Yes my son, I have been there and done that.
Stripped a Sylvan 18 footer down to metal. This was set up as a side console walleye boat, and the carpet kept water on the plywood decks, and rotted it out. The Floatation foam was waterlogged, and easily added 300 pds to the boat.
There was no leaks, but I did clean the metal with CLR to get off all oxidization, and then sprayed the inside with rubberized rocker guard spray to seal anything that I was not aware of.
I then got the two part foam kit, and re foamed the whole thing.
Tricky part was the plywood. At the time there was no marine preservative plywood around that would not react to aluminum, until I was of course finished, and discovered that it could be sourced from the US. Very expensive stuff. Instead, I painted all new deck plywood with oil based paint on all sides.
Instead of carpet, I used Ducan Deck Kote. In the old Urathane format it was a two part rubberized traction coating, then a solid color rubber roll on coating. Very tough and water proof. don't know how good the new acrylic water based material is though.
A lot of upgrades went in as LED lights were new, and worth it.
Biggest part was re enforcing the stern and transom. If you really knew how cheaply boats are built you would stay on land. 4 Bees Metal Products in Edmonton formed up new Aluminum capping for the splashwell. They also did the stainless grab rails.
I inlet 3/8" x 4 " aluminum force plates on the 1 1/2 " plywood for the stern through which the motor bolted through. Outside facing for the lower bolts (the push location) and inside facing for the upper bolts (the pull location) I added a 3 / 8" plate to the outside of the stern as well to spread the stress on the stern.
Only use stainless hardware. Expect to pay for it. All wiring connections have to be sealed and if bullet connectors are used, use dielectric grease on connections.
I don't know if what I did was justified, but I do know that it has held up for years.
Boats are pretty expensive these days, so it may have been worthwhile, but it did take a lot of time and money.
Drewski
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