Fletcher kitting out

Morning folks.
Fletcher Photos by ewawowa | Photobucket
As you can see I have a fletcher so mucking about in this summer and doing up over next winter.
I am a complete newbie so I have a few questions.
1) is there any place to get hold of a owners manual or "service" manual for this boat? Rather than ripping up the deck now to see what's underneath.
2) Would the bilge pump go in the back into the gully with the rotten wood floating in it in the pics. Or would it go more central in the boat.
3) what's the best way to attach a pump?
4) in the front where it's sectioned off into three parts is it best to locate the fuel tank there in the middle section?

Any help or advice above and beyond these questions is greatly appreciated.

Dan

Re: Fletcher kitting out

By the looks of those pics, you need to skip the mucking about and go straight to the fix-up.

Your boat isn't safe.

Re: Fletcher kitting out

How so?

Re: Fletcher kitting out

Welcome to iBoats! JNG should have been a bit more descriptive. Since you are a new boat owner, some basic info should be in order. Boats of this style are constructed with Stringers (Usually wood core encapsulated with Fiberglass cloth and resin) that run from bow to stern. These are the main supports for the hull and the deck. The Stern (Rear) of the boat where the motor hangs is the Transom. It's constructed similar to the stingers. Finally the Deck is placed on top of the Stringers and tied into the sides of the hull. This Wood Core structure is prone to rot and decay especially in boats 10 yrs or older. This degradation of the structure can make your boat unsafe and susceptible to heavy waves and wakes and the torque of the motor on the transom which can lead to catastrophic failure. Your pics indicate that the rotting process has started and the Stringers, Transom and Deck need to be replaced. There's lots of examples of how all of this is done, and we will be here to help you all along the way. Do some researching here on the forum and take plenty of pics so we can see what you see. The first link in my signature below has some good info for you. One TIP for you is to use the IMG tag in Photobucket to paste your pics directly into iBoats. Makes things a lot easier for the members to evaluate your project.

Re: Fletcher kitting out

Thank you for the extra info.
I thought it would all be a bit easy to get away with not to much work. Lol. This could prove a pain as I am short on space to work in.
But nothing ventured.......

Ill have a better look around the forums when I'm in front of my pc. It's all a bit long winded on my phone.

Again thanks for the info.

Dan

Re: Fletcher kitting out

Ugh, what's all that black stuff all over everything? Bedliner? Ugh....

There is significantly more work to be done then figuring out where to put the bilge pump & gas tanks.............

Jig & WOG will be of great help....

Welcome to the iboats dry dock....

Re: Fletcher kitting out

Well I did go have a bit of a better look at it today. Had to lift it to drain out some water from where the tarp blew off the other day and a load of rotten wood floated to the drain plug. Popped up a bit of floor where the fibreglass hadn't bonded properly and it seems I have a half inch thick wood floor that's been placed on top of a rotten floor about 10mm thick.
The wood in the stringers looks damp but not rotten. But it's only the back foot and a half I can see. I will get the floor up and out properly over the next couple of weeks for a proper look at it all.

As someone who hasn't used fibreglass at all how easy is it make new stringers? Or would seeking out a boat yard be better?

Re: Fletcher kitting out

The damp wood is just immature rotten wood and should be removed... I'm sure you'll find more and worse.

There have been many people that have never worked with fiberglass before come on here and have done excellent jobs restoring their boats with the help and study of this forum. It's not hard to layup the glass, the hard part is the ripping out of the old and rotten and then the preparation for the fiberglass work.

Start reading a few of the many fiberglass boat restoration threads and you'll have a very good idea how to do it before you even start... and as always, the iboats crew will be here to help.

Re: Fletcher kitting out

This will be a good place to start..."Fabricating Decks, Stringers, and Transoms"