3Squids '87 Cuddy thread
 

Well guys I did it. I bought a 1987 Cuddy to go along with my center console. If you've followed that thread you know that project is on hold. Here is the most recent photo I have and will update as things go.
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...psfwbv2iv3.jpg

I travelled 5 hours to Wilmington NC to pick the old girl up. I pretty much bought this boat sight unseen with the exception of getting a friend to check it over for me. He gave me a good report and I offered to give the owner a deposit as I wasn't able to pick it up for a couple weeks. I even offered to pay in full as my buddy believed the guy was a good old fashioned handshake deal kind of guy. He declined any deposit and just told me to come get it when I could and it'd be there. I told him I'd come 3/25 and unfortunately couldn't make it due to truck trouble. But I busted tail and got the truck straight and headed out at 0330 to pick it up.

Pulled in right at 8:45 (stopped for breakfast). Soon as I seen the boat I was loving it. The owner was still 5 minutes out so I started checking it out. First thing I did was take a hammer to the transom. I figured regardless I'd find moisture somewhere in the stern. Tapped around and it was nice crisp bouncing smacks of the hammer. But 2 spots, one on each side had that dull thump. It's is exactly in the same place on both sides and about the same size spot. Sure enough it's right where the stringers meet the transom which I found with my '79 is where Wellcraft didn't pay much attention to detail. It is a very weak point of these boats.

I climbed in the boat and reached down under the live wells and tapped the stringers and they seem rock solid. So I definitely believe as far as transom/stringer issues go I may be ok for a while. The deck is very solid with exception of a 8-10" diameter spot right in the center where the step down to the cuddy is. I've always seemed to have floor issues in the past that began in areas where fasteners are however in this area and really nowhere near it is there any fasteners so not really sure where and how the moisture is entering it. I talked to my NC buddy on my ride home and he suggested injecting epoxy resin into the area to hold me over. May be something I'll try.

Now the paint... from 20' away the boat looks great. But it seems lack of prep when painted is now showing through. On the front near the water line it looks as if the paint has just been washed away. Elsewhere along the waterline its chipping off. I used my fingernail and scratched it and it comes right off. It looks like there's no primer. I'm undecided on what to do here but if reprinting is the fix it won't take long to strip the old paint. I've king of tossed the idea around in my head of making a vinyl boot stripe to hold me over for the time being.

The trailer is pretty rough. The tires have excellent tread but the are rotted bad. I took a spare in not much better shape just in case but fortunately didn't need it. There were multiple rollers missing or collapsed. There where even some 4x4 blocks where roller should be. The owner told me he launched it in April every year and pulled it in October pending no hurricanes so the trailer wasn't too much worry. All the hardware is rusted, nuts 90% rusted off. It's a torsion trailer and the torsion area was extremely heavy rust. This all had me nervous the whole ride home but we made it with no issues.

My motor plans are to put my fresh 200 Merc on it and fish it this summer. I've been scouring for side mount controls only to find out that the boat is set up for top mount. So all the rigging will be removed from the Green boat.

This is going to be another fun project that hopefully I won't have to tear into too far. I will get many more pics tomorrow as I know you guys want to see more. Again I'll update the main pic as I go along...here we go....

3S, Looks great!! Look forward to seeing more pictures. I am sending you a PM.

Tom, she's a looker for sure. Best of luck with her. Check your PM's, I might have a deal for you on a trailer.

Thanks guys. Well here she is as I brought her home. Grabbed these pics quick tonight as I've been pretty busy. Note the starboard side rod box isn't there. He removed it to de-rig the boat and never screwed it back in. We drove about 25 miles before our first stop to check on things and it was laying in the floor. Whew losing that would of sucked. Threw it in the cuddy for the rest of the ride.

Anyways enjoy:
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...psq5fvowy7.jpg

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...pskdoafduv.jpg

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...psqyg9954m.jpg

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...psvy6uzllr.jpg

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...psbcrcobos.jpg

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...psqeqamtyi.jpg

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...psnajufxiy.jpg

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...psafyerxtp.jpg

As you look over the pics please feel free to express any concern you may have over something you see. You may have noticed the fuel filler located toward the stern. The guy I got it from said it was done when he got the boat. It had a tank put in it approx 6 years ago and that's where they relocated the filler neck for some reason. Only con I see in it is I'll have to pull up further at a station to fuel it up and block up the parking lot more. I plan on closing off the existing hole as one of my first projects.

Also while the tank was replaced it appears the hatch covers were glassed over. Whoever did it did a good solid job. My plan is to try and epoxy fill the soft spot in the floor then roll Awlgrip or something similar over the whole floor. That will take care of those patches as well.

I believe I may start prepping it for paint before I even put my motor on as the paint can pretty much be wiped right off. I believe between no primer and possibly the wrong paint it's just not holding on too well. I can paint well so I should be able to knock this out in a couple weekends. As far as fiberglass work the hull itself is perfect so it's gonna be a quick sand, prime and paint, just gotta get the money from somewhere.

This should be a good quick project to get on the water this year. I believe a hardtop is in the future but not anytime soon. The bottom paint is ok and I really don't require it as I leave my boat in the water overnight once and a while but never more than 2 days. If I can get by this year without bottom painting that'd be great. When it's time I'll use antifouling paint again. Even though I don't need it I really don't want to go through the hassle of trying to get it off and paint the hull with nice paint. If it were a complete resto I'd consider it.

I see existing bolt holes on the stern port side where there was obviously a swim platform. I have a teak one lying in the garage that's yours if you want it. Love that cooler seat on the mates side. :party:

The swim platform is in the cuddy. It is also teak. I didn't take it out and inspect it yet so I'm not sure why it was removed. Definitely going to have to do something as one of the holes is below the water line. The cooler seat is neat but it's in bad shape. The cooler is banged up pretty bad. I think I may do a back to back seat there so I have more seating for the kiddos.

sand the paint off up to the chine, continue that angler till you hit the bow, finish it off with vinyl boot stripe. Extra credit if you get custom and have V20 in the boot stripe alla Blackfin

Where I've scraped off the paint the gel coat seems not in bad shape. I'm wondering if I just got over it with some 1500 grit or something like that and then buff the gelcoat. Guess it's one of those things I'll figure out when I get going. I'm really not scared to repaint and probably will go that route.

if you repaint, you'll need to strip all that paint off

Personally, if she's going to be a trailer queen, why paint it at all? If the Gel Coat is good and she has no blisters I'd just have it soda blasted to remove the old paint and then wax it to bring up the shine. These boats really look beautiful with no paint. IMHO

Just something Ive wondered about, but has anyone priced what a wrap would cost?

Always thought doing a solid color one would be a quick and easy way to dress up an old hull.

Hmmmmm....never thought of that!

transom has been glassed.
fuel filler to the rear means the hose is now at the aft end of the tank, where is the pickup?
inspection ports glassed over on tank hatch. What's it look like under there?

Plan on pulling the hatch this weekend. Curious to find out.

Definitely something I'd consider.

Guess I figured once it was painted it'd be impossible to get it off without damaging the gelcoat. This would be ideal to me. I don't need bottom paint and not having to deal with it every year would be great.

Talking to my father in law tonight he's curious on this soda blasting. He has a 17' Maycraft he'd like to remove bottom paint from and not reapply as well. He talked about buying a soda blaster and doing it himself. Anyone tried it themselves. I'm sure it will be a small portable unit. Just don't know if the cost of the material is worth it. Guess I'd have to get a quote on getting the boat done. I'm starting to wonder now if I could do the hull sides as well and restore all the gelcoat. That'd be ideal to me.

I started doing it on a 21' Cruisers, Inc cuddy a few years back. Bought the unit from Harbor Freight, (http://www.harborfreight.com/40-lb-p...ter-60801.html) plus they sell the blast media also (http://www.harborfreight.com/50-lbs-...dia-65929.html) so it was a one stop shopping experience. Got it home and of course I didn't do any of the prep work they suggested... you know, small stuff like tenting the boat with Visqueen (vinyl) sheeting so you don't make a mess. Well, long story short....... I made a mess...... A HUGE MESS!!!! My driveway and lawn was white as snow. Lesson learned... ya gotta tent the boat. (Or I suppose, have a large clean garage that you can do it in that's empty of everything else so sweeping up the media afterwards won't be a problem). And you MUST have a dust mask and eye protection...
The blast media is just Baking Soda, but it's a special "grind".. it's much coarser than the powder that you would buy for cooking/baking. Think of a single grain of this Baking soda. Basically what happens is the soda is shot out of the spray nozzle and hits the paint. When it hit's, it actually explodes. That explosion changes the single grain into microscopic shrapnel, and the direction of the grain changes from going forward to sideways in a 360 degree circle. (So it doesn't penetrate the fiberglass like sand would). The force of the hit plus the explosion at the same time removes a tiny part of paint. Now, multiply that process by hundreds of thousands of grains of Soda in a minute and you get a very fast paint removal process. It's actually very impressive. But like I said, it's messy. I was doing it on a boat I was planning to scrap, so it didn't matter to me how the job turned out... and truthfully, it came out pretty good. But, I'll repeat again... it' makes a LARGE mess. If I had to do it on one of our V's, I'd hire a professional to do it. Lots less work and time.

Unless water can drain out from under the cooler, it will become trapped and eventually seep thru the floor and rot the core...I made that mistake with my first V20

There was a guy on seastriper.com that did the bottom on a 2301 Striper he was selling. He did just what destroyer did, harbor freight set up, but he tented it. He then sanded and polished the bottom. It was pretty labor intensive.

ya, I don't like the wood screwed into the deck there. trouble.

Yes I believe this may where my soft spot came from. They are the only holes anywhere near the spot. I definitely plan on remedying this as soon as possible.

Picked up a soda blaster today and 100lbs of media to start. Now I'm just trying to get my hands on a compressor to handle it. Says minimum air requirement is 8.5 CFM @ 90psi and mine only puts out 5. I'm sure it would "work" but would probably not work nearly as efficient.

heheh, now you're going down the hole of saving money

Worked 30 hrs Friday and Saturday so figured I'd better make some family time today. But I did get out there today and pulled the Merc rigging from the Green boat and got them mocked up in the cuddy.

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4iyvmw4d.jpg

Unfortunately where the controls were mounted was too narrow for my controls. I had to move them forward and I'm planning on just capping off the old hole with some star board. They still just barely fit but barely is good enough. Only con is I'll lose my cup holder at 1/2-full throttle.

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...pscjnmmcsi.jpg

A lot easier to mount the controls on starboard on top the existing hole and trim it out to look pretty good than move them forward in my opinion.

They really won't fit there. That ledge actually gets narrower though it's hard to tell in the pics.

Update time.

Got to work on the boat some today. Decided to pull the tank hatch and see what was going on down there. Here's what I found.
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6tmscitn.jpg

It's a 50 gallon poly tank. Obviously the owner got it from a buddy, closeout sale or something to make it worth relocating the filler neck. The first thing I seen was alarming. There was water nearly to the top of the stringers all around and in the middle holes of the tank. It appears they put some foam under the tank for support during install I guess and it actually blocked all the drainage. This could of been disasterous. I couldn't see the bulkhead from the back because of the battery tray but I was able to feel around under it with a metal rod. I felt something spongy like foam and figured hell with it and rammed her in there. Pulled it out and sure enough the dam broke. It drained water continuously for a good 45 minutes.

The tank hatch has been recored which is nice I guess. Seems to be done well. I went ahead and ran a new ethanol friendly fuel line even though I don't plan on using ethanol at all.

But in more exciting news the motor is hung!!
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...psyjtd5e96.jpg

I got the controls all hooked up, fuel system plumbed and just need to hook up the wiring at the helm. Also I need to drain the fuel out as it's raw gas and I need to premix. Was told it has roughly 20 gallons of non ethanol that was put in it 9/16 so if it don't smell too bad I'll just throw it in the pickup. I'm hoping to have it out next Sunday as it's suppose to be a beautiful day.

May pick up a gallon of epoxy resin and try injecting the deck this week. I pulled the pieces of wood he had holding the "cooler seat" in place and to my surprise the screws were in dry wood. I thought for sure that's were my soft deck came from but it doesn't appear so. It's weird because other than that there is nothing attached through the deck anywhere near the bad spot. Puzzling.

Anyways I'm glad I got this thing going in the right direction and hopefully I'll have some underway pics/vids this weekend coming up.

When I redid the underside of my deck because of several soft spots there were no holes in the deck at all. The problem was that the PO never vented the bilge, even during the winter, so any water (and there was a lot of it) that evaporated was just trapped underneath . Eventually the condensation caused the wood on the underside of the deck to just rot out. You might be having a touch of the same situation.

The tank compartment is not a bilge area,. It is meant to be a dry compartment.
The hatch must be sealed with silicone(not 5200 because you should inspect it annually).
Tanks were foamed in place. There is a pvc pipe running under the tank to allow water from forward bilge to stern.
You say you unclogged a hole and it was a gusher. Sounds like the pvc pipe was clogged. Water came from forward.
That pipe clogs alot on old boats. You should probably cut an access hatch in the fish box to get at the forward end of the pipe and remove the piles of junk that are blocking it.
Then put a hose in there and blow out the pipe.

Did you see water drain from tank compartment? if so, there has been some modification.... or you poked a hole in the bulkhead...

Be aware that since your filler is to the stern, you probably will not get a full tank before the vent spits.


It would be a good idea to remove your gunnel rod boxes and reach down in there and clear the holes between the cross frames too. You need long arms....

Hate to say it, but someone a few years ago had problems with a tank put in backwards like that. I'd pull it to turn it around and relocate the filler. While you're in there you can address the foam/drainage situation. Really not to hard considering all the other work you've done/are doing.

Had a little time today so whipped up a new dash. The original was gone so I used some starboard and mounted the gauges and switch panel on it so if I need to access behind the dash I just can pull it out as one big panel. It gives me plenty of room to work in the console as well.
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6x7anyhi.jpg

I used a couple wiring harnesses I had laying around so if I need to remove the dash I can just unplug a couple plugs instead of having to cut stuff again. Hopefully I'll never have to get in there once I'm done though.
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...psmgyzllaw.jpg

What could be a con on it being like this. I don't think it'd be a terrible pain to rotate it but then again it seems like it was easier for them to run a new filler and drill holes in the gunnel instead of putting it the other way so who knows. Obviously it's going to put the filler input to the port side of the hull but I don't see why just running a longer filler hose wouldn't work. But without trying it I guess I will never know.

i would think the fuel pick up toward the stern is the most important consideration.

agree.

The vent towards the stern creates a lot of gushing at fill up and makes it nearly impossible to fill up completely, plus when planing off would probably spew fuel out the vent with all the fuel tilting back towards the stern.

Try it out and see. Figured I'd mention it before you had her all buttoned up and had to re do it.

agree...but fuel pickup forward could cause big problem when you are low on fuel...
Don't like that tank at all...

This is what I was kinda thinking. Kinda damned if you do damned if you don't. Starting to think I might see how the green boat tank would fit.

the new gauge panel is a beauty.

Just a reminder if you decide to replace that tank i will buy it from you