Need Major Help

[MikeCustomBaitPainter]

The Pic Posted In Pieces , It's Just Cut Up. As Far As I Can Tell The Livewell Is Plastic ,

The Hatches Are Recessed.

 

[sphelps]

Look at the last pic on post #30 .. When the hatch lid is closed there is only about a 1/4" between the carpeted lid and the raised middle section . Something has got to hold the middle section up ..Whatever wood goes in for support the way I see it must go under the cut out lip .. With nothing left on the sides I really see no choice other than cutting the livewell down about an inch on at least 2 sides so you can slide a 3/4" piece of ply over and glass into whatever glass is left . Then If it were me I would place a plywood bulkhead under the new ply inside the 2 outer compartments running down to the hull or stringers maybe . With the seat going there it has to be super strong in my opinion ..
Idk am I seeing this wrong ?

 

[MikeCustomBaitPainter]

No Title

Pic's Of Livewell , From Right Hatch Area.

 

[sphelps]

OK now we're getting somewhere .. The livewell looks to be fiberglass from what I see in the pics . You could either do as I suggested or do as produceguy suggested and install cleats on the on the top inside walls of the livewell leaving it down at the right level so the top of the first layer of 3/4 is even with your cut . Then install another piece of 3/4 ply on top of that to bring everything back to the right level . You would grind down to fresh glass on all areas to receive new glass .. You may or may not need to install some stiffeners on the outside of the livewell for added strength..
What do y'all think ?

 

[kcassells]

Likea this maybe with some mods;

 

[produceguy]

OK now we're getting somewhere .. The livewell looks to be fiberglass from what I see in the pics . You could either do as I suggested or do as produceguy suggested and install cleats on the on the top inside walls of the livewell leaving it down at the right level so the top of the first layer of 3/4 is even with your cut . Then install another piece of 3/4 ply on top of that to bring everything back to the right level . You would grind down to fresh glass on all areas to receive new glass .. You may or may not need to install some stiffeners on the outside of the livewell for added strength..
What do y'all think ?

Yup, looks like glass to me as well.
I don't see why it wouldn't work.

 

[MikeCustomBaitPainter]

Sand Down The Sides Of The Livewell To Glass ? Cleats Are Just Strips Of Wood , Do I Need To Glue These In Place , Then Glass Them In ?

 

[sphelps]

Yes ,yes, yes, and yes .. I would cut maybe a 3" rip and bevel the bottom and sides of the piece . That will make it easier to glass . 90 deg corners are sometimes difficult to get the glass to lay down . Also the livewell looks like it may be agled a bit so you might want to slope /angle the top of the cleat a little so you have a nice horizontal ledge to lay your ply down on .. Now if it was me I would fabricate a plywood bulkhead support across the open side of the hole under the edge .. A verticle piece all glassed together and fastened to the 2 side cleats .. That would make it much stronger on the weakest side .. But thats just me ..
What area do you live ?

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Hey guys..Im kinda late to the party ( just rolled back into town ya know ).

Sure would have worked out a whole lot better if we just scuffed and glassed the under side of this puppy. Thrown in some ply under the ped for good measure. But as they say..hindsight is 20/20.

Well produceguy is right on the track. But if I may give you some suggestions here.

A. Make the deck piece ( on a workbench ) Exactly how its going to be Installed. Wood with fiberglass..both sides. If your going to have 1/4" of fiberglass on top of your wood..better do it now before you install. I would put 4-5 layers of 1708 on the bottom half just to be on the safe side. Resin coat the edges Real good..like until it wont take anymore.

B. Grind your well on both sides down to raw fiberglass ( forwards to back..about 4-5" down from deck level ). Prep/scuff your pre-glassed deck piece on the bottom two sides where it mates with the spots you ground in your well while your at it.

C. Dry fit your deck so it sits Spot on where its going to live. Support the thing with some strips of wood screwed on the top side ( basically its going to just hang there ).

D. Here is the real fun part. Your going to have to reach up inside that sucker and glass tab the deck piece to the sides. So here's what you do. Tape some plastic in the well so you dont make a mess. Now..With the deck out..cut some 1708 fiberglass strips the length of the 'Tab'..and about 10" wide. Call it 5 strips for each side. Mix up about a quart of poly resin. Resin coat the prepped areas on both the bottom deck and the well. Good. Put your piece into place..nice and tight. Weight it down if you have to. Now brush some resin on masking paper or thick plastic ( at least the size of your glass strips ). Put one layer of 1708 MAT SIDE UP on this and coat it with resin. Stack All 1708 strips on this pile, wetting with resin as you go. You need to get out as much air out of the stack as possible ( fiberglass bubble roller..squeegy ..whatever ). Take some scissors and cut the extra paper/plastic off from your stack. Now..unless you have a pair of horse arm length examination gloves handy..make sure your in a grinding suit with the gloves taped to the arms. Ok got this. Great. Grab that stack.. reach up in there and man handle that baby into place. About 5" on both surfaces. Being now that the fabric side of the glass is face out..you can rub your hand and work out any air pocket that are in there. Wasnt that fun? Goood..good. Aw Crap..Now do it again for the other side..

E. Have your better half make you a Smoothie. If you dont have a better half..well..screw it. Pop a suds or grab some Tropicana.

F. When thats all kicked off..go reach up in that channel or lip or whatever thats on the back end ( where the hatch lip is ) with some 36 grit or something. Yup..you guessed it..time to cut up some glass for that edge now. Do the same thing there..but with obvious different size glass cuts. Oh..and more than 3 layers might be too much to jam up in there.

G. The front edge of the deck piece. Hmm..well you might have to resort to using some angle alum and some screws on the underside there. Unless you can reach it..and If you actually Want to glass it..then have at it.

I guess you could do the wooden cleat thing. You are doing the same basic thing..but in glass.

On the outside of this..well there isnt really any room or place that you can glass tab, now that its all cut out and all. You would have to start getting into where your lids mate up. Real PITA. At this point..its not going anywhere. So you might just have to gap fill with some 5200 or something where the carpet is. Where the glass is cracked at the lids and exposed when opened. Hmm..might have to resort to repairing the outside and spray painting it ( the inside is already glassed from step F ). I dunno..lemme think about that. Just get to that bridge first

Oh..and there are several different ways to do this repair. This is just how I would personally do it...

 

[MikeCustomBaitPainter]

Can I Just Say , My Head Is Hurting Now ...................Anyone What To Come and Do This ?

 

[sphelps]

Hang in there Mike ! This stuff isn't that hard ..LOL !!
YD was just offering a different way to fix without the use of wood cleats .. Basically temporarily mount the deck plywood through the top then installing some really thick tabbing from underneath .. YD does this stuff for a living so it's pretty much a cake walk for him .. He knows all the tricks of the trade ..
Now if it was me I would do the wood cleats mainly because I'm kinda fat and clumsy .. You could do 90% of the glass work from the top through the opening .
There are many ways to get to the same conclusion ..if you were close by I would come lend a hand but your prolly up in Canada or something ....

 

[mrdjflores]

I think the cleats would be a good direction to go in

 

[MikeCustomBaitPainter]

I'm From Western Maryland.

 

[sphelps]

I'm From Western Maryland.

Isn't that in Canada ?

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Well Mike.. I didnt mean to give you an aneurysm or anything lol. Like Sphelps said..its really not that hard. Taking it one step at a time and being prepared for the next step ahead of time is key.

I was thinking it was an easy one two three operation. You can make your deck on a bench while sipping a pina colada. You could cut your glass up while watching the Cubs beat the tar off the Yanks. Then you take it easy while wetting out your fiberglass piles. Its only when you have to reach up in there where it becomes somewhat of a challenge. It would only take about 10 minutes to slap those babies up there ( well..you would only have about 10 before its getting close to kick off time ). The rest is just smoking a cig while frying up some burgers all the while reaching up hole with a little glass in hand.

But I digress..

I would normally do the wooden cleat gig too. But all this talk about it being a 'Live Well' kinda bothered me some. And seeing as whatever you do to the underside of that sucker will be basically the support for the ped. Not too much going on top to tie it in. And well..wood rots when it gets wet..so make sure everything is water tight down there.

No matter which way you decide to do this, I still think its best if you make the deck piece Prior to any cleatin or screwing or whatever. You should glass both sides of that panel going in. Now if you make the thing just a tad bit larger than what you need..then when you cut it to fit the hole you will have a scrap or two left lying on the ground. Grab that thing and put it in place where your deck will fit flush. This will give you the correct location of your cleat installs ( that you can mount/glass screw and glue while the deck is still opened up ). Its that or your going to have to install the cleats from the underside to mate up to your deck. Now That would be kinda tricky.

 

[sphelps]

Looking at the forum members map Coolbree70 should be pretty close to you . Pin yourself on the map when ya get the chance if you want .. If he ain't to far away he might could swing by and give a few pointers ...

 

[MikeCustomBaitPainter]

I Have Great News , I Broke My Dam Hand and Will Have Surgery Monday To Repair It , I Will Not Be Able To Use My Right Hand For Up To 8 Weeks. They Plan To Cast It For The First 2 Weeks , Fingers Crossed , Then Splint It For The Remainder Of The Healing Time.

I Went To The Map and Noticed , 89 Resorter , Is 20 Min's From Me.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Man..thats Terrific! I mean..you certainly dodged the bullet on this one.

PS. Well that sux...

 

[kcassells]

Hey guys..Im kinda late to the party ( just rolled back into town ya know ).

Sure would have worked out a whole lot better if we just scuffed and glassed the under side of this puppy. Thrown in some ply under the ped for good measure. But as they say..hindsight is 20/20.

Well produceguy is right on the track. But if I may give you some suggestions here.

A. Make the deck piece ( on a workbench ) Exactly how its going to be Installed. Wood with fiberglass..both sides. If your going to have 1/4" of fiberglass on top of your wood..better do it now before you install. I would put 4-5 layers of 1708 on the bottom half just to be on the safe side. Resin coat the edges Real good..like until it wont take anymore.

B. Grind your well on both sides down to raw fiberglass ( forwards to back..about 4-5" down from deck level ). Prep/scuff your pre-glassed deck piece on the bottom two sides where it mates with the spots you ground in your well while your at it.

C. Dry fit your deck so it sits Spot on where its going to live. Support the thing with some strips of wood screwed on the top side ( basically its going to just hang there ).

D. Here is the real fun part. Your going to have to reach up inside that sucker and glass tab the deck piece to the sides. So here's what you do. Tape some plastic in the well so you dont make a mess. Now..With the deck out..cut some 1708 fiberglass strips the length of the 'Tab'..and about 10" wide. Call it 5 strips for each side. Mix up about a quart of poly resin. Resin coat the prepped areas on both the bottom deck and the well. Good. Put your piece into place..nice and tight. Weight it down if you have to. Now brush some resin on masking paper or thick plastic ( at least the size of your glass strips ). Put one layer of 1708 MAT SIDE UP on this and coat it with resin. Stack All 1708 strips on this pile, wetting with resin as you go. You need to get out as much air out of the stack as possible ( fiberglass bubble roller..squeegy ..whatever ). Take some scissors and cut the extra paper/plastic off from your stack. Now..unless you have a pair of horse arm length examination gloves handy..make sure your in a grinding suit with the gloves taped to the arms. Ok got this. Great. Grab that stack.. reach up in there and man handle that baby into place. About 5" on both surfaces. Being now that the fabric side of the glass is face out..you can rub your hand and work out any air pocket that are in there. Wasnt that fun? Goood..good. Aw Crap..Now do it again for the other side..

E. Have your better half make you a Smoothie. If you dont have a better half..well..screw it. Pop a suds or grab some Tropicana.

F. When thats all kicked off..go reach up in that channel or lip or whatever thats on the back end ( where the hatch lip is ) with some 36 grit or something. Yup..you guessed it..time to cut up some glass for that edge now. Do the same thing there..but with obvious different size glass cuts. Oh..and more than 3 layers might be too much to jam up in there.

G. The front edge of the deck piece. Hmm..well you might have to resort to using some angle alum and some screws on the underside there. Unless you can reach it..and If you actually Want to glass it..then have at it.

I guess you could do the wooden cleat thing. You are doing the same basic thing..but in glass.

On the outside of this..well there isnt really any room or place that you can glass tab, now that its all cut out and all. You would have to start getting into where your lids mate up. Real PITA. At this point..its not going anywhere. So you might just have to gap fill with some 5200 or something where the carpet is. Where the glass is cracked at the lids and exposed when opened. Hmm..might have to resort to repairing the outside and spray painting it ( the inside is already glassed from step F ). I dunno..lemme think about that. Just get to that bridge first

Oh..and there are several different ways to do this repair. This is just how I would personally do it...

Yack Doctor did you miss post #45

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Yack Doctor did you miss post #45

Actually I remember that one very well. It reminds me of my reef tank when the actinic lights are on. But I really didnt see the relevance for his particular quandary. I could have missed the correlation though.