93 Champion 168 What should I do with it.

[NoLit]

Hello

Today I decided to figure out what this black stuff is coming from my transom. I grabbed a hammer and tapped on transom inside and out all sounded the same, nice bounce/sold sound. I started tapping inside around battery's and the floor with my trolling motor battery's sounded hollow/ soft bounce with hammer. Well took the cutter and opened up floor to find soft wood/very soft wood/fell apart and water inside and foam is full of water. Well I tapped the other side and top floor with oil tank gave me hard bounce/solid sound but the floor below gave me hollow sound and poor bounce, so I opened that section up found the same thing but the lower stringer was bad on this side- @#$% great! Boat could use new carpet but that is it! motor is like new with 85hrs/ just really just use bow motor, new seats ,Garmin as of last year. I'm just not really sure what to do with the boat, or if its worth saving! I still don't know what that black stuff is?



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[jarhead175]

Personally I would call my insurance agent and see what they could do about it first. If that went no where I would lift the front end as high as possible and put heat lamps on the hull and anything inside I could find to remove moisture. When it is all dried out I would have a professional look at it and get see how much stringer replacement will cost. I have never had to deal with it but I have heard getting water out of the foam is almost impossible.

[MMosher]

It's done. Time for a repair. Insurance won't do squat. I've been down this road and it's no fun, I know the sick feeling you have.

[BOW4UM]

Put a big ass alum plate over the entire back with another in front bolted together and roll on. save $ for new boat. Sorry. Just operate carefully now you know.

[Champion Bob]

Personally I would call my insurance agent and see what they could do about it first. If that went no where I would lift the front end as high as possible and put heat lamps on the hull and anything inside I could find to remove moisture. When it is all dried out I would have a professional look at it and get see how much stringer replacement will cost. I have never had to deal with it but I have heard getting water out of the foam is almost impossible.

This sounds reasonable and once the boat is repaired slap a 200 on the back and have some fun !

[grout-scout]

Damn what a horrible situation, I’ll give you major props for having the courage to cut it open like that! Good luck with her and let us know what you decide.

[getfished]

From what is reported here IMO the proper repair is way more than the boat is worth. Sad deal. If you don't repair it or cut some corners for economical reasons then I suggest you keep all this in mind when using the boat. These kind of things don't get better, they get worse. If you have a stringer that is rotten then you know the structural strength of the hull is compromised.

One other thing, I don't think the 168 has very much flotation in it compared to some of the other models. It might sink quickly if a large leak happened .

My first champ was a 168 and it was a fun boat. Same color as yours but dual console if I remember correctly.

[Brandon184]

Define bad... Is it just wet or is it actually rotten? If it's wet let er dry and re-glass. Also check the transom as the stringers are connected at the bottom. Could of made your lower transom wet or rotten as well. It's not the end of the boats life as long as you're willing to do the work yourself.

[Wendy lou]

Sorry to hear this, first boat I ever bought new was a 16-8 fishing machine.

like everyone said, if it is rotten, you are risking a lot running it

16-8 does not float when compromised

if you truly love the boat, go ahead and curse for 24 hours straight, take a nap, then remove the cap and cut out all the bad stringers, supports, drill lower transom and check for rot.

if transom has bad spots, it it out.

replace wood and don’t spare the woven cloth or glass.

it will be time consuming, aggravating work, but very gratifying

re wire everything while you are at it

my brother and I rebuilt his skeeter wrangler. Took us months working on it when we could
but came out nice

rebuild tip: we ran pvc pipe from bow to transom
put a 90 on end at bow, tee at console, tea at battery compartment and 46 at transom

made pulling new wires awesome!