1971 17' Bell Boy Runabout

[Pusher]

I am wrapping up the work on my runabout and thought I would share some photos since there's not much out there about the Web Cor design in these boats.

I picked this boat up in Spokane, Wa for $600 with running OB and a galvanized trailer. I figured I could replace the decking for less than buying a complete boat with an original floor in unknown condition. As it was, the PO had cut the under floor fuel tank out and covered the back end with loose pressure treated ply boards.

 

[Pusher]

Once I got it home I tore the old decking up and pulled all of the waterlogged foam out too. My brother gets half the credit for this part of the process.







What is pictured is the fiberglass Web Cor structure that the decking screws directly into. The Web Cor is bonded to the sides of the hull. I have not figured out how you were supposed to drain the space between the hull and the Web Cor if water made its way into this area. There is a drain plug at the base of the forward bay where the infloor fuel tank use to sit so it may be through this hole, but it doesn't seem low enough. I may be wrong.

 

[Pusher]

Next we threw decking down and glassed it in.

 

[Pusher]

As you can see I was new to glassing things in and had issues with working the fiberglass and timing the cook times of the resin.

To anyone decking in a Web Cor hull, don't let the spacing of the Web Cor fool you. You will still need a piece of plywood or 2x4 screwed in between the bays to connect each of the decking pieces or you will have just enough flex that you might get a slight squeak.... which is pretty disappointing :facepalm:

EDIT: I believe these are more commonly referred to as doublers

 

[Pusher]

I spent some time trying to decide on a textured deck paint. I ended up going with KIWI Grip which is pretty good stuff and easy to apply. I will say though that it's not an ideal match if you're using a Poly Resin because the resin will swell and crack out the Kiwi Grip. Otherwise the stuff dries hard. I would suggest doing two or three coats because I have scratched through when jumping into the boat with gravel on my shoes. I'm going to scrape out the existing Kiwi Grip out of the old Fuel Bay and use Bilge Coat in there.

EDIT: Although I sanded the PolyResin down after it cured, I had purchased the cheapest waxed auto parts store poly resin I could find... this and the poly swelling is more likely the reason I had adhesion issues



I also built some side panels while the Kiwi Grip was curing.




EDIT: have a couple months to test these out I ended up trimming the tops to be level with the gunwhales and securing a plywood sheet in behind to screw the panels into. This ended up giving me much better ease of access when running new wiring.

 

[Pusher]

I then spent some time trying to devise an idea where I could install seats without drilling holes into my floors and recreating the death spiral. I ran across Wood On Glass's build and redesigned a base from his thread. I only found one other place online where someone was doing something along the same lines so iBoats is where it's at! Thanks Woodonglass. I will again call myself out on my work and say I should have faced the seat base openings toward each other instead of towards the bow where most of the strain will be focused... :faint2: Lastly I would make the center layer a full inch thinker for more room to work the wrenches.











Clearly the blue seats weren't cutting it

 

[Pusher]

Instead of cluttering up the transom area, and prime fishing real estate I purchased a 20 gallon tank and mounted it in the bow.






And drilled the fuel filler neck. Here's how thick these guys are in glass.

 

[Pusher]

A couple small things I also did were to get an aluminum plate for the downrigger base plates to tap into so I didn't have to drill more holes into the boat.

Where's the west coast craft brew crowd?






I've since painted them black and 5200'ed them on.

 

[Pusher]

I rewired the trailer


and put in some cheap bling







This shot also shows the rod storage I threw in behind the interior panels.
You can kind of see the Christmas light colors coming from my LED switches up front, but it's not a very good shot.




I mounted a Johnson Bilge Pump to Plexiglass that I heat formed to the bottom of the hull. I wired this into a switch, but also put a female terminal on inline near the battery.


I also put one of these on the battery terminal so if I get a short or bad switch in an emergency I can rip and clip within seconds... hopefully.

 

[Pusher]

I still have to do some work to the engines but at least I know she floats. I made it about 20 feet off that dock before having to turn around and tow home due to our schedule and the engine running rough.





Here's my Investor. She tends to keep me accountable... But sometimes the purchasing department can get out of hand.




Once I'm done I'll try to post a picture of the LED push buttons on, running lights and cabin lights burning, and the downriggers in the deployed position. Maybe even some Columbia Catches if I can find someone to tag along with. I've heard enough stories of that river to make me cautious. Especially given my inexperience as the captain.

 

[Pusher]

Maybe I should post these ramblings elsewhere, but I thought this was interesting as it showed the difference between the permeability of regular plywood and pressure treated plywood. The regular stuff looks like a recurve bow.



I made an anchor puller that's, as of yet, unproven. If it works out I'll throw some more photos up. I made this one with a pulley held in by a cotter pin so you could connect/disconnect it from your rode quickly.

 

[Pusher]

My investor said I had some more time before our next board meeting so here's a couple other small details to the project.



The plank is part of a $55 galvanized loading ramp from Harbor Freight






Battery Terminal
Does anyone have any experience with these?


This was a camera mount I bought from China for a couple bucks. It will be mounted to my arch for additional cabin light if I need it.



Like So...



Last thing I was really stoked about is a pill container from the dollar store... of course, for a dollar. As you can see it gets 6 tube fuses in and about 4 blinker bulbs. No luck on the full size bulb though.

 

[Woodonglass]

all the pics are the same!!!

 

[jbcurt00]

all the pics are the same!!!

Yep, pix in post 12 are all the same pix. Whixh is also the same as the last pox un post #11.

 

[NAT1VE]

Beautiful! Very nice work. Glad to see another BellBoy rescued and put back on the water. Join our Facebook page too.

 

[Pusher]

Thanks WOG. I added the pics to PB after posting the first 11 posts. For some reason they all copied over with the same post number... Now I can't edit my previous posts even though I'm logged in. And they say my generation is supposed to be tech savvy!

Thanks Nat1ve, it's got some character marks, but she floats and isn't rotting away I don't have Facebook by the way. Deleted it a couple years ago.

 

[Pusher]

Post #13 was updated after PhotoBucket stopped hosting pics. This was a duplicate post.

 

[mickyryan]

Love containers like that

 

[Pusher]

Okay, ski tower question. How tall is too tall? It's 7' from tower to floor. It looks ridiculously tall but the googling I did seems to say it is right.

 

[Pusher]

I'm on the motor today and it looks like I'll be needing a stator as the wires are all cracking out.

I'm looking now but would appreciate some help find the right part at the right price.

1989 2S 60hp OB Mercury I can get the model # if needed.