1976 23 Inboard
 

The vessel in question here is a 23‘ 1976 Seacraft Inboard. Currently it resides on a cranberry farm in Carver MA during its reconstruction, although generaly it can be found in Brooklyn, NY chasing fish while waving 9 feet of graphite in the air. What follows below is an account of the trials and tribulations of trying to bring SS Whale Pants to level of fit and finish I desire. The progess of this can also be followed at my site:

http://web.mac.com/ketanmody/iWeb/Si...e%20Pants.html

So here goes.......


Here are a few pics from her early days I aquired her in S. FL off of eBaylast May. It was fished until December.
http://web.mac.com/ketanmody/iWeb/Si...s/DSC00305.jpg

http://web.mac.com/ketanmody/iWeb/Si...s/DSC00307.jpg

So now everything has been pulled and the rebuilding begins.


http://web.mac.com/ketanmody/iWeb/Si...ec06%20001.jpg

http://web.mac.com/ketanmody/iWeb/Si...ec06%20003.jpg

http://web.mac.com/ketanmody/iWeb/Si...ec06%20002.jpg

http://web.mac.com/ketanmody/iWeb/Si...ec06%20004.jpg

I am thinking of having the entire boat soda blasted including the bilge and cockpit, what do you guys think? I was going to do this with the idea that it will be awlgripped in the end.


Right now as i look around i do not think that there is that much if any rot in the boat so most of the repairs will be cosmetic. One of the first things i am going to do is to drill into the strigers to relieve some of the water whih i believe has accumulated there. Then i will be smoothing out the bilge with some fairing compound.

What kind of sprayable bilge paints do u guys like?

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

man, does all that stuff look familiar- i am sure myself and all the other inboard guys will be following your progress. what kinda power are you going back with??? be happy to help with anything i can - good luck and again i look forward to your overhaul- craig

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

Nice boat. I love those inboards. Too bad I can't have one. :(

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

Keep the pictures comming as they are motiviation for me. Although the boat is kinda on the back burner with the purchase of my first house. Closing march 1st by the way. :D

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

i am going to have the crusader rebuilt with a bigger cam at least but maybe some other doo dads thrown in, i am basically telling them i want the three things everybody wants : more power, better fuel economy, and reliabilty!maybe Wendell can chime in here, he is the crew chief for Whale Pants.

Maybe you guys could chime in and tellme where all the wood is in this boat so i can do some looking for rot. What issues have you inboard guys have when u have opened them up?


What does anybody think of dripless stuffing boxes?

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

Craig- That's funny. There are familiar components. The Sceptre Inboard is different in that it is a V-Drive and there are two silencers and two exhaust ports thru the transom. That raw water intake valve and probably the thru-hull strainer has to go.

Kmodi-My dream is to have the bilge painted white, probably crazy, when I do a re-power. But, definitely go to a 1 1/4" raw water intake strainer, fittings and valve. I used a 90 degree ball type. Especially if you add to the HP, can never have too much cooling. I also replaced the exhaust thru-hulls with a Vetus fitting that was much better that the original tube. As far as I know the inboard transoms, where the wood is, are not a problem. They don't support the power, they just close in the hull. Unless the glass encapsulating the plywood has been penetrated, allowing the water in, it's probably OK.

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

i too am looking to have a white bilge perhaps, any reccomendations on paint? Vetus? like the thruster?

The transom has been pierced with screws, wiring was ran on it. The transome looks to be ok, nothing that would make me want to replace it. Are you doing a repower as well?

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

i have heard to many horror stories from dripless stuffing boxes- no way for me. i got a little bit of water from the starboard stringer outboard of the gas tank but not much- the deck is wood and the transom and iif i remember right thats it. I like a grey bilge personally (i am around lots of grey all day anyway right gary?) That stuffing box on your rudder- i dont know if the packing gland nut on yours is frozen or not but mine was and I had to heat it up to break it loose. repacked it, got all the play out of it and my steering wheel thanks me for it. there is stuff under that rear deck that you will never see again (im sure you know how hard it is to get to the point where you can pull it off) take care of anything you can find while its up and off. I would consider recoring the hatch too if you have the time-

Hey Mark- happy new year dude! LTNS

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

I'm with Craig,not a fan of the dripless stuffing box.I just repacked mine with 3 layers of teflon packing and she hardly drips a drop.

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

As far as soda blasting the boat I had the bottom of my boat soda blasted and then re gel coated turned out good and really cleaned it up a lot but it did cause pitting of the bottom which needed some filling in before my re gel coating job. If it was me I would only do the Bottom and the Bilge area.

Before
http://classicseacraft.com/fellowship/medium/0001.jpg

In the middle
http://classicseacraft.com/fellowship/medium/0020.jpg

After

http://classicseacraft.com/fellowship/medium/0055.jpg

FellowShip

_______________________________________________

My motto: Just for the Grins :D

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

The motor is getting freshened next month. Plans call for a litle bigger hydroller cam and some light bowl and guide boss porting. Also put enough valve spring in it to survive the rare out of water event (over rev). Presently the motor would only spin the 17x17(Modi?) wheel to 3900 WOT. At the 3000rpm cruise it probably wasn't at max efficiency. I think beter MPG, and better top end are realistic.

I'd really like to hear some suggestions on paint to seal up the bilge after media blasting. Ireally it would be sprayable.

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

That's what I like to hear. Startin' to sound like a hotrodder. :D

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

KModi gets pissed when I call it a water car but it's hard not to.

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

Shurwin Williams Tile Clad HS.

The price is right and a ideal product to be immersed in water all the time.

No primer needed.

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

Looks like you got a recommendation on paint. I would have said any marine enamel if the prep. is done well.

I thought I used Vetus marine exhaust thru-hulls but could not find a link. They were a PVC flanged fitting that the hoses connect to nicely. The original tubes were just glassed in and I thought the fitting was a better solution.

My boat had new power (MP350) a few years back but all the surrounding components were still original, including the fuel tank, not a good approach. Once the engine and trans. are out and everything is opened up it's the time to do packings, hoses, valves, thru hull even the cutlass bearing and get the shaft checked and straightened.

The day I do repower I'm going for the white bilge, seen enough machine gray.

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

I would have to second Wart's suggestion of the Tileclad HS. I followed his lead on that from classic mako and am extremely pleased.

I have used it under the helm area and it brightens it up nicely. I will be applying it to the inner v-birth area in the spring and am looking forward to that. I have yet to try it in the bilge but I have no doubt it will be great there to.
You can get a two gallon kit for a little over a hundred bucks and the stuff goes on great and looks great, very easy to work with. My problem is I had too much left over after the small project I did. But I will use it up, no doubt.

The pic does not do the stuff justice. It is tough as nails. I takes a few days to fully cure though.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84...er/wiring1.jpg

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

the back deck is totally rotted, and i am going to recore it, but everything else is looking good. i am going to do some drilling in a few places to channel/drain some of the water better if i get dunked, and i will definately look at the packing on the rudder asap, thanks!!!

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

do u have a inboard seacraft? lets see some pics!

where did u get the teflon from?

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

what about the interior, what did u do about blasting, repainting, etc?

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

its a montauk water car.......get it right!

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

is it a two part? why this over a marine paint? Thanks!

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

I replaced the entire deck, re cored the cap, did the transom, re did the gas tank deck, new gas tank, re did the CC, and on, and on, and on, all new everything plus as this picture shows removed the paint on the out side of the hull back to the original gel coat and then painted. I really learned how to drink MASS QUANTITIES OF BEER and burned out 2 electrical orbital sanders in the process. If you go to Gallery and click on Fellowship there got to be 30 + pictures of my over one year 150 day project.

FellowShip

_______________________________________________

My motto: Just for the Grins :D

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

Its a two part epoxy paint. Aparently designed to paint the inside of water tanks and stuff. I wouln't use it on the exterior because of the UV. I'll let Warthog chime in with the details (he did the research). Thanks Warthog.

Why over marine? Because the marine designation just means double the price. :D It is available at any Sherwin Williams store. You get alot of paint for the money.

I'm not one to just take someones word just because but when a product is right as far as cost and performance it works. This is not my boat it is Warthogs X-shark with the Tileclad HS applied. Good product and cost effective. I'll get off my soapbox now.

http://www.classicmako.com/projects/...ges/bilge8.jpg

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

I gutted and re-did a 1975 IB. The PSS dripless shaft log is great. I suggest you pull everything you can and get a moisture meter on everything and make sure its not soaked. As you have no doubt picked a unique boat, beware the advice from the outboard skiff riders... :D...they dont understand this boat.

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

what is a moisture meter? what do you think are reasonable moisture readings? Tell me about yours Jeff H. got any specs?pics?

I have a question for all inboard guys out there.......what are the engine mounts made off, whats underneith that glass? are yours bolted in with heavy threaded lag bolts?

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

I sent you a PM. I'm bolted in, most of the boat is plywood covered in glass. Try to get to everything laid out before you start putting the parts back in her, not much room to work with if you have to go back in...measure twice, cut once.

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

Good stuff. I have one of these projects myself located in Chatham. The deck is out. Motor picked out. and grinding in progress. If you need any motor/trans parts let me know.

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

If you can find industrial imron it covers and sticks well. It has about 2x the solids as the auto/marine imron. Plus it's brushable. It's a 2-part poly. With that prop size are you running a 1.5 to 1 borg-warner? If you are running a bw be conservative on the cam. You need to get a smooth idle at about 750 rpm. I tried to use an rv cam on a pair of 454 Crusaders on a customers boat and we couldn't get it to idle smoothly and it sounded like @$#% when you put it in gear. It may not be too bad in a lighter boat. You may just want to take out a little pitch to get the rpm up to about 4200 at wot. Just a thought.

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

thanks for the comments and offer! i a knee deep in work right now, and tryin to make some headway. Whats the deal with your project? what are the specs? what motor did u pull?

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

i am running a 17 by 17 with a slight cup and it seems to work well. I get some noise around 1800 nut othe than that it seems like a good fit. It bites well, and isnt so bad on wot. I hope i dont need anothe prop once the explosion box i rebuilt, but we will see. as evrything thing in life......this is a work in progress.

Where can i get get the industrial Imron? anybody?

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

I took a chev 350 and stock trans out/ will not be using them. purchased a yanmar. I took the deck out and was going to use the insert sides until a seacraft rebuilder talked me into taking the insert out and putting in knees and a deck to the hull itself. Im also going to to pull the seacraft stringers and put wooded stringers in. Using a cape cod marine 26 for design and motivation.

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

How much was the yanmar package and what horse power are you going with?

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

I went with the four cylinder (4LH). 230hp. I was told that it was the right motor for the boat. Time will tell. But, have faith in my contacts.

Re: 1976 23 Inboard
 

I almost went with the 230 Yanmar, thats the right call per my research but big bucks. I dont like the 17 x 17 wheel, its too fat, loud, and holds back.I have the original wheel somewhere, but its not the 17 x 17, its 16 with 5* cup...have to check my files.Love the IB thread.