Advice on new floor and transom in '81 Starcraft aluminum fishing boat.

[motorcyclepilot]

I have never worked with epoxy on boats and am looking for recommendations on what products to use. There are three areas I think I want epoxy for:

-The floor. I want to completely seal the new wooden floor and also would like to apply 'non stick' or anti-skid in some areas. (Sand mixed with epoxy?)

-The transom. Again, I want the transom completely sealed. I have also read somewhere about pre-drilling oversized holes and then filling them with epoxy in locations that screws or other things will penetrate the transom in order to prevent water seeping, but cannot find anything here on that.

-The rivets and seams. I am in the process of replacing about 75% of all the rivets--with solid 'buck' rivets. After that I will test for leaks and want to seal any leaking rivets/seams. I have heard of Gluvit and West System for that purpose.

Oh, I am also going to install a piece of HDPE where the new transducer will mount. This is well below the bottom edge of the wooden transom and there are about 8 holes through the bare sheet metal that were sealed with some RTV. If I glue some plastic there it will give the screws something to bite into and also positively prevent water intrustion.


If you can point me to a thread here that is pertinent or recommend a product, I appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

James

 

[jbcurt00]

How about some pix of your SC, what model?

Why replacing 75% of the rivets?

All the topics.posted here are relevant:
Http://forums.iboats.com/forum/owners-groups-by-manufacturer/s/starcraft-boats

Some do seal the transom, drill oversized holes.for all the penetrations, fill w epoxy and redrill for mounting.

Good luxk w your project

 

[motorcyclepilot]

No Title

Double post.

 

[motorcyclepilot]

No Title

I believe the model is "boat" lol.

When I removed the floor, I noticed that some of the rivets were corroded flush with the hull. When cleaning the outside of the boat, some of the rivet heads popped off. Rivets and 5200 sealant arrive Thursday.

I think the boat was moored in saltwater for a while.

I've searched the Starcraft forums but am overwhelmed with all the information.

Thanks,

James

 

[motorcyclepilot]

No Title

Working on the new transom today. Wish I had more clamps. The old one was 1-7/8" thick, but the lower channel it fits into is only 1-1/2" wide. The damp wood expanded and popped some of the corroded rivets loose.

The original transom is in three pieces, presumably to aid in construction. There is the main, large trapezoid and also two "ears" mounted above that at the port and starboard edges on either side of the splash well. I may joint them all together and then glass over them.

In the meantime, rivets and 3M 5200 sealant should be here tomorrow. I plan on replacing all corroded rivets and then leak testing the boat and maybe replacing some more. I should probably get some Gluvit or G-flex.

 

[jbcurt00]

Yes, economics meant making it a 3pc transom w the ears. Most make it all at once, but I think 2 added the ears after, but did join them to the main piece permanently.

Spar varnish/urethane/polyurethane
Epoxy
Paint

Have all been used to seal the deck. Some added grit to the final coat or 2 for traction.

A Few have used G-flex, a few more have used Coat-It, most use GluvIt on the rivets and seams.

HDPE can be challenging to adhere to a tin boat. Might reuse some of the previous holes in the transom to help screw it to the transom.

Oversized thru bolts filled w epoxy and redrilled the correct size isolates the transom wood from the thru hole. Reverse taper the oversized hole to keep the epoxy plug from being pulled thru the transom wood by the bolt/washer/nut.

 

[motorcyclepilot]

Spar varnish/urethane/polyurethane
Epoxy
Paint

Have all been used to seal the deck. Some added grit to the final coat or 2 for traction.

A Few have used G-flex, a few more have used Coat-It, most use GluvIt on the rivets and seams.

If epoxy were cheaper I would use it on just about everything. I may be going with polyurethane for the deck, though I really wanted gray epoxy with grit. The floor I am replacing was bare wood with carpet glued on top.

G-flex seems overpriced so I'm going with Gluvit for the rivets and seams (about 1/2 the price of G-flex).

HDPE can be challenging to adhere to a tin boat. Might reuse some of the previous holes in the transom to help screw it to the transom.

Agree. HDPE is difficult to chemically bind to other materials. I probably will use the old holes to help hold it in place, along with 3M 5200.

Oversized thru bolts filled w epoxy and redrilled the correct size isolates the transom wood from the thru hole. Reverse taper the oversized hole to keep the epoxy plug from being pulled thru the transom wood by the bolt/washer/nut.

I don't have any tapering hole saws, but plan on using oversized washers to keep those areas in compression. There are at least 12 holes (factory drilled) going through the transom, plus a dozen more that came later.

Any specific product recommendations to fill the transom holes?

Thanks,

James

 

[jbcurt00]

Back buttering the HDPE w 5200 will help foe sure.

MarineTex or JB Weld if the holes are small. Add backer plates if they are bigger 1/2in or so.

A 1/2in hole drilled from the rear and 7/8 from the front each half way thru would accomplish the same thing as a taper. Oversized washers is good too.

 

[motorcyclepilot]

Thank you for that. Paid a visit to West Marine south of Portland today. Decided to go with West System products because the pricing is so simple, printed right on the can!

The staff were very helpful.

Wow, marine epoxy costs a bit of money.

 

[ondarvr]

West Marine is about the most expensive place to buy anything, you probably could pay half that someplace else, virtually any epoxy will work.

Spar varnish and urethane isn't even close to being as good as epoxy, probably better than nothing, but not much.

G flex is a much better product, but is pricy, Gluvit or Coat it work fine.

 

[TruckDrivingFool]

For the over drilling and filling doesn't the epoxy need some filler like wood flour or cabosil?

While very utilitarian I kind of like that top/enclosure does it fold down? Is that a stand up helm hiding under there?

Some pics of the interior might help ID a model for you.

 

[Watermann]

I believe the model is "boat" lol.

When I removed the floor, I noticed that some of the rivets were corroded flush with the hull. When cleaning the outside of the boat, some of the rivet heads popped off. Rivets and 5200 sealant arrive Thursday.

I think the boat was moored in saltwater for a while.

I've searched the Starcraft forums but am overwhelmed with all the information.

Thanks,

James

Moored in salt with water on the inside as well. I see in one of the pics there's a makeshift crab pot puller mast. Get rid of anything that is rusty in the boat. Be sure to clean and neutralize the corrosion.

 

[motorcyclepilot]

My son and me managed to replace all of the faulty rivets at the stern seam yesterday. Today we got about 1/3 of the way up on the outboard seams. Still lots of rivets left for us to replace. We'll need a gooseneck bucking bar to get to the ones behind the (stringers?)

I don't do a lot of boat shopping, but West Marine is local so that's why we went there.

The top enclosure is cobbled together with lots of mild steel hardware. The helm is mostly factory, with a bucket seat on top of a storage cabinet. Opposite that there is a six foot long bench seat on the port side with storage underneath. Up front a bench seat with a fold-down seat mounted to it.

At the aft end there are flotation compartments to either side of the fuel/battery area that extend about 30" forward from the stern.

The 5200 is pretty goopy stuff and a lot runnier than we expected at 50 degrees, but I have no doubt it will help.

Thank you everyone for the help.