[downinflames68]

Look what followed me home. Sit! Good boy.

[olePigeon]

Very cool looking.

[Doofy]

Just needs an SUV to tow it with now.

[Spheric Harlot]

(gorgeous lines on that boat, rob)

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Just needs an SUV to tow it with now.

Bah! That's what a good UrS6 is for! It'll fit!

[downinflames68]

I originally posted this thread about the sleekcraft, and after getting answers from owners of other sleeks, I decided to pull the trigger. Yeah, some of you said it would be a bad idea, but whatever. I have definitely fallen in love with the lines of this boat, so I think it's worth it. Anyway, here is the story so far.

April 27th, 2010- I drove to the PO's house at 6pm, armed with new trailer lights, and the PO said he'd tow it for me. Well, after 2 hours of troubleshooting the wiring, the ENTIRE TRAILER was rewired, and we had functional trailer lights. It was at this point that we noticed one of the wheel bearings was bad. 1.5 hours later, and we were good to go. The drive was about an hour and 15 minutes away, and halfway through madison, the port side fender mount cracked in half, dragging the fender on the rear tire. I ripped it off and threw it in the boat, and carried on. Parked it at 11:30pm, went to sleep.

April 28th, 2010- Boat was FILTHY. Removed the seating, carpeting, and anything else that was rolling around inside. Purchased some new gaskets for the exhaust manifolds, and set them in the garage. Have two sets, need to make one GOOD set. The seats might be salvageable... the vinyl is okay, but the wood is rotten, so we'll see what I can do. Also, the seams are coming apart in SOME places, but overall they are decent. The gauges will need to be replaced, as well as the floor between the tunnels. Need to reinforce the cap, as the side area flexes due to rotten supports, as well as reinforce the tow hook. Pretty pumped about this thing, washed it with my roommate and we were both impressed with how good the cap/hull look. Pretty amazing how well it has cleaned up so far. All of the black tape will need to be replaced.


Here she is after a quick wash:





And the beginning of 4 weeks of ridiculousness:









Total cost so far: $1200, initial purchase price. $180, shop towels, manifold gaskets, hand goop, and waterPROOF heavy duty top of the line boat cover. $1380.00

[11011001]

This is a fun thread! Keep the pics coming!

[downinflames68]

April 27th, 2010


Removed fuel tanks; they were glassed in. Welded aluminum everything! Nice! Removed filler hardware, getting stainless ones instead.



Spent a few hours scrubbing the seats with 409 and a huge scrub brush. DISGUSTING. There was stuff growing in the seats, with roots. The seat bottom will need to be replaced with fresh ply, so I'll make templates in the future. The real problem was mildew. It was IN the vinyl. No scrubbing would remove it. Ordered chrome dress up kit $45, gasket kit $45, and stainless bolt kit $45. Also purchased some red silicone 3" to 4" reducers for $11 each on ebay; the mercruiser versions were $55 a pair. Plus, silicone is sweet.

[imitchellg5]

I really dig the boat Rob. Looks awesome!

[downinflames68]

April 28th, 2010:



To remove the mildew from the seats, I sprayed them with Tilex and let them soak for 15 minutes, then scrubbed them with more tilex. This removed all the mildew, as well as brightened all the stitching.



After the Tilex Soak




I then sprayed them with Mequirs Vinyl/Rubber Renewal product... had a lot of plasticizers, and WOW. The seats got instantly softer, and brighter!



Also started grinding down the tanks, not sure what pattern to put on them yet:




Anyway, here is the finished product, before I stitch up the sections coming apart:

[andi*pandi]

Very shiny. You may find that tilex removed the APPEARANCE of the mildew because it has bleach in it... but it will come back. Bleach doesn't kill mildew. Vinegar and teatree oil do. If the mildew comes back try a spray of those. I'd also be concerned about the foam under the vinyl being mildewy... but then again, it's a boat, and will get wet.

[downinflames68]

Tilex does a number in my bathroom, so I'm going to assume it'll work in a similar fashion on the seats. I tried vinegar, but that did nothing.

[ghporter]

Just keep on top of those seats with Tilex-either you'll prevent the mildew from making itself known, or you'll "bomb it back to the stone age." Either way, I think a regular investment in time and effort (and chemicals!) is the only way to prevent mildew on synthetic materials on a boat.

[Phileas]

Rob, that looks fantastic.

However, Tilex contains, amongst other irritants, 2-butoxyethanol, a cardiovascular, developmental, endocrine, liver, kidney, and reproductive toxicant. Damage is accumulative, so while you're ok today this kind of stuff has the potential to bite you in the ass later in life.

A more natural way to remove mildew is with a combination of Borax, followed by teatree oil, followed by airing out. If you can dry the affected area with a hairdryer then all the better.

Glen, forgive me for using strong words here, but your advice "to keep on top of it" is at best dangerous, at worst amounts to an invitation to slow poisoning. 2-butoxyethanol is absorbed through the skin, and especially on a boat a whole lot of skin to seat contact takes place. I thought you worked in healthcare, surely you're aware of the chemical load that comes with many household cleaners?

Edited to tone down opinionatedness.

[andi*pandi]

What's the risk to him on his boat vs using it in his shower every day though?

Another note: vinegar kills the mildew, but doesn't always remove the stains. Perhaps the 1-2 punch combo is what works.

[Phileas]

It depends on how important these things are to you, or to anybody.

I did a fair bit of research into this, and as a result we have completely changed the way we clean our house, our clothes and ourself.
Especially with a baby on the way it was important to me to remove all possible irritants from our immediate environment.

The damage from these chemicals is almost always accumulative, so while a one off exposure is no big deal, regular exposure is. It's like smoking that way.

Anyway, what I am saying is that using Tilex once for a deep clean is most probably no biggie. Using Tilex as a maintenance product however is not a great idea.

[Spheric Harlot]

Tiles don't soak up chemicals like plastics, thread, and foam do.

Also, you spend between five and 35 minutes a day with the soles of your feet in contact with a bathtub that is constantly rinsed, vs. the entire boatride with thighs and back in full contact with chem-soaked seats.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Phileas 

Edited to tone down opinionatedness.

Pussy!

Originally Posted by Phileas 

It depends on how important these things are to you, or to anybody.

I did a fair bit of research into this, and as a result we have completely changed the way we clean our house, our clothes and ourself.
Especially with a baby on the way it was important to me to remove all possible irritants from our immediate environment.

Do yerself a favour and throw out anything containing SLS/SLES too. That shit's so nasty I'm surprised they allow it to be sold.

[Spheric Harlot]

I'm sure he's taken care of that.

He's not one to go half-way.

[downinflames68]

The forum ate my post. WTF. Anyway, I'm sure it'll be fine. The boat sat outside for years, neglected, and so it had mildew on the back, and one side, of all the seats. A one time use of tilex, follow by a lot of rinsing, then more rinsing, then drying with a towel, and soaking in vinyl renewal product is probably going to keep them nice for a while. Also, I am not going to leave it outside, uncovered. It has a $180 canvas cover on it now.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Phileas 

Glen, forgive me for using strong words here, but your advice "to keep on top of it" is at best dangerous, at worst amounts to an invitation to slow poisoning. 2-butoxyethanol is absorbed through the skin, and especially on a boat a whole lot of skin to seat contact takes place. I thought you worked in healthcare, surely you're aware of the chemical load that comes with many household cleaners?

I do work in healthcare, so I sort of expect a number of things as givens. Like wearing proper protective equipment while using cleaning products. I also expect VOCs like 2-butoxyethanol to dissipate in open air fairly quickly; if it's free enough to be absorbed by skin, it should be free enough to off-gas and pretty much be gone pretty fast. Is this a component of Tilex?

Also, have you ever sat on sun-heated vinyl seats? NOBODY does that willingly with unprotected skin! I sort of expect towels to be laid on seats like that to prevent more pressing issues than slow poisoning-contact burns.

Finally, I recommended using "whatever" to chase the mildew. Good scrubbing with a "natural" cleaner on a regular basis can keep mildew at bay. A boat is a hole in the water you pour money into-and you have to pour plenty of time and elbow grease in as well. So far, Rob's put in a lot of the latter, and I sort of expect he's going to keep on top of keeping the mildew beaten back with whatever he deems workable and effective.

[AKcrab]

He's not going to keep it. He's going to get it looking great and make some Ca$h on it.

[imitchellg5]

Oh my, it must be Punday

[downinflames68]

Nah, I'll keep it unless I move. Even then it's tempting, since I think it looks better than most people's $40k+ Sea Rays.

[downinflames68]

5/3/10: Finished buzzing the gas tanks. Going to get some clear tomorrow to seal them in their shiny state. Removed some of the rotten wood from the seat cushions, cut new ones out. Need to sand them tomorrow at work, then restaple them. No pictures, sorry guys. Good news is I got a TON of goodies in the mail today.

[downinflames68]

5/19/10: Been raining for weeks. Unable to work on it til now. Decoded the engine this morning.

*0508TKT is the block stamping number. I can't make out the first digit which shows the location. This decodes to 1978 350 SBC, which makes sense since the boat is a 78. It was a truck engine long, built on May 8th rated at 165hp in stock truck form. 4" bore, 3.48" stroke, with a 5.7" rod.

The heads are stamped 333882, which means the the intake valves are 1.94s, and the exhausts are 1.5s with a 76cc chamber. This is good news, since they aren't anemic truck heads.

I have no idea about the cam, but it does have an Weiand X-Celerator aluminum intake manifold, and a holley 650 carb, both in great shape. I purchased a dress up kit, and a stainless hardware kit so every bolt will be stainless. I'm hoping it makes around 250ish; anything more than that from what other have told me it'll be likely to grenade the lower unit.

Took off all accessories; powersteering, alternator, manifolds, waterpump, etc... degreased, ready for paint. Here's some process shots:


Crusty, but took pics of the firing order for reference


Assembly lube still inside the engine; hasn't been run much at all.


Intake just sitting on there while removing the rest of the accessories.


That's a beer in the intake.

[ghporter]

The space under the intake manifold/manifold space looks pretty good. Like new, even. Did you have to clean it up much or was it about that clean to start? If that part of the engine is in such good shape, I think it indicates that much of the rest will be similarly good.

Those stock valve covers are UGLY! I'll bet the pan is too-does your dress up kit include stainless valve covers and oil pan?

Are you going to do anything fancy with the hoses and plug wires? I can see braided stainless going really well with a nicely dressed up marine engine.

And what else does one put in the carb opening of an intake manifold? It's a carb or a beer can, right? But thanks for being clear for people who have never taken off a carburetor and might not know that you have to plug that hole appropriately.

[downinflames68]

Yeah, it's pretty fresh inside. When I bought it, the previous previous previous owner had it rebuilt, installed the engine, and could never get it running. The next guy did nothing. The guy I bought it from had it running for 20 minutes or so, then turned it off. So... basically it's new inside. The valve covers were from a swap meet, and are correct to the engine, so they have some information on the timing and distributor advance and stuff. The dressup kit has chrome ones, so they'll go away once I paint the block.

The hoses would probably be fairly ridiculous to replace, since it has so many (twice as much as a car engine), so they'll probably stay the same, but the plug wires will be organized with a bunch of stainless clips. It'll look a lot better once things start going together next week.

[downinflames68]

Masked Engine:


Sprayed really light coat of white engine paint... really light sets up, then gives the "grit" for the a heavier coat to stick to, without runs. Light coat, allow to almost dry, then heavier. This is the best way for an easy finish.





Tonight I'm going to spray it red. I sprayed it white first, to give the red more "pop". Everytime I use red paint on a darker surface it always looks dead.... hence the white basecoat.

[downinflames68]

Sprayed the engine red at lunch yesterday:

[downinflames68]

Exhaust manifolds were awful, took them apart and found this:


Ordered new gasket, going to get these blasted and respray satin black, hi temp.

[IMG] [/IMG]
Smashing them into a wheel to get the elbow to separate from the log. Thing was rusted solid. Yuck.


Stripped the seats to replace the rotten floors. Traced them on cardboard, cut new ones out.



Put my lovely assistant to work on the rear seat. She took out the staples, then traced the rotten wood again.


Started tearing up the floor. It was a lot of work under the dash. Extra fiberglass and less rot under there, so it was a PITA.


Here's where someone cut a hole for a cooler. This compromised the floor, which then rotted, as well as the main stringer.


This just slid in, with minimal pressure. Yuck.

[sek929]

I'm fairly surprised regular wood was used in a marine application. Replace with pressure-treated.

[downinflames68]

[IMG] [/IMG]
Front cushions done!


All the new staples are stainless steel, unlike the originals. The vinyl is treated with meguires, and got really stretchy in the sun. You can also see the new wood in the base.


Rear seat, DONE!!!!


Front seats have replacement floors sealed, then screwed in through the fiberglass sides, then filled all the gaps, and coated with FG resin. Totally sealed from the elements.


Yikes. It's only uphill from here. I think.


She was saying something, I wasn't paying attention.


My roommate tearing up some wood. It was pretty far gone.


Floor is out. Next up on the hitlist: Main stringer.


And again the lovely assistant using her suturing skills to repair the small tears in the vinyl.


I can just see her being like "ahhhh, someone is taking care of me again". I can't wait.

[mduell]

Anyone taking bets on what voyage number he sinks it on? One? Two?

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by downinflames68 

[IMG] [/IMG]
Front cushions done!

Look natural to me.

Originally Posted by downinflames68 

I can just see her being like "ahhhh, someone is taking care of me again". I can't wait.

Call it "Christine".

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

Look natural to me.

Caps

[olePigeon]

Looks great, Rob. Boat, too.

[downinflames68]

Yeah, I'm hoping to have the main stringer removed this week, a new one made by next week, and hopefully in a week or so I'll have the whole thing glassed up, and ready to be installing all the shiny go-fast blingtastical parts. Then it's time to start wiring, throw in the carpet, and see if the lower unit works.

[iM@k]

I'll stick with my families Donzi thank you very much.

[MacinTommy]

Originally Posted by downinflames68 

Yeah, I'm hoping to have the main stringer removed this week, a new one made by next week, and hopefully in a week or so I'll have the whole thing glassed up, and ready to be installing all the shiny go-fast blingtastical parts. Then it's time to start wiring, throw in the carpet, and see if the lower unit works.

Now are you talking about the girl or the boat?

[Spheric Harlot]

[downinflames68]

Originally Posted by iM@k 

I'll stick with my families Donzi thank you very much.

Um... K? Thank you, O' rich one, for posting in my humble presence. I can only be in awe and feel lucky that you have taken the time out of your important, wealthy life, to post in my simple little thread where I buy something cool and rebuild it with my bare hands instead of having instance access to something expensive, like you. My gratitude is boundless.

[andi*pandi]

I am still skeeved out by the mold on the seat foam... it's covered up by new wood and shiny cleaned vinyl, but... eww. Hope it doesn't infest all your new wood and ruin the hard work.

It's very cool that you are taking this apart and putting it back together though. Great way to learn how things tick.

What body of water are you gonna take this out in?

[residentEvil]

lake michigan and cruise the straights i hope?

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

It's very cool that you are taking this apart and putting it back together though. Great way to learn how things tick.

ATTENTION: This does not work with cats.

[residentEvil]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

ATTENTION: This does not work with cats.

of course not; that is why you do it with dogs...

[andi*pandi]

I suspect it won't work well with dogs either.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

I suspect it won't work well with dogs either.

Stops 'em pooping on yer lawn though.

[residentEvil]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

I suspect it won't work well with dogs either.

right...my point was it wouldn't, but it's okay to try (and leave kitties alone).

note: i'm a cat person

[residentEvil]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Stops 'em pooping on yer lawn though.

and barking all night for no reason*

*the reason is usually the owner and bad training. maybe try learning how they tick too would be good.