18' Riviera Tri-Hull Transom and possible deck replacement

[Rickmerrill]

Nothing wrong with coosa except it's EXPENSIVE! Beware of well intentioned walk up know-it-alls. I had a HVAC guy working next door smell the resin and asked if it was bondo. Then he said something about fiberglass getting brittle with age, my BS meter was pegged by then.

 

[jasonbailey]

The Coosa looks like neat stuff. I found a 4X8X 1 1/2 sheet for $593 on the net. It is appealing to me because it cuts a few steps out of the fabrication stage. I have 3 kids in college this year, so Coosa may not be an alternative....

 

[Rickmerrill]

Three in collage, maybe an empty nester as well, sounds like the very definition of plywood to me! Seriously, if you consider the value of the boat in good shape I find it hard to justify the coosa but that's just me. You get to do it anyway you want.

 

[jasonbailey]

No Title

Well, finally got around to working on my boat. It was a long winter and spring with some major auto repairs that I had to do. Today I managed to get the engine off and on the stand. Next thing I will start on is drilling out all the rivets and getting the cap ready to come off.

 

[tallcanadian]

Glad to see your still playing with your boat. How does that Merc work on that tri hull? How fast does she push it. Keep us in touch with your build;. I really like your boat.

 

[jasonbailey]

The Merc works really, really well. I bought it in 2009, I upgraded from a Chrysler 75. I put my boat away at the end of the 2013 season. Last Sunday before I pulled the engine off, I hooked up the garden hose got some fresh gas and stabilizer and fired her up. She started right up. Wanted to run some fresh gas through it before it was in really really long term storage.

At WOT with me, my wife, and a kid or two, she'll go about 38MPH. Not blazing, but fast enough.

The plan for the weekend is to start cradle construction and drilling the rivets out of the cap/rub rail. Going to hit Lowes and get some 2X4's.

 

[tallcanadian]

Nice. Motor pushes that along nice. Probably do 40-42 with you alone. The cradle idea is good. I left mine on the trailer because it was being moved as I was doing my work. Keep us up on the progress.

 

[jasonbailey]

Did some work today. Prepped the cap for removal. Drilled all of the rivets out and removed all of the screws that fasten the cap to the hull on the inside. Good news is, the transom is really rotten. I was able to pry the fiberglass away from the transom pretty easily. So, that's a good thing when I get to the point of ripping that out. I hope everybody had a good weekend!!!

 

[jasonbailey]

Question about what size lumber I need for cradle construction. Boat is 18' long. 72" beam. Will 2X6's be strong enough? I was thinking of building the cradle 14' long X 90" across. I'll put 4 2X6's "joists" across at every 42". Will that be ok?

 

[tallcanadian]

2X6 will be plenty. Your plan for the cradle is over kill. Although your boat is 18' long, it really isn't heavy enough for all that lumber. I'm no expert on cradles but all you want is to keep the boat straight. Probably divide the length in quarters. Four beams running across will be enough. "Do a search on this site. I do know that a couple of members have built cradles. I redid my boat right on the trailer.