Old boats=Rot
 

My Buddy has been shopping for older Scarabs, cigs, and Stingers from the 80's. He has looked at about a dozen or so and he has found some sort of rot in all of them, whether it be transom rot, stringer rot, or bulkhead rot. Which makes me wonder, how many older boats are out there running around with rotted transoms and stringers with the owners unaware?

Has anyone ever heard of major damage due to lets say someone running their boat, and the transom splitting and sinking the boat?

The only thing that I can say about the older boats is that the glass is ussually SO thick that even with the rot they are probably to a degree strong enough that they do not just completely come apart. Lets face it even new boats some times desintagrate into nothing...

Jon

Old boats are built like tanks. It depends on how they are stored most of their life as to how if they will rot. Mine was stored inside for at least the last decade and I havn't found any rot in it yet.

my old boat was an 81, no rot and solid as a rock. Replaced fuel tanks and got a good look at everything. He must just be looking at older boats that weren't taken care of.

http://www.lakecumberlandmarine.com/...e91259008d6e26

Taken-care of or not, isn't the main factor. Delamination & rot; the by-product of water intrusion, is the enemy. Lots of well taken-care-of boats will have some moisture around the exhaust thru-hulls & transom assy's...not rot, not delamination...just moisture. Rot & delamination come from long-term, continuing exposure to moisture, like where the limber holes in the stringers aren't finished/sealed.

My Cig is 21 years old, not one spot of rot.

Key words in that are - Las Vegas, NV. Stored out of the water, there is no reason that boat shouldn't last forever.

Congrats.

It doesn't have to be that old to have rot either. I owned a Crownline that developed all kinds of rot after only a few years.

Our 79 Scarab 300 had a bad transom in it which caused us to lose speed. We took 2 years to redo the transom and other cosmetics to get it to look like my avatar. Only to discover after the CPC poker run , and LOTO Shoot out in 05 that the bulk head were gone and the stringers weak.
Any builer or rebuilder I have talked to have said that yes the old boats are thick but the technology wasn't there so they are also brittle due to overuse of resin. Just be aware of what you might buy and look for some tell tale signs of stuctural weakness.

When mine was surveyed there was no rot or moisture detected. The oldies were built like tanks......

I agree, we had a newer Chaparral that we ended up having to re-do the stringers. All depends on how the boat is stored and maintained.

Folks bought a 87 Sea Ray with a rotted transom - fixed up nice. He ran it a couple of times with the rotted transom and it didn't fall apart. The boat developed a large crack at the transom that would open up when it was put in the water, it almost sunk the first time he left it in the slip. $5,000 later that boat was more sea worthy than the new one.

wellcrafts are notorious for rot.. other than that...I think a ket factor is how they were built in the first place. if theres a way for water to find its way in, it will and once it gets inside a stringer or a transom, its not going anywhere. the quality of wood is important to. A boat made with good quality marine ply is going to last a lot longer than one built with whatever ply the mfg could get at the cheapest price. a lot of cheap ply is made with glue that water will eventually break down on top of that. I redid the transom and stringers under the engines in my nova last year, but theres still work to do under the floor. a friend has the same year bertram (77) thats solid a the day it was built...no gel cracks all of ike mine, now wet or rotted wood etc. if your buying an old boat, think of it as a contionous restoration project.

Our avanti sat outside for 10 years (built in 85) and still has no rot. Granted, we did put a new trnasom and strings from the cockpit back in.

Mine just surveyed great. I had both engines out couldn't find any soft spots. No spider cracks yet. Still feeling pretty lucky with this one.

How much are they asking for your old boat. Looks really cool.

Jeff...the keyword is Cig... :) :)

my 87 cafe is dry as a bone...

biggest factor is how they were put together at the factory. My old 1985 scarab had only a start of rot around the exhaust holes...but luckly i got to it before it got worse and sealed them up when i cut it open for bigger 4" tips.

Seems like wellcraft didnt bother to seal the freshly cut transoms before assembly.
My buddy's 28 cig sat outside its entire life for the most part till about 5 yrs ago when they bought a 75 sqft factory and now it sits indoors....but when i was working on that boat i saw that everything that was cut open was sealed up....so its as dry as the day it rolled out of the factory.......if anyone worked on the boat after the factory guys then its anyones guess how it will be....

Keep it on a lift, put a small bilge pump all the way in the stern bilge against the transom to get that last bit of water out, store inside in winters uncovered with everything open and rot should be much less of a problem.

Nice, I will be adding an old cig to my collection soon.

What are you looking to get

90's top gun, bravo rigged or bigger, no power unless it is a killer deal. Tired of re building engines for old boats.

Was it a pre-1998? Starting in 1998, Crownline went with XL marine plywood in all of their boats with a lifetime warranty against rot.

What year Chap? The only wood in my 2004 is supposed to be the stringers and probably the bulkheads. Everything else is composite including the transom. I would hope Chap uses treated marine plywood for their stringers.

Yes it was - a 1994 to be exact.

I am pretty conviced that in 1994, Crownline bought their boat-building materials from the local Home Depot. If it was wood in that boat, it rotted.

LOL! Yeah, they had a lot of problems with rotted wood which is why they switched in '98. I had a '99 266 and it was solid.

I think the thing is there are a lot of boat owners who say their hulls are rock solid, because there are no visible signs or soft spots in the glass. However, core samples have been what my buddy has been taking, and all of the boats he looked at except one have had some wet/rotted wood somewhere, whether it be the transom, bulkhead, or stringers. One of them was a 1990 Top Gun Cigarette. The transom in the Cig was completely rotted and hollow in some spots. Cigarette does a great job at the factory, but what about Joe Schmoe who installs the new indicator cables in 1997 and forgets to seal them properly. Or the marina who installs the depthfinder and forgot the silicone for the mounting screws on the transom.

I guess my real question is, I would like to hear about repercussions from running a boat with rotted wood. Such as hulls cracking, outdrives falling off, engine mounts coming thru, etc etc

Not bashing Cig, any boat can have probs.

2006 Chicago Poker Run an older Cig's hull came apart first thing on the run, he had to hi-tail her back to the lift before she sank.

I'm sure there is lot's of rot in alot of boats and owners don't have a clue.

Yes, and avoid drilling more holes in the transom at all costs.

core samples? anyone comes near my boat and wants to take core samples will be turned away...

moisture meters and a plastic mallet will tell the story.

MT - well, here's the answer to your "real" question.
This is all true. Happened to me in my '86 Baja 250 Force in '97ish.
Took the (then) wife, and a buddy from Toledo to Cedar Point across Lake Erie for a 3 day, 2 night weekend. Me and the wife stayed on the boat, buddy caught a room. Beautiful day and ride across Erie to get there. Had a really good time, watched the closing fireworks/laser show from the boat both nights. Woke up Monday morning to a strong northeast wind. OK, I'm gonna have to run through 3-5's the whole way back, no problem, I grew up on Erie, this sort of thing happens. Got out of Sandusky Bay and was taking them head-on, reading the waves, and trying to stay on top of them - not easy in a 25' on Erie. I start hearing a slight whine. Almost sounded like it was coming from a bad ground on the stereo system, if you know what I mean. Stereo is off, but I'm still hearing this whine, (crappy stereo, first season with the boat). After 10-15 mins. I decide to back out of the throttle, and pop the hatch. Me and buddy are looking in the engine compartment (454/330, TRS, external water pickup). I notice I've got water trickling in at a pretty good (bad) rate around the transom assembly mounts. Bilge pump is running, but this isn't good - not gonna make the distance to Toledo. I can see Put-In-Bay, so I know the best thing to do is keep her on plane, I figure if Transom is dry, no water will come in. Got her to PIB, and tied up where they could sling it IMMEDIATELY! Turns out the motor was mounted with L-brackets to the top of the stringers, and the stringers were soggy under the glass. Going over the waves crushed the STBD stringer under the mount, and the motor was listing to that side by probably 5 degrees, causing the seperation at the transom.
Wound up catching the Jet Express to get back. Had a friend pick us up, and take us to my truck at the Marina. Me and my Buddy picked up my trailer, and ran back out to Port Clinton to catch the Ferry. So, Truck and trailer ride the Ferry to PIB. We drop the boat on the trailer, and FORTUNATELY make the last ferry of the day with Truck, Trailer, and Boat, on the Ferry. Any idea how bad it sucks to have your tow rig and boat crossing the lake on a ferry?? well, it sucked!
Hauled the boat back to Toledo, and out of the water for 6 weeks to replace stringers.
I've told this story on here before, and there are two things that I did that were very stupid so I'll re-iterate them here:
1. When we were stopped and realized the damage, I didn't notify the Coast Gaurd. If the situation had gotten worse, not sure what would have happened to us.
2. My ex-wife was the only one that put on a PFD. Once again, If the situation had gotten worse, not sure what would have happened to us.

Mind you, I was 26 yrs. and bullet-proof at this time, and I knew everything about everything.
Since then I've learned I don't know anything about anything.
Nobody got hurt, and we all returned safe with nothing more than a story to tell.

pib to toledo can be a wild ride when it gets nasty out..did it last summer coming back at nite in some big stuff. no moon, cant see the waves I went just fast enuff to keep it on top and held on tight.

No offense guys but there are a lot of "second rate" boat brands being mentioned here....

You, my friend, just opened yourself a can of worms.
I have taken all kinds of hell on this board for voicing that I don't ever want to own a Baja again. Sorry, just bad JuJu for me. Not that Baja is a bad boat, but I now have a stigma.
I imagine mine wasn't cared for properly prior to my ownership, and I was young and uneducated in performance boats.
Lesson Learned = seek further education.:D

Oh a Baja? - that would be third rate.......



JUST KIDDING!!!!:evilb: :evilb:

I was trying to be nice:D

I mentioned my rotten Crownline. I wouldn't even consider that boat "second rate"....maybe 3rd or 4th.

I wasn't trying to compare it to a Cig. Just trying to point out that a boat doesn't have to be old to rot.

There are a lot of older Formulas that have needed transoms replaced, go to the Fiberglass section, and you'll see.

......ditto to that, buddy !!!

I agree and if they want to take it one step further a IR Camera.

Jon