1979 Seavette
 

I am officially a Seacraft owner! I purchased a 1979 Seavette (outboard model) this weekend. I am the third owner, the previous owner had the boat since 1987 and actually supplied me with the purchase agreement from the original owners and Rybovich Marina. twin 200hp Evinrudes for $8,070.

I am still not sure as to whether I am going to restore it as a Seavette, make the swap to a center console, or do something a little more unique and kind of mash the two together, I know the purist hate to see another Seavette lost so I will be taking my time in figuring out what route to take, reading through lots of the rebuild/mod threads and asking many a question.

I will document as much as I can as I go, and hope to gain lots of knowledge from those that have gone before through this process.

first question... what part of the HIN would identify what # seavette hull this is?

Jeff
Venice, FL

Pics please.

a couple pictures, gonna take a lot of work... but hey original cushions

Man, that first pic...
Old lady's got some lines...
Looks badass just sitting there.
:cool:

JM - Send me a PM with your contact info. I might have something of interest.

I second that

a couple questions as a start to think about pulling things apart... my anticipated order... trying to take as much off in a way that it can be saved

1. Remove Glass windshield (cut black dry-rotted seals, remove glass, unscrew frame from seavette cap (is there a proper name for this as to not confuse with the regular top cap?)

2.Strip remaining upholstery inside the cabin to expose and screws/ bolts etc.

3. remove hatches on seavette cap.

4. locate and remove bolts holding seavette cap to hull

I'm assuming both the windshield and cap use some type of adhesive in addition to any bolts. so cut scrap saw grind to separate.

5. after seavette cap is detached and off start removing all the hardware and rub-rails etc.

6. decide what i'm doing transomwise, planning on removing the splash well replacing with full transom with 3-4 compartments/live well etc.

7. Remove remaining floor leaving an inch or 2 of flooring to attach new floor to, open up stringer tops to de-foam/ re-foam.

8. Fuel tank, there is no tank in the boat, I was given a tank 113g? aluminum tank that looks likek it was painted? maybe with some type of epoxy? claimed it was new and never had fuel into but there is still rubber hoses on the bibs where lines were cut off. pressure test and re-coat and use? or not worth the risk?

9. redo the transom. there is no seam where the top cap hits the stern. is there a better or preferred place to make the cut to separate the top cap from the boat? forward on the transom storage boxes on the gunnel?

Determine layout of any new hatches/placement of fuel tank and wells


I know i'm probably missing stuff I'm going to continue to read through the pinned 23 rebuild that's posted on here among other threads. But i do want to try to keep the seavette cap in one piece. so that i can put it back one. so any experience with removal of that will be most welcome.

Any advice in pulling the seavette cap off? Trying to get it off in one piece?

I found that using a thin blade or sawzal blade works well for separating the spots that are bonded to the hull. You will find that most of the cap is just sitting on the hull shell with rivets holding it together. But before they dropped it on I have found that there may or will be several places where they applied potter putty to the joint. I have used putty knifes to run around the joint to help separate the two pieces but you will find some spots that are bonded together with the putty. I have just took the sawzal and ran the blade across the bonded spots to free the cap from the hull shell. You may find other spots like the rear box to be bonded to the transom or such also. You will be able to tell where it is stuck at though.

Make sure you support the hull sides horizontally or your cap will not fit when you reassemble it !
Use the search function and see how other members have done this. Good luck with your rebuild. Gotta love the Gucci teak inner liner trim !

the liner trim was pretty rotten the teak was laminated to plywood, I separated and salvaged as much of the teak as I could, I dont know if i will put it back there but plan to use it in some fashion. I was thinking about playing around and making a slab of resin and wood to use as the dash panel on the console. kinda like the "river tables" that are all over the place. if not at a minimum some accent pieces/ Seacraft placard type pieces/inlays etc. some way of reusing the original wood.

I've been trying to get the windshield off without breaking it, manages to out enough of the dryrotted rubber seals to pop out the front pieces without breaking them, and was able to cut the frozen bolts of the front pieces from inside the cabin. I was hoping to be able to be able to separate and slide the frame out from the side pieces but no go....I cant locate/access the bolts for the side windows... any thought? I'm thinking I may only be able to get to them once the seavette cap is lifted off the boat...every time I turn around I find more screws and bolts holding it on. It also sits on the gunnel lip where some of you have your rails mounted and if 5200'd in place... whats the but way to separate it? oscillating saw? or does acetone of alcohol soften up the sealant?

It would be best to remove the glass prior to the frames...Long handled extension on a ratchet should work...twist till the nut loosens or breaks off either way you win and remove the frames...the company that built that windshield is still in business as far as I know (do a search) and the can supply you with new bolts as I have bought some from them in the past....Nice boat!

strick

I was able to get the glass out with out breaking any of the panels, aluminum frame was a pain but finally got that off, then with a sawzall, oscillating multitool scrapers pry tool and "marine formula de-bond" i was able to seperate the seavette cap with only minor damage, but in one piece.

2 years later... finally brought the boat "home" and might actually start to make some significant progress... did cause a little headache getting it home from work... we had started on the dissembling and separating the top cap... well on the way home the bow was above my view point out the rear window and enough airflow got under neath the lip of the cap and snapped it the strap i had going port to starboard.... so i increased my work load... I was able to get it off the road but its pretty damaged...so its one more thing to build/try to repair. how much fiberglass do you guys typically go through on a rebuild? I was gonna start buying rolls of glass supplies (coosa for the transom, probably divinycell or nidacore for the cap and floor) while I cut the floor out and start prepping for rebuild.