tjhooker Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 I bought myself a severely damaged 2000 sylvan adventurer 1600. Found it on Craigslist Buffalo for $400. Thought to myself that the live wells and other parts are very salvageable. Was going to strip her but one she was home and I got a better look I decided to try to fix it. A boat had been crashed into at the bow by another boat and it had a huge dent, several gashes, a destroyed bumper rail and one hell of a huge hole. The kind of hole a cat could climb into for his afternoon pee. (which I am sure happened a few times because my landlord who lives downstairs is a cat lady with 6 cats) Here's what she looked like when I got her. First picture shows console caved in and bumper rail hanging inside. Second picture shows big hole, bumper rail missing at top, several nasty dents and next to the hole (right side) a squiggly s shaped tear. Picture wasn't low enough to see that the hole stopped at the bottom of the blue paint. What changed my mind about stripping her was the fact that the hole ended 8 inches above the waterline. I am not made of money like some and what I do have I have accumulated with sweat and hard labor. That being said I managed to pull off the repair for less than $400 which puts the boat at the $800 dollar mark. I had 2 boat trailers sitting around at my grandma's house for a few years. One I picked up for free the other was so cheap I couldn't refuse. I traded the first trailer on kijiji for a 7.5 johnson and kicker mount. The motor hadn't run in 10 years. But lady luck was on my side. I took apart the carb and removed the lower. All the gaskets on the carb were like new. I was shocked. So I cleaned the lines and carb with solvent and put it back together. The lower was looking good as well. It shifted smoothly and when the water pump came apart the impeller was as flexible as the day it was made with no cracks. So I put it back together and changed the gear oil. I thought this is too good to be true with my luck the electrical is bad. I decided to try to fire it up anyways. First pull and she started and idled like it was brand new. The second trailer was too small for this boat to be picked up so I sold it for $300. I found a like new shore lander trailer on kijiji for $500 it had bad bunks and was told the wiring was shot. I took it anyway. I changed the bunks and checked the wiring. The owner had forgot to attach the wires at the hitch area. once attached it worked perfectly. Put the boat on the trailer and got her home. The repair and pictures: I cut the damaged area out in strait lines. the new hole was 1 1/2 ft long and 16 inches wide. I bought a 2 ft by 4 ft sheet of .63 aluminum from Metal supermarkets. went to home depot and bought 100 machine screw, 100 machine screw nuts and 100 lock nuts. I also purchased 2 tube of 3m 5200 at a boating store. I covered the aluminum with the goop and attached it over the hole. I also used the goop on every screw. Once dry I lightly sanded the outside and bought some semi matching paint for the outside. Painted it and put the rest of the boat back together. Here are the picture of what she looks like now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickyy33 Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 That's a sweet deal, Good work on the repair, my boat had the similar issue but was the whole rear transom coming off due to years of quick fixes, I welded mine rather than riveting tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveC Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Awesome job.........looks great for the price. You really should have used aluminum rivits though. Reason I say that is that I work with this type of thing all day repairing transit buses. Aluminum will corrode with the regular screws. But it might last you a while. What you needed to use was what they call Aluminum solid rivits. These are simple to install with a regular chisel gun and a block of steel. They have what they call a headmaker that is the size of the rivit and you simply go lightly on the trigger of the chisel gun and hold a block of metal on the inside on the rivit. IF you look up aircraft riviting you will see what I mean. Not critisizing your job....just giving you some advice for future. Always good to have that headmaker when other rivits in the boat come loose and leaks. But good on you for the repair job......it floats and you have a boat so its all good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ogliq2 Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 You got a nice boat now. Great repair job, and an awesome deal .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjhooker Posted July 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 Awesome job.........looks great for the price. You really should have used aluminum rivits though. Reason I say that is that I work with this type of thing all day repairing transit buses. Aluminum will corrode with the regular screws. But it might last you a while. What you needed to use was what they call Aluminum solid rivits. These are simple to install with a regular chisel gun and a block of steel. They have what they call a headmaker that is the size of the rivit and you simply go lightly on the trigger of the chisel gun and hold a block of metal on the inside on the rivit. IF you look up aircraft riviting you will see what I mean. Not critisizing your job....just giving you some advice for future. Always good to have that headmaker when other rivits in the boat come loose and leaks. But good on you for the repair job......it floats and you have a boat so its all good. I would have liked to have used solid rivets but did not have the tools or the guy to help me on the other side. The machine screws are made of zinc. On the elements chart they are very close together. I coated the screws with the goop and a fair amount of paint. Should be some time before the zinc comes loose and they corrode. At that point I should have a new boat or a tombstone somewhere. (Knock on fish) Thanks for the compliments guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesse Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 nice job putting that package together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smerchly Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 Very good job on the repair ! I bought a boat that a garage fell on top (wind storm) and did some damage to the top front part and bent the gunnel badly . I got a used gunnel strip from a marina in Port Colborne and some solid rivets to replace it . I used a sledge hammer head to flatten the rivets with some help from a friend . I used a flat head 5 lb mallet & blocks of wood to straighten out the aluminum bow & touch up paint ......it worked for me . A little time & elbow grease & you're laughing ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishcatch Posted July 12, 2012 Report Share Posted July 12, 2012 A little time and money and. Good for you on your DIY job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sirfishalot Posted September 3, 2012 Report Share Posted September 3, 2012 Nice temp repair job. but eventually the 2 metals will start to react and corrode. In lieu of the solid rivets which takes 2 guys and alot of effort you can get what are called sealable rivets, they are designed for these such repairs,they are heavy duty and I have used them on many occassions with zero probs. They can be ordered at Fastenal and the best part is they can be installed with a good rivet gun. Enjoy your new boat. P.S I saw that boat listed,i sent a reply... but someone beat me to the punch....lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meatface Posted September 3, 2012 Report Share Posted September 3, 2012 Well I'm jealous. Nice work though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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