20' Seafari: The Resurrection

[Dogbomb]

Originally Posted by Capt Terry

Dogbomb-
Wow coves off the Colorado. Good for Watersports? My bucket list includes wakeboarding & slalom on places like Lake Powell.

Oh yes, the Colorado is water ski heaven. Warm, flat water all day.


We go boat camping on Powell once a year. It's a fantastic piece of water,
and I look forward to spending a week on the SeaCraft next year!

[Capt Terry]

Originally Posted by Dogbomb

I'll have to look into that! Would be cool to have a professionally made
unit instead of my own questionable design.

I think this explains the Herman connection on the full splashwell that you saw in my recent photo. My Seafari was delivered in June 1976. It must have been after 1980 when Potter was no longer with SeaCraft that he had a company, SeaMark, making after-market parts. I ordered my splashwell from Potter at SeaMark. I believe it was Don Herman that was working for or making the splashwell for Potter and apparently continued to do that occasionally thereafter. There was a recent post that Don was getting ready to trash the mold. One of the CSC'ers got a hold of it when Vezo was interested (can't remember who), before it went to the dump.

[bigeasy1]

Tony,I have some new window rubber seal left over from my tsunami project.I got it from American marine.I believe they made the original windshields for seacraft.
I pretty sure the profile of the seal is the same on the seafari.I'm up in NY on Lake Ontario until the end of the month,but when I return I'll measure what I have left if you're interested

[Dogbomb]

Originally Posted by Capt Terry

There was a recent post that Don was getting ready to trash the mold. One of the CSC'ers got a hold of it when Vezo was interested (can't remember who), before it went to the dump.

Good information, thank you!
Maybe I can track down the current owner of that mold.

[Dogbomb]

Originally Posted by bigeasy1

Tony,I have some new window rubber seal left over from my tsunami project.I got it from American marine.I believe they made the original windshields for seacraft.
I pretty sure the profile of the seal is the same on the seafari.I'm up in NY on Lake Ontario until the end of the month,but when I return I'll measure what I have left if you're interested

Hey, thank you, John! That would be terrific.
I hope your trip is fantastic and that the fish are biting.
Your Seafari likes it here in California!

[Capt Terry]

Dogbomb-
Look for a PM from me, Capt Terry

[McGillicuddy]

Greetings Dogbomb,

Got plenty of those in my backyard, and could use a whole bunch down at the Coronados... but I digress...

Congrats on the the Seafari. I too, had a SeaCraft hauled sight unseen from the other side of the Big Muddy. Pretty sure its some kind of unrecognized disorder.

At any rate, I'm sure Capt Terry and Bushwacker have already mentioned what a versatile little boat it is (see pic below).

A couple of things to note:

Scuppers tend to leak. They probably need replacing and are about & 5 ea., online. Moeller also has a flaring tool for about $35. These scuppers are very efficient underway, but not at the ramp or sitting still.

The scuppers corrode/crack over the years and water seeps in around them saturating the wood blockthat surounds/supports them, and then nature takes over. Usually visible along starboard string by batter pad if you're looking for it.

The other leak tendency is at the seam between the hull and cap. This will saturate the cabin and eventually you'll have a wet sleeping bag on a cold night @ Lake Powell or Havasu.
Addressing those two things are easy and offer some peace of mind.

Great boat for your plans. BTW did you ever look at the Yellow Seafari 20 listed in Fullerton?

The little placard does tell you about the boat. It will state make model and location of mfg., and maybe a couple other things. Hull ID should be in upper starboard corner of outer side of transom.
First 3 letters are Mfg., "SEC," or other depending on the year and manufacturer, 4th is model, 5th is length (a 0 for 20', a 3 for 23', etc.). 4 & 5 may be vice-versa? the rest are no., mo. the last 2 are the year of manufacture. Post a pic and we'll help you sort it out.

Cheers,

McG

[Capt Terry]

Dogbomb-
Hi Tony, I sent you another PM you might be interested in, but probably not many others.

McGil-
My scuppers are original, but thinking about replacing them. The boat was used in salt water the first half of its life but either thoroughly washed after every outing or later it sat in somewhat brackish water in Palm City, 12 miles upstream from the St. Lucie inlet. Are there any good tips about removing the old ones and doing a good flare & sealing job on the new ones? Thanks, you share a lot of useful information.

[McGillicuddy]

Capt Terry,

Rather than derailing Dogbomb's joy, Ill start a different thread or find a working link...

Regarding the flaring I used this tool, athough you'll need a longer bolt:
https://www.amazon.com/520290-1-Drai.../dp/B0082ANA0C

I believe Bushwacker flared his with an old deep well socket...

Cheers,

Gillie

[Bushwacker]

Originally Posted by Capt Terry

. . . Are there any good tips about removing the old ones and doing a good flare & sealing job on the new ones? . . .

Terry,

If you're getting enough water leaking into a Seafari hull to trigger the automatic bilge pump after you've been anchored for a half hour or so, your scuppers are probably leaking. I believe the original design just depended on the flare of the brass tube against the hull to create a seal and they didn't use any sort of bedding compound. I believe that the flare deteriorates over time, allowing a small leak that gradually gets worse. If the boat is left in salt water, electrolysis may also be a factor. Electrolysis can cause the zinc to disappear from the brass, leaving a sponge-like copper material that's very weak.

Even the original brass tubes are pretty soft, so to remove them, just use a screwdriver+hammer to hit the edge of the lower flare and buckle the tube enough that you can collapse it and pull it out with a pair of pliers. I've replaced mine a couple of times in the 41 years I've had my boat. Don't think I used any sealant the first time, and during the 2nd replacement, I discovered that the wood 4x4 blocks that Potter installed between the hull and inner liner where they drilled the scupper holes had partially rotted away, so there was a significant gap between the brass tubes and wood block. I did a post on here about 2007 or 2008 documenting my repair process, but can't find any posts that old with the search function, so will try to describe what I did as follows:

I wanted something more substantial than brass tubes keeping water out of the boat, so came up with the idea of just filling the holes with thickened epoxy and then redrilling them. I used a core consisting of a tapered PVC union and riser with a wood dowel which could be easily drilled out that would also function as a soft pilot hole for the 1" twist drill. These pictures should give you a pretty good idea of the process. I first dried out the wood with denatured alcohol and then used Git Rot to strengthen and make 'em a bit more waterproof. Poured the thickened epoxy into an empty caulk tube (I chilled the resin in the fridge before mixing to keep it from kicking off too fast!) and used a caulk gun to inject it into the holes. Repair of stbd side went well, but on port side the resin just followed the path of the water and ran out into the hull! Fortunately the resin was still thick enough that it sealed up the leak when it hardened, so a second injection of resin worked ok. Redrilling the holes was a piece of cake and I ended up with little to no mismatch with original holes in bottom of hull. I did use a generous amount of Life Caulk around the new tubes just to be safe however! I didn't bother with a fancy flaring tool, as I had an old tapered 1/2" drive socket with a very nice radius on it for starting the flare, so just put some 3/8" threaded rod with some nuts and washers thru the socket and tightened the nuts to flare the tube enough to lock it in place. At that point, it was easy to use a ball peen hammer to finish the flare on the bottom of the hull. Those scuppers haven't leaked a drop since then!

Boat Owners Warehouse in Riviera Beach was able to get the 1" OD x ~8-9" long brass tubes overnight for just a few bucks. Although some folks on here said the tubes should be heated with a torch first to anneal and soften them to make 'em easy to flare, I didn't do that. They were already flared on one end, so I suspect they were already in the annealed condition, as they were obviously intended to be flared on the other end as well, and I had no problem making the flare.

Hopefully this will help others repair their leaking scuppers! If you happen to have a CC model, you also have another potential leak source in the brass drain tube in the forward fish box, which is subject to the same deterioration as the scupper tubes! Denny