Brand new Boater needs direction

I have just aquired a 1974 Gradywhite 19 ft fiberglass, it's missing all the seats, I'd like to restore it, but I have no idea where to even begin. Any suggestion on a good boat restoring book. I figure this looks like a good place to start.

Thanks

Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

Man, have you come to the right place - welcome aboard! May I suggest that you do some thread searching of similar topics on this forum & wade in a bit before you go much further - you will find way more info here than in any ten books

Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

Ok if you want our help we require one thing, PICS!! We are pic manics here and it lets us see what you are asking. Now i am a Noob at this to but here is a good starting idea of some of the info people are gonna ask you here. Is the Transom cracked, rotted, soft? the Transom is what your Outboard motor is gonna sit on, and if you see Brown Stains on the out side of it, probablhy gonna have to replace that, it sounds bad but if you listen to some of the "old posters" here they make it real easy. Check the Floor out real Carefully. Step around and see if there are Soft Spots, were the floor gives a bit. If it does, you might want to Drill some test wholes and see what the condition for the Foam\stringers are. The Stringer is what gives the hull of your boat its support, along with the floor. All in all, the main thing to remember is that owning a older boat can be a bit expensive, but thats just gonna make you love it more, (kinda like i wife it seems to me LOL).

Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

Oh do we <3 our pics! If you give us a couple, and maybe a detailed description of what condition your boat is in, we can do our best to assist you ourselves, for free!

Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

Ok here it goes I'll try to attach a link.

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Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

Ok let's try this again...hopefully I'll be better at remodeling the boat....

Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

looks like you have a blank slate to work with. How ae you wanting to use this boat. a family fun boat, a fisherman, wakeboard/ ski. you need to replace the windshield support, before some one grabs it for support and breaks the glass. give us a little more about you wish list.

Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

looks like you have a blank slate to work with. How ae you wanting to use this boat. a family fun boat, a fisherman, wakeboard/ ski. you need to replace the windshield support, before some one grabs it for support and breaks the glass. give us a little more about you wish list.

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And how much of the hardware that was on the dash do you still have (steering, gauges, switches)? Looks like that was totally stripped.

Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

I have everything except the seats, all the gauges, wheel etc, they were removed to do some dash work. The boat has some soft spots on the floor, I'd like to restore it as a family/fisherman boat, I'm a pretty goof woodworker and I have most tools, I just need guidance on what to do next. Should I remove the floor to check the interior, how do I built up the benches for seating, that's the kind of questions I have. You guys are great.;

Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

On my boat, only parts of the floor and stringers were rotten, so I just removed what was necessary.
One thing to make sure of, is when you start cutting the fiberglass use goggles, dust mask and a ty-vek suit. Also either do it outside or cover everything in your shop, the dust goes everywhere!!

Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

I just need guidance on what to do next.

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lp - see the post from dhatcher above. Do what he says about the test holes & come back with what you find.

Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

i use a 2 " hole saw and drill test holes in my project boats, floors, then use a piece of 3/4 PVC, with teeth cut into the end, i rotate this into the foam, and extract a core of foam. if it's wet it's wet it time for a tear out, if not then time to patch the holes and proceed. i did this on one of my bow riders, for family seating, just cut plywood panels to fit the bow, foam rubber and cover, what i did differently is cut a panel to fit the whole bow and mounted a pedestal seat, for fishing. some carpet pads on the back to cut down on the chafing of the boat. made a great platform, and removable. back to back seats for the cockpit area will leave good fishing room in the stearn, no jump seats at the transom. it's rather traditional, but makes a good all around family/ fisherman.

Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

Well is sure looks like your in for some interesting times ahead.

As others have said, you need to check the basics first, things like the floor, transom, deck and hull are a good starting point.

Look for any soft areas or cracking in the finish, take lots of pictures and post them with your questions

As this is a major re-fit, you might like to think about what you would like to add, perhaps a built in fuel tank or cool box, a live bait tank, a fish kill box, a cutting board and the list goes on. If you sort them out now it will save time and cost later.

Have you ever done anything like this before?
Do you have any experience with fibreglassing?

Feel free to ask any questions or for advice on any matter, the crew on this site are always willing to help, the more information you give, the better the answer will be.

Avagoodweekend......

Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

Ok, here's the pictures from the floor, seems like it definetely needs to come out, but it does not seem too bad...

Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

Man, that's one heck of a test hole!:^ Did you do some knocking on the stringers to see of they are solid? They will "ring" if solid, but give you a dull thud if they are wet. Drill some SMALL (1/4") holes & see if you get dry wood or black, soft stuff which is rotten. Then you will know if you need to work on them bfore the floor goes in.

Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

Well the little test hole that I started with turned out to be all rotted out, so 75% of the floor from the control area to the transmon needs replacing, the transon is solid, looks like a couple of stringers need replacing, luckly since I do a lot of construction and woodwork, I have most of the wood available.

Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

You guys this it might be easier to separate the top, I'm having a heack of time trying to figure out how to get underneat the console, if separation is needed would it be hard.

Re: Brand new Boater needs direction

Separating Top Deck from Hull:
1. Remove rubber from rub rail. Usually there will be end-caps screwed into the rubber to hold the ends down. Remove those..and carefully pull the rubber out. You may have to use a screwdriver pry the end out..then pull. If you can remove it without damaging...great...if not...it is another expense.

2. Remove rail. Once the rubber insert is removed you will see how the rail itself is held in place. You will find either screws or rivits. Unscrew them or drill out the rivots. You should have several hundred...so pace yourself...this is a good 2 beer and a cigar project.

3. Separation. The screws/rivots held the top deck to the the hull. If you are lucky, you now can lift the top off...if you are unlucky - like me...the transom is glassed to the topdeck and requires grinding/cutting before it can be removed. I had to crawl under my splashwell with my grinder and slowly grind away at the seams...I only ground through the hull a couple of times :'( Also...they may have used caulking or even resin along the seam between the top and bottom. Make sure that you can lift up alittle all the way around before actually tryign to lift the entire top off.

There are several methods to lifting the upperdeck...each depends on what/who you have available.
If you have overhead beam you can attach ropes/pulleys etc to them and then to the cleats (2 in front and 2 in back) and lift it off.
If you have a couple 2x4s...you can lift up the bow...slide 2x4 so that it goes across and is sticking out on either side...repeat for back...then get 3 friends to lift and carry it off...I would try to get some sawhorses or something set up beforehand so you can set it down.

Be creative...I ended up using the beam on my $160 temparary carport (I am still surprised that it held), some rope and some racheting tie downs. I got it suspended above my boat..then slowly pushed it forward...backed the truck to it...set it on the bed of the truck and pulled it forward...then slid it to the ground from there. It was a pain int the a$$ but I got it done.

Good luck.

You can check out my project in my sig link...it shows (some) of how I did it.
-JMW