1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

Hey peoples. Im new here and to the boating world. I just bought a 1964 Alpex Bali by Alumacraft. I picked it up for $100. Its a good fixer-upper. So far I have replaced the floor and bought all new seats for it among lots of other stuff. It needs a lot of stuff really but in all reality its not too bad. Ill be posting pics as soon as I can get this site to allow me to post them. Any info you can pass along to a first time boater it would be greatly appreciate it.

Cody

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

Ok so I got the pics to work. Take a look.

What she looked like when I brought her home.

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

More from the day I brought her home.







After the floor war ripped out.

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

New floor





90hp Evinrude

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

New seats and pedestals

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

Hi Cody welcome to iBoats...looks like you have everything well in hand.

Congrats on the boat, hopefully you will have lots of fun with it

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

Ok so Im really getting torn in 2 different directions on my build. Ill start from the top. So I buy the boat, it needed the entire inside tore out and new flooring, seats, side panels ect... So I get the floor ripped out and found lots of water logged foam wrapped in black plastic between all the runners. That stuff is heavy when its all water logged. LOL. So before I even cut my first new piece of flooring I went down and talk to the guy at the local marina. Keep in mind this guy builds and restores boats on a daily basis. So I asked him if I truly needed to fill the voids back up with new foam. He pretty much said that it is not necessary to the age of the boat and that in the long run it would end up getting water logged again. He said to that he could sell me the foam I would need to do the job but it would be ridiculously expensive.

I mean I do admire the fact that he was trying to save me money rather than trying to empty my pockets like most places would do. BUT, Ive been doing a lot of lurking around and it seems that everyone that is replacing the flooring is also replacing the old foam with new foam of some sort or another. (which using the swimming noodles seems to me to be one of the most cost effective ways to re-foam the floor) So now that I have my floor all down and glassed in (Never found this site till after the fact) Im having mixxed feelings as to weather the advice I was given to go with out new foam was in my best interest or not.

Just thought maybe some one here could chime in and shed some light on the situation for me. I have even been running the idea through my head of cutting some access holes in the floor and stuffing as many noodles as I can in the void under the floor just to quiet the evil little voice in the back of my head saying, "What the f*** were you thinking listening to that guy, what an idiot!" Just looking for some advice is all. Let me know your feelings about it.

Cody

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

Does anyone have any advice they can give???

Cody

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

HI Cody. I have to respectfully disagree with your "expert". Your boat can and should have its floatation replaced. It would be foolish and dangerous not to (may actually be illegal too depending on the regs in your area). If you repair it properly, it will stay bone-dry far beyond your years on this Earth. Furthermore, the foam found in many vintage fiberglass boats actually plays a structural role in adding integrity to the hull. You'll need to do some research to see if that is the case with your boat. If it is structural in nature, you'll probably want to add some bracing to make up for it. While you could use 2-part, pourable, expanding foam, most folks here try to avoid as much fancy chemical stuff as they can. Instead, you can use the Pink/Blue closed cell insulation board from Lowes/HD and/or foam pool noodles to fill the spaces below your decks. I'm not an f'glass pro, but there are pleny here that can answer your questions and walk you through and tuff spots. Congrats on the new toy. Keep us posted.

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

kfa4303 said:

HI Cody. I have to respectfully disagree with your "expert". Your boat can and should have its floatation replaced. It would be foolish and dangerous not to (may actually be illegal too depending on the regs in your area). If you repair it properly, it will stay bone-dry far beyond your years on this Earth. Furthermore, the foam found in many vintage fiberglass boats actually plays a structural role in adding integrity to the hull. You'll need to do some research to see if that is the case with your boat. If it is structural in nature, you'll probably want to add some bracing to make up for it. While you could use 2-part, pourable, expanding foam, most folks here try to avoid as much fancy chemical stuff as they can. Instead, you can use the Pink/Blue closed cell insulation board from Lowes/HD and/or foam pool noodles to fill the spaces below your decks. I'm not an f'glass pro, but there are pleny here that can answer your questions and walk you through and tuff spots. Congrats on the new toy. Keep us posted.

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kfa4303,

Thanks for your insight, its greatly appreciated. I had a feeling that the guy was full of **** but what did I know Ive never restored a boat before. I guess I have a lot of work ahead of me to get this HUGE problem fixed.

So Ive been looking around at the pourable foam, pool noodles, insulation board among other things. Now one thing Ive been thinking about using would be spray foam insulation. I can get it fairly cheap compared to some of the alternatives. My new questions is will it even work?

Cody

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

I'm not sure. I don know that it would need to be "closed cell" so as not to absorb and water. One of the pros will let you know shortly, I 'm sure. If you can use it, I would add some drainage channels along the bottom of the floor just to be safe. Water can/will always find away to get into every nook and cranny of the boat, which is ok, if it also has a way to get back out. There are actually USCG flotation regulations you can look up to see how much foam you'll need. Although, some vintage boats may be exempt from the reg, I would add as much flotation as possible. Kind of like old cars, they may not have been built with seat belts, disc brakes and airbags, but they're still a good idea. I believe the basic rule of thumb, is that 1 cu. ft. of foam will float 60 lbs., so if you had a 600 lb boat you'd want 10 cu. ft. of foam. Be sure to factor in your weigh, the weight of the motor and any guests and gear you anticipate carrying. Of course the flotation is only designed to keep the boat from sinking entirely. The boat can/will still get swamped if you take on water, but it should stay slightly above the surface. Hope that helps.

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

Yes that does help a lot. My biggest problem is that I have already put down the new floor and have glassed it in on all seem and where all the screws are. I really have no way of pulling the floor up wit out having to completely replace it again. I was thinking I could cut access holes in the floor and fill it with insulation board and/or noodles. I also saw a post on here where her used empty plastic jugs too. Im not apposed to putting the foam in there, my biggest thing is how do I get it there now. LOL. I really appreciate your advise. Going out to work on her here this afternoon so Ill see what I can do. Thanks

Cody

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

Hello again Cody. I think you might be right about cutting out some hatches and inserting the noodles, jugs and/or foam. I would go with pool noodles personally. All you would half to do is cut a few round ports with a holes saw, insert the pool noodles, then use the plug back up and glass over. I believe each noodle is rated for about 100lbs of floatation (10 noodles = 1000 lbs of flotation), so it wouldn't take that many, and you could fit quite a few under the decks with minimal effort. Plus, they've totally impervious to water, won't pack too tight so water drainage won't an issue, and they only cost a buck each at the dollar store. You could try spraying some in there, I suppose, but it might expand so much that it rips up the floor :/ You may also be able to figure out a clever way to add some foam along the gunnels (interior walls) of the boat and/or under the seats. The foam doesn't have to be under the deck, as long as it's some where in the boat. You could but the pin/blue foam board, glue several layers together, cut to fit and install. Here's a pic to show you what I mean. If you add foam to the areas shown, you should be fine. Keep us posted.

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

Ok I see what your saying. I never thought of cutting holes with a hole saw for the noodles. Makes perfect sence. Cut big enough for the noodles to fit and no HUGE hole to try and fix. And its funny that you mention putting foam board along the gunnels cause I was just sitting here thinking the same thing to myself. I think Im going to go raid the dollar store of their noodles tomorrow. LOL Thanks once again

Cody

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

oh yeah. dollar store = good. check the "tool" isle too. they sell rags, screwdrivers and other stuff you might be surprised to find there and still only a buck. just think of the installing the noodles as laproscopic surgery for your boat way easier than crackin' her chest right down the middle. If you take your, time, you can probably stuff quite a few in there.

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

Well I made a little progress today. I got all the side panels cut and dry fitted, surprisingly enough they all fit quite well. Now all I need to do is get the carpeting to wrap them with. Oh yeah need to get to dollar store and get some noodles for under the floor.





Let me know what you think so far.

Cody

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

Well I hit up the dollar store today and bought 30 noodles for the boat. Not sure exactly how many Im going to need but I guess if I need more then Im off to a good start. Ill get some more pics up on my next post.

Cody

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

Good move on adding flotation. The goal is, in the case of swamping, your boat does this: http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/063Small.jpg as opposed to sinking to the bottom like a stone. I went the noodle route on mine. I fit around 72 in there but my boat is bigger. http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/New Boat/DSCF2378.jpg http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/New Boat/DSCF2383.jpg That's a real nice little runabout you got there. MUCH more high-sided than similar boats you typically see from that era. Should be a nice dry ride. What the status on that Evinrude?

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

ezmobee said:

Good move on adding flotation. The goal is, in the case of swamping, your boat does this: http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/063Small.jpg as opposed to sinking to the bottom like a stone. I went the noodle route on mine. I fit around 72 in there but my boat is bigger. http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/New Boat/DSCF2378.jpg http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/New Boat/DSCF2383.jpg That's a real nice little runabout you got there. MUCH more high-sided than similar boats you typically see from that era. Should be a nice dry ride. What the status on that Evinrude?

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Yeah I was a little more than upset at the guy at the local marina for telling me that the foam wasnt even necessary. I didnt really enjoy cutting holes in the floor of my boat after fiberglassing it in. I was going to post pics of that job but I got too into the job and forgot. I mannaged to get 26 noodles under there. I had to cut a few of them in half to fill the space up real good. I still have 4 noodles left and have to get about 10 more. I need to cut a hole yet in the storage compartment to get some noodles in there.

I still need to finish putting some foam board along the sides to go under the side panels. But other than that I think I finally got this foam thing about licked.

Cody

Re: 1964 Alpex Bali Rebuild

ezmobee said:

What the status on that Evinrude?

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The Evinrude is a 64 Star-Flite 90 hp. From what the guy told that I bought it from, it runs strong and was rebuilt a few years ago. It needs a good cleaning to get all the grim and junk off of it but other than that its in great shape

Cody