r/boatrepair

Hey everyone, hopefully I’m in the right place for this. A very good family friend of mine purchased this boat last year, a Carver 30 Santego. It’s going to be docked at a marina over the summer, and he’s offered me the opportunity to live on the boat for the season in exchange for my help with some DIY tasks, which is a pretty sweet deal for me right now.

Most of it are things I’m more than capable of doing, smaller tasks like deep cleaning the interior, replacing carpet, adding new fixtures etc. The one thing I am not sure on how to approach, is the exterior work. He is going to fund all the supplies, but it’s on me to figure out what I need for the job.

I’m thinking the first step will be to pressure wash the exterior and get it all cleaned up. I will need to get the maroon paint shade matched at a local marine hardware store. He would like me to restore the “Carver” lettering on the side, touch up some other areas, and remove the “Nauticlu” lettering (previous owner renamed it that, so he’s changing the name back to what it was originally).

Is this too daunting of a task for someone without any experience working on boats? Just looking to get a sense of what I’m realistically in for here before committing to or starting this project. I have experience painting inside homes, and not much beyond that, certainly not on boats.

Is this a task I can DIY? What supplies am I going to need for this besides the obvious (paint) or what I’ve already covered?

All I wanted to do was replace the oil retainer seal last fall, thought I had done enough research into the process of removing the bearing carrier but ended up cracking the housing while trying to remove the carrier, so I just stopped and put it on my, "I'll deal with that next spring" list.. and now it is next spring

First question would be; how am I supposed to safely remove the bearing carrier? as Im pretty sure I was an idiot and watched an incorrect video that told me I should be twisting it out, (like it was threaded in), and that is what I was attempting to do last fall when I cracked the housing

Looking into it again this year and I am seeing that it is possibly pulled out with a specific tool, and not threaded at all?

Next question would be; how bad are those cracks, am I going to make them worse if I try pulling the carrier out, and is there a way to fix them? (Jb weld, etc?)

Any help is appreciated!

Buddy trying to to get his boat started sounds like it just not getting enough fuel to try to fire

Small holes:

I cut out old seat mount holes with hole saw, added backing and filled with new hole saw cutout/wood glue. For very small holes I filled with wood glue and pounded dowels tightly in. Will cut off/sand down excess the glass/epoxy over. Acceptable?

Transom:

cut all old glass out. Sanded smooth, Added layer of epoxy to bare wood, then one layer of cloth, then brushed over with epoxy, but concerned about a several things:

1. Slight air bubbles (see around bolt)

2. Air under cloth at transitions and corners. Couldn’t push tight into corner.

3. Epoxy began to harden about half way across. You can clearly see difference in texture. Is the lumpy texture ok?

4. I left dry cloth hanging over edge. Can I simply cut that after cured.

5. How many coats should I do and should I use cloth for every coat?

What would be the best way for this gas tank to be in the boat? I would really prefer for it to be behind the backseat. Could I just use it standing up in the corner and install a longer pick up tube into the tank? Or do I need to build a little shelf in the back and lay it flat?

Was testing compression on my 1980 Mercury 115. When I got the 4th spark plug I pulled it out and find this. Motor will turn over but not crank. Any idea as to what this is? I received this boat and motor for free. When the previous owner has issues he was on the water and the motor just died and would only come back on with a cold start.

What’s your favorite product the get some shine back?

Got this 1992 Whaler 16SL. Paid $4500 for boat 2006 90hp mercury 2stroke and 2022 trailer. I’m assuming it’s got some water weight on it because it’s so old and the transom has some holes filled. Previous owner hadn’t splashed it in a year. And I didn’t get the chance to sew trial it. I know I know. I’m going to weigh it when I get the chance. How bad do you think it is, how long do you think it’ll last me? And how low should the water line be on it? There aren’t many pictures of these boats around as they haven’t made many of them. Motor is not my main concern. Thank you.

How cooked am I?
I believe the prop is supposed to be offset from the rudder but I don’t think it’s this much. Hit a stump or something submerged, never saw what it was. Trashed my prop, taking it to my shop right now to check the prop shaft runout. Looks like it needs an alignment? Never aligned a prop shaft before.
After I hit the stump I had to idle back to the boat ramp which took about 3 hours.
As for the fiberglass damage around the rudder, is that a DIY repair, or serious enough to take it to a pro?

So as I was trying to get the hose off this fitting I ended up breaking it off. I’d rather not buy a whole new carb as this carb is in good shape other than this. Is there any way I can’t fix this? I just don’t see how I can get this fitting secured since it’s not threaded or anything

Looked at a 2016 scout 177 sportfish that I’m interested in buying. Noticed a small crack near the transom, topside, looks like it’s just in the gel coat and I jumped around near it and didn’t notice any movement in anything.

Underneath there were a few dings that were smaller than dimes but I just wanted to get opinions on if they could be major issues or need immediate repair. Thanks for any info.

I have a Suzuki 115hp 2 stroke. All I know is it’s made somewhere between 1981-2000. The numbers on the side of the motor are DT115S and the serial number is 11503-971236. One person told me it was a 1999 and another said it was 1981. I think on google it said the second number was the year. Can somebody help me out with this?

Working on my first boat and I'm redoing the carpet and seats inside. While cutting out some rotten wood to replace I noticed there was light coming from part of the floor. And advice on how I should repair it?