1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

[KC4ZQZ]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

Tnx Ezmobee,
Thats odd, they all work on my pc. Anyway, leson learned. Lets try again.

I used the clamps I made to clamp the two pieces of ply together. I forgot to take the pic till I had removed 3 of them and most of the spring clamps.The transom is not installed yet.


This is where the bow eye area was beefed up on the inside.


This is a very poor pic of glass added to the outside of the bow.

 

[itiger]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

Good to know.

Thanks very much.

View attachment 119609hey itiger,
It has ~4" thick styrofoam in the sidewalls abt 10" high x 12' long, and it HAD spray-in foam between the deck and the hull bottom between the stringers. I guess I'll debate drain holes in those cavities or putting the foam back under the deck 'till the last minute.
I've got the 2 pieces of plywood (3/4" pt kiln-dried)for the transom cut, shaped, and glassed together. All the transom thru-holes will be drilled !/4"" oversize, filled with thickened resin, and then re-drilled to the correct size prior to installing. This will give an 1/8"thick "bushing" of thickened resin to seal the wood around all the bolts and drain tubes. I'm also including 2 extra 3/8" holes 7" apart (also "resin-bushing" lined) vertically on the left side of the transom to mount my home-made transducer mounting plate.

 

[KC4ZQZ]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

Well, I've almost got the transom ready to install. I had to fix a couple of holes where I cut thru the bottom of the boat first. I'm thinking about a layer of 3/4oz cms on the ply and a layer on the skin then clamp it together. The local boat shop just puts a layer of cms (maybe 1 1/2 oz) between the plywood and the skin. I figure its easier to wet two thin layers. I'll be using 2 locator pins to make sure its in the proper position. Anybody see any problem with this game plan?

Here's a shot of the thickened resin bushings in the thru-holes of the new transom.

 

[zopperman]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

When you cut a hole in the hull oyu must repair from boat sides... CSM and biax on inside, outside and feather the edges on teh outside and gelcoat or paint

 

[KC4ZQZ]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

tnx zopperman,
I re-read my previous post and realized that I wasn't very clear. The holes in the hull have been repaired on the inside. One tiny hole underneath where the new transom will sit and one right at the front edge. I'll repair the outside when I flip the boat. After I found the "tiny" hole I decided to go around the entire boat in the dark while holding a light under the boat.

 

[zopperman]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

Good way to check for leaks... never through of that. I always filled hulls with water

How did you repair the holes on the inside?

 

[KC4ZQZ]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

One of the holes (out in an open area) I sanded down 1/16"+ and tapered out abt 2 1/2" all around, filled with csm with progressively larger pieces, then covered with 2 pieces of 6oz cloth. The pin hole(+a little) was where an outside corner meets the transom skin.(bad place) My hull bottom has a step in it. I tapered it as best I could and layed in 3 small pieces of csm and 2 pieces of 6oz cloth. Both will be covered by the new transom and tabbing.

 

[KC4ZQZ]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

I decided since I already had the glass cloth from a previous project, I may as well wrap the transom with it before I install it.. I'll sand it lightly after it cures and probably get everything lined up for Monday so my wife can help with all the mixing and clamping. An extra pair of hands makes it nice.

I think this is 4oz s-glass.

 

[zopperman]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

the "pinhole" can be filled with 5200 or an epoxy putty made from micoballons and resin

 

[KC4ZQZ]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

Thats good to know. I ground the bottom of the transom plywood off a little to make room for a little more glass cloth over the hole. By the time I glass over the outside it should be good to go.

 

[KC4ZQZ]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

So, whats the word on polyester and high humidity? I got up early this morning to drizzling rain and ~65*F. I've got the transom ready to install but wasn't sure if I should proceed under these conditions. I could sure use some advice.

 

[KC4ZQZ]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

ok Question answered using the search function.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

As long as the glass stays dry you should be ok. You might want to make a little hotter mix but not totally necessary. It will cure, but probably a little slower.

 

[KC4ZQZ]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

Tnx Wood,
Now its confermed by TWO pros. Time to go to work.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

Whoa!!!! I am not a Pro, just an Old Dumb Okie that's done some Glassin! OOPS, YD, Ondarvr...Those guys are the Pros, not ME!

 

[KC4ZQZ]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

Well, If you've done one or more you know more than I do about it. Anyway, it's finally part of the boat now. I'm just glad my wife was here to help. It all went pretty well but I can see where it would be a handful for one person. The rain went away and the temp made it up to 75*F. Life is good.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

How did you like using the transom clamps? I find them to be really handy and work well.

 

[KC4ZQZ]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

They really do a good job. I was surprised to see how much pressure you could put on the bottem end. On the side against the skin I nailed 3 short pieces of 1x2 to each one using one finish nail so I could feel of it as I tightened the nuts to make sure I put about the same amount of pressure top to bottom. I started with the center clamp and workd out to the ends. Somebody had a good idea. I'll take a pic before I take them off. At the moment I've got 4 100 watt lights under plastic to warm it up.

 

[KC4ZQZ]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

Here's a pic of the back side of the clamps. By adding the three 1x2's to each clamp I could twist them back and forth to see how tight I had the clamps top to bottom. During the dry fitting I found that I had to sand a little off the thickness of the center 1x2 to compensate for the bow in the 2x4's resulting from the tension.

 

[KC4ZQZ]

Re: 1974 Ouachita Tri-hull Bass Boat Restoration

Well, I finally got back to work on the boat. I got the transom filleted in and got the tabbing done. I've still got to put some csm over the whole area and maybe some cloth. I may beef up the tabbing a little more first - don't want anything coming loose. I'll sand her down smooth tomorrow and decide what I want to do.

HERE'S A PIC OF THE FILLET JOB.


The tabbing was done with 7 1/2" wide tape - don't know what weight. Same stuff the local boat repair shop uses. Thay said they use one layer of this stuff and then a layer of csm over that. The first layer covered 3 3/4" on the transome and on the botton and up the sides then I cut some pieces 12" long and went ~ 6" each way on the bottom and transom.


The second layer on the sides covers 5" on the transom and 18" on the sides of the boat. Thats the stuff you see on the roll there in the pic. I know it would help to know the weight of the tape but what do you think - do I need to add more tabbing? You'll notice I marked out the location of the splashwell on the transom. I can"t add very much to the thickness here or I'll push the front of the cap over the front edge of the hull. All they had originally was a thin layer of csm on the front of the transom. The splashwell gets glassed to the front of the transom when I put the cap back on.


FWIW: the tape I'm using is so thick that I'm wetting the back-side before I put it in place to make it easier so saturate with the resin.