[holorinhal]

Here is a litle project I have been working on,Just thought I would share.

I purchased My 81 Spectra 20 back in 2010, for $3000. After using it for two seasons I totaly love the boat,but it does need some TLC.
The gell is in decent shape for its age, with the exception of a couple of spots up front on the lower hull, and a few stress cracks on the upper deck and I do like the colors, so the gell will stay for now and maybe get a cut and buff.
The boat needs to be updated with new gauges and interior and hardware. It has a bench in the front ,that I hate,so it will be getting buckets for the front.
One thing that has bugged me, is that when hitting rough chop, the boat feels kinda loose and not as solid as it should, so I will be starting with ripping out the carpet, to see what is going on with the floor. I will post updates as I progress along.
Here is a couple shot of what it looked like when I brought it home.

Here is a pic form out on Lake Mead

 

[holorinhal]

Ok, so I got the interior out and the carpet riped up off the floor. the wood is resin coated but does not apear to be glassed in at all.
The boards are just kinda sitting in there with a few srtipped out screws holding it in.

I pulled the floor out and it is just srewed to the sringers on the inside edges and loose on the outer edges and most of the screws were stripped out.

Here is a pic of how far away from the hull the edge of the floor is. Should'nt it be up to 1/4 to 1/2 inch away and glassed in?

Here is a pic of the floor all laid out on the ground.

 

[holorinhal]

The other thing that I am noticing compared to other Spectras is the lack of gunwhale supports. I do not even see any evidence that there ever was any.Most Spectra 20's I have seen do have them,however
Mine does not have any gunwhale supports and does not appear to have ever had any. It does have a foreward bulkhead up under the deck,which is loose at the top. I od be interested to know how the we'd built from the factory. How did Spectra marine install the floors from initial build? We're they glassed in or just screwed downin a stern drive model?

Looking at this picture, my plan is to bring this edge of the floor in closer to the hull, leaving a 1/4" to 3/8" and glass it in to the side of the hull around the perimiter. I still am not keen on the floors being screwed to the stringers only.

Here is a look at the bulkhead. I am debating on whether or not to rip it out and replace it. The wood is not rotted, but the glass tabbing is loose or delamed at the top right, about half way across and the wood is cracked at the bottom right hand corner of the bow access hole.

I hate this shifter control. does any one have any ideas on a control that will work with a Mercruiser I/O?

 

[holorinhal]

So I have had a pretty good trickle leak comming in thru the transom plate ever since I have had the boat. It is ok for the day trips because the pump keeps up, but it is preventing Me from making the over night camping trips. I pulled the engine out so that I can see the transom plate and inspect the condition of the transom itself. I might reinstall the outdrive and haul it out to the lake, back it in the water and see if i can see where it is leaking from.

 

[holorinhal]

Any one have any good tips for removing rock hard, very old, heavy carpet glue?

So after mulling over the leak that I have had at the transom plate, I decided, instead of hauling to the lake, I should take the transom assembly apart and put new gasket and seals for all the penetrations?
My original plan was to drag it out to the lake and back it in the water to see if I can tell where the leak is at, but since the boat is over 30years old ,maybe it would be better to put all new seals?

 

[holorinhal]

My goal for last weekend was to get the belly tank out, for one to replace the two bulkheads in front and behind and another to check the turning fin, for any possible damage.
The tank was encased in foam. I was able to dig out the foam in the front and then was able to pry and lift the tank out.

when I got the tank out, I found the area to holding quite abit of water.

Next I cleaned all the foam out of the area and sucked up the water. Under the tank there was some soft foam that the tank sat on and expandable foam was poured in around it. I was surprised to see that there were no drains in the bulkhead to allow any water to escape. I will have to change that.

Hmmmm, so this is how the turning fin is mounted. does this seem right? I am going to have to fill this uup with water and see if there is any leaks thru the fin,

Well after getting things cleaned up, I found some disturbing news. I found some delamination, inside the tub that holds the tank, on the port side stringer.
The glass is delamenated at the base of the stringer where it meets the bottom of the hull and the stringer is loose from the hull. The damage is contained to the inside of the belly tank well.

It is not My intention to do a full restore on this boat at this time, it was just supose to be a facelift. I want to be able to use the boat for a couple more years before doing a full on restore, so I am going to attempt to repair the loose area of the stringer by injecting under the stringer with epoxy and grinding away and relaminating the glass.

 

[holorinhal]

Got every thing cut out and ground back, even the carpet glue. The glue was a bitch. I tried every thing and it came down to grinding it away with some flapper discks.

 

[Ol Blue]

Great project! Glassing in the stringer will stiffen up the ride. Also glassing in the floor will stiffen it up also. I have a 77 Spectra 20 also with 1/4 stringer and it is flexes a lot. Will you be putting the belly tank back in with foam? Don't know if you have looked at RiverDavesPlace.com, but they have a whole section on Spectra's. Might help for tips. Please keep your project picks coming.

 

[holorinhal]

Great project! Glassing in the stringer will stiffen up the ride. Also glassing in the floor will stiffen it up also. I have a 77 Spectra 20 also with 1/4 stringer and it is flexes a lot. Will you be putting the belly tank back in with foam? Don't know if you have looked at RiverDavesPlace.com, but they have a whole section on Spectra's. Might help for tips. Please keep your project picks coming.

Thanks OL Blue,
Yes I will be putting the tank back in ,using foam. Iwill do it in a way that will not trap water.The standing water along with what looks like not enough tabbing overlap and the poor bond quality of heavy woven roving laminated on top of woven roving, is what caused the delamination of the stringer, in that area.

 

[holorinhal]

After getting every thing ground back and cleaned up. I let the stringer dry out for about two weeks.
When it was time ,I washed the bonding areas with acetone. I mixed up some resin with 1/4 choped strands, to a peanut butter consistency and stuffed the gap between the stringer and hull ,fuul of the resin cs mixture, and then tooled it out to a fillet. I then drilled some small holes in the othe side of the stringer and injected resin wit a large crpet glue surenge. I kept push ing resin in untill it would not take it any more.

After that I had a small area on the stringer in the builge ,that was delamed from the stringer. I ground that out and reglassed.

I then retabed and wraped the stringer in new csm. Having done that, I used some 1708 recently and I think that I will be using 1708 fo any futre repairs, especially stringer or structure related. The stuff works out well and cnforms to contours easily.
Its not the purdiest layup ive ever done but it will get the job done. I got a couple air bubbles that I will have to grind out and reglass.

 

[holorinhal]

I got the old bulkhead cut out.

I used the old piece as a template and cut out a new bulkhead. I laid up a layer of csm and woven cloth on both sides, then let it cure and ground down the rough spots and recoated the edges. Then I test fit the bulkhead and it fit perfect without any triming needed.

Next I remade new bulk heads for the stringers,that seperate the builge, tank area and locker.

I then cut out the floor pieces and got them resin coated with 4 coats of resin.

I got the foreward bulkhead, the two stringer bulkheads and the front potion of the floor, tabed in. for the floor I bonded the floor to the stringers with two layers of wetted csm.

 

[19ftDana]

Very nice clean work!!! Keep up the good progress )THumbsUp

 

[holorinhal]

Very nice clean work!!! Keep up the good progress )THumbsUp

Thank You.


Well I got the rest of the floors in and bonded down. I glassed in a length of 1"x2" wood stock along the out side of the stringers, from the front of the builge to the front bulkhead, to five the floors somthing to bond to and screw to, due to the fact that the floor had to split the center of the stringer for the tank cover to be supported. I cut up some 2' strips of csm and layed them along the tops of the stringers and wetted them out. This is what will bond the floors to the stringers for support. I then screwes every 6" while the flass was still wet.

After that I started tabbing the floors to the hull along the outer perimiter, with two layers of csm.

After i finnished the tabbing and it was cured, I started wetting out the topside of the floors and laying up a layer of glass on the entire top sides.
I layed up a layer of 1708 , in the engin bay area, because I wanted it to look more finnished with splatter gell coat.

Should be good and solid now.

 

[holorinhal]

Time to get the tank put back in. The tank was originally sitting on a bed of upholstry foam and then expandable foam all round. This time I decided to bed the tank with some rubber foam padding that we use at work. I will give a nice firm but soft cushion between the hull and the tank. I left some space between the pieces ,so that water will not get traped and can run out of the drain hole.

I set the tank in place and centerd it up and wedged it, so it would not move. I had to weight one end down because it was rocking a little. once the foam gets in there it will take up the space and remove rocking.

After that I started putting in the expandable foam allaround the void between the stringer/ bulk head and the tank.

 

[holorinhal]

I got some goodies in Yesterday. New Autometer marine chrome gauges and bezels. It will be a 100% improvement over the old Faria gauges.

I sanded down the buildge rea with 80 grit and wiped it down with acetone, to prep for the gell coat.
The idea is ti have the spatter paint look. I toowhite gell and mixed pigment to try and match the exterior off white or cream color gell.

after I mixed the gell I used a roller to roll ot the gell base.

I mixed up some gell color to match the burnt red on the exterior , and some yellow and went to splatering.
I kinda came out looking like a slasher movie, but after the engine and all the assesories are back in hopefully it wont look so bad.

I installed the gimbal housing, with a new transom seal, and inner transom plate. I repainted the inner transom plate, red. I hate the way Mercruiser paints the entier engine and every thing , black.

 

[holorinhal]

A couple more goodies showed up Yesterday. New steering post from Eddie Marine.

 

[Real McCoy]

So after mulling over the leak that I have had at the transom plate, I decided, instead of hauling to the lake, I should take the transom assembly apart and put new gasket and seals for all the penetrations?
My original plan was to drag it out to the lake and back it in the water to see if I can tell where the leak is at, but since the boat is over 30years old ,maybe it would be better to put all new seals?

A common cause for a leak on the Mercruiser is the drive bellows and/or the shift bellows. Normally considered a maintenance item it would be good practice to just replace the Drive Bellows, and the shift bellows (and the exhaust bellows if used). They don't cost much and the best time is when you have the boat apart. Might want to replace the exterior water hose as well (from the bell to the transom shield).

Nice work.

Doug

 

[OLD MAN ON THE LAKE]

If there is any slop in the steering lever now is the time to replace it.

 

[holorinhal]

A common cause for a leak on the Mercruiser is the drive bellows and/or the shift bellows. Normally considered a maintenance item it would be good practice to just replace the Drive Bellows, and the shift bellows (and the exhaust bellows if used). They don't cost much and the best time is when you have the boat apart. Might want to replace the exterior water hose as well (from the bell to the transom shield).

Nice work.

Doug

Yea That was the first thought ,so I replaced the drive bellows shift bellows, allso replaced shift cable with new syle bell housing couler, and a new gimble bearing. Mine has the exhaust boot instead of the full bellows. Still leaked after the new rubber.

If there is any slop in the steering lever now is the time to replace it.

I have tested the steering lever and pin and it seems to be solid. I could not feel any movement in it.

 

[holorinhal]

The boat did not have any gunwale supports in it. I could not see where there ever was any, but I wanted to put some in any way.
I made a template and cut out some from 1/2' ply, Then covered with one layer of CSM and one layer of glass cloth.

After they were cured I ground all the excess glass off, then sanded the whole thing down and then tabed them into the hull usinf two layers of CSM.

After getting the belly tank set and foamed in, I installed the tank floor cover and got it all glassed in. I had left it off for a while to make sure the foam set up properly.