Actually Land O Lakes, but few people know where that is. I just wanted to introduce myself and say how excited I am to have found this site. I've owned the boat since 1989 and always felt that it was something special but never knew what a following they still had. A little history about the boat, since you're probably more interested in that than you are in me. It used to reside in Chippewa Lake, Ohio. It was sunk in a storm on a trip to one of the Great Lakes (Erie maybe?) and when it was recovered they dragged it across a bunch of rocks making deep gouges in the hull. Those were filled with Bondo and the hull was then painted over. A few years ago I had the hull professionally stripped and gel coated so that has now been repaired properly. I've replaced the interior 3 times since buying the boat in 1989, and the most recent time around I also replaced the floor and stringers with SeaCast and fiberglass. Thank goodness, no more wood and I'll never have to do that floor again! I have pictures of the floor restoration, but no pictures of the outside of the boat. That's something I plan to remedy this summer. Funny thing is, I was talking about the boat to a coworker and decided to look for pics of one on the net. That's what led me to this fantastic site. Hooray! If there are any Dyne owners near Tampa, give me a shout and maybe we can get together.
Welcome, We look forward to your pictures. There are a bunch of people from the south east and Florida areas. I am sure that Jim will introduce himself as he is in Florida Also. Daniel
Rick, I have an 18 and I live in Central FL just north of Orlando. Welcome to the forum. There are pictures of my boat here. It is an I/O converted to an outboard so it looks a little different. Is the boat an 18 or 20? I am interested in hearing your opinion of the seacast. Did you seacast the transom also? jim
Thanks for the nice welcome. Jim, I've already spent several hours perusing the forum and I feel like I know some people already. And I've looked at a lot of boat pictures, including yours. This place is a great source for reference material. Regarding the floor, I had it replaced twice by people who marketed themselves as professionals but it didn't hold up very well. When I opened it up myself, I found the center stringer completely rotten and the others well on their way. Quite frankly, replacing them with wood was beyond my skill level and I didn't have any measure of confidence that I could seal up new wood and get it to last. That's where the Seacast was a life saver. I used a small battery powered circular saw to cut away only the top section of the fiberglass on the the stringers. Then I scraped out the wood pulp from the center, leaving the old fiberglass sides in place as a mold. That made replacing the stringers ridiculously easy - just mix up the Seacast and pour it in. (No, I don't work for them!) Once it was hardened I glassed over the whole thing with a couple layers that extended a few inches out on the lower floor on each side of the stringers. The drainage tube for the bow well was actually inside the casing for the center stringer. The wood had one corner cut off down the entire length to make room for it. That would have been extremely difficult for me to replicate, but with the Seacast it was easy. All I did was pour on top of the tube. The pylon mount would have been tricky as well, but now that's just one giant block of Seacast. The raised floor I built out of foam with a couple layers of glass on both sides. Since the stringers are now made of solid fiberglass, I didn't worry about water intrusion so I screwed the floor down and then glassed over the screws. It'll be a bear to take out if it ever needs to be done, but I'm not expecting that to happen in my lifetime. The transom was replaced in the mid 80s and still seems to be fine so I didn't mess with it. As for the result with fiberglass stringers and floor, I couldn't be happier. The boat is stiffer and more responsive, and it doesn't seem any heavier to me. If there are any drawbacks, I don't know what they are. Edit: Forgot to answer your question - it is an 18. And it has the original USCG placard showing the rating for 255HP. The number on the transom shows it as a 74, but it is titled as a 73.
What density foam did you use in the floor, and how did you fasten the seats down? I think that is a great set up for the floor and stringers. That seafoam has always worried me in the transom because of the big loads there. jim
Not sure about the foam density. It was orange. I do have some left so if it's marked anywhere I can take a peek. This was my first time working with fiberglass, and I had a friend who is very knowledgeable about such things help me. He and the guys at the fiberglass supply store in St. Pete were invaluable. For seats I'm using back-to-back lounge seats from West Marine. They're on plastic frames (can you tell I'm tired of rottten wood?) and I cut down the bases by about half so they're the right height. They're fastened to the floor by glassed-in stainless angle brackets. Honestly, I can't remember whether I screwed them into the floor or not.
The boat was originally rigged with twin Merc 1150s. The second owner (standing next to me at the moment) bought the boat in 1978. After messing with the Mercs for a while, and having one of them always broken, he repowered with a Merc 140. When that burned up he bought the 1983 Johnson 175 that it has now. I had it rebuilt in the mid 90s, and it's still going strong. I know you guys love your Mercurys, but there's something to be said for a big Johnson.
