Needs 8-31-2008

Looking for a sales brochure from 1974. If anyone has one please drop me an e-mail.

The Interior 8-23 thru 8-31

Ok, the work in the back has indicated that the deck is rotten in some places. Also, all of the fake "wood" vinyl is coming off the real wood so something has to be done about this. In addition, a piece of carpet was put down over the original carpet. All of it is worn and not worth keeping so the past two weekends have been spent removing interior details and pulling the floor. The good news is the floor came out easily revealing that the under lying structure is in good shape.

I also pulled the control console and the cabin door. I decided to make a new console using the old one as a pattern. The door is getting sanded, sealed and finished with a new polyurethane coating. Imagine, real wood looking like well real wood. The photo shows the start of the cabin door refinishing. The other photos show what was left of the control console.

The Tilt Motor 8-17-2008

With all of the port hardware out of the way, removal of the tilt motor was easy. It looked pretty bad beat up which is not unexpecte for its age. A call to the local OMC dealer indicated it was $300 for a new one or $200 for a refurbished one. However, off to Ebay again and I found one for $88. Hopefully it will work great when it gets here. not sure why it is so much less expensive than the OMC dealer.

With the trim motor removed I took a look at the select trim. With a couple of taps the motor started turning again. However the jack screw only goes a couple of turns. After further investigation I think something is binding at the top of the screw. For now I am waiting for a manual to come in that I ordered. Hopefully it will lend some light on the problem.

The Port Side Aft 8-16-2008

Well I got the fuel tank out today. The port side transom is pretty bad as well. I decided that the transom plate has to come out. Good news, with an aluminum hull boat the wood in the transom is just a plate bolted to the back of the hull to stiffen the aft aluminum hull plate. I pulled all the bolts out and removed screws. Then I came in with a reciprocating saw and cut the plate up so it could be taken out in piecess. It came out pretty easy.

The Transom Plate 8-10-2008

Well cleaned up the interior and threw away all of the rotted life jackets and stuff that were up in the cabin. Removed the aft seats and started working my way back to the transom to see what I would find. The transom plate was rotted severly on the starboard side. The port side could not be accesed due to the fuel tank. The starboard transom plate litterally came out in crumbs and flakes from the hull to a point about 10" inboard from the hull.

Just to find out what else is wrong I decided to hook up a battery. Some of the lights worked. The engine cranked !! I did not try to get it to fire though due to old gas in the tank and no water to the lower unit. I then tried the trims. Of course neither motor worked. Oh well, I will get the tank out in a couple of days and see what the starboard side looks like.

Welcome Home 8-9-2008

My latest project comes home. A 1974 Norseman DC Cuddy Cabin. She is a find off of Ebay. Brought her from Nebraska down to Tulsa, OK. She is 19 ft long with a 140 HP OMC Stringer. There are the usual types of problems. Rotten wood in the transom plate. Carpet is worn out. Electrical is slightly better than a rats nest. However, the hull is sound and the 3.0L GM, though not currently running does turn over and is reported to have run a couple of years back. Basically it looks like she was parked in about 2004 and just left to sit.