1972 15' Nova rebuild

[MNhunter1]

I appear to have lost a few of my earlier posts due to the forum upgrade, so I figured we'd start it off fresh. The tear down has begun on my 15' Nova. I've been working after dark under some trouble lights and headlamps after the kiddos are in bed, but progress is being made. Windshield is off, dash is off, carpet is removed, side panels are removed. Just a few more rivets left to remove on the splashwell, then the floor/foam is coming out and assessment of the hull will begin.

 

[MNhunter1]

You can see the butchered transom that was modified by the PO to accept the short shaft motor, still undecided about what to do with the transom skin after the transom is replaced to normal height. I also have a few holes below the waterline from the transducer and speedo mounts, I'm thinking either stainless screws/washers/nuts/and 5200...or a little JB weld. Either repair method would then be covered by a transducer mounting plate screwed and 5200 sealed to the transom.

I also have a nice gouge/dent on the starboard side of the bow. Doesn't appear to have broken through anywhere, so I'm thinking of trying to hammer it out from the inside...my neighbor does some auto body work, so I should have some guidance available.

Leak test...have heard pros and cons of filling the inside of the hull with water and watching for the leaks...is this sufficient, or do I need to go splash the hull and observe from the inside? Plan to Gluvit all joints and rivets regardless, but just looking to identify any problem areas.

And finally, for now...for those of you that have removed the bow cap, any special tips or problem areas? Was going to just leave it alone, but some of the wood supports underneath could use a little attention...and it will help with repairing my little dent issue at the bow.

Thanks in advance.

 

[jbcurt00]

Should this end up in the ethernet junk box during the upgrade, I'll be short:

Awesome Nova

Careful removing the bow rubrail cap, hard to remove, easily cracked

Polish or paint hull? Paint, I'd only do minimal removal @dent, just fill & paint it.

@trailer fill inside w/ water to above the chine for leak test. Mark, repair as needed, apply gluvit, then float test to confirm fixed

New transom wood, then fill in missing transom skin & cover it w/ a slightly oversized aluminum motor pad @exterior

 

[MNhunter1]

Plan is to paint the hull. My concern with just filling and painting is the potential for it to flex and crack. I might just leave it alone after getting the paint all stripped off. The current condition of the existing paint(s) might be causing it to appear more obvious than it really is.

"fill in missing transome skin" - with an aluminum patch? The piece that was cut is actually folded over the cut transom. I may be able to bend it back somewhat straight and jb weld the cuts after the transom is replaced. It would be completely covered by the motor pad anyhow, so appearance wouldn't really be that critical.

 

[jbcurt00]

Yep ^^^

Aluminum can become work hardened & prone to cracking while trying to pound out a dent, or stress crack later once you've finished painted the exterior & start using the boat.

 

[Watermann]

Welcome back Hunter. Yeah that location where the dent is a tough one to hammer out and you'll still have to use filler because it won't come all the way out being a crease. Also look at the keel to the right of the dent pic, someone has welded on a plate, most likely because they tore the bow eye out through the skin. That area could be prone to cracking due to the heat of welding spreading to the surrounding area. I have to shake my head when I see the damage inflicted by PO's who think they know what they're doing. She's in good hands now though!

 

[MNhunter1]

Spent a few more hours under the lights tonight. Splashwell is out and all the transom hardware is removed. Just need to pull it out and save as much as I can for a pattern. Was tempted to yank the floor, but tomorrow's another work day, so it's off to bed. My lingering questions for the night... Rub rails - does the rubber insert just slide right out of the channel? Any trick to loosening it up, or just work it carefully? Steering assembly - cant seem to get it through the dash. The post won't slide through the bracket and the bracket won't slide through the cut out in the dash. Looks like there may be some sort of pin on the backside of the post...do I drive out the pin to free up the post? Looks to be the original rotary system.

 

[MNhunter1]

I think I discovered my steering removal issue... The woodruff key! Now, if I only would have discovered it before destroying that little gasket/bushing on the mount where the post slides through. Thought it might have given me some additional clearance.

 

[Watermann]

The rub rail end should have a couple rivets through them under the stern caps and the whole thing is one piece. you have to remove the bow cap carefully and pull, sliding one side out first.

 

[MNhunter1]

The rub rail end should have a couple rivets through them under the stern caps and the whole thing is one piece. you have to remove the bow cap carefully and pull, sliding one side out first.

Thanks Watermann! Are the inside rub rails the same, just slide out? They seem a little tighter than the outside rails. I was planning on taking a chunk of wood to the dash end and tapping it along wit a hammer.

How about the windshield seal and t-bolts? Should those just slide out the channel too?

 

[GA_Boater]

Novas just look so speedy sitting still.

I remember the bow eye "fix" from before. To remove the bow cap, after removing the rivets, I worked a pair of stiff putty knives between the cap and rub rail channels on each side. Once the small nibs cleared the rub rail channel, I used a wood block and gently tapped the cap forward. The cap is cast AL and fragile, so gentle is the key word. My RR rubber is one long piece and I gently pulled it from the bow end after drilling the rivets that are under the stern caps, alternating small pulls port, then stbd, port, etc. until I had a good sized loop of rubber. I then slowly completed the pull out of the channel.

I didn't take out my inside rubber. Is that the roughly 1/2" wide stuff? Mine is tight in the channel also.

For the windshield, you should find some nuts under the cap that hold the t-bolts and some fasteners on the ends of the support bars at the gunnel. Just remove all of them and the WS should lift straight up, rubber and all.

 

[MNhunter1]

Novas just look so speedy sitting still.
I remember the bow eye "fix" from before. To remove the bow cap, after removing the rivets, I worked a pair of stiff putty knives between the cap and rub rail channels on each side. Once the small nibs cleared the rub rail channel, I used a wood block and gently tapped the cap forward. The cap is cast AL and fragile, so gentle is the key word. My RR rubber is one long piece and I gently pulled it from the bow end after drilling the rivets that are under the stern caps, alternating small pulls port, then stbd, port, etc. until I had a good sized loop of rubber. I then slowly completed the pull out of the channel.
I didn't take out my inside rubber. Is that the roughly 1/2" wide stuff? Mine is tight in the channel also.
For the windshield, you should find some nuts under the cap that hold the t-bolts and some fasteners on the ends of the support bars at the gunnel. Just remove all of them and the WS should lift straight up, rubber and all.

Yeah, I've got the windshield off, just have a few bolts I would like to replace and was wondering how to go about separating the rubber seal and the bolts from the actual windshield.

 

[MNhunter1]

Found a nice mid 70's Johnson Sea Horse 75hp with power tilt/controls. My hull is rated for 65hp. Aside from all the liability arguments, would my hull still be okay with 10hp over max in a new transom?

 

[Gibbles]

Hey another Nova!

My Nova has some good dent's all over... I decided to live with them due to locations of several....

 

[GA_Boater]

The windshield gasket is probably just sticking to the bottom of the frame after decades of compression.

 

[Watermann]

Found a nice mid 70's Johnson Sea Horse 75hp with power tilt/controls. My hull is rated for 65hp. Aside from all the liability arguments, would my hull still be okay with 10hp over max in a new transom?

Yeah I wouldn't go up to a much heavier 3 cylinder 75 HP, that boat would be best off with a 50 or 55 HP twin cylinder. I have a 16' with a 55 HP and it's rated for a 70 but the lighter weight and HP means better fuel economy too without there being a huge hit in speed.

 

[MNhunter1]

Perfect, thanks Watermann! Think I'll keep my eye out for something smaller then. Be a while before I'm ready for the motor anyhow.

 

[MNhunter1]

Not much work on the Nova this weekend. Spent my time with family and had some rain on Saturday. Been a little perplexed by the bow cap nose piece. I saw the info about the stiff putty knives and tapping it with a block of wood, just wondering if there are any other tricks for removal out there. Rivets are out and I can slide it around a bit, just can't seem to get past the rub rail with that upper lip. Also having some challenges with the transom skin that was cut and folded over to fit the short shaft. I thought I could just bend it back straight, but that's proving to be a challenge and doesn't really want to move that much. Contemplating just cutting it off and trying to fit a patch behind an oversized transom plate. Hope you all enjoyed your weekends!

 

[jbcurt00]

Folding it over may have work hardened the aluminum @ the folded corner..... I'd probably remove it.......... Having a solid 1.5" thick transom plywood as the main structural support for the motor, the small area that's missing isn't going to be a problem, IMO.

 

[MNhunter1]

Floor is out and foam is out. I know you all want pictures, so I'll try to get some taken here over the next couple of days. Darkness, trouble lights, and headlamps don't really make for the best photographs. The floor was pretty well trashed, but I think I managed to save enough for some workable templates. The PO had screwed down a 4x8 sheet of ply on top of the original flooring. Foam was a little water logged down the bottom centerline/keel, but nothing too excessive. Next step is to get the shopvac in there and start the clean-up.

Aquired a couple old street signs I'll use to cut and patch my transom skin where the short shaft had lived. If I back it with an oversized transom plate, would you recommend fitting the patch and sealing the seams with JB Weld or Marine-tex? This would be the section of transom skin sandwiched between the actual transom and transom plate.

I'll use 5200 on the transom plate and attach with bolts through the transom? Rivet to the skin?

Thanks everyone!