23 CC storm casualty

[foolharty]

A good family friend and neighbor had this boat for years. He loved it, but it was getting worn- needed TLC. I would joke about when he was going to sell it to me. In reality I always wanted something older, but whatever if the deal was right it would suffice. Well it only took an act of God to get the deal worked out.

After the July 4th Hurricane/ TS Arthur hit Nantucket I was out on the Whaler surveying the damage in the harbor. Lo and behold I see in the distance a black bobbing upside down hull. Pit in my stomach, call up neighbor, "have you been down to the boat?" He says "yes, and I have a proposition for you..."

A sight no one wants to see...









Righted and pulled

[foolharty]

Obviously the console is a total loss. It ripped from the floor and pulled up a bit of deck with it. Structurally everything but the main deck and parts of the top cap are fine. I could patch floor but am leaning towards replacing with fresh material and raising up above the waterline. Fuel tank has water in it and will have to drain. It is the biggest fuel tank I've ever seen! I also have a new console from C&M ready to go, and a 200 optimax on standby.

[FAS]

sad to see a boat upside down in the water,plenty of work to do there,its all worth it in the end, keep the progress picts coming!

[foolharty]

Stripped down everything on the boat. Bennet trim tabs, steering, bilge, bow rail, Johnson 225 & rigging all into the trash.

[foolharty]

Major decision coming up... To recore the existing deck or cut out and replace with new? I am not looking forward to spending as much, if not more time grinding out the old wood and replacing sections when it would be the better move to just start over. Right now the drainage channels and scuppers are nice and factory, but drain out below the waterline. On a boat that already sunk, its important to make changes necessary to be able to hold its own on the mooring. The method of cutting the deck out and leaving the 4" cleat to rest on top of would allow me to make drainage channels and have new scuppers go out a little bit higher.

I was planning for it the other day and was looking at where the liner meets the floor and its a weird seam that might be a little tricky to glass to. Has anyone ever done this? Its probably only a problem encountered on the late 80s versions.







This is the largest area thats rotten but there are other isolated soft spots. You can see the console screw holes, all soft.

[FAS]

First , kudo's to you to take on a project like this..looks worse than mine, sorry...I think you should cut out the deck, pattern it and toss it.if you take the top skin off and scrape out all the old checkered plywood they used,the bottom glass is only 1/8",and fragile. there is shims of all sorts of stuff stuck under that, putty, ply ,half glass,foam, etc...get rid of it !you wont have a flat start to replace the deck, and you will want to make a proper crown too.read up on the channels, keep them .check other guys picts before you cut,a single engine should not be a problem for the scuppers,try to go with a 30" transom,build it up or fill it in completely, and go full ,with a bracket.Since the boat did sink, your gonna want to inspect the foam in the stringers,You will be happy if you dig in enough to check these out.its not that bad a process.check em, clean em, re foam em, If needed.. Then do the deck.I did my deck in 3 pieces.rock solid, and you have something to bolt or screw to.Good luck on your 23, I am sure we can share resto picts on this site thru the winter... Freddy.

[gw204]

Would it be possible to raise the deck by cutting the a few inches from the liner above the floor, and then glassing the liner back together? That would allow you to maintain the factory drain channels.

Just a thought...

[FLexpat]

Originally Posted by gw204

Would it be possible to raise the deck by cutting the a few inches from the liner above the floor, and then glassing the liner back together? That would allow you to maintain the factory drain channels.

Just a thought...

Seems to me like cutting the deck to leave a tab from the liner for the rebuilt deck to rest on might be better than a butt joint in tension where you can't get to the back side to put in extra glass (about a 1/2" space to hull there on mine). The best answer might be to pull the liner but I cant figure out how to do that on mine without a disaster due to the putty along the liner to hull joint at the gunnels.

[foolharty]

@gw that's a good thought but would be lacking if I didn't take the entire liner off to get to the backside. The tab method will be a safe bet, as redesigning the drainage channels and enlarging the scuppers is also a priority.

@fas I have to take a pic of the factory rear livewell and hatch compartment that I had. Didn't see the same on yours...
Raising transom and bracketing is not in the cards this year. Maybe someday.

[foolharty]

Some updates throughout the spring. Really flown through this and got the tank and deck in in a matter of days.