Hello I boaters,
I'm in a crunch to finish and get on the water for fall stripers on the Potomac.
This is my dad and i's old boat, powered by a sweet Johnson 30 tiller stear. It has been left in neglect and I just got to it, with cold closing in, my days to glass are limited. Motors fine, hull is going through massive redo.
On cutting out a squishy floor of the 14 ft open fiberglass Tri hull Manf mid 80's (amfab I believe), I discovered the center and only stringer, a piece of 1" wood "fiberglass encapsulated" was about 2/3 water rotted. Most likely from the large crack in the hull, directly on the stringer. I fixed that with a strip of heavy fiberglass run the length of the boat and poly glassed. Epoxy is to damn expensive, and I can't justify it for this project.
The crack and mitigated flooring had caused the flotation foam to waterlog. No wonder after a afternoon of fishing it was impossible to get onto plane with a 30. Great. So i Scooped it out. Empty clean boat. Ready to sink, or float, or could it be possible to bring this sucker back to life doing 30mph?
This is where the wise forum must please shed knowledge.
1. I have Cut the keel out,
what kind of wood to replace it? Pressure treated? Cedar? I currently have a 1x6x12 pressure treated decking board, fits perfect after cutting to fit. If its going to get glassed in does it matter? I'm going rest the new keel on a layer of fiberglass filler with short strand pieces of fiberglass in it, it's pretty thick stuff, the reason for this filler is there is an narrow voids the cut 1x6 won't fit down into.
2. Replacing the flotation foam
. It's not very deep area between hull and soon to be floor bottom, which will be a bit higher then the original, because I plan to rest new 1/4 pressure treated plywood floor on the lip that was left over from the original floor. That being said, is spray in great stuff ok? I will have pictures showings the depth of the area ranges. from 4-5" deep, in the front of the boat to as shallow as 1-1.5" in the stern. Should I use foam boards cut an laid? Stacking where nessacery. What about mixing my own foam? I don't have much more time for sanding down painful things like foam.
3. Can I add sand, texture to poly resin when I lay floor and glass it in? I don't plan on painting the new glassed floor, just adding color to my resin. Most likely a off white.
4. Is a planer board worth adding to the 30? They have one on cabelas for $100ish witH decent reviews. The boat will only have fishing gear and rarely 3 persons. I have removed a significant amount of weight in the waterlogged foam, I believe 30hp for 14ft open floor should be fine. Any recommendation on the pitch for the prop? 10x13 do me well ?
5. What about vinylester? Better for something like a keel replacement because it's less brittle then polyester resin? Should I add a Kevlar strip with epoxy to the center hull if I plan on beaching on small rock beaches? Or is that Kevlar epoxy mix a scam?
Thanks for the help dudes.
I'm in a crunch to finish and get on the water for fall stripers on the Potomac.
This is my dad and i's old boat, powered by a sweet Johnson 30 tiller stear. It has been left in neglect and I just got to it, with cold closing in, my days to glass are limited. Motors fine, hull is going through massive redo.
On cutting out a squishy floor of the 14 ft open fiberglass Tri hull Manf mid 80's (amfab I believe), I discovered the center and only stringer, a piece of 1" wood "fiberglass encapsulated" was about 2/3 water rotted. Most likely from the large crack in the hull, directly on the stringer. I fixed that with a strip of heavy fiberglass run the length of the boat and poly glassed. Epoxy is to damn expensive, and I can't justify it for this project.
The crack and mitigated flooring had caused the flotation foam to waterlog. No wonder after a afternoon of fishing it was impossible to get onto plane with a 30. Great. So i Scooped it out. Empty clean boat. Ready to sink, or float, or could it be possible to bring this sucker back to life doing 30mph?
This is where the wise forum must please shed knowledge.
1. I have Cut the keel out,
what kind of wood to replace it? Pressure treated? Cedar? I currently have a 1x6x12 pressure treated decking board, fits perfect after cutting to fit. If its going to get glassed in does it matter? I'm going rest the new keel on a layer of fiberglass filler with short strand pieces of fiberglass in it, it's pretty thick stuff, the reason for this filler is there is an narrow voids the cut 1x6 won't fit down into.
2. Replacing the flotation foam
. It's not very deep area between hull and soon to be floor bottom, which will be a bit higher then the original, because I plan to rest new 1/4 pressure treated plywood floor on the lip that was left over from the original floor. That being said, is spray in great stuff ok? I will have pictures showings the depth of the area ranges. from 4-5" deep, in the front of the boat to as shallow as 1-1.5" in the stern. Should I use foam boards cut an laid? Stacking where nessacery. What about mixing my own foam? I don't have much more time for sanding down painful things like foam.
3. Can I add sand, texture to poly resin when I lay floor and glass it in? I don't plan on painting the new glassed floor, just adding color to my resin. Most likely a off white.
4. Is a planer board worth adding to the 30? They have one on cabelas for $100ish witH decent reviews. The boat will only have fishing gear and rarely 3 persons. I have removed a significant amount of weight in the waterlogged foam, I believe 30hp for 14ft open floor should be fine. Any recommendation on the pitch for the prop? 10x13 do me well ?
5. What about vinylester? Better for something like a keel replacement because it's less brittle then polyester resin? Should I add a Kevlar strip with epoxy to the center hull if I plan on beaching on small rock beaches? Or is that Kevlar epoxy mix a scam?
Thanks for the help dudes.
