83 36 foot tri cabin questions.

[prowlersfish]

The cost to repair is off the charts

What advice should I give him?


RWS

Really only 2 choices and both means taking a hit . Sell it as is at a loss. Or do what me or you would do on our boats fix it no mater what costs and keep on boating knowing we will never ever get back what we spend on our boats , but its worth it .

It boils down to what is it worth to you ?

[WayWeGo]

The cost to repair is off the charts

What advice should I give him?

RWS

I know of two ways to fix a rotten stinger. One is to cut out the rotten wood and rebuild. The other is to glass over with enough strength to make the wood unnecessary.

Which one I would do is dependent on access, magnitude of the damage, weight distribution and difficulty of isolating the wet wood from the dry wood to contain the damage.

[swampman]

I know a guy that bought a tricabin for a song

He spent 3 years, fixed it up, replaced one engine, and made a beautiful boat to enjoy

Now that he's got the hardest work behind him, he's invested about $10,000 total and lots of sweat equity.

The boat is operable and he's enjoying it on a regular basis.

The problem he now has is a vibration on the starboard side.

The engine and propeller shaft keep falling out of alignment

Sadly he discovered the reason - one stringer is going bad

The cost to repair is off the charts

What advice should I give him?


RWS

Remove the powetrain , cut the top of the stinger , dig out the rot , fill it with sea cast , glass it over leaving it 1/4 inch low at the mounts . cap it with steel c channel through bolted thru the new cast stringer , bend steel plate to weld to the stringer and achieve a reasonable foot print on the bottom inside hull and epoxy / glass it in place . The boat is never gonna be good as new anyway , but the engine falling out of alignment has been adressed .

[prowlersfish]

That would be a NO.

[RWS]

U N C L E

RWS

[swampman]

Right , being a smallblock chevy the stringer could be patched by supporting the engine and pulling one exhaust manifold and motor mount for working room . All this goes back to my earlier point of how some folks have tens of thousands of dollars to pour into a boat and pay for things that get over their skillset . Some folks improvise with what they have and are limited by budget constraints with the awareness that it don't need to last another 50 years anyways .

[prowlersfish]

Right , being a smallblock chevy the stringer could be patched by supporting the engine and pulling one exhaust manifold and motor mount for working room . All this goes back to my earlier point of how some folks have tens of thousands of dollars to pour into a boat and pay for things that get over their skillset . Some folks improvise with what they have and are limited by budget constraints with the awareness that it don't need to last another 50 years anyways .

Using Sea cast to repair a string is a patch at best. The even tell you its not made to be used this way , and not made to stick to wood . And Again no one here is paying tens of thousands for things above the skill set . They are doing it them selves . Unless your skill set is pooping parts its costs

Care to guess the parts costs on these do it yourself projects ? All done with my inferior skill set

[RWS]

ouch !



RWS

[swampman]

[[/quote]


Using Sea cast to repair a string is a patch at best. The even tell you its not made to be used this way , and not made to stick to wood . And Again no one here is paying tens of thousands for things above the skill set . They are doing it them selves . Unless your skill set is pooping parts its costs

Care to guess the parts costs on these do it yourself projects ? All done with my inferior skill set
[/quote]

They do tell you to remove the wood , but they claim a seacast stringer is better and stronger than the wood , So your opinion on the matter does not exactly match what they advertise . I have used the git rot products before with good results . I have a friend that does a lot of transoms with seacast and swears by the stuff ,idk . I wouldn't be afraid to try it . I guess I wonder , after you did all those repairs did you hire a surveyor to inspect the boat and make sure everything was done right ? or did you trust your own judgement and workmanship?
You know I didn't mean to rub you guys wrong , but you are awful easy to troll. lol
I came here hoping for some first hand advice and experiences on a 83 tricabin or that generation of boats from 77 to 86. I was hoping for others that had this same vessel to give some input such as " yeah I had that same model and it developed soft stringers at the forward bulkhead . " or I" I had that same model and the forward deck was soft because {insert reason } . Im sorry , I was looking for some specifics that might help me focus on known problem areas on this particular model . I did not need to be told , get a survey, get a survey , get a survey , get a survey. Im not arguing the wisdom of it , just trying to explain that for this particular deal I cant justify the expense.
Now , in lieu of the fact that I may be making a foolish decision to not get a survey , im willing to do some studying , spend time researching and learning what I can about the particulars of this vessel, maybe even buy some tools so that I may further my own knowledge and invest in myself instead of handing someone a thousand dollars to do what I am capable of learning on my own.
Finally let me say I apologize for my earlier post comparing some of y"all to billy goats .
I obviously meant parrots .

[prowlersfish]

Maybe I trust 40+ years of marine experience , not I fixed one boat and know more then anyone else . You were given advice that you chose to ignore . That's you choice . You ask for advice and then call people trying to help you Billy goats and then parrots ? Myself and others have tried to be nice even after the insults . We enjoy our Trojan boats both using and working on them . Myself and many others use their time and experience to help others here . Some of use have given away countless dollars of parts , driven many miles to help each other out . And many good friendships have evolved . But that's what us Billy goats and Parrots do .

You can lose the chip or Perhaps you should try a more friendly boating site like https://www.thehulltruth.com/ .


Sincerely posted by Mr Billy Goat .

[RWS]

+ 100

oh my !

Thou shalt not ask for opinions and help and then attempt to discredit same sought after advice kindly and freely provided when thou shalt disagree with that kind advice freely provided by experienced, thoughtful helpers.

Confucius say, man who throws dirt is losing ground

RWS

[swampman]

I have no doubt that amongst this forum there is a great group of guys that love to help each other out and see these old boat brought back . I do appreciate the input ive got about water leaks, stringer inspection by drilling holes and epoxy over , solid hulls with no coring below rub rail etc . All things I needed to hear . But there is also a prevalence of condescending attitudes and parroting by some of you that , as far as I can tell don't even have this model of boat I am trying to gain knowledge on . There has been bragging of how much you've spent from month to month of amounts that would buy ten of these boats at the price this one is at . I've tried to reiterate and narrow down the kind of information that I am seeking and have been very clear on the kind of advice you would just be wasting time and energy to give but some of you are just determined to bloviate on the same matter over and over again adding nothing to the conversation . Ive spent hours searching though this forum late at night and have already seen most of the pictures you felt you need to post on this thread to prove your competence and knowledge . I get the feeling that there are a couple of you that have grown so accustomed to being the dominate members of this forum that you just need to hear yourself talk [ so to speak ] even when you have nothing useful to add to a particular topic. Weeding through that has been frustrating . Not to say you're not a great bunch of fellas at a personal level , im sure you are . Im confident you would go out of your way to help a fellow out and do anything you can for a fellow boater and I say that with no sarcasm and the utmost sincerity. I get that , I really do . But there is also a level of arrogance that permeates your comments that I find non useful and an inability to consider that someone may be approaching a matter with a different mindset and different goals than you. some of you guys have done beautiful work restoring these old boats with better than new workmanship and materials. Kudos to you .
In my case im looking at an old beat up tri cabin that I can afford to pay cash for and I intend to use it mostly as a floating cabin on the Saginaw river . I want it to run , be capable of short trips into the bay for fishing and swimming , but I still have a nice little weekender il drag around the state for when I want to spend a week at mackinaw , traverse city, whatever . Im just trying to learn about this particular model of trojan so I understand what im getting best I can . Not looking for a boat that will outlive me and be handed down to my grandkids . Just a liveaboard I can tinker with and have fun with for a few years . Seems like some of y'all just can't give advice without a preconception that everything should be done perfect and ideal . If a tri -cabin had been my dream boat my whole life then yeah no doubt , id get a survey and be willing to spend 30k on the right one , but that's not what this boat is about .

[mikeandanne]

I completely agree with your position for what you want this boat for, I would just go and buy the darn thing, enjoy fixing it up how I want and quit talking about it, before someone else buys it out from under you.

I will add that in my experience so far, all and I mean all boats are different, even the same years from the same maker. To add they are owned by any number of different people who by themselves and their mechanics, do some improper things to them which lead to any amount of damage. That is the reason getting EXACT advice on where to find flaws over the internet is not possible. It just doesn't work that way.

Please be safe in whatever you do, marine electrical is very different than land based, there are numerous deaths every year from poorly wired boats and docks. Regardless of how this particular advice is taken, I need to mention it for you and anyone else that reads these threads, that is what I consider as my responsibility in the matter. Now go buy your boat.

[prowlersfish]

.

[10meterman]

Advice on a project is information ,,, use the information to help you make a decision that works for you , and you are happy with.
Doing a project gives you experience,,, which is priceless. Have fun with your boat enjoy it ,,Be Safe!!
No name calling required,, P. O. A . Positive Mental Attitude
you ever make it Monroe Bay Colonial Beach I buy you a beer