TOPIC: Intro-Century Resorter 18 light project

Hi All, new glassic owner here on Cape Cod. Long story short is we have a nice recent Chaparral that is a wonderful boat....make that appliance. I wanted something with character and style, but am not at the wood boat stage yet; retired:-) Found this Resorter and giving it a fluff and buff over the Winter as well as some moderate r&m; electrical, hoses, etc. She runs fine and I am looking forward to the project and getting her in the water next Spring.

My first boat project, so i expect to be here looking for advice. Happy Holidays all!

Well may I say welcome aboard, glad you're here and very nice choice!!! Don't know if you know it but there's a Century Boat Club. They're on facebook, if you have an account. I'm a member there as well as here. Post any questions you have and we'll be glad to answer as best we can. There's a lot of smart people on here that can help.

Bob

thank you Bob, I will look at the Century Boat Club

Some progress. I have all of the gauges working, new horns, led bow light (identical in appearance to the original) and replaced the only really soft wood on the boat; the vinyl covered plywood panels on the fore and aft decks. I went for a teak laminate, but kept all of the original panels.


These are pics of the test fits, so not perfect when I took the pics.

Hmmm don't see the pictures. Make sure you bring them down in size to below 1mg. You can resize them with quite a few different app's.

Bob

Hmmm.... I posted then ran out to dinner, just rechecked.

These were final test fits, so trim isn't perfect and boat is dirty. better now.

Also, the original wiper motors aren't available, and the ones currently available move down a fair amount from park before they reverse their sweep and they must be mounted so they park as I have them. Luckily, they don't really obstruct vision anywhere near as much as you would expect....not that I have much choice.

Try again on the pics:

Ah much better!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's coming along nicely!

Bob

Sweet! I have a soft spot for Centurys.

Well, I think I am just about done...only abut 4 mos late, but we had some illness (parents) and life get in the way, plus finding some rot in the seat frames, tank sleepers, etc,. but thankfully none in the floors or structure.

Plan to splash her over the next two weeks to get some end of season use.

The Resorters are pretty boats...

Just beautiful! A showpiece on the water. Hope your launch goes as perfect as the boat itself. Be prepared to spend a lot of time at the ramp talking to admirers. Calm winds and fair seas.

Thank you Sabre!

Launched!

Runs great, fast and a lot of fun. One riser runs hotter than the other....not excessive, but something I will deal with in the off season. Bit fast at idle speed, the long no wake zone and canal will be a slight hallenge, but part of learning an inboard.

Wife took this long distance pic as we navigated the narrow canal home.

Sweet! Tricky little buggers to back up. I found out that if you just bump it into reverse and then back to neutral so you "coast" back it steers better.

So, I am very new to inboards and am still somewhat new to boating, though I have done my homework. . The vast majority of my boating experience is in our Chaparral i/o. I am pretty mechanically experienced with silly old cars and other mechanical time sinks though...

At speed, the Resorter becomes very hard to steer beyond say 1.5-2 turns of the wheel, making for wide sweeping turns. I guess that this is normal as of the rudder's control surface is all behind the shaft so there is no 'balance'; I am steering completely against the propwash. Steering is fine at lower speeds and power settings. I can see this as a benefit in that it keeps you out of trouble...high speed, high power and light steering seems dicey. Do I have this right?

I was warned by a friend to never give full power from a stop w/ full rudder deflection in an inboard...not that I would, but this all seems related to my novice mind.

Thanks all.

A technical question.

So a month or so since launch and I really enjoy this boat, she runs like she looks. Importantly, the Wife likes it. While the Chaparral is the appliance boat, and loads of fun, I find myself, when I can, soloing the Resorter at the end of the day for a quick loop before the evening. Only a few glitches arose, not unexpected, and none too critical.

My question. I noticed she takes water through the seam behind the rub rail, between the deck and hull. There doesn't seem to be any structural issues the deck is rock solid, as is the hull there. What would you seal this with?

We had an end of the season party and I got a bug. I still managed to haul the kiddos tubing, but I had enough by the evening. Good friend took our families for a sunset cruise in the Resorter and I got this pic as they left our little inlet. Not the best pic, but she is a pretty boat.

You are bringing back memories for me with that picture. Sweet.
The issue with the leak behind the rub rail is not unusual. For some reason that seems (pardon the pun) to be a vulnerable area for water to hang out and seep through where the screws hold the rail in position. If you can during the off season remove that rail, there are probably some long brass screws hiding under cover along the rail. Don't be surprised if you find some soft spots if not rot. If it's not too bad it can be filled and faired. If it's really bad the strip behind the rail can be cut out and replaced with solid mahogany, usually African if you can find it. If you need to replace a small strip use 3M 5200 adhesive, place the rail back and you're good for another 50 years. I have used a product called Smith's fill it that is made specifically for this application, easy to work with.
Good luck.
www.smithandcompany.org/Fillit/

Hmmm so not being completely familiar with plastic Centuries Cal, are you saying there's Mahogany between the deck and the hull on these?

I was assuming this is glass on glass and the top deck was/is glassed together so to speak. I would agree with the water probably leaking through the screw holes which you can probably just close up with 3M 4200 and then put the rail back on and the 4200 should seal it. Now maybe there's mahogany behind the deck seam and it could be rotted. If that's the case do as Cal said. Like I said, I'm not familiar with the plastic Centuries, mine is a woody

Bob

Thanks for the info and epoxy link.

I've only had the nose piece of the rub rail off to better align it. I wound up filling up two of the holes with good 'ol JB weld, but don't remember seeing wood. Is it behind a layer of 'glass? I'll find out as I had planned on removing the rest of the rub rail to fill and re-drill in some screw holes that have lost their grip. That and maybe a new cutless bearing, some work on the stuffing box and.....

Hmm, thinking of how I'll address this leads to another question; How is the deck actually held on? Is it bonded to the hull rim or does it fit over the hull edge (like a Tupperware??) and screwed on via the brass screws you (Sabre) mentioned?

Thanks for the kick in the pants Bob. Sorry about the confusion. I was mixing up the rub rail with the lower waterline splash rail hence the African mahogany statement. Most of the info can be used though 'cept for the mahogany part. I've popped the top on a Century Sabre but that was so long ago I would have to find some old pictures, all the other glass boats I have done just had the two sections set together, like you described, Tupperware style. and then just screwed together with a wood strip backing used to hold the screws and yes that usually rots away. I have replaced the inside wood with new strips, tricky to do unless your a contortionist. Dig out the old rotted strip and replace it with what's available. Some replacement strips I've held in place with fiberglass tabs, others I've used 5200 but that takes too long for me to wait. Some of the older boats just used what looked like glazing putty for a sealant that usually dried out and became useless. The new hole idea sounds good if the backing wood is solid but don't forget to fill those old nasty screw holes. All that being said if there is no wood strip backing on the Century the old fiberglass around the screws probably just vibrated into oblivion.
The stuffing box is pretty straight forward to work on. Any local hardware store will have the packing material you would need to replace. Just don't tighten it down too tight when you replace the packing cuz it needs a drip of seawater to keep it lubed. I made the mistake of overtightening on my Sabre and the first run I could smell something getting hot. The propshaft was almost untouchable so had to back off on the stuffing nut a little. I think the rule of thumb was just to let a small drip ooze through when standing idle.

Ahh, that makes sense. I'll pull the rails, repair the holes and go from there. She splashes in a good amount of water from the wake so id guess it is the seam.

What would folks recommend I use to reseaal the gap? Scrape the seam and use 4200/5200?

So you can use either one just know that if you use 5200 it will NEVER come off without being cut off once it dries.

Bob

Oh, I learned that lesson once...

One of my boat friends recommended Lifecaulk. It seems like a more suitable product.

Thanks.

63 Sabre wrote: the old fiberglass around the screws probably just vibrated into oblivion.

Funny, neighbors and I pulled 5 boats yesterday. Before we did, we had some fun roaring around the otherwise empty lake. I lost 4 screws from the rub rail

OK, we now know where oblivion is...the lake! Solved one of those eternal questions.