1976 23 Inboard

[Kmodi9]

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.




So now everything has been pulled and the rebuilding begins.










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?

[Miles Offshore]

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

[Bryan A.]

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

[CHANCE1234]

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.

[Kmodi9]

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?

[MarkR]

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.

[Kmodi9]

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?

[Miles Offshore]

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

[joey]

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.

[FELLOW-SHIP]

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


In the middle


After



FellowShip

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My motto: Just for the Grins