Those holes are indeed from the factory. Made the fuel hose replacement very easy. I had a friend build my tank. It's at least 1/8" thick and he added another baffle in it. Slid it as far forward as possible trying to improve the center of gravity.

Sorry for the delay... reason coming.

After getting the floor out, I proceeded to make a template of the rear section to, #1 give me a guide as to where to position the aft corner sections when reinstalling and #2 to make cutting that $243.00 1/2" baltek a more comfortable experience. Moved on to getting all of the rest of the coring out then made a template of the transom.

Oops.

Attachment 18393

Attachment 18394

Tired of fighting the pics...they"re coming how they come.

I decided to leave all the factory foam in as it was all dry. After getting the mess cleaned up, proceeded to cut the transom core and floor sections. The plan was to use all the cutoffs for reinforcements. I used the 1-1/2" material to make supports to raise the floor. Since I was raising the floor 3-1/2" fore and 2" aft, I cut the pieces and attached them on end for the added support and to make the it easier to cut the angles.

Attachment 18395

Attachment 18396

Used a piece of aluminum stock as a straight edge to see where my high spots were. Got real smart and taped some emory cloth to it so I could 'mark' the high spots. Worked great.

Forgot to explain...I decided to mimic the location of all the Potter putty instead of boxing and glassing the raised portion of the stringers. I actually have more surface area the way I did it for support than what the putty allowed. After cutting the floor sections and test fitting everything...(climbed in and out of the boat about 75 times during this process), I glued the supports in with an abundance of 5200. After the 5200 cured completely, you could hit the material from the side with a hammer and it was solid as a rock.

Attachment 18397

Attachment 18398

At this point, I was about ready to take to a friend's shop in Durham for the glassing and painting. I went up 3 weekends and helped, just didn't get all the pictures I wanted. Kinda got carried away grinding back on the inside of the liner.


Attachment 18400

Recored the gunwale caps, the fuel tank hatch and the aft corners with the 1/2" baltek. Turned out nice and solid.


Attachment 18401

After much thought, we decided to glue the floor coring down to my supports. Did not glass the underside. I can't remember the name of the adhesive he used, but, it was green and a 2-part epoxy in a double caulking tube. Pneumatically dispensed.

Laminated the transom coring with 2 layers of the heavy woven fabric. Used epoxy.

Went up the second trip and got the floor laminated. wet the floor area and put the thinner fabric down before putting the old skin in.

Attachment 18402

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Attachment 18405

After this trip, I didn't go back for a few weeks. He glassed, filled and faired the floor and reattached the fuel tank compartment before I went back. He used Imron that matches extremely well. When I did go back, June 27, with hopes of bringing her home, he hadn't sprayed the non skid. My hopes sunk! He told me to start taping out the shiny areas and we sprayed it. Waited a couple hours and drug her ass home! One happy day for me!
Attachment 18406

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...and she's finally home!

Forgot the console.
Attachment 18410

That's it for now. Gotta download some more sideways pictures. :)

Three days and no comments. Hmmm. Is there any need for me to continue? Certainly don't want to waste anyone's time.

I enjoy watching ur progress my75 18sf is coming up for closed transom and a small setback bracket and 115pro sx. wish I had the glass know how and time to do it myself but I don't. keep up the good work I continue to envy u fellers

You owe me for flipping all your pics...:D:p

It looks great boo !!

It will be the nicest 18 at the next gathering ....

That is when Gucci stamps are awarded.. :cool:

Breaking the silence after harvesting the knowledge and inspiration from everyone here. I am deep into the tear down of my own 1975 18SF and enjoy following yours. Lost this summer but know it will be satisfying to launch the first wake next year. Will try to post my own progress right side up. Keep at it.

Now that my daughter is off to college, I should be able to make the spring gathering. I pulled up McRae's on the map...I would seriously consider pulling her that far! I'll reward you for your efforts then, if not before! Thanks Bones!

Nice job. I enjoy watching these rebuilds as I have an 18. It may be the tail end of SCI, but it has lineage.

Looks great. You dont see many 18's you will have one of the nicest ones out there. Keep the pics coming.

strick

Wow, that turned out nice! Your in the short rows now...

Thanks! I'm much further along with the work than I am the pictures.

my 79 18sf has a few soft spots and will need to be fixed. Considering replacing the entire deck. What kind of price range would I be looking at to do something similar?

I've been doing most of the work. I did all the deconstruction then cut all the coring material so my friend only had to glass everything back and paint. Materials for the floor, (used 1/2" Baltek for the floor coring) ran me about $1500. Don't know what to tell you on the labor. Mine isn't worth much, but, paying somebody would have been kinda pricey. Wish I could help more.

After getting her home, I dove right in getting the rigging done.

http://www.classicseacraft.com/commu...1&d=1536190500

http://www.classicseacraft.com/commu...1&d=1536190568

http://www.classicseacraft.com/commu...1&d=1536190632

http://www.classicseacraft.com/commu...1&d=1536190708

Still had a lot of screws to turn, but, got things to where I could have a sea trial on the Friday before leaving for vacation at Nags Head. Took her to my usual ramp, launched her and just absorbed what I had done with all the knowledge I gained from this site.

http://www.classicseacraft.com/commu...1&d=1536190972


The scuppers ended up 2-1/2" above the old ones. The transom was raised 2-1/2", put the 3" jack plate on for height adjustment only. After raising the floor 3-1/2" in the front and 2-1/2" in the rear, she drains perfectly. The floor is all flat, no gutters on the sides or drop down in the splashwell area. I goofed and didn't get a picture of the side, but, the bottom edge of where the original bootstripe was sits as level as can be...with a 140 4 stroke on it!

Eased out into the bay gradually throttling up just to see how she planed. Didn't have the gps hooked up, so, don't know how SLOW I was going when she planed, but, I feel like it was in the 12 to 15 mph range. Just standing in the boat felt different in a good way. Got to the 3rd marker leaving the bay and the alarm went off! I shut it down and waited 10 minutes. Started right back up sounding normal so I headed in...alarm went off. Limped back to the marina and went home disgusted. I knew I had a couple of wires improperly connected going to the tach. Tach was not working. I assumed it was maybe a 'missed communication' alarm as it just beeped once every 15 seconds. Didn't match up with any of the codes in the service manual. Did I mention that this eventful day was Friday the THIRTEENTH! Drug her to the beach anyway, was gonna have a mechanic look at it, hook the wires up right, then all would be well, right? Nope. After getting the tach working, we started the motor just long enough to get an rpm reading, 3 seconds. Looked down and saw this...

http://www.classicseacraft.com/commu...1&d=1536191891

Gave up and started drinking heavily the rest of the week. Don't worry, I had a blast and I am a gentleman. Got home and decided to just look at a couple things. Checked the engine oil and, to my surprise, was absent, save for a smidge mixed with water on the dipstick...halfway up! My old girl suffered from a fatal dose of diarrhea. One of the water journals corroded through to a oil journal forcing water into the crankcase, making a milkshake before exiting anywhere it could. I'm now looking for a new DF 140 which will probably be after the first of the year. Boy, those 20 minutes we were on plane were orgasmic!! ….and now you know the rest of the story...Paul Harvey...good day!

Was just looking at the picture of her in the water, you can see just how high she's sitting. Water was fairly clear that day.

Say it ain't so! Sorry to hear about your loss. At least you got a taste of how good it will be with the repower!

Yeah that's a bummer but look on the bright side it gives you a reason to buy a new motor:)

Thanks! I keep reminding myself that all that's left is to bolt a new motor on. I'm gonna stick with the df140 because that's what it's set up for and tach and controls are good. By my loose calculations, I figure I removed about 150 to 200 lbs. out of the rear third of the boat. In deck live well is gone, completely saturated transom core GONE and replaced with the Baltek. I'm going to launch it again this weekend so I can get some side pictures. Cheers!

I loved seeing this thread until I came to the engine block failure. :(

I just purchased a new fuel tank for my '87 18SF from RDS. Because of hose particulate matter in my pre-filter, I ran new fuel fill and vent lines from a new location at the rear to the old tank only to discover I also needed to replace the 31 yr. old fuel tank because of corrosion on the fill and vent necks.. That's coming up as soon as I get enough time free to run and fish the remaining 35 gallons out of the old tank. It goes through 3 filters before getting to my motor. A see-through glass pre-filter, a Racor water-separating filter with viewing bowl, and a small 10 micron cartridge filter I added on the motor.

When I mounted the 90 Etec this summer, we tested the transom and it was completely dry. Yay!

Yeah, what a bummer.

I'm with ya on the filters! I was thinking I had a 35 gal. tank all along until I took it out and measured it. Calculated just over 30 gal. My new tank is 6" longer giving me just over 35 gal. now. All new hoses, fittings, etc. along with a new Racor with the glass bowl.

Glad the transom is good!

Man, that sucks. Sorry to hear your bad luck. And on the first time out. Never fails, there is always a bump to get over. If I come across a good deal on a 140 I will let you know. Currently looking for a 250-300 for the 23 sceptre I am working on so I've been scanning around the listings.

Update. Been searching for the best deal on a df140 and may just be in business next month. Got an awesome price from a dealer on a 2019 white and hope to finalize the deal soon. Motor will have to be ordered, but, should only take a couple days to get. Fingers crossed...

Ordering motor today! Bout like a 9 year old at Disney World!

Well...as luck would have it, my motor is on backorder until 5/20/19. Bout to pull what little hair I have left out! Pray for me!

Just think, you get to re-live the excitement of getting a new outboard for 20 more days!

Frizz, I don't know how much more excitement I can handle! :p

This just in...picked up my 2019 DF140 in white yesterday! Should be going for a ride this evening!