1981 Formula One Stringers and Transom rebuild - few questions

antleo

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I picked up an 81 formula one last year ($100 to hard to pass up) with a running mercury 115 2 stroke with a bunch of extras, power trim, new custom prop, etc etc. it needs the transom and stringers redone. I started looking at it again today, cleaned out all the leaves and such,ripped into it/ cut the floor and pulled the upper hull off. after that i took some measurements and came inside. I came up with 8 sheets for stringers and other under floor pieces. I noticed in one of the videos in the thread linked to, his stringers are 1/2 the ones currently in the formula are 3/4, will 1/2 suffice or should I spend the extra cash for 3/4? Is there anything in that thread that maybe can be made better or done differently? Thanks all for any help.
 

Scott Danforth

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laminate the 1/2" to make 1" if needed. 3/4 is better, 1" is better yet.

or go with a few more layers of 1708
 

antleo

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Ill Likely go with 3/4 then as its easily sourced locally. another question: wheres the best place to get resin and glass? Ive found a few online, but perhaps there is a favored on this forum? Ill get Pictures tomorrow.
 

jbcurt00

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Sort of depends on where you live. Shipping hazmat (polyester resin & hardener are) isnt cheap, and you'll need multiple 5gals of it.....

Where are ya?
 

jbcurt00

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US Composites, in Florida, there may be others closer, but not that I'm familiar w...

They also carry 2lb flotation pour in foam. You'll need some of that too...
 

antleo

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Yup definitely will need the foam. Is it worth while to go with vinyl ester resin over polyester? It's roughly $50 more per 5 gallons, which doesn't seem rediculous for what it seems it'd provide for water resistance, and the fact that it shouldn't delaminate near as easy, it's also more susceptible to impact which I could see as being very useful for the deck itself.
 

antleo

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Well I worked on this thing a bit today, have the front bulkhead and stringers out as well as 95% of the foam, and part of the transom. Won't be able to do much more until Thursday now though.
 

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antleo

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Found some of the original images of the boat from when I picked it up last year.. Needless to say I knew it was going to be a project
 

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antleo

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I see that Frisco Boaters Garage guy uses PL premium poly adhesive. Would it be better to use the PL Marine adhesive?
 

JASinIL2006

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I’m not sure vinyl ester is worth the cost, especially when your boat was probably built with polyester anyway.

Where are you considering using PL? I think for the most part they make a good adhesive, but the downside is you have to wait quite a while after using it before you can apply glass over it. You need to let the PL offgas, at least 72 hours before you can cover it.

For gluing together sheets of plywood, you can use Titebond III and glass the next day. For bedding stringers, you can use thickened resin (aka peanut butter), which also is good for gluing the transom in.
 

Scott Danforth

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I have used US composites when i lived in the midwest. I use fiberglass coatings (FCGI.com) now because its between work and home.

for laminating the wood - titebond 3

for bedding, PL is ok to use, however you have to wait to glass over
PB is easy to mix (and if you have some piping bags or masonry grout bags, easy to spread)

when picking resin, get more than you think you need, you will make a few trophies (large bucket of kicked resin with your brush/roller permanently stuck in it)
 

Mad Props

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Welcome to Iboats... I live in south central PA and I've found that US Composites is the best price for this area... The only place I've found I could drive to was about 2 hours away on the Chesapeake but it only would have saved me like 30 bucks per 5 gallon bucket of resin and the prices on most other stuff were higher...

Its just the hazmat shipping fees that are killer, but unless you have something very close your probably not gonna do better than USC.
 

antleo

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I'm going to see what my local marina has (I've heard they can get just about anything I might need). Ill use "peanut butter" to bed stringers and titebond III for gluing the 2 pieces of transom together. if vinyl ester is not worth it then I will not go for that and just use polyester. I'm planning 20 gallons of resin I think, the thread I linked to used 15 gallons on an 18 foot, but has restored a boat before. I'm also planning 1 full roll of 1708 (biax) and 1 full roll of csm. Does this seem like enough? How much loose fiber and fumed silica should I get (for the thickened resin)? That's something i'm not sure about at all. how much foam would one guess I will need?
 
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Scott Danforth

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get a pound of fumed silica (it will last a few projects) and a pound of chopped fibers

how long is a role? or a roll? for CSM, you will probably use about 15 yards and about 20 yards of 1708

my last project, I used 10 yards of 12" wide 1708, 10 yards of 15" wide 1708 and 10 yards of 18" wide 1708, however only 5 yards of 54" CSM and 1708. about 10 gallons of resin, about 2 gallons of glass reinforced fairing, about 4 gallons of light weight fairing, about 3 gallons of white gel, 1 gallon of dark blue gel, 1 qt of bright red, 1 quart of black, and 2 quarts of dark grey gel. about 3 gallons of Duratec gloss additive.

still have to finish the interior (have 3 sheets of plywood waiting for that) and will need about $800 in vinyl plus what my upholstery guy charges
 

antleo

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I just noticed that typo and fixed it haha. A roll appears to be 70 yards for csm and 50 for 1708. which judging by what you just said is way overkill and I can cut back.. a lot
 

antleo

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I'm having problems uploading pictures, so they're all in my google drive. I found the original ones from when I inventoried everything originally.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1G87p1l-UbgK6mGDOYnTixlXSoCUKRe0G?usp=sharing

Today I took all the foam that I ripped up the other day and loaded it into 2 trashcans which must have weighed nearly 100lbs a piece. Then I started ripping into the rest of the starboard side stringer/foam, the next bulkhead, and the box thing on the side. There ended up being a lot of standing water under all the foam which was startling. I am busy this weekend, but next week I should be finished ripping everything apart and start grinding/sanding. Ill likely get the wood the following week and cut everything to fit. After that Ill see how finances work out for the glass and resin. My local marina can get resin, however it was going to be $300. So ill order from us composites unless i find something else somehow
 

strokendiesel002

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Good luck on your project! I don't have much to offer on glassing, but like following along if ya don't mind
 

antleo

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I called another local marina over the weekend and got a decent price, 1 gallon for $38 which works out to $190 for 5 gallons. They had 2x 1 gallon cans in stock, so in a bind that will work out decent as well. However I will still be ordering from us composites as everyone suggested. I haven't done any more work yet, other things popped up (as they always do) When it comes to sanding my brother said he would help, so that will go quicker. just need to finish stripping the big stuff.
 

antleo

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More pictures in the Google drive(https://drive.google.com/folderview?...TixlXSoCUKRe0G) ​​​! Got the rest of the stringer and foam ripped up, the box on the side came up in one piece which was pretty nice. I cut around the transom, but needed to grab wrenches for the swim platforms so I called it a night. (it's hot and I'm a little lazy haha) the transom, ski locker and clean out is all that's left before a grueling sanding process to refine all the cuts and get everything down to raw fiberglass capable of bonding to. I've got a 4.5in grinder and 7in grinder with flap wheels and may pick up a DA sander if needed. Anyyhing else I should look at doing while this thing is this far down?
 
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