1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

Hello everyone, I joined this forum after I started reading some of the amazing restorations going on and the detail that people are sharing. I'm going to do my best to contribute on my restoration of this 78 Venture. From what I've found it was rated for a 180hp engine. No chance I'll be buying one of those, so I might sell this one when I'm done, not sure yet.

The hull is in great shape, some small gel coat cracks in the rear, but that's about it. The deck, transom and carpet are trash, I'm not sure about the stringers just yet, might just do them since I'm in there, who knows. The cap is good to, two small cracks the I'll patch up, but some new paint will make huge difference. I'm thinking of painting the whole interior and cap with a rhino liner type coating, no carpet at all.

Today I drilled out the rivets on the rub rail, to find the same number of rivets holding the cap to the hull under the rub rail. So after about 150 of those, I started lifting it off. The thing weighs a ton, I'm guessing 500lbs. I had to make multiple trips to Home Depot to get more eyes and screws. I put 3x5 inch pieces if plywood under the holes in the deck then ran a eye with a washer and nut through it to support the cap. I used ratchet straps to lift the cap off little by little, walking and supporting as I went. It would have been easier with help, but I was able to pull it up ok by walking and ratchet as I went. I plan on pulling the trailer and hull out from under it tomorrow to get the deck and transom done. Hope it holds up overnight.

These are crappy cell phone photos, I'll use a real camera tomorrow when I gut the transom.

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer - more pics

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer - more pics

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

Hi welcome to iBoats...I am looking forward to watching your rebuild.

Not that I am an expert on pulling the cap off, but please research about bracing your hull so that it doesn't warp when you work on it with the cap off. Because if it does the cap will be very difficult to be put back on. Just some advice that was given to me.

Good luck

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

hi....welcome to iboats !

looks good so far.....

if the deck and transom are shot.....its a good bet that the stringers are as well. roll up your sleeves. !

as far as the support....please post pics of the trailer and bunk support...

it looks you have bunks and keel rollers......this is the best support......but lets just check and make sure you arent point loaded.

cheers
oops

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

Thanks glnbnz! I'm looking forward to it. I love fixing stuff and this one seemed like a good challenge. Thanks for the tip about the hull, I should have lowered the cap back down until I could do it all at once, but lesson learned. Hopefully it doesn't go too out of whack overnight. I think I was just super excited to get that cap off, it was fun though.

My plan for tomorrow is to build a flat support for the cap to keep it's shape, then strap it together and lift to the rafters and secure. Then build the support for the hull (should have done that already), and get that deck out and transom out. Wish me luck, tomorrow is gonna be a long one.

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

oops! said:

hi....welcome to iboats !

looks good so far.....

if the deck and transom are shot.....its a good bet that the stringers are as well. roll up your sleeves. !

as far as the support....please post pics of the trailer and bunk support...

it looks you have bunks and keel rollers......this is the best support......but lets just check and make sure you arent point loaded.

cheers
oops

Click to expand...

Thanks! There are bunks and keel rollers, by point loaded, do you mean all the load on the front ring? It's tight, but I can let off the wire easily, no movement. I was thinking I'd build some supports for the sides, but if I have to do the stringers then should I make a form for the hull with multiple pieces of plywood to support it?

I'm thinking I'd be MUST of the stringers come out. On inspection of them from what I've seen they actually looked ok, I'll know more tomorrow, and can post some better photos. I've never worked on a boat like this before, so all advice is much appreciated!

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

point loading on a hull while under construction referers to more weight being on one area.

possibly a seires of lower keel rollers.....or the hull strake sitting on a bunk instead of the bunk supporting the flat spot of the hull.

can you post pics of the underside of the trailer?

problems can occur if the boat is not supported properly....
off hand....yours does not look too bad....but better safe than sorry right?

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

point loading on a hull while under construction referers to more weight being on one area.

possibly a seires of lower keel rollers.....or the hull strake sitting on a bunk instead of the bunk supporting the flat spot of the hull.

can you post pics of the underside of the trailer?

problems can occur if the boat is not supported properly....
off hand....yours does not look too bad....but better safe than sorry right?

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

I'll get some better pictures of the whole thing today, I think it's ok for now, but I'll build some supports for it today to be sure.

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

Here is how it sits today, I've got tranny problems on my truck so it'll sit like this for awhile so I'm going to put the cap back on til I can work on it.

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

more pics

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

On Monday I removed the cap and pulled the boat out of the garage. Tuesday I begun removing all the rest of the deck and debris and today I removed the rest of it. I'm posting the photos from today, but I've got a few questions I'd really like some opinions on before I proceed. All the questions are about the next set of photos.

Beginning of the day







the underside of the rear lower deck. Looked like it was 3/4 ply, solid on top, rotten underneath

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

Along the outer side the resin is super thick, it's an inch thick here and mabe another inch to get to the hull. Is this worth the trouble of removing? There's about 3/4" of wet foam under there...thoughts?

the rail with thick resin



this is the deck under the deck that runs the length of the boat between the strings. I cut out a small hole, and it's full of soaking wet foam. So it's gotta come out.



My questions and thoughts right now.

I do plan on supporting the hull with some wood supports I build before I cut any stringers.

The stringers actually look pretty solid as far as the fiberglass goes. I've been thinking that the best way to redo them is to cut the tops off, dig out the rot and the Seacast them in. The other option being to remove them, but I'd rather not unless absolutely necessary.

Then the lower deck. It looks like they used 1/8" plywood here, and thin fiberglass. Does anyone think it'd be a good idea to cut about an inch from the stringers and dig it out and replace it?

I'd appreciate any advice you all can give me. I'm a complete newbie to this, but it's fun as hell and got me hooked. I covered up pretty good, but the ITCH is here. I'll do better next time, maybe taping my gloves to sleeves will help.

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

Hi vcaptain,
Just came aboard to check out your bass boats restoration, follow along, learn some stuff, and help out if I can...

Noticed your last post you mentioned using seacast to refill the stringers...sounds like an awful lot of work and money, compared to making them out of plywood, but it will be interesting to see, if you go this route, how it turns out...

My only insight at this time is...Yes, if its wet, it should all come out, 'cause its prolly rotten and...
Have Fun!

You already scored the attention of the heaviest of hitters here, so I'll just sit back and watch for a while...

Good Luck
GT1M

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

GT1000000 said:

Hi vcaptain,
Just came aboard to check out your bass boats restoration, follow along, learn some stuff, and help out if I can...

Noticed your last post you mentioned using seacast to refill the stringers...sounds like an awful lot of work and money, compared to making them out of plywood, but it will be interesting to see, if you go this route, how it turns out...

My only insight at this time is...Yes, if its wet, it should all come out, 'cause its prolly rotten and...
Have Fun!

You already scored the attention of the heaviest of hitters here, so I'll just sit back and watch for a while...

Good Luck
GT1M

Click to expand...

Thanks! I'm really looking forward to this. I read your restoration and I know you had a lot of the same experiences. I don't know how you could stand to grind in that tent! I'm just cutting at this point and can see what everyone is talking about with the itch.

The thing with the foam under the heavy resin on the sides is there is no wood, just foam with the resin on top, so no rot just some wet foam.

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

vcaptain said:

Thanks! I'm really looking forward to this. I read your restoration and I know you had a lot of the same experiences. I don't know how you could stand to grind in that tent! I'm just cutting at this point and can see what everyone is talking about with the itch.

The thing with the foam under the heavy resin on the sides is there is no wood, just foam with the resin on top, so no rot just some wet foam.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the visit...Pm'd you 'bout the pics...

Yeah the tent grinding was absotively, Posilutely NO fun at all!!! Fortunately it was only for a few hours and HOPEFULLY...
I won't have that much grinding to do again throughout the rest of this build...maybe a spurt or two here and there, but nothing like the "Big Grind"...:facepalm:

As far as there being only foam and resin in your boats construction, that could be a blessing in disguise...meaning that your boat was at least partially built using Foam as a structural element instead of wood...BUT, I don't know that much aboat this stuff, so maybe oops! can clarify this detail and whether or not it is a good thing...

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

GT1000000 said:

Thanks for the visit...Pm'd you 'bout the pics...

Yeah the tent grinding was absotively, Posilutely NO fun at all!!! Fortunately it was only for a few hours and HOPEFULLY...
I won't have that much grinding to do again throughout the rest of this build...maybe a spurt or two here and there, but nothing like the "Big Grind"...:facepalm:

As far as there being only foam and resin in your boats construction, that could be a blessing in disguise...meaning that your boat was at least partially built using Foam as a structural element instead of wood...BUT, I don't know that much aboat this stuff, so maybe oops! can clarify this detail and whether or not it is a good thing...

Click to expand...

I read opps! rebuild as well, his was insane. Amazing that you both take so much time to document it. It's great to get some advise from folks who have been there.

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

vcaptain said:

his was insane.SHHHH, yes he is... Amazing that you both take so much time to document it.It becomes an addiction after a while...:facepalm:

Click to expand...

L8r...

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

I started cutting out the lower center deck today and surprise! Two more stringers! So that's 4 I have to do now. Wasn't expecting that. I also found half of a paint brush, the bristles side. I removed all the solid resin that was on the sides of the hull. My hammer drill with a chisel bit made super quick work of it, I just ran the bit under the layer of fiberglass and it cam up in big 20lb chunks. The hull has lost an easy 300lbs of dead weight so far, and I've got a bunch more wet foam to go tomorrow. Ordering a full face 3m mask now, goggles and the half-face respirator I have now just isn't going to cut it when I have to start grinding.

Re: 1978 Venture Phase V bass boat, new deck and transom - first timer

I feel like I'm making good progress, but I have a question about removing the old deck. There is a lip of fiberglass about 1/4" thick around the perimeter of the deck. You can see it here. I assume it needs to come out, but does it? If it does, does anyone have any tips for getting it out?



Here is a nice hole in the hull, I put a little too much pressure on the chisel here, but it looked like it was thin to start.



A quality job!