Chris Craft Scorpion 210 Restoration

Gson

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 20, 2018
Messages
49
Hi,

Just bought my self a new project, a early 1980 Chris Craft Scorpion 210 in need of stringer replace and a new engine.

Starting my first post an hopefully so that I can document the process and ask some question. Although will start slowly because winter is approaching here in Sweden.

Starting with a first question about structural integrity of the Scorpion and the floor. The plan is to replace the floor with fibre glass and polyester, but with some wooden details. Taking the water protection ability aside, what is the floors addition to structural integrity. For sake of argument would only the stingers and hull be sufficient for the structure stability on a scorpion?

Cheers
Jonas
 

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steve_h7

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Sep 16, 2018
Messages
401
I don't know enough to answer any of your questions but just wanted to say welcome and I love the lines of your Chris Craft! :thumb: Good luck with the project!
 

Woodonglass

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
25,924
The substructure of your boat will look similar to this...
fetch

The Longitudinal Stringers and the Bulkheads are absolutely what give the hull it's structural integrity and they must be 100% solid and attached firmly to the hull. Having said that they wood should NOT touch the hull sooo, you should bed the stringers and the bulkies in Thickened resin (We call it Peanut Butter here on this forum) Use Poly resin and Cabosil and mix to the consistency of Creamy Peanut butter.

WelcomeAboard.jpg
 

Gson

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 20, 2018
Messages
49
Thanks!

Guess cabosil is the same as fumed silca so any equivalent product will do. So the attachment of the floor plates and how I later on will cut and place the plates does not mater for the structual integrity?

Anyone that have an alternative way to fasten the gas tank? Should of course avoid water in the bulk heads, but seams like it always end up there regardless and the foam just contain the water. My idea was to drill holes in the bottom of the sills and bulks (coat in plastic) to allow the water back into the engine compartment. Seams like the original construction was based on a colmplete water tight flooring, which seams to inevitable fail after a couple of years.
 

Woodonglass

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
25,924
es Fumed Silica is the same. The Nautical Engineers that design the boats structure have good reasons for the layout design. I'd highly recommend you build her back exactly like they designed and built her. This should be helpful for your Fuel Tank installation.
http://www.marinesurvey.com/yacht/fueltank.htm

I agree that you should create Weep Holes in the bottom of Stings and Bulks. Here in the states we often use PVC plumbing pipe cut in half and then epoxied into the cut outs.(See Drawing) The red is the glued in PVC


PVC WeepLiner.jpg
 

Gson

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 20, 2018
Messages
49
Thanks, great link describing the gas tank installation.
 

Gson

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 20, 2018
Messages
49
346C1A26-67B8-41F0-BA61-CB252546BE21.jpeg

Got the boat closer to home, hopefully can start doing some work before the snow.
 

Sea18Horse

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jun 1, 2008
Messages
626
es Fumed Silica is the same. The Nautical Engineers that design the boats structure have good reasons for the layout design. I'd highly recommend you build her back exactly like they designed and built her. This should be helpful for your Fuel Tank installation.
http://www.marinesurvey.com/yacht/fueltank.htm

I agree that you should create Weep Holes in the bottom of Stings and Bulks. Here in the states we often use PVC plumbing pipe cut in half and then epoxied into the cut outs.(See Drawing) The red is the glued in PVC



I don't know if I've seen David Pascoe's sites mentioned here on iBoats before now. I've been reading everything I can find on all three of his sites. marinesurvey.com yachtsurvey.com and docksidereports.com all summer long. I'll be buying a couple of his books when the boat budget allows. Great stuff.

Cheers.............................Todd
 

Gson

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 20, 2018
Messages
49
Half of the stringers have already been replaced from previous owner and yesterday I tore out the rest and started to cut new plywood pieces for those.

Today I started to investigate the transom that supposed to be recently replaced, but had started to debond between the plywood and the outer fibreglass. I toke away the inner layer of fibreglass and hoped that it should be fully debonded, but it was very much attached to the outer layer. Built a jig that worked really well and got it free. On the backside of the plywood you could see that they had tried to inject epoxy glue or similar from several drilled holes, but with limited success.
 

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Gson

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 20, 2018
Messages
49
Another day of work on the boat and now the stringers, bulk and flooring is cut and ready for fibreglass.
 

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Gson

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 20, 2018
Messages
49
Today I sanded the inside and got rid of the old interior, but no pictures only lots of dust.

The original hatch had been removed and the opening closed with fibreglass. The old opening was not properly reinforced and there was several cracks, so I decided to open it up again. Was a bit lucky and the old frame was intact.
 

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Gson

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 20, 2018
Messages
49
Today the paint got removed on the deck and gunwales of the boat, showing the original red/yellow gelcoat. The initial thought was to keep the old 2-component white paint, but a bad repair on the front deck made it necessary to repaint large parts anyway.

Most people seems to recommend to paint with 2-component paint instead of topcoat. Still topcoat feels quite good and easy to repair and I don't mind the wet sanding to get the shine?

Another question is the color. The hull is in good shape and I'll keep it white. For the deck and gunwales - white would be a safe choice and a nice contrast to some teak details on the deck. Still maybe more fun with light grey, dark grey, blue or red?
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sphelps

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 16, 2011
Messages
11,429
Making good progress ! I wonder why they glassed the front hatch closed ? Must have leaked or something ..
 

Gson

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 20, 2018
Messages
49
Later models have a separate hatch in the front, so my guess is that he construction had some room for improvements. Still it is quite functional and you can build a stair from the the deck straight into the boat, which is not possible with the separate hatch.

The boat have some kind of previous damage on starboard side that is not properly fixed and need to be repaired. Maybe they didn’t get the structural integrity right and needed reinforce or the hatch was broken and instead of replacing it they took the easy way out.
 

Gson

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 20, 2018
Messages
49
Today the transom got some paint removal. All in all approximate 50 holes from speed meter, at least 2 kind of swim platforms and a couple I have no clue about.

 

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Gson

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 20, 2018
Messages
49
Almost finished with the new dashboard. Missing the helm and the idea is to have a 7 inch flush mounted plotter to the right. Also didn’t dare to mount the keyless start button until tested with the engine.

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Gson

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Oct 20, 2018
Messages
49
Thanks!

I’m very happy with the result. Only downside is that it will take a couple of months before I can mount it, need to fix engine and stringers first.

Finally everything is ready for adding things instead of removing :) All old fibreglass is now removed and the transom in level and prepared for new plywood.

When removing the the old engine mount they looked ok, but was lots of oil and dirt between them and the hull, nice with a clean start.



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