1985 1550 pro bass help

[turnerlittle]

has anyone ever lifted the cap on one of these? i can't remove it it acts like the livewells are glassed down

 

[wgt500]

Re: 1985 1550 pro bass help

I just popped the top off my 1986 Glasstream Stinger 140. If yours is like mine, they bedded and screwed the unitized top and floor to plywood cross members which are glassed to the stringers. Mine was bedded using thickened resin about 1/2" thick. They kept the stringers low and used the thickened resin which allowed the top and floor to be unitized with the stringers. The screws will be under your carpet. All the best!

 

[turnerlittle]

Re: 1985 1550 pro bass help

that was the problem the used this pink stuff to stick the floor down i had to cut the floor out to get the cap off

 

[wgt500]

Re: 1985 1550 pro bass help

turnerlittle, your pics look just like what I found in my Glasstream 140 3weeks ago, just after I purchased it. Mine is now completely gutted and all the glass is ground down to start the foundation for the complete rebuild. I didn't really want to get into this again, but I really like the boat, especially the new Suzuki 70 the previous owner installed. I dont know if you've also found where the factory laid the fiberglass around the stringers, the bond with the hull roving starting to fail. I've had to grind everything around the stringers down to roving and in some places the glass was half inch thick. I think the factory had a good design; however, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of quality layup work. Sorry to hijack the thread!

 

[turnerlittle]

Re: 1985 1550 pro bass help

no worries i'm just happy someone is willing to help me and talk about these boats. I found some quality issues as well like the outside stringers have places with no glass and have no drain holes at the back but i do in fact like the boat i was 400 with a trailer, gas tank, and a trolling motor. i bought a 70 evinrude for about 400 and ran it a couple times. on a side note i would like to say i thought it would be cool to own i kind of rare boat but i learning it would be nice to have more people to ask question and look at pictures

 

[wgt500]

Re: 1985 1550 pro bass help

I don't know if you've drilled into your stringers to check for solid wood. I took a 1/4 drill and drilled several places and came up with nothing but rotten sawdust. My boat, likewise was missing glass around the stringers at the plywood crossmembers. I think this is what caused the wood to rot from day one. Does your boat have plywood squares laminated to the hull just in front of the transom? If it does, I would bet they will be rotted also. I will help you all that I can. Most of the rebuilding is common sense and alot of reading on this forum. I don't know how much fiberglass work you've done, but don't let it scare you. My best advise is just don't try so save a few bucks by using cheap Polyester resin. While Polyester is strong, it doesn't mechanically bond that well to cured Polyester, which is what our boats are made with. Use Epoxy resin and down the road you won't be disapointed. I will try to post a few pics of my project this weekend when my son gets home from college. I'm not good with computers, so he will have to do that for me. All the best!

 

[turnerlittle]

Re: 1985 1550 pro bass help

thats where the rot started for me as well and i did in fact check the laminated boards they seem to be ok just the stringers and transom are bad. i have done a transom in an87 gamefisher bass boat and i did learn the way the epoxy sets is more towards my liking. the center stringer i plan on coating it with resin before i put it in and then pouring some on top of it to stick it. i can also say i dont like the way this boat was plummed you cant get to any of the livewells without pulling the top off of the boat or cutting holes

 

[wgt500]

Re: 1985 1550 pro bass help

Make sure to read the threads on stringer replacement. There are several pitfalls that can lead to failure. You need to bed the stringers in a thickened mix of colodial silica and Epoxy resin so the wood on the bottom of the boat doesn't create stress points where it contacts the hull. You will need to laminate the stringers with 3 layers of fiberglass cloth. I prefer 1708. Use a router to radius the top of the stringer so the cloth will lay flat where it wraps around the stringer. The juncture of the stringer and the hull needs to be filleted so there aren't any voids in the lamination. A good book to get is "Fiberglass Boat Repair & Maintenance" published by West System. You can get it through Jamestown Distributors for about $5.00. On my first boat project it was worth $500.00 to me!

 

[turnerlittle]

Re: 1985 1550 pro bass help

i have never in my life heard of colloidal silica i looked it up and it still don't understand. where to i buy that at and what does it do

 

[wgt500]

Re: 1985 1550 pro bass help

Colodial Silica is a thickening agent in powder form that will turn the epoxy resin into a peanut butter consistancy so it can be used to bond stringers to the hull, and transom cores to the fiberglass skin without the epoxy running out of the joint. The best part is the addition of Colodial Silica doesn't weaken the epoxy resin. Some companies sell it under the name Cabosil. Hope the links at the bottom work for you. Aeromarine Products are very good people to work with. They have a wealth of knowledge.

http://www.noahsboatbuilding.com/noahusa/items.asp?Cc=Fillers&iTpStatus=0&Tp=&Bc=

http://www.aeromarineproducts.com/

 

[turnerlittle]

Re: 1985 1550 pro bass help

ok thats the stuff they had stuck the floor down with i had heard it called peanut butter but had figured it was something like bondo i had no idea it was only an additive. Another question though how come the factory didnt put it down under the stringers originally?

 

[wgt500]

Re: 1985 1550 pro bass help

ok thats the stuff they had stuck the floor down with i had heard it called peanut butter but had figured it was something like bondo i had no idea it was only an additive. Another question though how come the factory didnt put it down under the stringers originally?

Because the factory set the stringers in the hull while the original layup was still wet and soft. This provided for full contact along the length of the stringer, elliminating the chances of hard spots. When you remove the stringers and grind down the fiberglass, you will see the impressions where they were bedded in the orig. layup. Now for the repair, you need to use thickened epoxy to bed the stringers so there are no voids with the hard fiberglass hull. This will elliminate hard spots creating problems in the future. You will have continuous contact between the hull and stringer.

 

[turnerlittle]

Re: 1985 1550 pro bass help

around how much silica do you think i will need

 

[wgt500]

Re: 1985 1550 pro bass help

around how much silica do you think i will need

I would start with a gallon or two since it's pretty cheap at Noah's; however, you may need more by the time you use it to bond the new transom core to the outer skin, make fillets for the stringers, and do misc. filling. Here's a guide for the mixing ratio of comon fillers with epoxy resin: http://www.epoxy5050.com/fillers.php3 Keep in mind this is a guide. Based on temp. etc. you may have to add more or less to get that peanut butter consistancy. The fiberglass boat repair guide I suggested above pretty much takes you through all this stuff in a much more orderly monner than I can on this forum. Don't get me wrong, I'm willing to help you as much as possible. The book just has good illustrations and very useful charts, along with step by step instructions for specific fiberglass repairs.

 

[phouse]

Re: 1985 1550 pro bass help

Anyone have the capacity info for a 1987 1550 Pro bass?

U.S. Coast Guard Maximum Capacities
XX Persons or XXX Pounds ???
XXX Pounds, persons, motor, gear ???
XXX Horsepower, motor I believe its 75 HP