What did you do with your cap?

[oba97]

Planning ahead for my 15' tri-hull reno. I will have enough room in my garage for the boat but will be devorced if I take up my wife's spot with the cap. I am trying to figure out what to do with it while I work on the boat? Here are my ideas.

1. Take the cap in my backyard, set it on blocks and cover with tarps for the winter. (I live in Michigan so there will be lots of snow)
2. Hang it from the ceiling above the boat some how. The garage is sheetrocked.
3. build some type of scaffold system to hold it just high enough so I can work on the transom.


Any thoughts? I would be interested in hearing what ppl did in the same situation as me.

Thanks!

 

[Woodonglass]

Build 2x4 bracing for it so it will hold its shape. Very important!!! Then either saw horses in the Backyard or suspend it from anchor Eye bolts from the ceiling. Whats it's estimated weight??

 

[Scott Danforth]

Hang it from the ceiling. I hung mine on ratchet straps. However my ceiling was open joists and I was able to put about a dozen straps on it. I was only uncapped for about 3 weeks

 

[oba97]

I have no idea what the weight will be?? I like the idea of the saw horses. I assume I should only need to brace port to starbord?

 

[oba97]

The whole boat is only about 800lbs.

 

[Scott Danforth]

If your whole boat is #800, the cap will be between 200-300 max.

 

[Woodonglass]

I agree about the estimated weight. Port to starboard bracing is correct!! 1x4's should be adequate and screw them in via the holes where the rub rail was. 3-4 braces oughta do the trick

 

[JC612000]

I would be careful working under a suspended load, I don't really like that idea, even though it's done all the time.

I had the same situation, couldn't take up the whole garage. I out my cap on my old 4'x8' trailer and can move it around as necessary.

Are you going to do demolition and grinding in the garage? If so you will likely have to build a substantial dust curtain around the boat or the wife might get mad when her car has a 1/4" of dust and debris on it!!

 

[oba97]

Yes, I'll have to do all cutting and grinding in the garage. I have a lot of plastic that I plan on making a tent with and using a shop vac with a pillowcase.

 

[Grub54891]

I just set it on 3 horses,left it out all winter. didn't hurt it a bit. Snow or no snow,a snowbrush and done, of corse a tarp coverd it but I left the open aft area open to allow the snow to fall through easily. mine is a bowrider.

 

[DeepBlue2010]

I am wondering, if you make an air tight plastic tent around you to keep the dust from going anywhere, how would you get fresh air to breath?!

Don't under estimate the fiberglass dust. These sucker got legs of their own and can sneak to where you don't want them, easy.


If the admiral has concerns about her spot in the garage, she will - for sure - not be happy with dusty itchy car either. We still in July (technically) you might want to consider starting the grinding stage outside the garage and move in when you all done

 

[Grub54891]

^^ Agree with Deep blue...I had mine in the shop,completely tented, Full tyvek suit full respirator, and still had dust where it's not needed. constant cleaning of the area. Even had a big dust collector running,and a 20 gallon shop vac. Worst 2 weeks ever! lol

 

[oba97]

Ugh. Maybe I should just pull it out of the garage while I cut. I assume now I will I be blowing fiberlass dust all over my neighbourhood?

 

[DeepBlue2010]

Depends on how close you are to your neighbors, yes you might and I read in some threads that this was an actual problems. A tarp around you might help keep things more contained but sooner or later you will need to clean the tarp and the boat dizzillion times. It is doable, just needs some planning.

 

[oba97]

thinking out loud.....could I dribble some water while I cut much like a wet saw to knock down the dust.....

 

[DeepBlue2010]

Unless you have a misting system, Water drops would not help much. The powder is very fine and doesn't mix with water easy, it actually floats on top (don't ask me how I know that )

By the way, you keep saying "cut"; the correct terminology is grinding. You will be grinding the fiberglass using 36 or 40 grit flap disk on an angle grinder and hopefully not making any "cuts" in your hull.

 

[Woodonglass]

You will be doing some cutting with a circular saw but mostly grinding with a 4 1/2" grinder and resin coated discs. That creates large volumes of very fine powdery dust. You should protect yourself with a full cover TYVEK suit and full Face respirator, Gloves etc...You can tape the shop vac hose to the side of the grinder and it will help collect the off shoot of the dust to some degree but there will still be a lot of it. A Box fan with a AC Filter taped to it helps as well but you will need to clean the filter A LOT for it to be effective.

 

[Grub54891]

No Title

I used one of these, it still was a bear....

 

[Corjen1]

Did this...



and this....

 

[BillP]

If your boat doesn't have a innerliner type deck you can probably do it without taking the whole deck off. Just cut the splashwell out to do the transom. It saves a lot of work and helps you keep the hull straight too. If you haven't had a deck off yet the hull gets very flexible without it or flooring & stringers. It also saves a lot of work. I did it that way on a 1965 Cobia on a complete rebuild all the way down to bare hull. I glassed the well back in and cosmetics were way easier than cutting and glassing the cap.