crazyeddie
Well-known member
Hello all,
I just reclaimed my account after being absent since 2009. College, career, marriage, house, and two kids later, I finally returned to my love of boating with the massive project I'll be sharing here. Bear with me as I have almost 200 photos which I'll be sharing the best of and narrating as time permits. Hopefully this writeup gives people some ideas, inspiration, and encouragement for their builds.
Having fished out of an 11' rowboat most of our lives, my brother and I were on the lookout for a larger, more comfortable boat. Dropping over $35k on a new boat was not an option and 99% of the options on Marketplace and Craigslist were overpriced for the condition they were in so we waited. I ran into a friend of the family at the store one day and he asked if we knew anyone that was looking for a fishing boat as he had one for sale. We paid him a visit to check it out and found it was a Sea Nymph SC-170 Fish Tracker with a splashwell, livewell, running 85hp Suzuki DT-85, all on a tilt trailer. Our immediate observations were that it had been stored outside uncovered for years because it was butt ugly, the floor was redone in OSB that was swelled up under the carpet, the transom core appeared to be soft, and the hull was so heavy that two guys couldn't lift the tongue of the trailer leading us to believe the foam was waterlogged. Not knowing what we'd be in for, we drove away with it with registration in hand for $300 which we split.
The first thing we did was fire the motor. It was running on two cylinders and the fuel pump was sucking air from a crack in the fuel filter housing. The center plug was wet with water and that was dead giveaway that the head gasket was blown. The fuel/oil recirculation hoses and check valves were missing, half the skeg was broken off, the carbs were overflowing fuel from the vents, the rectifier was burnt, and it had the small 1/4" fuel line quick-disconnects for smaller outboards. That was just the tip of the iceberg on the motor.
We pulled the motor, mounted it to a stand, and popped the transom cap off to find the plywood core was basically mulch. My brother gutted the hull which included removing the carpet, console dash, OSB floor, a full pickup truck load of waterlogged foam, and the transom core which had to be excavated with a prybar. We found the outer aluminum transom skin was corroded through in a few spots but the rest of the hull and riveted construction was in good shape and not leaking.
I just reclaimed my account after being absent since 2009. College, career, marriage, house, and two kids later, I finally returned to my love of boating with the massive project I'll be sharing here. Bear with me as I have almost 200 photos which I'll be sharing the best of and narrating as time permits. Hopefully this writeup gives people some ideas, inspiration, and encouragement for their builds.
Having fished out of an 11' rowboat most of our lives, my brother and I were on the lookout for a larger, more comfortable boat. Dropping over $35k on a new boat was not an option and 99% of the options on Marketplace and Craigslist were overpriced for the condition they were in so we waited. I ran into a friend of the family at the store one day and he asked if we knew anyone that was looking for a fishing boat as he had one for sale. We paid him a visit to check it out and found it was a Sea Nymph SC-170 Fish Tracker with a splashwell, livewell, running 85hp Suzuki DT-85, all on a tilt trailer. Our immediate observations were that it had been stored outside uncovered for years because it was butt ugly, the floor was redone in OSB that was swelled up under the carpet, the transom core appeared to be soft, and the hull was so heavy that two guys couldn't lift the tongue of the trailer leading us to believe the foam was waterlogged. Not knowing what we'd be in for, we drove away with it with registration in hand for $300 which we split.
The first thing we did was fire the motor. It was running on two cylinders and the fuel pump was sucking air from a crack in the fuel filter housing. The center plug was wet with water and that was dead giveaway that the head gasket was blown. The fuel/oil recirculation hoses and check valves were missing, half the skeg was broken off, the carbs were overflowing fuel from the vents, the rectifier was burnt, and it had the small 1/4" fuel line quick-disconnects for smaller outboards. That was just the tip of the iceberg on the motor.
We pulled the motor, mounted it to a stand, and popped the transom cap off to find the plywood core was basically mulch. My brother gutted the hull which included removing the carpet, console dash, OSB floor, a full pickup truck load of waterlogged foam, and the transom core which had to be excavated with a prybar. We found the outer aluminum transom skin was corroded through in a few spots but the rest of the hull and riveted construction was in good shape and not leaking.
