1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

[KnightWolf]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

my idea is to make a traditional bilge.I would cut the stringer 12" short of the transom and make a 12" x 12" square bilge. This would also center the drain hole. Not that it needs to be centered. so any reason you gurus can think of not to do this? Also the original transom had a cross brace is this necessary? or would knee braces be better.

 

[KnightWolf]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

Hopefully some experts chime in all advice much appreciated. Thanks

 

[garrett113]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

Good looking boat! II'm currentlystarting the rebuild of mine as well which is a similar design to what you have.
It will be nice to have another similar boat project to refer to for help. What are you going to do for the deck/stringer under the bow? I'm currently cutting out the board under there to get a better look.

 

[garrett113]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

Woops I didn't noticed the multiple pages when I first posted. Read every post learned a lot for my upcoming stages. Love your signature by the way, its 100 plus degrees here in phoenix so itchy skin is something I've just learned to deal with.

Curious to see what you do with that bilge. Your idea seams to makes sense to me but I am by no means the person to validate that.

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

Hi KnightWolf,
Missed this thread when you were first on it but just got all caught up with it...
Glad to see you back at it, you have been doing some excellent work on this old boat...
To sort of answer your question about the bilge redesign...I am a believer in the knee stringer system...
Here is a pic of what I ended up doing with my ongoing project...



Eventually, when I install the sole/deck, I am going to leave about an 18" x 24" rectangular opening in the back for the bilge and that should leave me plenty of room for access to the pumps and plumbing...

Looking forward to your continued progress and have Fun!
GT1M

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

You might look at my build, I have a single string down the middle. I built it back the way it was from the factory, which stopped the stringer short of the transom about 10" or so. I haven't had any issues, but I also did the transom in seacast.....which is amazingly strong. What did your orginal stringer layout look like? How many did you have and how were they laid out, I have forgotten.

 

[KnightWolf]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

Hey thanks for the responses. My boat only has 1 stringer on the keel that's it! The first strake out from that is where the deck tabbed in. It sits on top of the strake and 3/4 ply brought it to the top of the strake.Its a very shallow boat. I'all look for a pic. I'm gonna reference miss morgan (thanks arch) been a while since I visited your thread.

 

[KnightWolf]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

Garrett 113 check the link on archbuilder sig. Settle in for a while tons of info there.

 

[KnightWolf]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild



This is the only pic I could find that somewhat shows it. The tape measure is in the stringer bed. The corners of the squares are where the deck sits.

 

[KnightWolf]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

Almost forgot I have a 4" jackplate on the way! Which pushes the motor back slightly so there is a little more force on the transom. Pretty sure I am gonna knee brace. Once I get the jack I can figure out holes and adjust accordingly.

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

That is almost the same set up as mine, except the keel beam stopped short of the transom. I think your hull is an 18 or so isn't it? Mine is 16 so I could probably get away with it easier on the shorter hull. The knee braces are probably a good idea. What is your plan on the deck? Are you going to put down the deck the pour foam in? Or before or no foam? Foaming after the deck is in really stiffens up everything. I have a couple ideas on how you might do it, I'll try to sketch them up later and post them.

 

[KnightWolf]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

I almost ordered foam last night it will definitely go in. Not much room though stringer is 4 inches average and only 34inches across deck but it has a steep grade. I thought about makinga chase for wires and controls and fillingthe ggunwales. But there really is not much room there either. I am going to reinforce the bowdeck like u had to. Thought of using foam in tubes.

 

[KnightWolf]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

The bilge will be like yours I cut the stringer off 1 ft shy of transom. I will box it off and put in knee braces once I get the hole configuration from the jack. Thats about all I got done today I rounded the ccorners on top of the stringer and sanded it.

Also made a run to menards had a everything that fit in the bag 15% off.

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

I wouldn't worry about the foam in the tubes it don't really add anything for strength, if you seal up the tubes you have air pockets that do the same thing for flotation. If you can I would avoid the below deck chase. My thoughts you are best off if you can put foam in there and seal it up. every penetration you have in it is a place for water to get in and it will! I don't know if you saw the fiberglass angles I used to replace the aluminum ones for the seat mounting, but I would do that again in a heartbeat. just epoxy them to the deck and you are done, no holes in the deck / plywood. you can use them for a hard point for mounting anything. I was going to work on a cover for the splashwell but I had a nasty little F5 visit on May 20th......oh well maybe next year! I think if you add the knee braces, box it off and tie it into the stringer you will be good. You might want to add some glass under where the knee braces will bear.

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

You might want to check with areomarine on the foam. that is where I got mine, nice folks.

 

[KnightWolf]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

Hey arch I checked aeromarine for foam a few nights ago they were more expensive than us composites. Also the chase I might build would be in the gunwales not under the deck that area is going to be all foam.

Back to scratch for the stringer how's that saying go no matter how many times I cut it , it still isn't long enough. I goofed and cut it incorrectly for the contour of the hull. But with the scrap from the deck I will have enough for another go.

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

I like cardboard templates for that kind of stuff. Its a lot cheaper than lumber, lol! Looking forward to your updates!

 

[Last Mohican]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

Good to see you back working on this one. I think is is funny you need AC on an 85* day though. LOL.

 

[KnightWolf]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

Ended up it was 92 that day heat is OK but add humidity pushing 100% and its miserable. Was much better last few days. Beats 20 below though.

 

[KnightWolf]

Re: 1973 Kona 18ft rebuild

So taking inventory of boat stuff realized I never posted pics of the hardware. Nothing special but here's some shiny bits. Got 4 of the pop up cleats and a few more of the hatch pulls.