Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

WOW...It is hard for me to believe that the paint came off like vinyl. Good thing for your pictures. Amazing :o

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Thanks, Will, but it seems a lot smaller than I planned with that behemoth in there. My first boat project was supposed to be the Hewes Bonefisher. I guess I got sidetracked. But, damn, I'm havin' fun.
Dave

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Nice selection Dave. I did see the Sierra planted on the transom in one of your earlier photos. we go through a lot of Sierra at our place. The Sierra brewery is in Chico about 2 hours north of us. Great food and GREAT BEER!
Nice work on the paint removal...sure beats sanding it off :D

strick

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

I took a break from working on the Seafari last weekend to go shrimping on the St. Johns River. This weekend I've started grinding in the bilge in preparation for some glass work there. Started sanding off the primer on the hull sides, too. It's safe to say the paint came off easier. I'll post some before and after pics when I get to "after".

In typical Seacraft zealot fashion, I bought a mota way before I was ready for it. But I got a sweet deal and, hopefully, having it around the shop will keep me focused on the project. If I start to lose motivation, I'll drag it out and fire it up. Hopefully, Sam will approve.
Dave

Click on the image to see it run.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_MVI_3267.jpg

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Nice work Dave. She purrs like a Tiger. Never thought of firing up the motor to keep me fired up about the project :D I have a feeling that boat will see water very soon!

Nice talking to you today.

strick

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Thanks, Chuck. I enjoyed our conversation too. Nice to compare restoration notes with another 25 Seafari owner. I'm headed out to the shop for another day in the tyvek suit, respirator, and goggles. It gets better after the sanding and grinding is done, right?
Dave

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

What engine is that? Chevy/mercruiser 7.4L?

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Not really...there is fairing and more sanding [img]/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI Seacore set up for Bravo drive. It's built on the Chevy 5.7 vortec long block. The Seacore is the Horizon with more corrosion resistance built in. Most of the real upgrades in the Seacore line are in the outdrives, though, so I'm not sure what this has that a Horizon doesn't.
Dave

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

I spent the weekend suited up and grinding in the engine compartment and fuel tank compartment. Whoo hoo! The deck under the fuel tanks was made of a piece of half inch plywood laminated only on the top and tabbed to the stringers on both sides. I tore it out with a crowbar when I first started on the boat, and this weekend I ground the remains of the tabbing off the top of the stringers to clean them up for a new tank deck.

Before:


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3293.jpg


After:


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3298.jpg


There was a damp spot in the transom plywood on the port side under the exhaust hole. The exhaust tube was sealed well, so I suspected there might be exposed plywood concealed behind the stringers. I cut them back a couple inches and both stringers on the port side had exposed plywood showing. The inner laminate on the transom is not very thick, probably a single layer of 1708 biaxial. I ground it off the area of damp plywood to give it some exposure to air that should allow it to dry. The plywood is sound, so if I can get a good moisture meter reading on it I'll leave it in place and laminate a new skin over it. After that, I'm going to build up the whole inner transom to at least 3/16" of laminate and rebuild the aft end of the stringers and tab them in. Here's the port side:


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3295.jpg


In the picture, It's kind of hard to see where the plywood is exposed. There was a gap where the step was cut in the plywood that left the bottom edge exposed. You can see in the following picture that they filled this gap on the starboard side.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3296.jpg



And the starboard side was dry. The engine compartment, cleaned up and ready for a little glass work:


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3297.jpg



That's all I got done over the weekend, but I went to work sanding the primer off the hull sides the past two evenings:


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3300.jpg
http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3303.jpg


The gelcoat is in better shape than I expected. I am entertaining the delusion that if I can wet sand it to a uniform color, I may just hit it with some Poly Glow and postpone painting it until my kids (one starting college, the other getting married) aren't causing serious leaks in my cash flow. Regardless, I'll at least need to paint the top cap and cockpit.

Yeah, I kinda expected that, Terry. Hopefully the worst of the fairing will be the transom. I need to grind out some spider cracked gelcoat and fair it back. Sanding the top cap will probably be the toughest prep work. There's lots of square footage, but mostly in long narrow strips that won't allow use of the RO sander.
Dave