly is stainless, so
I don't expect corrosion problems, but I will keep a close eye on them.
I wet sanded around the non-skid, and then sprayed Meguire's Instant
Detailer on the rest of the deck to shine things up.
Sorry about your short boating season there! I understand why you'd
want to spend time on the water rather than in the driveway...

really impressive Dogbomb! Tell me about your wetsanding process to get your gelcoat back to life!

Don't wetsand.

Indasa Rhinogrip on a (VACCUM) DA 600/800/1000/1500/compound

splashwell
 

Please let us know how you make out with the splashwell. Nice craft.

Can you be a little more specific?

So autobody has moved away from wetsanding. They use high(er) end dry paper and vac all the dust due to environmental regulations, thats the grit I used to restore gelcoat with bottom paint on it (scraped by hand down to just a blue hue).

http://i.imgur.com/9vwiky9l.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/DtO7hq7l.jpg

New Power!
 

My search for an outboard ended happily when I found this roachy
old Bayliner on Craigslist. The owner had installed a brand new Johnson
(Suzuki) 140 four stroke back in '08, used it for two seasons on Lake
Mead, and then put the boat in storage. The graphics are slightly faded
but otherwise the engine is like brand new with only 58 hours.

I towed the thing home from the high desert,
praying the tires wouldn't explode, transplanted
the engine onto the Seafari, and then sold the Bayliner and trailer
that afternoon. Couldn't have worked out better, plus I got all the rigging,
almost brand new gauges, and some neat Mojave spiders.
What is it with spiders and old boats?

Anyway, this is my first 4 stroke outboard, and I'm in love with the
smooth, clean idle, the fuel injection, and the lack of two
stroke oil floating around the motor well.
I hope she performs well when I finally get her in the water.

I have one problem to solve: the prop that was installed was one of
those weird composite jobs with the interchangeable blades, and the
hub is stuck on the shaft good and tight. I've been soaking it in
penetrating oil, but I can't get it to budge. I also can't figure any
way to get a puller on the hub since the blades come off.
Any ideas?

Also, I'll be buying a stainless prop soon. Any suggestions on a good
all around wheel for this set up?

Thanks again, John, for a great and rewarding project.

Nice score!

wow, great idea!

I am more shocked that someone wanted to buy the old bayliner after removal of the motor, I mean wow someone wanted a bayliner with no motor!

Yes, me too! I was surprised it went so fast, but the trailer
was in good shape and I only asked a few hundred bucks for it.
The guy was excited to have it, so we all won!

Continued progress, some of it easy and some
that required more thought.
New cabin windows finally installed after 3 tries.
Turns out cutting plexiglass is an art form that
I have yet to master...
Switch panel in place, helm rebuilt and installed,
outboard rigging almost complete.
I'm lucky to live in So Cal where I can work on
her year round. Sorry to those of you fighting
the snow!

OK, I have no idea how to post more than
one image from a mobile device!

Last one.

Very nice, great progress!
Rod

wow that looks great!

The ol' girl's looking great!!

Things are getting exciting!
The old girl is coming to life and now has a working ignition,
nav lights, bilge pump, full instruments, on board charger,
battery switch, engine controls, fuel lines and water separating filter.
She is becoming a working system rather than a collection of parts.
Very satisfying!
Wiring takes forever, and here's where I am so far.
Still needs some cleaning up, but it's a good start...I hope.

Looking great out on the coast. You are well ahead of me in Jersey winter!

Thanks buddy! I'm lucky I get to work on her year round.
I hope spring comes to Jersey ASAP!

I really love the look of these old boats and yours is looking great. The bright yellow and absence of spiders is very cheerful. :D

It sounds like you had a stroke of luck in repowering. Up were I live (in the frozen North) I see a lot of boats for sale like the one you passed on where the owner is really selling the trailer with the condition that the boat goes with it. In fact as I recall I found my Seafari as more of an advertisement for the trailer. That guy only bought it for the outboard in the first place.

Yes, it's a sad fact that a lot of boats get sent to the dump after
they donate their trailer or engine. I'm glad you rescued your Seafari from
that fate and I look forward to seeing more pics of that beautiful blue hull.

So Cal has been battling heavy winter rains, so my progress has been
slowed, but I finally completed the sound system.
Kenwood marine head unit with matching 200 watt amp,
four MBQuart 6x9s and an 8" subwoofer.
Sounds fantastic!
I don't have a steering system yet but I have tunes.
Priorities!

Priorities, indeed! Do you at least have a bimini or canvas enclosure that you can sit under to chill out as the skies pour down on you? Maybe some Miles Davis (try East Coasting) or John Coltrane (My Favorite Things) would complement the damp conditions nicely.

If it gets real bad, at least the boat will carry you down the gully to the sea!

Dogbomb:

How are you coming on the rest of the wiring? I was wondering where you decided to place your batteries and battery switch. Also, did you install a charging relay too?

I am going to start installing those components shortly and was wondering where you put yours.

John,

On my '72 4-stringer hull, I dug out the foam between the 2 stringers under stbd seat, and found enough room for a large battery box and a group 27 battery. A strip of 1/2" PVC board under one edge of the box raised it up enough to sit about level in the boat. I have a smaller battery in the stock location out at the chine. There is still enough room between the batteries for 100' of line and my stern anchor.

Some later boats may have a layer of glass over the area between the stringers but a sawzall would easily remove that. Don't think I'd want to do that on a '73 and later hull with the 2 box stringers however!

I put battery switch right in front of stbd seat as shown in first pic. It's easy to reach there when boat is on trailer, makes for short wiring runs, plus I did not want a battery switch under a hatch - had a friend who lost a 36' Viking because his switch was under a hatch! He had an electrical fire in engine room which set off his automatic Halon system which put out the fire, but when he lifted the hatch to turn off the switch, the fire reignited and boat burnt to the waterline and sank just a couple miles out of Palm Beach inlet! I have not installed an automatic charging relay because if I have a battery going bad, I want to know that. I'm afraid an automatic system might disguise a problem!

Hey John!
Yes, like Mr. Bushwacker, I have one battery mounted in the factory
location, and I have a second spot ready between the stringers.
Someone had already scooped out the foam, so all I have to do is
clean it up and install a battery box.
I ran the wires from the dash through a piece of 2" PVC pipe; easy to do.
I don't have a charge isolator, but I did install an onboard charger in the port
locker. I used a Blue Sea switch panel with integral breakers and a Blue Sea
fuse box. I really like their stuff!

I think I will be following Denny's advice and put the battery switch mounted on the vertical face in front of the seat, and mount the ACR and negative bus bar inside the locker on the same surface. My house battery will go into the port livewell like McGillicuddy has it. Once I get them mounted I will post a few photos. Thanks for the info.

You'll find it handy to have negative buss bars in both the stern and at instrument panel. In the stern you'll attach the negative engine cable and both battery cables, along with grounds for bilge pump, trim tabs and stern light. And IP - buss will have grounds for instruments, lights, VHF, and other accessories like DS, GPS, and maybe a 12V cigarette lighter outlet. It's 10' from transom to bulkhead so you'll probably want to run at least 10ga or heavier wires from battery to + fuse/circuit breaker panel & - buss bar at IP to insure low voltage drop. I'd run the engine harnesses (ignition harness to control box and engine data backbone cable) first because the Deutch connector plugs on the ends take up a lot of space in a 2" PVC conduit, although they'll be outside the conduit once installed. (I didn't do that and had to take the connectors apart, tape all the wires together and then reassemble after getting wires thru the conduit and rigging tubes! Would have saved a lot of time if I"d run them first!)Then the other wiring will be easy to run. I used a polypropylene line left in the conduit to run future wires; that type of line acts like a Chinese finger trap when you put tension on it, so it grabs on to any wires you put inside it.

Gee - a 2" PVC tube takes up some space under the starboard gunnel. How did you mount it to avoid it interfering with the rod holders through the deck cap?

I think it might have been 1.5" OD - I believe it was actually some sanitation hose I found at a local marine surplus store, so it was more flexible than regular PVC pipe, but there was not a lot of room inside it. I was able to fit it up into the inside of the raised coaming next to the gunnel. If you could heat some PVC pipe with a heat gun enough to soften it and squash it into an oval shape, that would probably be even better.

I'm not really a fisherman, so I removed the rod holders.
Don't tell anyone, though, I don't want to get kicked off this site. 👀