Crazy man looking to step on nortons

[willy]

Need advise from you guys. A little hole in the wall marina in Rockaway NY is selling a brokerage boat the guy just wants them to get rid of $1200 no trailer. Went to see it today, 1986 v20 with a reportedly non-working yamaha 115 same year on it. Motor looks great from outside but obviously does'nt tell you much. The transom is solid as a rock, pulled screws out of it and they were dry and had solid purchase when screwed back in, no water weeping at all below water line. Rocked engine back and forth, solid ;D Hull is solid all over. Boat needs cosmetic stuff done which I can do. The problem is that the starboard stringer along side the gas tank, about half way up is soft and flexes about 1/2" right in one spot. The rest of floor is solid, rock solid. Can u guys give me the skinny on how hard a job it is and what I might run into if I get this boat as a project boat and try to repair the stringer myself. With a goal to restore it and re-power it one way or another depending on what i find is bad on the motor. I have never done this kind of work and don't know how you would access that stringer without removing floor.

[Franco]

Hey Willy,
I'm guessing it is the thin stringer your talking about. Usuall it has a plywood core of 3/4 inch plywood wrapped in wroven - thats the heavy duty fiberglass cloth - it is used to support the deck. I would pull the gas tank to gain access to the stringer - easiest way to get to it and you could repair it from the side. Once you get the tank out I would drill some holes along the length of it to determine how much of it is wet. There are two schools of thought here - one is you can drill several 1/2 inch holes along the bottom egde to allow the moisture escape, one it has all drained use a heat gun to finish drying it out. You can seal the holes with some fiberglass cloth and drill several smaller holes along the top edge, and use something like git-rot. Thats a penetrating resin that is very thin - it could take several bottles to fill up that void.
Or once you get tha tank out you can take a grinder and cut open the side of the stringer and pull out the damaged wood core and splice in new plywood - you can bevel the edge so the to pieces over lap ( scarf joint) to add some strength. I'd rough up the inside surface of the fiberglass so the new stuff will have something to bite into. After you fit the pieces ( close is good) cut a piece of fiberglass cloth 6oz I thing about 8 inches longer the the plywood - wet the existing fiberglass and the new core with resin ( old paint brush works fine) lay the cloth on the new wood and wet it again with resin and put it in place - the cloth will fill gaps between the two pieces and add some strength. The hard part is clamping it together - You gotta have the clamping figured out first and dry fit everything prior to using resin. After it is all glassed on that side wet the exposed side, put on new roven - the heave stupp and over lap the edges. Call me if you want and we can talk, I know you got the number.

[willy]

Thanks Bud ;D the location is about two feet from motor well wall on starboard side of tank, about six inches away from the tank / hatch seam that is caulked. Is that what you mean by thin stringer. From what I remember seeing on this site somewhere there are two main beams, one on each side of the gas tank running stern to bow bulkhead and there are smaller ones that run off of that to the sides of the hull. Are those side ones the thin stringer floor support you mean.

[Franco]

Cant get it straight in my head, can you get a digital pic possibly - or look thru the gallery and tell me which pis to look at

[willy]

I've been going thru gallery and can't find that shot i know i saw with floor removed

[phatdaddy]

willy, Look in the V-20 gallery under vics site.

[willy]

Thanks Phat Daddy, is that how they all look as far as stringers are concerned. The main runs from stern to bow look thinner than I remember seeing. The soft spot i felt on the floor looks to me that it would be where one of those side running floor supports intersects with the stern to bow stringer about two feet up from the fiberglass wall that forms the inside of the outboard motor well

[jaysea]

willy ,i belive the boat you are looking at was on ebay a few months ago an had no bids,it mite still be in one of the topics under for sale on this site just found it,look at may 24 post by parrot,bay side boats was selling for $1000,no bids

[willy]

Thats the one Jaysea, you got a mind like a steel trap brother, makes me wonder if I missed anything else ??? I don't think so, at least there I found out there is a bad powerhead on the motor. They are right about the hull though except the aformentioned stringer. For $1000 though i'm wondering about the stringer fix whether I can do something like that, repower the boat with a new yamaha motor for 6-8 gs or just wait for Franco to get that dang boat up and running in FLA. so I can check it out ;D

[Franco]

Hey Willy, I'll cut mine loose for less than the 8 g's your gonna spend on that new outboard!!!!

[jaysea]

i called the marina back in may ,but couldnt get there to look at it,its behind kennedy air port,almost 1hr from me still sounds ok to me,you could part out whats left of the yammaha an fix the hull,as far as re powering,theres nothing better than brand new power

[willy]

The only thing better than brand new outboard is a custom v-20 I/O from Franco Engineering Inc. F L A ;D but I noticed the price went from $5500 plus shipping to $8000 in one fell swoop :o :o :o :o :o :o

[willy]

Inflation It's a b!tch :-/

[Franco]

Thats if I gotta pay for a new trailer !!!!

[willy]

Hey Franco did you notice at some point I became a Full Member and I don't even have a v-20 yet. Imagine the power I"ll wield when I own a custom v-20
whew!! Step back Jack 8)

[jaysea]

yes i noticed,its like the price at the gas pump,monday nite on the way home from work the price was $2.59 an now its neering $3.50 in just one day, >:(

[Franco]

You'll be the administrator in no time Bill

[willy]

Administrator hell I'm going for full blown God
besides as my wife will tell you I'm about as disorganized as they come ??? Thank the Lord though he endowed me with other talents ;D 8) ;D

[willy]

Hey Jaysea where ya at in Joisey anyhow, I'm going to come and steal your v-20 8) It will save me alot of aggravation all around don't ya think ;)

[reelapeelin]

Willy, once you're a god, Kings will kneel at your passing...heads of state will call on you for consultation...aliens will speak to you from cans of pork 'n beans... ::)...

[jaysea]

willy ,im on long island,im not in any need of another boat at this time,go look at this boat,bring a trailer with you cause ya never know,

[willy]

Hey Jaysea, maybe you did'nt catch the beginning of the thread, I did go look at it its before you get to JFK you go to Rockaway. Little dump marina. It's apparently been sitting on that trailer in the same spot a long time ???

[willy]

Like I said makes me a little nervous did I miss something else :o It is bottom painted and that is old, flaking off in several places but I wacked the hull under there pretty good with a rubber mallet trying to find the fatal error, nothing ???

[phester]

hey jaysea, where on L.I., are you? I'm around the Kings Park/ Northport area...are we close?

[jaysea]

yes phester,im in Islip,.near rt 111 an sunrise hwy

[phester]

right in my back yard