'79 19-6 ff rebuild/repower w/pics

[Anonymous]

Well I was having a hard time getting people to answer my other thread....so here goes.  I'm going to try to post a couple of pics.  They are of my boat, and as of now....just trying to pull out my transom.  It's been a real pain in the arse.

[Anonymous]

OK, got pics downpat, here's the others....

[JimCt]

Your project is like mine with an I/O.  Biggest challenge will be when you put the new transom in to get it within the thickness specs. for the outdrive.  How did you discover the transom was bad?

[Anonymous]

Jimct, the transom felt super stiff.  I didn't know for sure if it was bad, although I expected it to be as it is a 30 yr old hull.  I had to pull the engine/outdrive for the repower.  The bolt holes were a little soggy so I decided to pull it.  It is soaked.

The funny thing is....I started to cut the floor out with the transom last week.  As I worked up from the transom forward, I stopped.  The floor still looks like it probably did 30 years ago.  Wood was dry as a bone.  But now I'm at a loss for what to do.  From what I can see from the stern, the foam is soaked!!!.  Now I've gotta figure out a way to get the foam out and new in without ruining the floor.  I have had a suggestion from a buddy.....a toilet snake....running it up from the back to tear it out and maybe adding a couple hatches in the middle of the floor and running it up there as well.  Any thoughts?

So how did you get yours up to spec?  Two pieces of 3/4, the outter skin, then what? mat in between outter and first piece of core, layer of mat and roving on outside of last piece of core.....etc???

[JimCt]

To get all the soggy foam you can cut ports in the deck, maybe with a hole saw directly over the stringers and work that way like you suggested.  Reason you need several access ports in a line working forward is after you've pulled the wet foam out, you've got to replace it.  With multiple ports, you can progressively pour the foam starting aft and working your way forward from port to port.  I'm a tad uneasy about that method since you will be weakening the stringers with each successive port you cut into the stringers.  Were it my boat, unless I really wanted to make a bigger project out of it, I'd leave the stringers as they are. The stringers won't rot with the water in there, so all you'd be sacrificing would be speed... because of the added weight of the wet foam.

If you plow through my thread on the 240 rebuild in the rebuilds forum, you'll see how I plan to address the transom situation to bring it to the required spec.  If you are installing a brand new engine & drive, they should supply you with a CD which lays out the specifications for installation.

[Anonymous]

Jimct, I was actually talking about the foam under the floor, not necessarily in the stringers.  I haven't even cut into them yet.  It's actually kind of weird the way they have it set up.  In this pic, the yellow arrow is the right edge of the engine compartment.  The blue is the stringer, with the green line showing the seperation.  To the right of that you can see that it's open to the hull.  Well the foam is exposed right there.  They had hatches above that where water came right in.  I'll try to get a better pic tomorrow of it all.  

Also, what's the best way to cut that engine compartment out, the wood under it is rotten?

I'm not using a new engine.  I'm stealing the engine and outdrive out of my '97 Bayliner.  I guess I'm going to part it out.

[Anonymous]

Man, I just read your entire rebuild thread.  Ugh, I tried to stop but you know how that is... you try to leave it but then wonder what was going to need work next.  Anyway, crap, I wonder what I'm going to have to do.  The engine that was in it was an older 2.5 liter mercruiser with the alpha 1.  The other one is a '97 with an alpha 1 gen 2 drive.  Some people told me I would be fine with the existing hole.  Others weren't sure, they said something about most likely having to drill 2 extra holes.  I guess I need to email mercruiser and see what they can tell me.