76 Custom Sea Ray Restoration Almost Complete

I used more 5200 all around the edge where the bracket would be mounted to the transom, to create a water tight seal.

I used large ss bolts, I think 3 1/2". There are 12 of these bolts attaching the bracket to transom.

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On the inside of the transom, two large aluminum braces are used to bolt the bracket through and evenly distribute the weight.

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Next I had to rebuild the interior deck because I had a big hole where the motor's were. Again, no pics of the process but I have one we took shortly after on a fishing trip with my friend's son holding a fish :)

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And one of her under power....

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This next pic is the first time it was in the water after the outboard conversion. Everything worked perfectly, except I had the power steering lines backwards. Turn wheel left, boat turns right. That made docking interesting lol. Easy fix, and off we went. That was three years ago and I've never regretted it once. This hull loves outboard power !!

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sbw1 said:
That was a pretty nice set up as well. I owned a 1979 26 foot Express cruiser that I ran for nearly 4000 hours. It had a 350 V8 making 260 HP. The boat also came with twin 350s as an option although it sat very low in the water with that power arrangement. If I had known about the twin sixes I might have done that instead of a single 350.
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Those inline 6's were beasts!! I had more problems with the outdrives. They were the Achilles heel of that set up.
 
I have a 1977 Sundancer 240 with twin 470's and pre alpha outdrives and your right about the outdrives I have had far more work on them than the engines although it is getting close. I have been bringing the boat back to original with a few upgrades. I am also considering converting to outboards mainly because they are less trouble to maintain,and safer. Where did you get your outboard bracket and is it made from aluminum or a composite?
I would love to put a top on my rig but it has the vortex windshield and would be a engineering nightmare and as good a builder I may think I am that would be way beyond my skills.
I am really impressed with what you have done with your boat it really looks great. Taking your time and thinking it all out paid off in the end result for sure.
Like everyone else I would like to see more pictures especially the construction of your top, might inspire me. LOL And also the rebuilding of the transom.
 
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Loyd Dinneen said:
I have a 1977 Sundancer 240 with twin 470's and pre alpha outdrives and your right about the outdrives I have had far more work on them than the engines although it is getting close. I have been bringing the boat back to original with a few upgrades. I am also considering converting to outboards mainly because they are less trouble to maintain,and safer. Where did you get your outboard bracket and is it made from aluminum or a composite?
I would love to put a top on my rig but it has the vortex windshield and would be a engineering nightmare and as good a builder I may think I am that would be way beyond my skills.
I am really impressed with what you have done with your boat it really looks great. Taking your time and thinking it all out paid off in the end result for sure.
Like everyone else I would like to see more pictures especially the construction of your top, might inspire me. LOL And also the rebuilding of the transom.
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I don't seem to have the info anymore from whom I ordered the bracket. I had met a boat builder from Wilmington NC, and he actually ordered it for me. He also was the one who instructed me on using a ship lap router edge on the inside of the outdrive hole. That was three years ago though. The bracket is built using 1/4" aluminum. It probably weigh's around 100 lbs.

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I mentioned earlier, I LOVE the bracket and outboard. It's not something I'd necessarily suggest others do, but it worked for me. I could have installed a single engine bracket, because I now know twins are not necessary. My 250 pushes this hull mid 30's easily, and with single outboards now available up to 400hp I will never push my luck stressing the hull with the weight of two large outboards.
Our old Sea Rays are not engineered for brackets, so it's an "at your own risk" conversion but through all my research I've still yet to hear of one causing a transom failure (though I'm guessing it's happened).
 
dmnolan said:
Awesome, Thinking about this for the deck on my 240 also! It looks like the rub rail is off, whats the plan there? Reinstalling original or replacing??
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Yes, rub rail is off and being replaced with new Taco semi ridged. I'm doing that job next week ! The original was beat to oblivion. The interesting thing is I realized when I removed the old one, many of the original rivets were broken and the top half of the hull was no longer attached to the bottom half in a few places. It was significant, so I feel really good knowing that was taken care of !
 
lucky enuff said:
Yes, rub rail is off and being replaced with new Taco semi ridged. I'm doing that job next week ! The original was beat to oblivion. The interesting thing is I realized when I removed the old one, many of the original rivets were broken and the top half of the hull was no longer attached to the bottom half in a few places. It was significant, so I feel really good knowing that was taken care of !
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Thanks, curious to see how the Taco works for you!
 
This whole custom restoration thing started in 2010 when I decided I liked this boat enough to keep it. I had owned it for 3 years. I had cleaned it up pretty nicely already, but the roof height was annoying and the way I use the boat as a fishing vessel, I knew a flat hardtop would just work better. It wasn't about making the boat look better, I was happy with the boat the way it was aesthetically. If you were 6 foot tall, you couldn't stand up straight though and I didn't see any longevity in that.
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So, I made a decision in 2010 to not use her that season and rebuild the top. I had no idea what I was doing, or getting into. My feeling was that I'd likely be the last owner for this boat, and since she was 35 years old I wasn't harming any resale value. I looked at it as a blank canvas for me to do with as I wished. So with that.....I started in on removing the top.
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I determined there was no easy way to remove the flybridge. The only way I could think of was to cut it apart using a circular saw. I snapped a chalk line and began cutting, still unsure of how this would all actually work out. I didn't lack ambition, even if it was the blind type.

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Once I was done chopping, this is what I was left with. This would be the new top I had to work with. Now, in hindsight had I just decided to live with the short interior height, the rebuild would have been fairly simple and many future problems would have been avoided. But that was never an option with me, so my next plan was to remove what was left of the top, but keep it intact so that I could use it on the rebuild.

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To be continued......
 
I went around the frame and cut each bolt with the sawzall. I used spacers so that the blade wouldn't get pinched. There was a lot of inward pressure on the frame, which Is what keeps it tight. It really sprang when I got to the last bolt on the first side . It startled me, I wasn't expecting that to happen.

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Once cut loose, two of us were able to remove it completely.

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Now tat the top and bridge were off, I could begin to plan out rebuilding the hardtop and raising it 6" higher. That was going to be the tricky part.
 
A I rebuilt the top, I choose to use pressure treated 2x6's to raise the top, but the angle of the window frame caused an issue with where it would meet the roof top so I added 5/4 pressure treated between the 2x6 and the original roof top . In the end, it all worked out and this was 8 seasons ago.


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I used bondo to smooth and fill any voids and then coated with fiberglass. In hindsight, I wished I'd used epoxy instead of fiberglass because after a couple seasons the fiberglass delaminated in a couple spots and I had to fix it. I guess that's all part of learning on the fly.
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Once I was finished, I painted the hull with Interlux white topside enamel.
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I don't have any pics of rebuilding the top of the roof, but I made a few rookie mistakes I'd have to deal with in the years ahead. I used plywood (not marine grade), and I made sure when I cut the old top off to leave an inch edge at the top so I had a profile to work within.
Again, I used fiberglass and had I not attached anything to the top using screws It would have been great. Unfortunately, I attached a bunch of equipment directly to the top using screws without 5200 and during the years to follow these areas would become entry points for moisture. But.....aesthetically it was great and turned out exactly how I had hoped it would.

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In hindsight, as I look at this picture knowing what I know now I want to slap myself for attaching everything directly to the top. In the years to follow, everything was removed, the top was epoxied and starboard type blocks were set in place using 5200 anywhere equipment was attached, so there are no longer any potential entry points for moisture. I could have saved myself a lot of work had I just done that from the start.

Not that it matters now, but I wonder if I'd have been better off removing the window frame also, and adding some of the height below the windows instead of adding it all above the frame? I'll never know....lol
 
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Once the top was rebuilt, and I put the boat back together, I ran it this way for about three seasons. We fished her from Lake Ontario NY, down to Key Largo Fl.

Here she is back then parked in Key Largo. Back when she had the twin I/O's, notice how stern heavy she was.


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Several years later, and after the outboard conversion, this pic shows how much she came up out of the water on her stern. Roughly 3" of black bottom paint is now above the water line.

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In this pic, taken in upstate NY in 2014, she was heading back to Pa for more modifications. I decided it was time to close in the cabin space and make it a pilothouse boat.

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I know this model was offered that way, so I added my own style to the design and this is what I came up with. This pic is spring of 2015

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Here are two pics, both taken in Key Largo but several years apart and from the stern.

Pre outboard and pilothouse pic

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Same boat, but 3 seasons later....

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When I turned my Ray into a pilothouse and enclosed the cabin, I added a second hydraulic steering station. It just helps a lot when I'm fishing because I troll a lot. Initially, I kept it simple and just mounted it flat against the wall.
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During my most recent stage of projects, I decided to modify my original placement. I wanted the wheel higher and angled, so I built a base for the steering wheel and modified the starboard wall.

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This is how the pilothouse walls now look as of today. I LOVE this addition of the walls. It made the boat so much more usable and it feels much larger than a 24. The windows I purchased from an RV supply company, and they worked out perfectly. The all have screens and open for airflow. I can now use heat and A/C in the cabin.

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