1971 Skeeter Hawk restore

[bigman28]

Well here goes! I picked this boat up for 50 bucks. after tearing into it ive found roted deck, stringers, transom and a small garden. Well the good news is that the hull and cap seem to be in pretty good condition. I plan on gutting the interior and makeing it an open floor plan and makeing a tiller steer boat. I have never worked with fiberglass so this should be an educational experience. My first question is: Can I do the fiberglass work while on the trailer or should I get it off onto the ground on some sort of support system? Cheers

 

[bartborchardt]

Re: 1971 Skeeter Hawk restore

Welcome to the board. You will find all kinds of helpfull information here. You can do it on the trailer but it will be easier if it's lower to the ground. Just my 2 cents. I built a cradle with casters for mine. It made it easier getting in and out of and also freed up some room in the garage.

 

[jonesg]

Re: 1971 Skeeter Hawk restore

If its a bunk trailer you can do everything on the trailer.
I converted mine to bunks before ripping the old stringers out.
It cost around $100 to convert the trailer.

I didn't even remove the boat from the trailer, just lifted it to remove rollers and lowered down onto bunks.

 

[bigman28]

Re: 1971 Skeeter Hawk restore

Great! Thats what i was hopeing. My trailer is a bunk style trailer. it has 4 bunks total. two down the center and two close to the outside of the boat.

 

[bigman28]

Re: 1971 Skeeter Hawk restore

Made some more progress today. I m finished for the weekend as my workweel begins on friday. I have decided to make the plunge and use seacast for the transom and stringers as I do not want to go thru this again. I plan on keeping this boat for many years.

 

[bigman28]

Re: 1971 Skeeter Hawk restore

Ok I have two questions.
1) How much sanding is neccessary to get good adhesion
2) Do I use CSM or fiberglass cloth to replace transom and stingers?

 

[bigman28]

Re: 1971 Skeeter Hawk restore

anybody?

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1971 Skeeter Hawk restore

I thought you were going to use Seacast? Oh well, you need to sand enuf to get to good clean glass. You need to use CSM on the stringers and the transom. Typically cloth is used for the final layer of your deck. Some like to use 1708 biaxial cloth on the transom and stringers but it is a tad more expensive. A couple of layers of 8oz mat on the stringers should be good and on the transom I'd use a couple of layers of 8oz and then finish it off with the 1708 biax. www.uscomposites.com is a good place to get your supplies. I'd use regular CDX Ext. Grade Plywood for EVERYTHING or Underlayment if you can find it

 

[bigman28]

Re: 1971 Skeeter Hawk restore

I have decided not to use seacast as it is out of my pricerange. Thanks for the response.