Starting new project 1973 Sea Ray 240 SRV

[kcassells]

guys, attempting to sand the pits out of an aluminum tank is not smart, attempting to alumi-braze is even less smart. it reduces the strength greatly due to the annealing of the material. buy a new tank.
Plenty of custom tank folks. sheboyganjohn, if you need someone to make you an aluminum tank in WI, check with valley radiator up in De Pere. Tell Mike I sent you. He will treat you right.

Hi Guys, Scott,
Thank you for the input. I came home from work today early not feeling so well. The HTS-2000 was there on my doorstep. I had to try it out. I took the old transom cover out {aluminum} and cleaned up an area where I wanted to see if it did what it was supposed to do. It also comes with a video that shows other applications as well as boat/aluminum gas tanks. So does the website.
Point of interest is the the melting point of the rod is 500 degrees below that of the aluminum metling point and therefore no annealment properties.
So back to the test, I cleaned an area that had a 1/4" hole drilled thru it. The braze went around and sat on/over the hole without falling thru. Sanded it out, turned it over, tried to bang a nail thru it with my hammer but was not able to, to get the hole back I had to redrill it.
I'm very happy. On another note I would not recommend if you are not oriented with brazing, welding or soldering in addition to properly making the gas tank and area safe to work with. All the specs are available. pretty cool stuff, very happy!

 

[sheboyganjohn]

guys, attempting to sand the pits out of an aluminum tank is not smart, attempting to alumi-braze is even less smart. it reduces the strength greatly due to the annealing of the material. buy a new tank.

Plenty of custom tank folks. sheboyganjohn, if you need someone to make you an aluminum tank in WI, check with valley radiator up in De Pere. Tell Mike I sent you. He will treat you right.

I'm dealing with a steel tank, not aluminum. I need to clean it up before I decide anything. It was painted and foamed in place so it looks like crap on the outside right now and I do not know the interior condition, have not looked yet..

And thanks for the tip on a builder. If I need a new tank I will look them up.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Started rough cutting the stringers and bulkheads tonight. This is as far as I got.

 

[kcassells]

Looks Great!

 

[sheboyganjohn]

It can stop raining one of these days. Between the rain and the fog rolling in off the lake have not been able to do much. I guess I will do the second last round of grinding tomorrow (will leave the lip until I get the stringers glassed in and cut to height). At least we got past the graduation party this weekend so I can focus on the boat again. Just need to bring the dory home this week and get it ready for the 4th. Going to try watching fireworks from the lake this year if the weather agrees.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Argggg, it is only 57 today. I don't want the heat, but I wish we could at least hit mid 60's so I can glass. Guess I will work on the dory today getting it ready for the 4th.

 

[kcassells]

Well look on the bright side at leaast you have a boat!! Not being on the water is driving me crazy. Wish I never solf that old MFG 15 Gypsy.!!! I got all the wood cut to fit, gas tank getting by a professional, just need to order some glass and epoxy. $$$ driving me crazy too! My weather is perfect until Oct. at this point. Boy I want that floor down and engine on her back! Like yesterday.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Looks like I am going to get perfect weather today. 67 and sunny. Hopefully I will be able to tab in and put a glass layer on the transom, get the stringer in place, and start of the floor.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Well, the goal for today is going to be cut short. Forgot one minor detail, can't do much if you run out of resin. Did not realize how much resin biax soaks up. Transom is all tabbed in with a double layer, will put the inner skin on and might have just a little resin left.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Transom has one layer of biax on it, will need another partial layer to level things out since some of the tabbing is in the area where the inner transom plate for the drive bolts into place.

Today finished cutting stringers and bulkheads and have them partially bedded in PL. I used stacked popsicle sticks to hold it up so I went around them. I will pull them out tomorrow and finish up with the PL. Next will be to tab them in and then cut them to height. Next will be to cut the lip out and put the last outer stringer in.

 

[mrdjflores]

i haven't cut out the keyhole in my transom yet, have been thinking of switching to the dual engine setup....just wishful thinkiing so far

 

[sheboyganjohn]

I like the dual set-up since I will be running Lake Michigan with it. The only thing I don't like is the dog house takes up a ton of space.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Cut the bulkhead for the bow end of the fuel tank, pulled the popsicle stick shims and finished bedding everything in. Was going to cut a drain passage under the front bulkhead but decided it was better to have a barrier between the fuel tank / engine bilge and the cabin area. Guess that is why there was a bilge pump under the step in the cabin. While waiting on the next shipment of supplies I will work on the storage compartments I am adding to either side of the fuel tank. I also looked back over the pictures and see that the outer stringers from the transom to just past the motor box are doubled up, will need to cut the extra board and install too. I will post up a pic in the next day or so of the stringer bedded in. Time to go for a relaxing drive with the Admiral.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Was productive today, but dang near roasted to death. Marked and cut all the stringers to height then ground out the floor lip. Being in tyvek coveralls in the humidity we had today was not fun. Below are the pics of how I marked the floor. I laid a straight 2x4 across the stringers and then put in shims to get the height above the lip on both sides the same. I then added 1/2 to that and then marked the stringers. Used an adjustable square to take the measurements. Cut everything off with the jig saw, then broke out the hand plane to get everything level. Then it was sauna time to grind out the lip. Was so dang hot afterwards I spent 1/2 hr in a cold shower and still felt hot after that.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Had a good evening last night on the Dory. First time watching the fireworks from the boat.

I have done some thinking and decided I do not want to spend another entire summer working on a boat, have done that the last 3 summers. I am going to get the stringers tabbed in, the floor installed and maybe a touch of work in the cabin (have some foam and such to dig out might as well do it with this dump run). I am then going to put the Sea Ray back into storage for the rest of the year and do odds and ends on the dory the rest of the year. If I get real ambitious I might do the rebuild on the one motor that is half way apart. When you have all these boats you have to enjoy them every once and a while and not spend all your time working on them.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Put some fillets in tonight. Went through 2 liters of resin and did not even get half way done. Tomorrow I may get some more done, but leaving on vacation on Wednesday for three days so may have to spend the time getting things ready. Will be back at it this weekend.

 

[kcassells]

Put some fillets in tonight. Went through 2 liters of resin and did not even get half way done. Tomorrow I may get some more done, but leaving on vacation on Wednesday for three days so may have to spend the time getting things ready. Will be back at it this weekend.

Yuou got some kick arse work going on Sheboy! Looks great! Just ordered a whole batch of goodies from US comp. and getting my arse back into gear. A little side work
helped to get me the goods! BTW my tank ended up being totaled. Feel better now to get a new tank!!

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Yea I hear you about the tank. I think I am going to need a new one. I found someone on the searay forms that is restoring the exact same boat and of all things, is only 30 minutes away from me. He had a tank built and it was $800. It will not be until next year that I can afford a new tank so another good reason not to go crazy trying to get it done this year. Do you have a thread anywhere with your build, I cannot find one.

 

[kcassells]

Yea I hear you about the tank. I think I am going to need a new one. I found someone on the searay forms that is restoring the exact same boat and of all things, is only 30 minutes away from me. He had a tank built and it was $800. It will not be until next year that I can afford a new tank so another good reason not to go crazy trying to get it done this year. Do you have a thread anywhere with your build, I cannot find one.

Well I started one awhile back, got distracted, been kinda paling around here. Gonna start a new one in a week or two with progress and alot of questions. Hopefully I can post pics.

 

[sheboyganjohn]

Back from vacation and ready to hit it again. Just finished putting in the second piece for the double stringer that runs from the transom along the outer stringer just forward of the engine well. Calling for rain this afternoon so may hold off on anymore work until tomorrow. Then if all goes well I will bed the rest of the stringer and tab them in. I will get some new pic's tomorrow.