31' Project Boat
 

Well my Excalibur that I just bought is turning out to be more of a project than I had hoped. I met with my mechanic yesterday and the stringers are rotten at the forward end of the cabin. The decking has been cut away under the forward vee birth to give access for a hatchet job replacement of the most forward bulkhead. It will have to be replaced as well and the area closed back up. Whoever did the hatchet job took all the old debris and threw it back in the hull and put the cushion over it. There are cracks in the outside of the hull in this area as well.

The alternators, distributors and carburetors are all non-marine automotive units and will have to be replaced. Don't know about the starters yet. Engine compartment and under dash wiring is a mess. Various other things as well. Haven't even taken a compression test on the engines yet or checked the outdrives.

Anyway, before I get to do the things that I want to do (upholstery and dash/gauges) I need to get the boat mechanically and structurally sound and do it by June so we don't miss the boating season on the Chesapeake Bay.

Robert Patch

Sorry to hear about your troubles Robert keep us up to date.

RW-
Sorry to hear about your boat, that sucks! If you can, post pics of your project and the progression..

On the bright side, the transom is solid and at least the stringers aren't rotten for the whole length and the boat will be exactly what I want when it's finished. I love the look of this era boat.

I'll post some pictures later as it progresses.

Robert

I really liked that boat too and was talking to Jack about it. I came close to picking it up but it looked like a little too much work. The price was right though.

With the low entry price and planned repairs do you still think it is a good deal? Are you doi9ng the work yourself?

I figure that I'm on the bottom of the food chain for an offshore performance type boat and that it's going to be pay me now or pay me later regardless. Is there any such thing as a sound boat of this type and size for under 25K? I'll certainly have at least that in it by the time I have it straightened out. It seems at around 65K you've got a wide choice, but that's not where I am.

I'm not planning to do any of the work myself because I don't have the time. I've got a really good, straight, reasonable mechanic (Tim Reich, Marine Services, Woodbridge, VA).

RWP

I think that if you can get the boat where you want it for $25K you're doing well. If you look at what's out there, ready to go, for that kind of money you're looking at 25 footers with single power.

You've got a 31' boat with twin power and some heritage and history! :D

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but from previously owning a 79' Excalibur 31' OS, it pays to have a survey done along with a moisture meter test done on any 20 year plus boat.........once you get her straightened out you will have a GREAT boat!

edited

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

Here's a shot of my boat with the engines and transmissions removed. One bellows was full of oil, one bellows was full of water. Cracked gimbal flange and damaged external bell housing on one side. Wiring and plumbing were cobbled together. Mercruiser transmissions with burnt fluid.

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

Another shot of the stripped engine hatch and gunnel. Engine was basically just laying in place on one side.

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

The shop that's doing the work gave me a great price on re-doing the upholstery. Upon disassembly, ALL of the wood in the seats was rotten. The last time the seats were skinned, someone screwed new plywood to the old rotten wood and reassembled it. Here's a shot of the stripped cockpit and one of the old seats. You can see the rotten plywood base with newer plywood underneath.

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

Here's one of the new wood bases for the bolster seats. It's not complete yet. It's reinforced and glassed together and will be sealed with resin.

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

Here's some of the upholstery in progress. I basically copied a design I saw on a Checkmate.

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

Lastly, here's the old dash. I've purchased new Gaffrig white gauges with red bezels and a red steering wheel. I still need new shifters, compass, trim indicators,etc. The treatment will be all white with red accents.

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

you have a lot of work ahead of you!!!!! send more pics. Im redoing a couple of boats right now and may dump the fleet for a 40ish mid eighties "project"

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

Hey, RW, glad to see you are making some progress. I had considered that boat myself, but didn't want to tow it from Chicago back to Delaware. I like projects myself, lol.

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

David,

As it turned out, towing from Chicago was the easiest part! What sort of boat do you have?

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

Former Grady White, Formula, Regal, Checkmate, Excalibur owner, now boatless for the moment :(

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

RW- Your going to have a killer boat when your done!!!

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

David, what did you end up doing with the Excal you had? I remember it being quite a project also.

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

The first one split the hull for 4 or 5 feet at one stringer, and by the time I got the other one, I had gotten rid of the first, so that made it even more of a project with few parts to start with. I ended up taking a chain saw to it! :crazy:

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

Yikes! A rotten stringer, I imagine?

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

I think poor rigging by whoever set it up originally was the biggest problem. The part of the strake missing by the trailer bunk is part of the visible external damage. It started about 12 inches forward of the transom and went forward about 4 feet. Inside you could see the crack from the transom extending under the cockpit sole. The stringers were located in the strake depression inside the hull instead of the strakes being filled first.

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

Here's the completed bolsters:

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

One side panel:

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

lookin great RW-
Keep those pics comming... I think after all the hard work you will really enjoy your boat being just how you want it
TC

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

There's still a long way to go. I just received some beautiful transom assemblies from Zanie that became surplus during his Bravo conversion. One of my transmission housings is bad. I got a couple of NOS Mecruiser transmission seal and gasket kits off Ebay. I still need to get more parts for the new dash. I was thinking of using the Livorsi billet race shifters from Fred at Trick Marine. That'll do away with the ugly dash mounted trim switches. I'd like to do away with the old mechanical trim indicators on the top of the dash altogether. I could just use a couple of guages for the outdrives and skip the tab indicators completely. I need a new hatch lift and the Dano ones look real trick. I just don't know if you can get the hatch open if (when) the batteries are dead.

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

RW-- My boat has a positive and negative poll under the back seat in case the batteries go dead, you just hook up jumper cables to them and you have juice.. I'm really not sure how those polls are hooked into the batteries.. I will try to trace out the cables and take pics for ya..

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

TC,

I'm going to be doing that too. I was hoping that you could manually lift the hatch with these hinges as well.

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

Well I finally got a compression test on the engines. The supposedly brand new engines as represented by the PO with "15 hours on them" have compression readings of 25 psi and 90 psi, etc. so I get new engines as well. In July I bought a couple of Prochargers. Jasper is going to build a pair of small blocks for me. I should end up with 450-475 hp engines. It seems that the boat was pretty well balanced with small blocks and Mercruiser transmissions (sold to me as Borg Warners). I'm sticking with the small blocks because I think it will end up as a pretty nice package. The saga continues.

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

Robert,
Something ain't right. I saw that boat move and I mean really move under the power of those engines. No smoke and they sounded very strong. That boat hauled anal! The engines haven't been run in over a year and may not have been prepped right before storage. You can't just run a compression test on those engines after they have been sitting for over a year. The valve seats surely would get some surface rust and not seal properly.
Besides, a proper compression test is done on a warm engine.
Sure, as long as they are out I'd go thru them ,but make sure you trust whomever is doing the work for you and has done marine engines.
I know of three different engine experts that built marine engines with the valve guides too tight and the valves grabbed while open. Then the valve was in the way of the piston, DOH!
Good Luck!
Dan

Re: 31' Project Boat
 

Dan,

I hear you but here are the compression test results with notes:

Engine #1

Cyl 1 - 75 .... 20% rings
.....2 - 80
.....3 - 25 .... 90% intake
.....4 - 45
.....5 - 20 .... leakdown 85% intake
.....6 - 50
.....7 - 50 .... 85% intake
.....8 - 35

Engine #2 ....wet

Cyl 1 - 35 .... 50
.....2 - 45 .... 55
.....3 - 40 .... 60
.....4 - 46 .... 55
.....5 - 45 .... 65
.....6 - 25 .... 35
.....7 - 90 .... 100
.....8 - 55 .... 65

I also realize that most of the losses are from the heads, but we're putting superchargers on these engines. This may end up better in the long run if I end up with a dependable boat. I briefly considered big blocks, but they would require a new exhaust and more expensive engines and then I start pushing the limits of the Merc transmissions and it just gets worse.

I'm pulling the plug on this project. I've got two new blower motors (small blocks). One is going in my 1960 pickup truck and I'm selling the other. I'm taking the boat to the scrap yard.

Dan,

Are you interested in the interior cheap?

This boat has been apart for 3+ years and life goes on. It's time to move on.

Robert Patch
manchioneal (at) gmail (dot) com

what shape is the hull in??? I may be the scrap yard your looking for..

WHERE WERE YOU UP TO WITH THAT PROJECT? ANY PICTURES? Sad to hear this.

I had the interior re-done. I bought a couple of Prochargers and had a couple of Jasper engines built for them (small blocks). The stringers up in the very front of the cabin were very poorly repaired. They are cut out, but not replaced. The transom is stripped. I bought new gauges. The transom is in pretty good shape. I've got three Mercruiser transmissions for it and TRS drives.

I think I'm going to put the hull and interior on Ebay and part the rest.

How much for the excalibur? I'm in VA

The boat is in Woodbridge. Give Tim a call at Marine Services. 703-490-5399. We were just going through things today to get it up on Ebay.

If you end up needing to chop it up, before you do, call me, Chris at 804-337-0256. I would love to save it from the scrap yard.