My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

[Signal 20]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

Hey Osborn, I scallop out of Ozello near Crystal River. The water is only chest deep in most places. I dont remember any place I stopped to grab some scallops that I couldnt stand and be out of water. I just use a mask, fins and snorkel.

And as an update I drug the boat out of the garage this morning for acouple hours of work before actual work at 4pm. I got about an hour of grinding on the hull before it started raining so I put it back and I'll try and finish tomorrow. I underestimated just how much dust gets thrown around when grinding haha, I'm starting to regret getting the small cheap Shop Vac..should have invested in a nicer one

 

[osborn159]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

raining? it clear and bright here, when i get back to the house, i was wanting to glass the back side of my transom so i can get it installed soon.
scalloping in chest deep sounds good to me, not worth the hassle to me otherwise, remember ear probs.
grinding sucks, dirty dusty sucks
anyhow keep at it, good luck D

 

[Signal 20]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

I figured I would make a nice Sunday Morning update post. I'm sure some of you are wondering if I have given up, but I haven't. I just have to say that the boat is not priority one, unfortunatly especially when the weather here in Florida is finally warming up and the water is getting nice.

So I have done most of the grinding on the hull and it is nice and smooth. I pulled the boat into the driveway and only did grinding on windy days. I still successfully covered everything in my garage with a nice coat of dust including my motorcycle :redface:

I mixed up some resin, cabosil and wood flour yesterday and glued 2 pieces of 1/2" plywood together. I layed them on the flat garage floor and put some scuba tanks on top of it to help it cure flat. I then made a template of the transom out of some large cardboard boxes and duct tape and transferred it to the plywood. I then cut it out and sanded it down smooth.

Its not glued in place or anything, just sitting there. I will try and glue it to the hull and fillet it in place with some thickened resin tomorrow.

Thats all the work for today. Time to start getting ready for work. I will hopefully have it all in place this week.

 

[fish46]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

I'm not a boat repair expert but i think the transom needs to be one solid piece from side to side. might want to ask cuz i know you don't want to leave your motor in the water.

 

[osborn159]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

is that how your transom was originally? does it get another layer added in?
replace it as it was originally just glassed over this time. i dont recall how it was originally, ill look back.

 

[osborn159]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

belay my last, i looked back didnt recall how it was originally, looks good. now to get her glassed over ready for install,
this is the rewarding part when things start to go back together.
keep at it, remember those nice sweet morsels use them as your motivation.

 

[SBTOM]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

Good to see you are back at it! Its tough when it starts to get nice out because its tempting to dust off the motorcycle and take that out instead...

 

[Signal 20]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

I'm not a boat repair expert but i think the transom needs to be one solid piece from side to side. might want to ask cuz i know you don't want to leave your motor in the water.

I agree with you about the transom being from side to side in length, however when i dug into the original transom it was only that small section. The boat is only rated for a 120hp so I'm guessing that is all that is needed. I made that piece from 2 pieces of 1/2" plywood glued together with resin, cabosil and wood flour mixture. I'm thinking it will do just fine

 

[Signal 20]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

belay my last, i looked back didnt recall how it was originally, looks good. now to get her glassed over ready for install,
this is the rewarding part when things start to go back together.
keep at it, remember those nice sweet morsels use them as your motivation.

I started glassing it in today. I mixed up a nice batch of thickened resin with lots of cabosil and wood flour and glued the new wood transom to the hull. After wiping it all down with acetone first of coarse then i started using 1708 biaxel cloth on the sides with resin. Its curing in the garage as we speak. The only thing that scares me about the whole thing so far is how much the resin stinks. I'm using a respirator of coarse, but it leaves a nice odor in the garage for hours

 

[Signal 20]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

Good to see you are back at it! Its tough when it starts to get nice out because its tempting to dust off the motorcycle and take that out instead...

trust me, the motorcycle is getting some use. I just put a sissy bar on it so the wife will want to ride more often

 

[Signal 20]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

Here it is as it sits right now in the garage. A layer of thickened resin between the transom and hull, then a layer of 1708 biaxial cloth around most of the exterior. Its curing now and hopefully when I get home tonight from work it will be solid

 

[Signal 20]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

So quick stupid question for anyone following this post....I went to apply the final resin and fiberglass coat on my transom this morning and couldn't figure out if I need to add both the surfacing wax and the MEKP to the resin? Does the surfacing wax act as a calatyst and the MEKP is not needed or do I need both?

 

[SBTOM]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

Glad to see that you are back at it. You need both

 

[Signal 20]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

Glad to see that you are back at it. You need both

Thanks for the quick reply. I might try to throw on the last layer with the surfacing wax this morning before work so I will be done with the transom and I can start on the stringers. The other thing that I'm confused about is I thought the surfacing wax was used because without it the surface is left tacky. I checked it last night about about 15 hours of curing and it didnt feel tacky to me.

 

[Signal 20]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

After glassing in the new transom I started with the stringers. I am using 1x8s for the outer stringers and a 1x10 for the inner stringer. I used PL Premium poly contruction advesive. (hint-buy a decent dispensing gun for the PL poly, I baught a cheap one and it was a pain!!!)
I only have 1 of the 2 sections for the outside stringers right now.

You can see the little channel that was left when I removed the old stringers, it made putting in the new stringers extremely easy

This is where they will contact the transom. I cut an angle at the end and I will fill in all the gaps with a fillet putty later

*****also note that I have not yet rubbed the whole hull down with acetone so it still looks rather dusty (and it is). I will do that part this week before the filleting and glassing begins

 

[Signal 20]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

So heres my question of the day..

What is the official technique for making the fiberglass lay down on the top of the stringer. I noticed that it was very hard at the top of the transom and needless to say its not very pretty. I will be attempting to glass in the stringers this week and any suggestions will be very much appreciated

 

[osborn159]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

round over all 90 degree edges that glass will go over, i use a router and a 1/2 inch roundover bit. if you dont have acess to a router sand off the 90deg edges w a belt sander or other equipment.

 

[Signal 20]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

Alittle more progress on the boat today. I mixed up some thickened resin with wood flour and cabosil and made some fillet compound. I have added more stingers including half the middle one with that difficult curve cut in the front yesterday. I bedded them to the hull with more PL Poly. Today I cut some 1708 Biaxel tape (this stuff is extremely easy to use) and tabbed in some of the stringers. I had to stop because I ran out of 1708, guess I'll be placing another order from US Composites this weekend.

anyways, I dont know who make the suggestion of using a zip lock bag with a small hole cut in the bottom to apply fillet compound, but that is a great idea. My only issue was I only had small sandwhich bags and I made much more of a mess then help lol. I'll use gallon size next time

Here you can see the difference between a tabbed in stringer and one that has not been done yet

 

[Signal 20]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

Ok I am ready to offer visual proof that I have not given up I know some of you guys are following along and I appreciate it. I am really trying to stay as motivated as possible as the fishing weather is getting very nice and I'm tired of hearing fishing stories from my friends while I'm stuck at home with a 45% completed boat project. I need to be on the water

I have tabbed in all the stringers, cut them to size and made them level. I then used an Orbital Sander with 80grit disks to "round off" the top of the stringers so the glass will hopefully lay down on top of them. I used 1708 Biaxal tape 6" wide to tab in the stringers. It was very easy to work with

I pre-cut my glass for the outside stringers this morning so I will be ready for my next big glassing day. I decided that I can only glass outside. No matter how many fans I put in the garage I still filled my house with a nice Resin smell and decided with a wife and baby inside that is NOT a good idea.

I will be using 2oz CSM and 18oz Woven Roving to glass in the stingers. I will be doing a initial layer of CSM then followed with Woven Roving and maybe 1 more layer of CSM to finish it up. I'm hoping that will be sufficent. If not please someone chime in before I get started.

I added a final picture of the glassed in transom. I used 1708 Biaxal tape to tab it in, then a layer of 2oz CSM followed by 18oz Woven Roving, then a final layer of CSM to finish it. I think it can out pretty solid. My only question was I did not use surfacing wax in the final layer and I dont think it came out with a tacky surface. I know the resin did not have wax added so is there any other reason the final surface didn't come out tacky?

 

[Signal 20]

Re: My 1981 Malibu 16'8 CC restomod

just making a quick update....

I finished glassing the 2 outside stringers completely today. The middle one still needs to be done but I have taken a break for today. Plus I ran out of mixing cups

anyways. i have learned several things.
1. Fiberglassing in your driveway at 2 in the afternoon in 90 degree Florida heat sucks. I hope dripping sweat mixing with resin doesn't do anything.
2. CSM sucks to wet out. I hate it. I am thinking about using Biaxal cloth for the rest of the project.
3. Wear long sleeves when glassing. I have been wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt because its so hot, but getting kicked resin on your arms and legs is NOT fun. I have had to run to the sink several times to scrub with acetone then run back before the resin in my mixing cup gels.