1977 20 ft Seafari to CC Restore

[doradohunter]

A few weeks back I purchased a 20ft Seafari to rebuild. It was in rough shape and someone went at it with a saw before I got it. Transom was ripped out, cabin cut out of the cap, rear cap cut out and trashed. So I gutted the rest and will be turning it into a CC with a flotation bracket and closed transom. I do have a few questions. First, I need to know the deck height for a self bailing setup. Do I need to raise it? As it is right now it doesn't seem that I need to raise it much if at all. I was thinking 1 inch. I will be building back all composite, coosa transom and nidacore deck so it will be lighten up significantly. Let me know what yall think.

[doradohunter]

A little more progress.

[FLexpat]

Judging from your screen name, converting to a flats/bay boat (Hewes Bonefisher layout) would not fit your style, but it would be really cool and easy to do on one stripped down this far. Good luck with the project - you might want to check Bushwacker's posts about maintaining a box structure as you rebuild it. Deck height is a function of how heavy you rebuild it and where you locate the motor and CG. I think the original deck was about 1" above the stringer tops. If you keep it very light and put a light motor on the transom you don't need to raise it much (if any). Build it heavy and put a heavy motor on bracket - you would need at least 2" - likely more but it probably wouldn't handle as well and you start loosing freeboard aft. Have fun with the project!

[doradohunter]

I will be building it back light using composites but adding a flotation bracket and a 175 Suzuki. Transom is going in tomorrow. And I have already built a flats boat, I rebuilt a Mako 151 Flats 2 years ago. Not doing another one of those.

[Bushwacker]

LOT'S of torsional stiffness was lost by cutting away the cap, bulkheads and inner liner. (Try twisting a shoe box with and without the lid taped to it!) If you don't want the boat to be as flexible as a wet noodle, I'd strongly advise laminating some 1/2" balsa core to the hull sides! A good stiff cap glassed to the hull will also help. Since you want to use a lot of composites, I'd suggest you check out Dave Pasco's article on core materials.

And it would be a good idea to keep that anchor locker, which will allow you to use a big oval hawse pipe and mount anchor on deck. There are situations where being able to quickly deploy an anchor can be a big safety factor, or at least very handy if you're trying to anchor over a hot lobster spot!

[flyingfrizzle]

I agree with Bushwacker, most of the hulls done this way have had core added to the sides or extra glass added for strength. The master angler hulls were 3 piece like this one will end up after you cut the liner out of it and the sides on the ma were twice as thick as the 2 piece super fish hull sides. They were built that way since there was no liner and the ma hull with out liner was by far the thickest hull sides than any other seacraft hull I have owned. I had a 20 foot seafari, super fish, secptre and master angler hulls all side by side at the same time and was surprised just how much thicker the ma was. Also you may want some support on the sides, cut some 2x4s and notch them to hold the sides together or support them some how. I had a 71 superfish hull with out the top cap on bare just like yours and it sat on the trailer for 5 years with out support and it grew almost 6 inch wider than my 74 model sitting beside it. It was hard to pull them back in once they sat that way a long time too. There was another member up here that had the same issue after glassing the side core in and he ended up cutting the cap to make it wider so it would fit back on. Nice project by the way, good luck on you build!

[doradohunter]

Tramsom is in and glassed. I plan on reinstalling the cap after the transom and stringers are finished up. We are going to flip the hull and finish the bottom then back over and install the deck and cap bracing. Pull the cap back off after all the structural reinforcement is done. Rebuild the cap and put it together. I plan on leaving the anchor locker liner in. I have the measurements before we removed the liner and I have checked them a few times making sure it isn't being tweeked. This is my 5th boat rebuild but my first Seacraft. Last year I rebuilt a 1972 Chris Craft 25 Tournament.

[doradohunter]

This was the Chris Craft. I know some of you guys like the older stuff. 25 Tournament Fisher refitted with Twin Cummins 4BT 150hp. Pulled it out of a boatyard where it sat for 10 years being ignored.

[Bushwacker]

Nice! How do you like those Cummins engines?

[doradohunter]

That was a really cool boat. I sold it this past summer though. The 4BT is a great motor, just a little shakey. They vibrate alot at idle.