Cooper_Stillwater
Seaman Apprentice
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2014
- Messages
- 38
I recently purchased my first boat, well second if my 9ft. inflatable RIB counts as my first. Anyways, it's going to be a lot of work. Ive been lurking here for awhile and enjoy all the nice, fun, helpful members. This is my first post. A little background on the boat.
The boat is a 73' Silverline Tri-Hull and 79' trailer (no motor). An older gentlemen could no longer finish the project because of time and other more important issues. He had already pulled out the old transom, deck, and stringers. The transom is nearly finished. It needs holes for the outboard motor. He glassed in the stringers and cut the new deck to shape.
That's where I come in. The stringers need to be covered with glass. and deck glassed and installed. Oh! Also with the boat came 3 gal of polyester resin, hardner, styrene monomer (which I'm still unsure what to use it for, as well as the previous owner and the guy at West Marine) Maybe for thinning? About 30" x 50 yds woven roving, CSM (maybe 3-6 yds), fiberglass powder and strands, mixing cups, and some other random cups, brushes and sticks.
I have some pictures and many questions. I would also like to say I have never worked with fiberglass nor even done a boat restore. I have done a lot of research and am a rookie at all this. I have all the necessary PPE. Im very patient and work well with my hands. I'm confident I can do a good job with this. Here come the Questions!!
1. The old deck fiberglass sticks out about 2" on each side down the length of boat. There is a 1" gap between the hull and this lip. You can see where he placed some 3/4" ply and foam to fill the gap. My plan was to go off what he did. Yet glass the ply that will be filling the gap. And have the decking sit on this lip and the plywood base. I also wanted to remove the piece he put in as well as the cross member and glass those both. Does this sound ok to do? or should the lip be totally removed. The new deck would then either be resting on the hull (which to my understanding would not be good) or the plywood supports. I'm not sure how I would keep those plywood supports in place without that lip. The ply should also have a small gap (not resting on hull) underneath them. Does that foam the PO put in need to be removed or is it ok? Does all that make sense?
2. Should I finish off the polyester resin then go to epoxy? I have read poly is not that H2O proof, which concerns me? Mixing of resins is not recommended until after it has cured. Is this true? I do have 3 gal of poly.
3. The deck is what I believe to be exterior ply. Not sure if its ACX or not. If it is (I'll have to inspect it further) I would like to use that since its cut already. If not I was thinking of getting some 1/2" exterior ACX or 1/2" CCA treated ply for the deck. I've read marine and ACX are nearly the same. I was going to go talk to the guys at the lumber yard and ask them about the glues used in both.
4. The inside of the hull what is the floor for now. Should that get a coat of resin? I still need the grind and clean it before I finish glassing the stringers.
5. Whats the best FG to cover the tops of the stringers? I watched a video of a guy who restored a boat. He peanut buttered all the fillet joints then used 1708 over the stringers.
6. The deck im not sure which glass to use. Woven roving and cloth? CSM and woven? I will be using it for fishing, so blood, slime, and guts will probably be every where. A deck that is easy to clean and could take a beating would be nice. Gelcoat, glass and resin, paint, bedliner??
Any and all comments, suggestions, and tips are greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading! Sorry for the lengthy post, I never like reading long posts so I know how you feel, haha.
The boat is a 73' Silverline Tri-Hull and 79' trailer (no motor). An older gentlemen could no longer finish the project because of time and other more important issues. He had already pulled out the old transom, deck, and stringers. The transom is nearly finished. It needs holes for the outboard motor. He glassed in the stringers and cut the new deck to shape.
That's where I come in. The stringers need to be covered with glass. and deck glassed and installed. Oh! Also with the boat came 3 gal of polyester resin, hardner, styrene monomer (which I'm still unsure what to use it for, as well as the previous owner and the guy at West Marine) Maybe for thinning? About 30" x 50 yds woven roving, CSM (maybe 3-6 yds), fiberglass powder and strands, mixing cups, and some other random cups, brushes and sticks.
I have some pictures and many questions. I would also like to say I have never worked with fiberglass nor even done a boat restore. I have done a lot of research and am a rookie at all this. I have all the necessary PPE. Im very patient and work well with my hands. I'm confident I can do a good job with this. Here come the Questions!!
1. The old deck fiberglass sticks out about 2" on each side down the length of boat. There is a 1" gap between the hull and this lip. You can see where he placed some 3/4" ply and foam to fill the gap. My plan was to go off what he did. Yet glass the ply that will be filling the gap. And have the decking sit on this lip and the plywood base. I also wanted to remove the piece he put in as well as the cross member and glass those both. Does this sound ok to do? or should the lip be totally removed. The new deck would then either be resting on the hull (which to my understanding would not be good) or the plywood supports. I'm not sure how I would keep those plywood supports in place without that lip. The ply should also have a small gap (not resting on hull) underneath them. Does that foam the PO put in need to be removed or is it ok? Does all that make sense?
2. Should I finish off the polyester resin then go to epoxy? I have read poly is not that H2O proof, which concerns me? Mixing of resins is not recommended until after it has cured. Is this true? I do have 3 gal of poly.
3. The deck is what I believe to be exterior ply. Not sure if its ACX or not. If it is (I'll have to inspect it further) I would like to use that since its cut already. If not I was thinking of getting some 1/2" exterior ACX or 1/2" CCA treated ply for the deck. I've read marine and ACX are nearly the same. I was going to go talk to the guys at the lumber yard and ask them about the glues used in both.
4. The inside of the hull what is the floor for now. Should that get a coat of resin? I still need the grind and clean it before I finish glassing the stringers.
5. Whats the best FG to cover the tops of the stringers? I watched a video of a guy who restored a boat. He peanut buttered all the fillet joints then used 1708 over the stringers.
6. The deck im not sure which glass to use. Woven roving and cloth? CSM and woven? I will be using it for fishing, so blood, slime, and guts will probably be every where. A deck that is easy to clean and could take a beating would be nice. Gelcoat, glass and resin, paint, bedliner??
Any and all comments, suggestions, and tips are greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading! Sorry for the lengthy post, I never like reading long posts so I know how you feel, haha.
