14' Lund Renovation - questions

[mantis270]

Hi guys...

I signed up a few weeks ago and have been combing the posts for information about re-fitting my boat. This is a great site full of good info!

Here's my project...I bought, no...my wife got a bonus at work and bought for me ... this 1974 Lund 14' (1987 30HP Johnson) from a guy at work last year....

She's a good boat and my son and I put alot of hours on the water in her last season. During the winter here in Minnesota, I had lots of time off the water to think (dangerous, huh?) and what started with the idea of a few tweaks here and there has become a full gut and re-fit project.

The weather has finally started to look nice and I figured that if I get started now...work in stages as funding allows...I should be able to get her ready before the seasons begin to open in early May.

First step was to gut her out to an aluminum shell...

The transom is in good shape but has alot of holes where things were mounted then removed and sealed with screws and gobs of sealant. There are also a few rivets spinning in their holes.

The casting decks and benches were made of untreated plywood and were nearing the end of their life...some of the wood pulled out without removing the screws...

The floatation foam was fairly waterlogged, green and slimy on the bottom. I did find where a critter had tunneled and made a stash in the foam under one seat...

Here she is ... a clean pallet:

My plans are....

-Remove as much old sealant as I can.
-Replace/repair leaky or loose rivets (I know of two slow leakers).
-Reseal all the seams.
-Paint interior and exterior.
-Build and install new decks and storage compartments.

I'll be updating the progress and poking in often with questions. Let me say in advance that I appreciate any and all you guys can offer!

 

[mantis270]

14' Lund Renovation - questions

I put up some pix of stage one (gut job) of my renovation in a previous post and have a few questions while preparing for stage 2.

After taking a closer look, I'm leaning towards emptying the transom cavity of my Lund...the wood inside looks pretty rotten. Is plywood the best thing for a transom? There are several rivets, bolts and screws that penenetrate the cavity...are there any measures I can take to help?

I have the boat down to a bare hull now and there's a lot of old, cracked sealant to remove at the seams and a few rivets to rebuck. After that, whats reccomended to re-seal the seams of the hull before painting? I've seen something called Gluvit tossed around on the forum. Can it be pained over once applied?

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - questions

Welcome to iboats! Nice project you have started

I combined your posts

Yes use plywood for the transom and take out all the bolts that go through the wood.

Resealing the seams is best accomplished with gluvit which "flows" when wet so tip the hull accordingly so it flows into the seams. Gluvit can be painted and yes if it is exposed to constant sunlight it is advised since it does not have any UV protection properties.

 

[oops!]

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - questions

if you read the compleated projects forum.......

lundwanissa did a fantastic job on his lund.......and documented it very well.....

one of our mods here also did a fantastic job on his tinny.....

do look for dj's post....also in the compleated projects forum....

keep the pics coming....your doing great so far.

cheers
oops

 

[mantis270]

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - update

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - update

I'll just keep this thread going with updates as I move along on this little adventure...

Next step on the teardown is the old transom...

There's alot of old silicon goop and other sealants from where rivets and seams have been sealed. There are also five sets of holes from where various devices have been mounted and removed over the years...to be sure, I decided that I'd take out the splash well too.

Using a chisel and hammer, I sheared off the heads of the rivets then drilled out the stems with a 3/16 bit. I had to work the plywood out slowly by hammering screwdrivers into each side then slowly walking it out...

It was a bit stubborn because it was FROZEN in place! Yep...there's still an inch of ice in the bottom of the boat...a nice Minnesota March! She finally came out and you can see the wood is starting to fall apart...I'll hang onto if for a template.

 

[mantis270]

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - questions

After all the rivets and wood was removed...it was time to pop out the splash well. I'll clean it up and replace it but this way I can be sure to get everything cleaned up right.

After a little work with a wire wheel...yep...thats ice in the boat!

I was cleaning up the old sealant from the holes on the outside and removed an unused bracket (see earlier photos) and found that the aluminum under the bracket had undergone some significant galvanic corrosion...

This is what can happen over time when two dis-similar metals are in constant contact where moisture is abundant.

Now that the demo is done, I have to think about the rebuild. The back wall of the transom is full of holes...I'm debating on how to handle this...any suggestions?

 

[mantis270]

14' Lund Renovation - Stripping paint

14' Lund Renovation - Stripping paint

Started stripping the outer hull...that was ALOT more work than I'd expected!!

Now that's done I'll work on the inside...maybe tomorrow...maybe next weekend!

 

[5150abf]

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - questions

Very nice boat.

Just painted mine this year and sanding is quite the joy, I just scuffed though I didn't strip mine all the way down, yikes.

With the transom I cut 2 peices of 3/4 plywood and glued them together with Gorilla glue, I used actual marine plywood but exterior grade ply is good to just coat it good with a sealer like Thompsons and mount and drill the holes first then seal it so you can get all the holes sealed too.

I used JB Weld to fill in all the holes on my transom, most were just small screw holes and it worked out really well.

I would put some water in it and see exactly where it leaks then rebuck and then use the Gluvit.

And of coarse you know you need to hit that hull with etching primer before painting.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - questions

Wow That is some serious progress. If you are going to use gluvit.... a coat inside the transom where the wood mounts would not hurt. It will effectively seal off that Aluminum from any galvanic action...... it would be like an extra layer of insurance.

 

[mantis270]

14' Lund Renovation - Stripping paint

14' Lund Renovation - Stripping paint

Well...the weather says that today will be the last nice day for a while so I took advantage and worked on the inside of the hull...

All that's left is to touch up some spots on the floor then flip her over and clean off the bottom. That'll have to wait a few days...I'm all 'funned out' for one weekend! I guess next is rebuilding the transom. Thanks for the tip about pre-drilling the holes in the plywood then sealing.

HEY!! My wife surpised me with an early B-day present...what a BABE!!

 

[mantis270]

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - Transom

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - Transom

Rebuilding the transom, Gorilla Glued two sheets of plywood together and cut, sanded and resin coated ... out with the old and in with the new...

The aluminum inside the transom cavity was not coated before and I found several spots of corrosion that had almost (and two that had) made it through. Once I got the metal cleaned up, I gave what will be the inside of the transom cavity a coat of resin being sure the corrosion spots were filled and covered...

The holes from various devices attached over the years and corrosion pits were filled with my good friend...JB Weld...

Then re-attached the rest of the transom with pop rivets coated with 3M 5200 ...

Once everything is dried and cured, the drips will get cleaned up and the welds sanded smooth and blended...

 

[mantis270]

Cleaning and Sealing

Cleaning and Sealing

Alright...I wasn't going to admit this but hopefully, someone will learn from my oversight on a detail. I cut the new wood for the transom and sealed it in resin...went to put it in only to find that I had bought plywood that was too thick ... I was not happy! Anyway, I took a few days off and collected my thoughts and made one the right thickness...slid right in.

The cap, however was a different story...it was pretty bent. In an ideal world, I'd have made a new one but that's not in the budget. I got one end on then 'persuaded' the rest on with a hammer pushing stainless steel bolts through as I went...

All done and trimming the bolts to size...

Next was to prep the inside of the hull for sealing. I had already removed most of the paint but had to get years of oxidation off as well as rust stains from a metal gas tank.

What I did was sand the surface to get up the heavy stains then... this has it's hazards and I took plenty of precautions ... sprayed the surface with diluted phosphoric acid, let it soak for 30 minutes or so and then worked it over with a Scotch Brite pad. After a thorough rinse, the aluminum surface was spotless and ready to coat...

Once thoroughly dried and any remaining debris vacuumed out, it's time to seal. I'm using Gluvit and want to make sure it runs into the seams so I put the boat on a tilt

Then Roll...

and Tip...just a light skim of the surface to even and pop air bubbles...

I'll do the other side and bottom over the next few days. Once everything is sealed, it'll be time to roll her over and start cleaning off the belly...

 

[bonz_d]

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - questions

Looking great!

I've got a 1986 S-14 DLX with side console that I'm working on at this time. Look forward to seeing more of yours!

 

[slbri]

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - questions

Mantic looking great man! We have to inspire more lund restorations, Starcrafts are out of control! Actually I don't mind as aluminum is aluminum and need all the restore threads I can get my hands on.

Quick question for you...what did you use to sand the hull and inside? As in what tool, sander, grinder exactly? Also what grit of paper did you use. And an idea of how much you went through would be helpful as well. Any helpful hints to the sanding process? Is there a way to screw it up? IE burn or score the aluminum too much?

Thanks in advance.

 

[mantis270]

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - questions

Yeah...the Starcraft Armada is a force around here...

Before stripping, I scored the paint with 80 grit sandpaper by hand...just a quick scuff then goop on the paint stripper. I used a gel product because it tends to stay on the verticle surfaces longer giving it more contact time. Also, I did it in my garage with the door open just to keep it out of the sun and wind...they'll cause the active solvents in the stripper to evaporate before they really have a chance to work on the paint.

Most of the paint blistered up and I was able to remove it with a plastic sheet-rock mudding knife. What was left, I used a medium coarse whire wheel on my drill...took me the better part of a day and a few ibuprofren that night. IMPORTANT!!...WEAR SAFETY GLASSES!!...As you work the paint out from around rivets and in tigth spots, the wires can come loose from the wheel and start flying! Also, every 10 minutes or so, reverse the direction of the drill to keep the wires from bending one way and not doing their job as well.

To sand, I used 80 grit again with a Mouse sander...you know, the vibrating hand sander that's shaped like a clothes iron and the sanding pads held on with velcro. That point works a charm for getting the paint out of seams and corners in the bow and along the benches. I went through about 5 or 6 packs of paper. Be sure to wear a dust mask...a popular primer for aluminum contains zinc chromate and you don't want to breathe in a bunch of dust.

Patience...patience and more patience. If it's becoming a pain (physically or emotionally), put everything down and walk away for a while.

 

[mantis270]

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - transom and splashwell

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - transom and splashwell

Took her to a boat launch and set her in the water...one small leak around a rivet that was an easy fix. Other than that, its ready to move on.

The old splashwell hardware is still in good shape, just needed to be stripped of a few layers of old, crusty sealant and a few bends straightened ...installed with pop-rivets coated with 5200...

The old transom was pretty bent so I decided to beef it up some this time around. I made a few braces out of some aluminum

Then installed with plenty of 5200 to seal it to the hull and the bolt heads.

Outer brace with splashwell drain...

And the inner brace ... made sure to position the bolts so the motor clamps can bite...

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - transom and splashwell

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - transom and splashwell

Man you sure have made a project for yourself, but you will have a really nice boat when you are done! It was already a really nice boat, but making stuff new is always satisfying especially when you are in love with a particular boat. I am going to start another boat project soon, but I probably won't part with the MFG because it is so perfect for me in many ways and have so much sweat equity in it.

Looking forward to seeing it in paint and what you are doing with the decks.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - transom and splashwell

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - transom and splashwell

Can't wait to see paint on it. They say most of the job is the prep work and you've certainly got that!! Also, that's the smallest splash well I've ever seen. It's more like a "drip tray"

 

[vandy21]

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - questions

Awesome Project, Loving the pictures. Keep em' coming!

 

[BIGcarpy50]

Re: 14' Lund Renovation - questions

wow...love the boat...you will be glad you took the time to refit it now...what color are you thinking for the boat...and what kind of paint.