'76 Holiday i/o 18' Fishing Rebuild (pic heavy!)

[cowboykid8]

Awesome. Thanks for the advise Watermann

 

[ezmobee]

I taped off and rolled all my interior and topside aluminum as well. Worked fine and wasn't too terribly painful.

 

[italianstal27]

HUGE PROGRESS TODAY!

My dad came over! He's a mechanical engineer so talking about the structural parts of the boat and how the engine works was awesome. Never had an engine torn apart to this degree before!


Helping scrape the head gasket material off. Finally got the cylinders covered and oiled well with the rags for protection. Found out using a razor blade is much easier than a screwdriver. Also, he began de-greasing the engine and got the pulleys pretty nice!



And here we go with the mishaps.... Our transom did not stick together on the bottom port side. We failed to sink a screw far enough on the edge + use C clamps to adhere the edges together. Guys, speaking from experience, go to harbor freight, but 15 $2 c clamps, and use them!!!!!!! Also, sink a couple screws into the interior for good measure!

We reapplied epoxy, and put clamps on the edges to bind it together. It's now flush!



Backed the screws out after getting the edges flush, and after we epoxy the transom + peanut butter (405 + epoxy) we'll be good to go!


Had the rotted old deck to use as a template (thankfully). We took a lot of care while removing it not to make any cracks. Having that 10x10' tent allowed us to cut the plywood even when it was raining!


Sawing at a 45[SUP]o[/SUP] angle to get maximum decking on the boat.



Lot of hm'ing and hawing wondering if the deck was the right cut. We ultimately decided that yeah we were ok. Word of advice, start at the piece closest to the stern and then move forward. We wasted some time trying to figure out if the piece we cut was in the right place lol.



Second piece cut. We used the respirators at this point forward after realizing we didn't know what was in the glues that bound the pieces of plywood together. My nose was running the day I wasn't wearing a respirator. They're $17 on amazon for the mask + filters. Just buy 'em.


Me throwing down epoxy on the 8 edges + bottom piece. When you're selecting your plywood, look for minimal chips in the plywood. It'll save you at least an hour trying to fill in the cracks with epoxy.



Piece drying after a thick coat of epoxy (this is the sternmost decking). We put 2 2x4s under it. the second piece of decking also got a coat of epoxy and you can see the stacked 2x4s we put that piece on top of. Basically made a stack of plywood for curing the epoxy!

 

[ezmobee]

Good work guys.

 

[Watermann]

Moving right along, the hull clean up and repairs have always taken me the longest, months as a matter of fact. :blue: Motivation goes a long ways!

 

[italianstal27]

We're slowly making it happen!


Making the keyhole cut. We're 10000% hoping that it lines it! Used the old transom as a template as they lined up within 1/32". How? No idea man.

Remember to use that respirator kids! Bis A is no joke!


Keyhole is OUT!


First coat of epoxy on the transom!

It hit 64 degrees today so using that 205 hardener with the Resin worked beautifully. Had about 20-30 minutes before it started to thicken which is excellent!


Pic of the staging area we were using going back and forth. If you're thinking about buying the pumps, do it. It saves you tremendous amounts of resin from measuring, as well as cleanup. 1 pump resin, 1 pump hardener. for $17 it was beyond worth it. Got some acetone there for cleanup.

the 10x10 canopy was great for keeping the sun off us today, and rain off us on other days!

Forgot to take pics of the transom hull on the boat, but we sanded it down and epoxied the areas which were corroded. Whenever we can get the transom in, the boat is ready to go!

Need to make a stop by the hardware store to match the bolts we pulled out of the original transom. We'll probably use nylon washers to separate the stainless bolts from teh aluminum hull.


Got the other side of the decking done! We are now 1 coat of epoxy on the deck side away from having 2 pieces done! We considered doing the other 2 deck parts, but realized we would have 0 working space with 4 pieces drying. We decided that space is extremely important to a successful work day. We'll finish the next 2 pieces later!

 

[Watermann]

You forgot to cut in the steering arm bevel on either side of the top of the keyhole. Also you should glue the horse collar on first before sealing and then make the steering bevel cut out. Did you remember the 15 degree bevel on the top of the transom too?

 

[italianstal27]

We remembered the 15[SUP]o[/SUP] bevel on the top, but totally forgot the arm bevel...

We are cutting the horse collar tomorrow. Our board is 1.42" measured with the digital calipers and we need to be between 2 - 2.25" correct? so we're going to add a .7" piece, tack it on with nails, bevel it for the steering arm, and then seal it one last time!

We're also putting 405 hardener on the edges. It comes in a caulking gun container and we're putting it on the 4 outer edges of the transom.

The carb is going in the gallon of the carb cleaner for 24 hours and we'll keep you updated on the progress!

 

[italianstal27]

Cleaning up the exhaust manifold late last night while watching John Wick in the garage.

After I get the rust off, we'll check to see if there are areas that have less than 1/4" on the gasket side. If they do, the manifold needs to be replaced.

None of the holes are sealed up so that's good! We'll probably be submerging the manifold and riser in CLR tonight.

-John

 

[italianstal27]

Work was crazy the last week. This whole being an adult thing really gets in the way of building a boat!

Wyatt was gone today, so it was just me working on the next steps: getting the 3rd piece of the transom attached and cut, and getting more floor cut.



Cutting out the bevel for the steering was a trial and a half. I'm not sure if the jigsaw was the right tool for this.... but I made it work "good enough" hopefully! we'll epoxy it of course..


To anyone in the future, if you have an air compressor, use the air attachment. there's only so much dust you can get off with a brush! This puppy really got in there and blew everything off after sanding / sawing. Don't forget the oil separator.


Midday break. Key takeaway: Doing a boat rebuild on your own easy takes 3 times as long to get anything done. I kid you not. If someone offers to help you ALWAYS take them up on it.


New keyhole attachment cut and screwed in 6 places on the outside with epoxy over the screw, and 4 clamps on the inside.

I cannot stress this enough to everyone in the future looking at these pictures: You cannot have enough clamps and screws. Doing this right THE FIRST TIME will save you so much headache the day after when it's cured. Also applied epoxy on the outside edges of the board.

Measurement with the calipers put it at a consistant 2.22"



Third piece of deck cut. YOu can see some of my cuts (top left) really sucked. Hopefully that's something the sanding can help with!

More updates tomorrow when Wyatt's available to help. We'll be doing a TON of epoxy'ing and probably have to make a run to the marine supply store for more.

We're also going to 405 the edges of the deck. For science.

-John

 

[Watermann]

Forward progress is the name of this game, always moving forward no matter what.

The right tool for the steering arm cut out is a Kutzall wheel for your angle grinder. Spendy but something to have forever.

 

[italianstal27]

Day 315, the tribe grows weary of doing epoxy day in and day out. But today's the last day on the transom!! We epoxied every side once, and to finish it off, ran epoxy along all the exterior edges of the transom and 2 sternmost deck pieces.


Honestly, I'm not sure what he's doing. It was just us today. Look how shiny that deck is!




GUYS THE STERNDECK IS DONE BABY! IT'S DONE!

To you, comrade from the future, START THE EPOXY PROCESS NOW. I can't think of anything more complicated than coordinating epoxy in 40 degree weather in the winter while it's raining 6 days a week in limited garage space.

TRANSOM GOES IN TOMORROW!!!!! YAY!!!!

 

[Watermann]

Shame that shine has to be covered up... looking good :encouragement:

Thinking I saw you leak test and there was a leak. Are you going to use gluvit on the seams and keel?

 

[italianstal27]

Yeah, so transom goes in today. Once we have the transom in we'll start walking around the inside to gluvit all seams, buck any rivets that are feeling loose (replace if we need to), and spread marine-tex on any gaps or corroded areas.

The boat flexes way too much with the transom out to walk in it.

 

[Watermann]

Applying gluvit around the transom seam will be tough with the wood in there. I cut a 2x4 and braced it across mid ship and used ratchet straps to hold it in place to add some rigidity to the floppy hull. Also don't walk on the bottom of the boat, always put a piece of ply over the 2 deck supports to stand/sit on while working inside.

 

[italianstal27]

OH! Didn't think about that! we'll be sure to apply gluvit where the transom meets the hull before dropping the transom in!

 

[italianstal27]

HUGE DAY FOR US!

TRANSOM WENT IN!


Contemplating what our lives have meant the last couple weeks & a final sand


Got a little stuck shimming it in... So we used a crowbar to pull the trenchs apart whilst smacking the transom with a rubber mallet.



Forgot to take a final pic! But we have it level with the bottom of the keyhole now and an 1/8" overlap on the top.

Went to home depot, and they didn't have stainless bolts 1/4"x20 2" length... So we're probably special ordering off amazon.

Right now, we'll continue to use the old bolts (Wyatt drilled holes and put the old hardware in, just so we can start moving around the inside of the boat and getting everything else fixed while we wait for hardware to arrive.

-John

 

[ezmobee]

Lowes has way more stainless fasteners than Home Depot FYI.

 

[italianstal27]

Checked online as well and couldn't find any 2" from lowes.

Ordered off amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DAOGOXY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[italianstal27]

Pic of the transom in final resting position. How about that keyhole cut?!

Some slight corrosion... we'll be sanding before applying the 5200.

We're still on the fence about applying epoxy on the wood holes that we drilled... but we'll be going stainless bolts -> 5200 -> aluminum hull -> plywood -> 5200 on the outside of plywood -> washer -> nut


Pic of the port bow. Doing some inspection before we start paining, we found a small hairline crack


Anyone have thoughts on what to do about this crack? We're thinking sand the inside, gluvit, let the gluvit dry, and then pack it with marine tex epoxy?

-John