1976 Winchester 21' first project

[icanoutfishyou]

Hello to everyone,
Over the past few weeks, I've scoured the boards for information on how to begin my new project. I obtained a 1976 Winchester (it's a north carolina manufacturer, doubt they're still in business...), and the boat looked great.

The owner was my dad's boss, so I figured that I could trust his word. New deck, new fuel tank, and a transom that was recently fixed, which was 'not badly damaged', and 'had a little bondo'. What a mistake I made, as you will see in the picture montage. . .
After bringing the boat home, I took a closer look at everything. Well, the front half of the deck feels like a trampoline, and the transom had two iron bars across it to hold it together, ugh... Well obviously, I was going to have to take the motor off first, so I went ahead and did that this weekend:

It's a 1979 Johnson, I'm gonna check compression after I get through the nightmare of repairing the transom and deck.
Here's a look at what a 'little bondo' looks like.

The item you see is a quarter, for reference of thickness. Insanity!!!
Here's the true damage:

Why me??? Oh well, gotta start somewhere. What I was thinking was cutting off part of the top, and leaving the rest so I can begin removal of the transom and deck. Here's a look at the back of the boat:

What I was going to do was cut to where the downslope ends, and knock out the cheap bench seats he put in with garbage lumber. Then remove that section of the top, and remove the deck. What do you guys think?


Well I'm sure I'll get a few replies, seems everyone is friendly here, and I'm looking forward to spending this project with ya'll. Thanks in advance!

 

[icanoutfishyou]

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

I don't know what to do with the front portion though. It seems pretty solid, and I don't know exactly what to cut. Any suggestions?

 

[oops!]

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

hi...welcome to i boats...

nice boat !

do your compression test first....then you can decide wether you wanna go thru with the resto....


as far as the transom......pull the cap !...its not hard and it will save you a lot of work....

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

please go back to photobucket, clik on your picture, it will take you to the next page, with a full size picture, click resize, the other then message board. then come back to the post and edit you pictures.

a lot of people will not read you post, have to scan right to left.

 

[oops!]

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

the resize is 640 x 480

 

[icanoutfishyou]

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

done and done, sorry guys!
I have another motor to take parts from, the motor I pulled is a long shaft and replace it with a short shaft.

The previous owner burned up the short shaft when the water pump failed; I think he had more problems with the boat than that though!

If the compression is terrible, I would consider re-powering because I love the look of the boat, and cost isn't a concern; as far as I'm concerned I'm already into it.

 

[oops!]

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

there might be long shaft /short shaft ptoblems there......you can go from a short to a long with out too much problem....but the other way round is a little different.....

i like the boat..! i would continue as well.....take off a corner cap from the rub rail....there is basically two kinds of hull/deck joints....a shoe box joint and a flange joint.......shoe box is good....flange is a pita......

you can see what i mean as soon as you get the corner peice off

 

[Mark42]

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

If I understand this right, the floor/stringers are rotten and the transom is so shot the motor ripped right through it. Right?

So unless you can remove the cap in one piece with the splashwell it will be very hard to do a traditional transom replacement from the inside. If you can't get the cap off, then this is what I would do.

Some folks will have a coronary over this, but after studying your photos for a while, this may be the best way to repair the transom:

Cut the glass off from the outside and re-do the whole transom from the back of the boat. Cut out the floor and remove/replace the stringers. With todays epoxy and high tech fiberglass fabrics, a very strong and durable transom can be made from the outside of the boat. And it saves removing the cap or cutting the gunnels to just get the splashwell off.

Just my 2 cents.

Nice looking boat. Good luck!

PS, if you don't want to keep those bucket seats, send me a PM.

 

[icanoutfishyou]

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

alright, I'm going to try to continue work on wednesday; have to work tomorrow night as the cook on a head boat.

I'll keep ya'll posted, and be sure to take plenty of pics (resized of course)

Thanks oops!

 

[icanoutfishyou]

Re: 1976 Winchester 21' first project

Mark42,
Thanks for the advice, i'm going to take the rails off and take a look at it. My father had a look at it the other day and said the top is screwed down, not riveted, so hopefully I'll have a bit of luck getting the top off.
I'm sure I'll have to replace the stringers. The motor damage is from ignorance of the last owner. He backed down the ramp with the motor down .
Once I get the deck off I guess I'll see the extent of the damage. But that gets me to another tangent... what's the best way to remove the deck? I've seen suggestions for circular saws, and/or grinders, what's the best? I'm constantly adding to my tool inventory and I know I definitely need a grinder, but is a circular saw a must too?

Again, thanks for the advice, it'll make this project this much easier. I'll be sure to post pics of the project along the way (and definitely all the fish I catch when I'm done. . . It's almost flounder season here in NC)

 

[oops!]

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

Some folks will have a coronary over this.

AAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH !!!!!!

nuthin wrong with that idea, but i (if you go that route) would grind the old shell flat and attach your wood to it. then glass the whole shabang to the hull.

yes circ saw.....(set to the depth of the floor...no more)

 

[ezmobee]

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

Re: My New Project - *warning, pic heavy* - 1976 Winchester 21'

Nice looking boat. I think it'd be worth the effort. Good luck with your project.

 

[icanoutfishyou]

Re: 1976 Winchester 21' first project

Well took off the rubrail today, and took the screws out of the top. Didn't have time for much else.

Next work day will probably be sunday (after they honey-do list), going to pull the steering wheel, all the gauges, all wiring and the steering cable.

It appears that the top is going to come off quite easily, it is the "shoe box" style oops indicated. Just need to get some of the old caulk out of there with an awl or something and lift her off.

Then cut the deck and the real fun will begin!

 

[icanoutfishyou]

Re: 1976 Winchester 21' first project

Bumping an old thread for this project; I've now got everything, and I mean everything, taken out.

Cap is off, stringers are cut out, and the grinding has begun. I've had several opinions from friends on how to go about this project, but I figured I would return here to ask the professionals.

I'm paying a friend right now to do all the hard labor (grinding and what not). He used to build towers for Bausch marine, and is suggesting I use polyester resin for the fiberglass.

Herein lies the dilemma. Polyester resin is $200 per 5-gallons at the local marine hardware store. I have access, through another source, to get a product called "vinyl luster" which is a vinyl resin, I guess? The price is right, at $60 per 5 gallons, and the guy I'm working with rebuilds boats as a small business and claims that this product is stronger and better than a polyester, and will bond to both polyester and epoxy resins. Have any of you ever heard of this product, and what do ya'll suggest?

Thanks for your help guys, and I'll get some pics posted of the progress here soon. Oh, btw, the consoles are going to be cut out, and this boat will be converted to a center console by the end of this project (much better in my opinion for a fishing boat)

 

[chrishayes]

Re: 1976 Winchester 21' first project

I hope you continue this, I really like this boat and wish mine was a bit more like it. I am really in the same BOAT as you. My exterior is mint but the interior had been "fixed" with about the same quality, maybe worse, as yours. Kepp at it man, good looking boat!