18' SS YASR. (yet another Starcraft Restoration)

[Cap'nHandy]

First - Thanks guys. The information, advance and encouragement helps, and is appreciated more than I can adequately express.

Came home to plumbing issues... (*&^&%(^% tree roots most likely.

Partly dealt with. Hydroxide to saponify any grease. Tonight after last flush - Root killer - then after that has a chance to kill em back a bit, may have to get em cut out. We will see and time will tell in the next few days.

Back to workin on the SS. Pulled the motor. Ray turned to me and grinned, and said "Dad, now we can get the transom out!"

yeah, buddy. Been kinda rainy, and forecasting more. Splash well and assorted loose ends next. Then the transom. On track so far.

Very tired, but feeling good with the motor done.

Blaine

 

[Cap'nHandy]

Got the transom out today! Wooohoo! And only very minor corrosion. Pics soon. Once we got the gazillion screws, bolts, nails and other assorted things out, it was actually fairly easy. Fabbed a quicky bracket and attached it to the transom, and used a floor jack to lift it out with a few bangs and whacks.to loosen things up.

The amazing thing is I found the transom on mine is 3 peices. The main piece, and two unattached "ears" on the top at each side. No evidence these were glued together, or that the transom wood had ANY waterproofing treatment at all. Just some paint on the exposed wood above the splash well.

Those ears had but 1 wood screw holding them to the main section. Made is very easy to get it out, as i did not have to deal with the overlap of sheet metal to get out of the way. Once the little peice of ply on the back that the motor sits against was off, the metal under that was mostly clean, with only a bit of staining, and no bad pitting or anything. Then when the main part came out, I found a few small areas of discoloration and some minor pitting in a couple spots, and a bit of white powder, bit mostly clean al. Took it to the car wash and pressure washed everything again.

Very encouraging across the board. In the home stretch of the destruction phase.

Headed to the gulf tomorrow - Port A and Rockport. Hope to snag a bit of fish and let the kiddo's play in the sand and surf.

Blaine

 

[Watermann]

Nice to hear it came out smoothly, most guys build the transoms back in as one piece for strength so you'll still need to do some bending or cutting if you do that too.

 

[Cap'nHandy]

I think I may just have enough room to put it back in 4 peices with no cutting / bending of metal. I have to think it through, bit it looks like I can do 1 full sized piece 3/4 inch and laminate it to an original style (lower) piece, and then put in the two ears half thickness, but with some epoxy and screw / bond em together. its a thought at the time. Have to do some measuring and considering all the options. If the 3 piece design was good for 150 hp then this would be stronger anyway.
The other advantage is I may only have to use a single sheet of 3/4 to make the entire transom that way. Again, I have to think, measure, and see how that would work out. Weather is finally breaking from the Texas Hot and getting more comfortable, so were not working in an aluminum oven.

Blaine

 

[Cap'nHandy]

Hmmm. Wondering about how the rub rail is attached, and how the insert goes in ( or comes out ). I understand these things are made of unobtanium, so I dont want to make an stupid mistake on removing them, as they are in fairly good shape as is.

Having trouble locating 3/4 exterior grade ply. Around here, it is all 23/32 shtuff. Found some 3/4 but it is primed. Don't know if that would fubar the laminating.

There is 19/32 that I can use for the deck. That's just a 16th shy of 5/8 so should be a bit more stout than the original 1/2.

Weather finally cooled off a bit. So reds will be running soon. Hope to have everything back together before the run ends.

Blaine

 

[Watermann]

Take off the end caps and bow cap. Under the end caps are 2 rivets, one on each side holding the rub rail ends in the channel. It's all one piece so you pull each side out from the bow.

 

[dozerII]

Once you pull the rub rail find a place to hang them (over a rafter etc) it will stop them from shrinking so much making the re-install much easier.

 

[jbcurt00]

Having trouble locating 3/4 exterior grade ply. Around here, it is all 23/32 shtuff. Found some 3/4 but it is primed. Don't know if that would fubar the laminating.

There is 19/32 that I can use for the deck. That's just a 16th shy of 5/8 so should be a bit more stout than the original 1/2.

23/32" IS the new 3/4" so if it's exterior grade, it will do just fine

If you used a floor jack to Lift the transom out:

Got the transom out today! Wooohoo! And only very minor corrosion. Pics soon. Once we got the gazillion screws, bolts, nails and other assorted things out, it was actually fairly easy. Fabbed a quicky bracket and attached it to the transom, and used a floor jack to lift it out with a few bangs and whacks.to loosen things up.

Then there shouldn't be much if any more:

I think I may just have enough room to put it back in 4 peices with no cutting/bending of metal. I have to think it through, bit it looks like I can do 1 full sized piece 3/4 inch and laminate it to an original style (lower) piece, and then put in the two ears half thickness, but with some epoxy and screw / bond em together. its a thought at the time. Have to do some measuring and considering all the options. If the 3 piece design was good for 150 hp then this would be stronger anyway.
The other advantage is I may only have to use a single sheet of 3/4 to make the entire transom that way. Again, I have to think, measure, and see how that would work out. Weather is finally breaking from the Texas Hot and getting more comfortable, so were not working in an aluminum oven.

If you laminate the transom INSTALLED IN the boat, it'll be more difficult to ensure full bonding between the sheets. Out of the boat it'll be easier, IMO.

You are correct that SC did pretty much the bare minimum to protect the transom ply originally w/ paint. More then many makers, similar to most.....

 

[Cap'nHandy]

Bleh! what a hectic few weeks. between poodle, a couple of bash bugs (shellshock), openssl issues, and everyone getting last minutes code pushes, upgrades, etc, before the typical code freeze during the holidays - I am pooped.

Work on the SC has been interrupted with plain old exhaustion from work. not to mention that the last thing I have wanted to do when I come home is even _look_ at a computer - its been a while since I updated.

Anyway - Corrosion was - not to bad, except for that one area in the bilge - and it looked like it may have even extended under the last rib. So after discussing the options with Ray - we opted to go ahead and pull the rib.

Yep - a couple small holes, and a few deeper pits found under there.

Upside, it appears to be limited to that area, and I am prepping a patch for the rearmost 18 long X 12 inches wide of hull. cleaned all back to good metal and etch. Fill with JB Weld... Sand smooth - then a 1/16th Al 5052 sheet, that will be riveted in place from the transom seam to the second rib up from the transom. And, will coat the patch with 5200. So the patch will be sealed and riveted in place as a doubler under the knee brace, and last rib, and completely cover the area of the pitting.

All the wood is cut, transom is made and laminated up - internal sheet metal ( consoles and such ) mostly sanded, and prep to start painting those parts is getting there.
The splashwell is out, stringers out, last rib out, my back is out . . Uhhh, yeah. Thats fun.

So other than the delays from too much work - and taking the kids fishing, were on schedule hour wise, but not time wise. Not certain if I am going to add this patch internal or external.

Pros and cons of both appreciated.

Thanks.

Blaine

 

[Watermann]

Welcome back to the tin nut bin. :wave:

The problem with patches being placed inside under the rib or knee brace in that it changes heights, raising the rib off the bottom in one area of the hull may stress rivets too much. If there's some pin holes or close to it then patching on the outside is the only option IMO otherwise the 5200 will ooze out of the hole and be what's in contact with the thing you're trying to keep out... water.

 

[Cap'nHandy]

Thanks - I work in a nut bin also... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU1Qr5MMjA8


Yeah, its a delimma. Neglected to menion the holes wil be filled with epoxy and small plugs of 5052 first. Using a dremel to grind a itty bitty slightly bigger then a pencil diameter piece. Tape over bottom of hull with some "speed tape" - add small dab of epoxy and plug from inside, add a bit more marine tex or jb marine - heat a little ( 120 - 150 f ) to make it very runny, use small flat blade to squidge it all in and then when cured sand it smooth and level both sides. That alone will be pretty darn strong... I have considered the slight increase in height of bottom of rib and knee brace - and was not too concerned other than having to adjust the holes in the knee brace. Since they look less than perfect, they and transom holes were going to get enlarged to 1/4 and larger rivets installed regardless. The rib - I am going to dry fit with cleco and some nuts / bolts to see how much change there would be before I made final decision. But the slight gap in bottom of rib over next few rivet holes has me considering if I did that, I may have to add doubler / shim alone entire area of last rib. Since it is last rib, it would not affect deck enough to worry about.
If I do outside, I cannot make the patch as large, as keel ends between second to last and last rib, and I wanted to go a little further forward than that.

Got a 21" X 4 ' piece of 5052 locally.

Having not opened my tube of 5200 - How "thin" is this stuff. Caulk? Wood glue? thick paint? - I want to know how thin I can get it between hull and patch, regardless of the size. From what I understand, once I open tube, I have only a few days to use it cause it will start to harden in the tube.

Well - time to head to the nut house.

Blaine

 

[classiccat]

Having not opened my tube of 5200 - How "thin" is this stuff. Caulk? Wood glue? thick paint? - I want to know how thin I can get it between hull and patch, regardless of the size. From what I understand, once I open tube, I have only a few days to use it cause it will start to harden in the tube.

Well - time to head to the nut house.

Blaine

5200 viscosity varies with temperature. At room temperature it's still fairly viscous...like thick pancake batter. It will keep for quite awhile if you put some plastic wrap over the opening & store in the fridge.

 

[Watermann]

For the 5200, put a long screw down in the hole you cut off the tip and then wrap it with some frog tape. Mine lasted many months before I used the whole construction tube up on my Chief.

I was hoping Ccat would chime in with his suggestions since he's done more of that sort of patch work than anyone I know here. I have outside patches over repairs on the underside of my Chief that nobody ever notices. Patches on both sides of a corrosion with pin hole area would be the best, sort of sandwiching the problem. Just remember if you strike something in that area not having protection over it could make for a big problem.