Are the engine compartment stringers rotten too? With the transom that wet I bet there’s a lot more. I know you prolly don’t like hearing that and I don’t like saying it either. Just takes a good bit of work. When you’re done you’ll have a solid boat. I think the vast majority of these boats are very rotten. Unless they were kept inside all their lives, which would be very unusual.

Keep plugging away my boat brother. It wiil take awhile but that’s ok. We’ll have to have a scarab get together somewhere when we’re all done.

From what what I can see, the cabin is all dry other then one bulk head, which was caused from a leaking port. The stringers in the engine bay are wet from unsealed weep holes. I honestly think I've tracked down all the rot, but I will know for sure when I remove the cockpit sole. Looking in through the inspection ports, everything looks dry and really solid. From what I have seen, if there was a hole drilled for water to drain, count on it being rotten.

Sounds like you’re being realistic, my stringers under the cockpit look ok, but they tap like crap. Mine are definitely shot. Many guys that have these boats are confident they aren’t rotten. Like an ostrich with its head in the sand lol. I hope yours are ok, will cut a lot of work out.

Yeah, the guy I bought mine from, looked at me like I was nuts when I said, "the transom is rotten, listen." A dry transom has a sharp crack to it when you hit it, not a dull thud.

Following, I always liked these, beautiful lines. I think I may have looked at this boat years ago in VA? maybe. Do you know the boats history?

I believe the boat was originally in Maine (not positive on that), then the boat went to Chicago, then to New Jersey, which is where I bought it. Once done, it will live in Northern Michigan. A friend of Mild Thunders, owned this boat while it was in Chicago. Joe was going to try and get in touch with him, so I could discuss its history with the prior owner.

As a whole the boat is solid, and it was complete, which is nice. Everything in the cabin is bone dry, other than the forward middle bulkhead. There is also a spot that needs to be repaired in the bulkhead between the cabin and the cockpit. That is why I'm pulling the cockpit sole out. As soon as the transom is back in, I'm going to dig into that.

Heath-
How did you get your gas tank out, I need to replace the bulkhead in front of the engines. Mine is foamed in place as I'm sure yours was.

I've finally got the transom 99% prepped and ready for the new core. I'm doing 3 sheets of marine 1/2", and then 3 layers of 1708. I was planning on using Kevlar, but Dave talked me out of it.

The tank was already out of this boat, but I pulled the tank out of the 30 footer and it was awesome! (Like the directv commercial) It’s basically just layed down in hard set foam. I had the most success with a Sawzall and a long blade. Go around the whole thing several times and dig all the foam out you can and then pry on one side and try to pop it loose from the bottom. It takes a long time, especially when you’re trying to save the tank AND stringers.

Congrats on the transom, tough job with the deck on. Really tough if it’s not all rotten.

That is kind of what I was planning on doing to get the tank loose. I was thinking about trying to pull it straight out with a pair of chain falls. I don't know if it will work, but its worth a shot.

As for the transom, it was a lot more time consuming than I thought. I finally took my belt sander to the last half, and ground out 90% of the remaining wood with that. Then I switched to my Bosch sander/grinder for the last 10%. Seeing that I am going to replace all then stringers in the engine bay, I'm thinking about narrowing up the engines an 1". This would allow me to raise the propshafts 1/2" without actually raising the engines. First though, I need to lock down what exhaust I'm going to be running. That is gong to really determine how much I can bring the engines in. As of now, I'm really leaning toward Stainless Marine Gen III's.

that foam has some serious strength to it. once you have it cleaned out from the sides and front and back,
it will still be a job to remove the tank.
if you get sqaure inch of just the top of a tank like yours approx 30 wide by 96 long, 2880 sq. inch and multiply
it by the info below, you could pick the boat up by the tank. (4pound foam off us composite website)
Product Information:
Free Rise Density: 4.0 lbs per cubic ft.
Expansion Rate: Approx. 15x Liquid Volume
Buoyancy (flotation): 58 LBs per Cubic Ft.*Physical Properties:
Parallel Compressive Strength: 90 psi
Tensile Strength: 110 psi
Shear Strength: 70 psi
Flexural Strength: 120 psi
last tank i pulled, after the foam was cleaned out plus a little extra from front and rear edge it still wouldn't budge.
i ended up drilling a hole thru the bulkhead near each rear bottom corner of the tank, garage door cable thru the hole
around and under the front edge of the tank back out the other hole and used a big ratchet strap to crank on it.
the cable broke after about 2 feet, but it was enough that with some 4x4's spanning the tank, and a floor jack
the tank came out but it was still tough.

since your replacing the engine room stringers and that bulkhead you have an opportunity to remove that bulkhead now
to get access to the tank as a way to help you to remove it.
you may get lucky but for me at least removing the gas tank has been a mother.