1981 Campion Refurbishing

[Aquaholic_GP]

Hello Everyone, I am new to this site but was hoping to possibly get some expertise from those who have been around boat restoration longer than myself, here is the story. My Brother and I picked up a 1981 Campion in September of 2009, when we picked it up we knew that it need a little TLC, the following is what we have completed.

Boat When We got it

Original Interior

Seats Out, Working on Stereo and Dash

Dash Refinished, New depth Sounder, aluminum cover/plate with carbon fiber vinyl finish

Passenger Side Dash, relocate CD player, install GMC cup holder bezel, aluminum cover/plate with carbon fiber vinyl

Re-build leg, paint and new decals

To date we have gone through the engine, everything checked out good, all we have left to do is the carburetor. We where able to take it out once last year and it ran fairly well.

 

[Aquaholic_GP]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

And on to the bad news, I expected bad but not this bad, the plywood was completely rotten, as were the stringers and the flotation foam was also a write off, see pictures below:

Beginning of Floor Removal

What was left of my floor by the end of the night

Looking for some input on what to do for:
Stringers - go with wood again, try Seacast, try Composite, treated wood, etc?
Flotation Foam - does the 2" high densitity 4'x8' sheets cut up work, or pour in method?
If going with stringers rather than Seacast what kind of epoxy to use to adhere it to the fiber glass hull?

Any input into the matter would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Spinnaker]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

I would consider removing the drive then the engine. Take a look at the transom. I'd say there's a 95% possibility that it's rotted too.
I know a lot of guys here like to go with epoxy but I think it is so unnecessary. Just use regular wood and glass the stringers down on a bed of structural putty made from Polyester resin and talc. Make sure you radius the inside corners with a rounded putty knife and glass it before the putty kicks. Makes rolling with an air roller much easier and gets a better bond. Before you set the wood into putty just resin coat the woods surface that the putty comes into contact with. Resin coat the entire wood area before glassing. Chop strand mat is fine.
I see you left a decent lip around the deck perimeter. Good. Leave it. You'll want it when you tie the floor into place.
You might want to follow my resto that's in my signature. I'll update photos on Thursday. I see you have a good project at hand and will follow to see your progress.

 

[Aquaholic_GP]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

As for the to do list it is the following:

-Finish fixing floor
-Work on interior
-Finishing cleaning up Teak wood
-Carpet floor, sub box, seat stands, speaker mounts
-Clean up Engine Cover and vinyl side panels
-Build swim platform at the back of the boat
-Fix Carb
-Install Seats:

Front Seats

Back Seats on wood stand
-Cut and Wax Boat
-Get Boat cover made
-Go through Trailer
Take it out on the Lake!

 

[Spinnaker]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

Always good to have a plan.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

I bought those seats. You will be very pleased with them.

 

[Aquaholic_GP]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

So new plan of attack:
Leg and motor to be removed asap
Then I can get a better look at the transom and will be easier to replace the stringers as well.

So reading the forms it looks like this is the common process, I am new to the fiber glass world and trying to get a general understanding of the process before I begin:

IF transom is ok:
Clean hull - is there any product that works well?
Cut stringers to length and correct profile
resin coat stringers
PL - 400 Strigners into place? or is it a different type of PL?
CSM (Chopped strand mat - had to Google these ones)
1708 (Fiberglass Biaxial Cloth - had to Google these ones)

IF transom is rotten as well - that will be addressed first.

 

[Aquaholic_GP]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

Got a bit more of the floor removal done tonight with my brother. Things are looking ok, still have to remove the front engine mount. To my surprise the transom does not seem to have any rot, I checked it all over with a screw driver and all the plywood was hard, a couple spots where damp so I will try and dry those out. The stringers did look a bit better towards the back of the boat - there was actually good wood left in them.

Tonight`s Progress:

Getting the walk through by the shop forman `Buddy

 

[Spinnaker]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

Tap the transom with a hammer. You'll know when you hit a rotten area as it will sound punky (for a lack of better words) or dull. Usually around the bottom where stringers are tied in and around the bottom of the cutout. Be sure to pull the drive first before removing the engine.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

Nice work. If you end up pulling the motor....then I'd definitely replace the transom while I was in there. A vast majority of the time, when people start tearing into them, they find them to be more rotted than they thought. It's not that much bigger a job than what you've already undertaken. That's a very nice looking boat. Well worth the effort to fix up.

 

[jonesg]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

Ditto on the transom, especially as you say parts of it are wet, they don't dry out and if they do dry out it becomes dry rot so its all done anyway.
Pulling the engine will also let you re-do the bilge, scrub it clean and paint with white bilgepaint. Check the engine mounts too.
Install new bilge pump with auto switch.

With a complete gut job just go ahead and do a good plywood replacement, marine ply or ext grade ply, properly prepared and sealed , it will last for decades as long as you seal all thru holes with marine sealant.

PL 5200 premium construction adhesive(home depot) is good for bedding stringers, they need to be off the surface of the hull to prevent hard points between the wood and glass , then polyester resin and glass them to the hull.
Follow the same glass work they used originally when all else fails.
Its gonna be better than new when you get done.

 

[Aquaholic_GP]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

So did a whole bunch of looking for materials today, found sources for carpet, marine grade plywood, stringers, but still having issues with fiberglass and resin - does anyone form Canada know of a good supplier?

Also did a layout of colors that I am thinking should go ok - done in paint on windows so just rough idea but I am happy of the results.

Also picked up a heater for the boat as the mornings can be a bit cooler here in Northern Alberta. Trying to get everything lined out so that I know what needs to be allowed for in the floor.

As for finding any rot in the Transom - I can't find any rot that causes any concern, and will leave provisions in the floor building to address the transom in the future if required. Everything is solid around the leg area so it should be fine for now.

 

[jspano]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

nice progress on the boat, there several good threads on fiberglass boats, mick and arch come to mind. check them out

good luck, look forward to more pics

ps pictures are too big down size them to fit the page

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

Nice work so far. My boat was the opposite. The front was solid and the back was rotten. Make sure you grind down the footings where the old stringers were.

 

[Spinnaker]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

Looks good. Nice seats. You can look for Industrial plastics in Alberta. I'm not sure about Composite One though. If there is a Composite one that would be the more cost effective as Industrial Plastics are pirates.

 

[Aquaholic_GP]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

I resized the pics (I think - let me know if it didn't work)

So this is the plan:

CHOPPED STRAND MAT
1.5oz x 38" wide by about 25 yards
For 2 layer on stringers

NEMPC (1708)
50" wide x 30 yards
for 2 layers on deck and 1 layer on stringers

And a Polyester Resin - what is the advantage of a epoxy resin?

Found a couple of suppliers in the general area, and am going to see is uscomposites will ship over the boarder and what that price would be- not sure on the cost yet.

Any input on the matter would be greatly appreciated

 

[Aquaholic_GP]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

Work as of tonight and last Saturday:

Stringer areas ground down (Sat) and bow of boat cleaned up (sat)

Boat cleaned up, Leg and Engine Removed

Still looking into supplies - Home Depot has 2x10 and 2x6 kept in side (dry) that we are planning to use, theory is the boat lasted 30 years with them - should be good for another 30+ if we seal them correctly

 

[Spinnaker]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

I resized the pics (I think - let me know if it didn't work)

So this is the plan:

CHOPPED STRAND MAT
1.5oz x 38" wide by about 25 yards
For 2 layer on stringers

NEMPC (1708)
50" wide x 30 yards
for 2 layers on deck and 1 layer on stringers

And a Polyester Resin - what is the advantage of a epoxy resin?

Found a couple of suppliers in the general area, and am going to see is uscomposites will ship over the boarder and what that price would be- not sure on the cost yet.

Any input on the matter would be greatly appreciated

Shipping hazardous material across the border my end up being expensive. All I know is that a quart of gelcoat from Spectrum in the U.S. is about $60.00 but after it gets here we end up paying $140.00.
All you need is one layer of 2oz deck and stringers or 2 layers 1.5oz deck and stringers. That's it.

BTW, images seem fine.

 

[Aquaholic_GP]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

Ok I am a bit confused on the whole Fiberglass.

Found a company in Calgary (Industrial Plastics) that I can get material from they recommended the following:

Stringers: 2 layers of 6oz Fiberglass E-Glass cloth- figured I will need 16 yards of a 50" wide roll - that's allowing a bit of a buffer

in regards to the stringers I found dimensional 2x10 and 2x6 (kiln dried) locally that I plan on using, and I will router the top to help wrap the fiberglass

Deck: they recommended 2 layers of 1.5oz CSM - figured again I will get 16 yards of a 50" wide roll - that's allowing a bit of a buffer (also cheaper to get 16 yards than to order 14 due to price break)

and two 5 gallon pails of resin. Going unwaxed so i don't have to scuff between layers and getting a wax air dry to add for the 2nd layer

But I am hearing this is a bad idea form some of you fellow boat builders...

Honestly I am not sure on the whole matter as this is my first fiberglass experience. I want a good finish product as I am going to all this work.

Any thoughts on the matter?

 

[oops!]

Re: 1981 Campion Refurbishing

i finally found the pics i was loking for.

in the hull thread....post 2021....page 81 (i think its 81) there is a pic of the 6 oz cloth....actually the stuff i was using was 8 oz.

you can see that it is very thin and not reccomended for stringers at all.

you can also purchase a small bag of the stuff at wallmart.

do a small section with it......then test it by taking the plyers and try to rip it apart. you will find that that stuff rips quite easily........thats why its not reccomended for stringers....... you want a tougher cloth there.