I have had this old Sea Ray sitting around for years and never done anything with it. The exterior has nice new paint and all the upholstery is new. Really a nice boat other than this.

So I went to start on it last night and thought I would try to get the hatch off and back seat out. 3 hours later, here I am.

Someone did a terrible job on this repair before. I plan to replace the transom, stringers and part of the floor. I will go back with aluminum L brackets for the motor mounts so I really don't need to replicate the layout that is there now. I also do not plan to box/floor in between the stringers like it is now. I guess that means getting all of the foam out. I was thinking about replacing the highers stringers and moving the middle stringers in to mount on the engine brackets on. An reason to replace the small inside stringers or just go without. It would seem to me that they were only there to build up the motor mount. I will also replace the bulkhead behind the fuel tank.

Any help estimating the amount of material I need for this job? Definitely a budget build. My goal is to have less in this entire boat that 2 weekends of fuel in my last boat.

Are you going to gelcoat back over the inside of the transom?

I'm thinking 2 gallons of epoxy at $377 each = $754
and plywood. $1,000 should cover it.

I will probably do the Sherwin Williams 2 part gray.

You could do it with polyester instead of epoxy.

Polyester will run $60 per gallon......$300 should do it. Seems like most boats of this grade are made with polyester. Even boston whaler uses polyester. Its easier to sand, just not as strong as epoxy. The polyester will also not stick to epoxy or gelcoat. I used polyester on the whaler.

yep, epoxy is certainly stronger but just not necessary for a job like this. Poly is fine but for a few dollars more you can step into a vinylester that is well worth the bit of extra money. Other nice thing about doing the repair in an ester is the ability to gelcoat the bilge and stringers when finished. US composites has pretty much everything you'll need. Keep the pics coming.

http://uscomposites.com/polyesters.html

B-440 is a nice poly but 700 vinyl is worth the extra eight bucks a gallon. Its tough to get an accurate estimate for materials on a project like this without having it totally gutted but you'd be safe in starting out with a five of resin and ten or twelve yards of 1708 along with a roll of 6" tabbing tape. As you go you will know how much more your gonna need


1708 and tabbing tape http://uscomposites.com/specialty.html


Looks like an ambitious project. Upside to a boat with poor repairs and rotted wood is it comes apart easily.

I am hoping it continues to come apart easy.

Is 1708 and the tape the only glass I need. Can I use that between transom layers?

sorry, yes you will also need some ounce and a half mat for that and also to bed the new transom in. Couple three/four yards ought'a do it. you only need it to bed the transom and not the stringers.

How many layers of the Biax are you using over the transom/stringers? How much tab along the length of the stringer?

Thank you so much for your help. US Comp should put you on the payroll. Second time you have recommended them to me.

lol, yea they probably dont even know how much biz i send their way. I have had good luck with them they cary just the right stuff and ship fast.

on standard transoms i use two layers of biax with two extra layers of tabbing at the joints (staggered in) same for stringers basically. Tab the entire length of the stringer.

Sorry for the hi-jack TX, but along the same line of questions I have one for Dave also, When ordering the vnylester resin, do you use both "laminating" & "finishing" resin -or- do you just use laminating resin on all phases of layup with the last being sprayed with a wax (or something) for tack-free dry finish.