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Tore boat apart a year ago, forgot how it went together...*facepalm*
A couple years ago, I picked up an '80-something Bayliner Trophy 1710, with a soft deck (yeah yeah, I know Bayliners aren't "real" bass boats, but I had one as a kid...while some guys end up buying that GTO or Mustang they always wanted as a kid, apparently my midlife crisis was to buy another Bayliner like the one I had 20 years prior 
). Previous owner replaced the deck shortly before I bought it, poorly...completely unsealed plywood, removed a livewell, screwed up the other one, did god knows what to the wiring, AC style wire nuts EVERYWHERE, claimed the battery maintainer/charger was dead and was going to trash it before I picked up the boat (thankfully, I do a lot of low voltage wiring and electronic repair as part of my career, so I told him to leave it in there..turned out it was just a bad connection under a wire nut).
Early last spring, I completely removed all the deck wood (hell of a job without pulling the top cap off the boat) after putting a foot through a soft spot. I basically stripped this thing down to the bare hull, as much as I could, without cutting through anything that seemed structural to the boat. Thankfully, none of the stringers, transom,etc appeared to have been damaged or suffered water intrusion issues. Then life happened, and I never got around to putting it back together....and now, I don't remember how it was or came apart..
Is there any kind of "restoring bass boats for dummies" resource out there? Going over the basics of how to redeck these things, beyond "cut pieces to match what came out, and fiberglass in place"?
Honestly, given the changes and piss poor work of the PO, I'm not sure I'd even want to use that as a template for rebuilding anyways. There are also some changes I wanted to make, such as extending the rod storage compartment - the one that was in the boat was only about 3-4 feet long, which meant I couldn't put poles in there without splitting them. There's plenty of room in the hull for a long compartment, but I don't know if the PO or the factory did it short. Getting the flat deck wood down seems simple/logical enough, but building out the raised casting platforms, live well supports, etc is something I'm hanging on. I also planned on removing the middle seat by the consoles, filling in a 4th seat just in front of the passenger console, adding a recessed trolling motor control box, etc. It's a 17ft bass boat that gets used by myself 99% of the time..I don't need seating for a party on it, lol.
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Member
Sounds like you’ve done most of the hard work already. Now fire up the chainsaw and finish the job by cutting the hull up into pieces the garbage man will take.
Seriously, it would help to see what you’ve got to work with. Some pix?
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My first bass boat was a Bayliner Trophy Bass with an 85 Force. Try telling all the fish that I hammered from that baby that it wasn't a "real" bass boat! Their lips were sore just the same! I loved that old thing! I think I still have pics of it from when I sold it if they'd be useful for dreaming up your new layout.
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Did you do anything with it? As asked previously, any pictures?
Make sites like this, and youtube your friend. Channels like boatworkstoday, friscoboatersgarage, jmink, tinyboatnation, helped me out.
Wherever you order your fiberglass materials from, ask them lots of questions.
I'm finishing a cap-off restore on a '87 Skeeter. Added storage compartments, cut the headwall out of the rod locker, moved batteries around, cut in front nav lights, etc. I'd never worked with fiberglass before. The worst part was the sanding.
Any boat you fish from, is a "real boat" !
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