1975 Wellcraft V20 steplift / Re-Build... Again?

GTaylor1975

GTaylor1975

New member
Let me first say its good to find a forum for V20 guys, let alone an entire website. Here is my '75. It's nothing special and I've done some modifications that were necessary when I bought the boat 5 years ago. ripped everything apart. and started from scratch besides the structural components. Had original transom and stringers. Now the boat has been sitting in my shop yard for a year without being used. Only because its very apparent the transom is saturated and weak. The floor is getting soft in certain areas-which means stringers are going too. to make a long story short, I've decided to start all over again.

But this time separate the deck and hull. has anyone done this??? what should I expect? any tips to get this apart sooner than later? is the inner lining "tub" a pain to take out? I would love to soda blast the gelcoat off and re-do EVERYTHING. I'd like to do it right. box in a rear U-bench seating with a reverse facing lounge. nice underwater lighting and possibly a structure over it. replace the (2) 20 gallon saddle tanks and install a 60 gallon floor tank and move it up the boat to counter the future weight of a Merc 4 stroke. I rebuilt a Merc 135 2.0L V6 2 stroke I'm hoping will get the boat to perform well, i want to break 40mph @ WOT and cruise around 30. I'd love to dump the analog gauge look and install an RS11 CAN bus box to NMEA2K and flush mount a nice 12" simrad headunit. 70's styling with the perks of modern comfort and equipment. If im going to do it, I might as well do it the way I want.

Anyone go this deep on a V20? or am I crazy for dumping this amount of time and money ?
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That’s not a 4 stroke that looks like a 115 tower of power. Your boat is 50 years old and looks better than the new boats I see. Beautiful boat you have. Are you going to install rod boxes? Or leave it .
 
steplift20 said:
That’s not a 4 stroke that looks like a 115 tower of power. Your boat is 50 years old and looks better than the new boats I see. Beautiful boat you have. Are you going to install rod boxes? Or leave it .
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Yes. Little back story on me. I’m a Mercury master tech. I’ve had this tower of power on the boat since 84’. But I rebuilt a 135 2.0L ready to go on it once I’m done. But will only be on it until I’m ready to sell the 135. And upgrade to a 4 stroke. The 150 4S Mercs have their issues and I’m not ready to buy one until they perfect those L4s.
 
I’m moderately sure that there’s an older thread where someone lifted the cap off of the hull. If it’s there, the search function should find it, if you can guess key words correctly (or maybe one of the guys remembers it better than I do). Great project - please keep the pictures coming.
 
scook said:
I’m moderately sure that there’s an older thread where someone lifted the cap off of the hull. If it’s there, the search function should find it, if you can guess key words correctly (or maybe one of the guys remembers it better than I do). Great project - please keep the pictures coming.
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So far, this is the condition of the boat now. I haven’t started the project yet. I’ll probably start tearing it down in the coming weeks. Unfortunately this endeavor will (by my estimate) will take over a year or more. I’m a one man show at my marina. And have over 400 clients I service throughout the spring and fall. So having time for my own projects is little to none. I will definitely be posting more as I dig into it.
 
A few have removed them, less have got them back on.

go to the search function, top right of page

search by member Myfathersson, he did a rebuild of a center console. unfortunately the pictures didn't make it to the new site. Maybe the text will give u some insight.

i sent a DM to admin to see if he could save the pics
 
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Sounds like a winter project if you have a good work space and live where there IS a winter. Bad weather and working in my shop is a favorite of mine.
 
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