Gibson houseboat restoration

[gfragola]

Hi all. I bought a 1981 Gibson houseboat a month ago. I have been reading quite a bit on this forum for tips. Once I pulled the old carpet to replace, I opened up Pandoras box and found numerous spot of rotten wood from leaks. The price wasnt too bad though and I absolutely love the lake its on (about a ten year waiting list to get on it). It does tick me off all the bad wood was blatantly covered and painted for the sale. At this point I have spent all off hours last two weeks gutting and replacing the old wood.
The first question I have is how to seal the hull to the deck? There are no rails or rivets. I am considering using 5200 on the outside and fiberglassstrips on the inside.I have done extensive work to structurally stregthen the woodwork inside to hold everything together.
Next, how do I seal wood to the fiberglass hull on the inside? I can screw the lower half into studs, but the upper plywood needs to be glued. Do I use resin, liquid nails, something else? The surface is rather bumpy.
Last, I need to fibergalss the wood repairs I made on the deck. Is fiberglass resin and matt from home depot ok (I am going to paint over it as well), or do I need marine epoxy
Once construction phase is done, I will have more questions regarding solar, shower drain system, , waste tanks, etc..
Thanks for any help or tips!

 

[gfragola]

Re: Gibson houseboat restoration

I tried to upload more pics, but couldn't for some reason. Outside deck repairs are rectangle cut outs of bad wood (replaced with same thickness plywood) as small as 6x4 inches and as large as 54x11 inches (7 repairs in total). It is all secured over pressure treated 2x4s screwed together underneath the decking and secured to support framework or stringers. My next step is to fibergalss over the wood.

 

[gfragola]

Re: Gibson houseboat restoration

resized the photos to download

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Gibson houseboat restoration

You really need to read about fiberglass and marine construction. Or find someone local that is experienced in marine fiberglass repairs that is willing to give you advice. West Marine would be a good place to start, as they sell all the supplies you need. Their catalogs are also full of good information.

When using plywood on boat repairs, you need to use only marine plywood. And never use pressure treated wood inside a boat hull due to the chemical fumes it puts off.

You're now discovering why those that purchase older fiberglass boats must do their due diligence prior to the sale. Every fiberglass boat must remain undercover its whole life, and that's not always easy when a boat's 14' x 42' in size.

 

[gfragola]

Re: Gibson houseboat restoration

I opted to leave the plywood in place as it is the same as the original deck plywood. Taking the above advice, I visisted West marine and researched furher on deck repairs. I bought epoxy resin and hardner with 6 oz cloth and it laid down very nice on the outer deck repairs!
On the inside of the boat, I fiberglassed the seem from the hull bottom to the upper fiberglass walls. I then screwed in plywood walls on the bottom half and used flooring glue adhesive to stabilize the upper wood to the fiberglass wall and clamped till dry. I filled any cracks with yellow foam.
I plan on using 3M 5200 on the outside seems where the deck meets the hull.
I had to replace some bad plumbing hook ups for the black water system. There was a galvanized steel connector rusted and leaking. I thought it was hooked to the black water tank. When I pulled it to repair, lake water started coming back in :embarassed:. After 90 seconds of pure panic, I put on a good valve and stopped the leak. It is now permanetly plugged and disconnected as we will only use the black water holding tank on the fresh water lake.