1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

[Gman 82 aquasport]

I have a few soft spots in the floor so it's time to tear it out and replace floor and check the foam filled stringers for water. Couple of questions about materials to use on stringers , will be using epoxy but need input on types of fglass cloth. 1708 for the stringers? with mat or not? What weight fglass cloth for bottom of floor and for top? thanks
am going to try to load a couple of pics!

If pics came thru you can see a spot on the transom on right about the size of a quarter that is soft..whats best way to fix this if it turns out to be the only bad spot..I know I won't be able to truely check the transom well until floor is out.

Fuel tank is out already..the plan is to make a larger coffin to get a larger tank ( came with 45 gallon tank, new 4/11)

 

[Big Island Lifer]

Great looking boat.
Thanks for sharing!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[oops!]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

Hi ....welcome to iboats.

looking forward to this project...

do you have your new tank yet?

as far as the glass cloth....

if you are using epoxy.....do not get any cloth with csm attached to it......you can get a 17 oz bi axe with no csm stitched to it...
basically....csm is not recommended with epoxy.

 

[Gman 82 aquasport]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

Thanks Big Island, you should have seen it when I got it back in March, hole in the side of the port side cap from dock collision...fixed that and repainted , then soft spots showed up late summer.
Thanks oops, Don't have a new tank yet, want to go 55-58 gallon if possible. the tank coffin as is has about 2 inches free under it, so I'm thinking of flat platform over center short stringer, then find a plastic tank that will fit with angle of hull and still fit under floor. Still deciding if the tank will have a removable lid or sealed in floor with access ports for hose hookups? If I have to go back alum tank it will have a coffin cover.
Planning on posting pics and updates on here and the aquasport site while it's being workrd on. Doing most work myself under shelter, will be checking transom while its apart..will be taking it off trailer 1/3/2012 and cutting floor the next day.

 

[Gman 82 aquasport]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

oops, forgot to ask will 17 oz biaxial work for stringer repair and floor or does floor use something lighter but biaxial, can I use 17 oz biaxial for tabbing also.

 

[oops!]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

yeah....the 17 oz bi axe is the same as 1708.....but does not have the csm on it.

if you are putting in a new tank.....just solid floor it.....and leave an access port for the pick up and stuff.

but its your boat and your call.....if you want to make a lid......go for it....if you do make a lid....make the tank area drainable to the bilge.

iboats has some good choices for tanks.

 

[Gman 82 aquasport]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

Got the floor out today, surprise, surprise, foam is soaked, put a crow bar in it and got squirted. As you can see in the last pic this boat must have been made on a Friday...Going to remove foam and core drill both stringers on Friday and going to take a closer look at the transom..

 

[Gman 82 aquasport]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

Need some of you guys who have done rebuild before to look at this and advise, I was told transom was redone a couple of years ago, it seems solid except one spot by starboard side rear scupper, a spot about 1 1/2 inch diam. seems soft , I will prob grind it and see how bad... but after floor was out I this caught my eye, inner transom on bottom shows to have been poured, you can see where whatever they poured it with ran out... going to grind it and see.I already know that the rear of the stringer on port side has a little delam.. going to fix that as well

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

Is this boat made with wood stringers and transom? Here is a good link for a good read on fiberglass and related products. http://www.fiberglasssite.com/servlet/the-68/Fiberglass-Information,-and-How/Detail

 

[Gman 82 aquasport]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

Transom originally wood, I think mine was poured when redone..stringers are foam filled fglass encased , Glass is solid, I will drill a few core holes to see if foam in stringers is wet.if it is, I will cut top of stringers off and remove wet foam and relpace with 4lb foam, then refoam hull and replace floor..checked out the site lot of good info..thanks

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

Drill some core samples of the transom and see what the shavings look like. It might be a seacast of nidacore transom pour. Shavings will tell the tale.

 

[Gman 82 aquasport]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

What should the shavings look like if the transom is not wood, If it was poured would the shavings have fglass particles in it. Will drill Friday.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

Well kinda, but probably look more like a plastic compound. Drill into the goop at the bottom and compare the shavings.

 

[Gman 82 aquasport]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

Got the wet foam out today, starboard side was soaked bad, had to get rags to get the extra water out, port side wet but not nearly as much...foam weighted about 235 lbs when out and bagged....took a couple of core drill samples on stringers and to no surprise the starboard srtinger was wet, port side not wet but foam was "crunchy", so tommorrow i will cut tops off stringers and remove foam..Plan on letting it dry until Tuesday..
Took a grinder to the inside of the transom where whatever it was poured with had run out.. stuff is like conrete, hard as &*%#, but dusty like fglass so it seems solid, took a closer look at the one small spot near scupper and it looks like whatever it was poured with didn't adhear to that one spot, and since I will be raising the scuppers anyway I figere to just sand out a little larger in that spot and reglass on the outside and flair it... Will try and load pics Sat if time before work at the firehouse..

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

Sounds like a seacast or nidacore transom pour

 

[Gman 82 aquasport]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

Good, one less thing to worry about....

 

[Gman 82 aquasport]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

Todays chore was remove tops of stringers and remove foam.. Foranyone who is about to do this I highly recommend a sharpshooter shovel(linemans shovel) makes getting foam out a lot easier..Took me less than 45 minutes to remove foam from both stringers, after top was removed..

 

[Gman 82 aquasport]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

Pics of foam being removed, you can get about 30 inches of reach with that shovel up into voids.. Going to be letting it dry out for a few days while I wait for my foam and fglass cloth and epoxy to get here.

 

[Gman 82 aquasport]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

Finally some desent weather to get some more work done...got thehull bottom sanded .. there was a soft area of the center short stringer, so I cut it out and replaced it also cut it down shorter as the gas tank will sit on a flat platform glassed to the stringers..got a layer of 17oz glass down the middle and am getting ready to start on raising the stringer height to just below new floor height..I am moving gas tank forward 24 inches, also moving console forward 4 inches....I cut my long built-in cooler down 22 inches and am making a area to sit up front,,sort of like a bowrider..wife likes to ride up front and if she is more comfy it makes getting out more on the water easier...the new floor will have a area under the floor under the seat with a storage are about 24 in wide x 28in long and 9 in deep, there will be a hatch under my leaning post..so not loosing any storage...

 

[Gman 82 aquasport]

Re: 1982 Aquasport floor/stringer rebuild

Cooler will have a drain in bottom as before. Tank will be in a coffin type area but no full size hatch, just acsess to the three hook-up areas. New tank is 10 gallons bigger than the old on but 68lbs lighter, composite vs alum..I will also move rear floor drains up about 11/2 inches and lose the middle one all together. there was a little wood still around the hull drain but dug it out ang filled with PB with chopped glass in it, good to go..hopefully more to be done next couple of days.