1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

[lokonn]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

No written messages, but my boats are whispering to me.

It's warm. Take me out, go fast, have fun.

Too many projects around the homestead. :grumpy:

Nice work in the dents. You may consider not welding, unless it was welded before. Riveted boats are not made to be welded. The heat can weaken the aluminum and it will crack in that area after a while.

Just seal it up with JB weld or gluvit

Is this because of the type of aluminum Or the thickness of the existing aluminum? I have 2 small cracks at that corner. The one on the port side is about 3/4" to 1'', on the stern side of that corner is a horseshoe crack that is about 1/2''. Both are fairly close to corner if not right up against it. I could probably cut small patches and attach from the inside with 5200 and rivits. That repair just ddoesn't feel as permanent, but I don't want to induce problems either. Any more thoughts?

 

[Pmccraney]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

Just getting caught up. Nice rig and great work so far!

 

[Teamster]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

If you go with the patch make sure you drill a small hole at the end of the crack to help stop it from spreading,....

The hole can be covered with jbweld or put a rivet through it,.......

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

Just getting caught up. Nice rig and great work so far!

Thanks for stopping by. Have been following your progress and used your shovel method on the foam, worked out great. Thanks.

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

If you go with the patch make sure you drill a small hole at the end of the crack to help stop it from spreading,....

The hole can be covered with jbweld or put a rivet through it,.......

Will do if we go that way, still mulling over options....:fencing:

 

[64osby]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

I fixed a crack in the corner of the transom with JB Weld and a piece of aluminum bent to fit. Didn't use any fasteners, slathered on the JB added the alum. patch and coated it with JB. My crack was about a 1/2" the patch ended up about 2". Visible on the inside only, no paint on the outside of my boat. If you are painting then get a thin coat on the outside too.

On the welding no being good, I've read the heat changes the properties of some aluminum, type 5052 is used on riveted boats. The 6061 type is good for welding. Maybe one the experts will confirm.

I read on one of the other boat sites that some have tried to weld riveted boats, it cracks more, weld, crack... they chase it until the whole boat is trash and scrapped.

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

I fixed a crack in the corner of the transom with JB Weld and a piece of aluminum bent to fit. Didn't use any fasteners, slathered on the JB added the alum. patch and coated it with JB. My crack was about a 1/2" the patch ended up about 2". Visible on the inside only, no paint on the outside of my boat. If you are painting then get a thin coat on the outside too.

On the welding no being good, I've read the heat changes the properties of some aluminum, type 5052 is used on riveted boats. The 6061 type is good for welding. Maybe one the experts will confirm.

I read on one of the other boat sites that some have tried to weld riveted boats, it cracks more, weld, crack... they chase it until the whole boat is trash and scrapped.

That is what I was afraid of. Talked to one of the guys at work who has been welding aluminum and he says it is a possibility but doesn't think likely. He has welded some aluminum stuff for work and repaired two skegs without incident, but not wanting to chase problem after I am through re-doing this boat. I am going to try to get home early enough to look at things tomorrow and make a decision. I think I can do what you referred to. I have to replace some of the rivits in the corner where the tears are. I can use those same rivits to fasten the patch. I think that I should be golden at that point. I was thinking of using All Metal as a filler from outside before I paint. Sound like a plan?

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

Well this has been one of those weeks that no matter how hard I tried I could not get any work done on the boat. Between weather(rain), work and family stuff there hasn't be time to do anything. I was able to get some shopping done. I found a 30 gallon fuel tank, that I will pick up next week,about an hour away from work. I got a pair of used seats off of fleabay,should be here next week. Found a roll of fiberglass clothe at work from when we used to do bodywork. Think that I am going to try my hand at some dash panels made of that, and maybe livewells, unless any of you fiberglass guys think that is un-wise. Picked up some rivets and hardware I will need when the work begins. Doesnt look good for this weekend either. Today will be spent with some shopping for the admiral, visiting mom for mothers day, cantor practice in the morning and church tonite. One of my helpers has concert tomorrow in Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.(Joe plays clarinet with one of the Chicago Symphony Youth Orchestras.) It is an all day affair with dress rehersal and concert and living an hour and a half away. The concerts are awsome though and really worth the time. So not much progress over the last week or for the next couple of days. Been spending a lot of drive time daydreaming/working things out in my head though. Gonna make something happen though after the weekend. Good luck and good progress on your projects.

 

[Teamster]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

I don't think I would make a livewell out of fiberglass,...Too much work when you could get one of these and box it in

Cabela's Dry-Stor/Livewells : Cabela's

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

Alright, it has benn a while. Work, family, house, weather have all been conspiring against me. Todayweb were able to tackle something that has been bothering me. While working on the demo of the boat I noticed it was rocking from side to side. A little investigation showed me the boat was not resring on the bunks, butwas rocking side to side due to fact it was only riding on keel rollers. So this morning Mike and I off loaded the boat. We added an additional 2x4 to the existing bunk and then loaded her back on. Gotta say I was pretty nervous about this. I told Mike I need your help to get the boat off of the trailer. His eyes got big and says, ''You have a plan, right?'' I said ''Sort-of.'' He then says ''So how much does the boat weigh?'' I say, ''Not really sure.'' ''OK, just don't want to get crushed.'' ''Shouldn't be a problem.'' Out we go. Now I know we have a tilt trailer and I figure if we get in deep I should be able to release the catch and up goes the trailer to help us off load. Note to self...check out what you think you have before you go any further with your plan. So we hook boat to truck, get it in grass and start shoving at the bow. Boat slides off of trailer fairly easy.We install 2x4 onto existing bunks cut away rotted guide ons, and then figure out how to get boat back on trailer.

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

All in all no big deal! Having trouble uploading pic of boat on trailer, trust me she is there. Only two casualties of todays escapade. Stitching at hook decided to give up ghost just as we got her seated on trailer and I got slapped by winch handle on way up when I was taking a breather and didn't have winch locked. Spent the rest of the day between stripping carpet glue off of inside walls and cutting the grass. Question to you guys...do I need to do anything when I want to roll her over to paint bottom half of boat. Kinda wondering if bracing is needed between gunnells? Before and after of glue removal.

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

So after having the boat off of the trailer this weekend, I found out some other things that need to be repaired and was hoping for for some opinions on some things. The trailer has no name on it, title has an abbreviation of "COX". Does anybody have any idea on manufacturer? Manufacturer doesn't matter to much but I was wondering. It is a galvanized, tilt trailer. Where the trailer tongue pivots on tilting has cracked where the tongue channel meets the rear half of the trailer. PO had taken a plate and ubolts and bound the two parts of the trailer together so no more pivoting. Tilt trailers...are they a plus or minus? I was thinking of welding 2 halves together as a permanent fix, but wanted some input before I go down that road. From titles for boat and trailer they appear to have been sold together originally. The trailer seems to be a little on the narrow side, and would definitely be more useful if it was wider for loading/un-loading boat, and working on boat if it had step fenders or frame that you could climb off of. I'm thinking of possibly widening trailer, I think that the axle is suspect and may have to change that out anyway, If I do, I think I would consider going with a wider axle. Anybody have any expierence, pitfall, warnings etc. Thanks

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

So today I came down with the pool opening/blue fin flu. I think I'm gonna make ok but reserve the right for future attacks. Got the pool opened up and running and then moved on to the boat. A lot of little stuff happened today with the goal of making a big dent over the 3 day weekend. Spent some time straightening/dent removal. Cut out and cleaned up old rivets that were removed. Removed rivets at port stearn did some more rough body work there. Then I used an aluminim brightener from Napa that really cleaned up inside of hull. Didn't take any pictures, but the stuff is pretty cool. Washed inside of boat and figured out which limber holes to work on or modify. My helpers are tied up with end of year school stuff and it is a problem where two people are needed for solid rivets. So standing there looking at boat tonite I decided to look at what is involved with splashwell removal. Turns out not so much! Have a couple of rivets left to drill ot and will have it removed and then can work rivets by myself. I really would like to get gluvit down, transom installed, boat flipped and prep for bottom paint over this weekend. Feels like it is plausible as long as weather holds. Just gotta keep forward progress going.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

Does look a tad narrow:

Be very careful when planning any welding on galvanized steel... Gotta grind of the galv to bare metal, then apply cold galv (comes in a spray can I think).

If the tilt pivot is cracked the trailer's too narrow, and has a suspect axle, I'd probably try to find a glass donor to steal the trailer out from under. If you're able to modify the trailer to fit & have access to good low cost axles, it might be cheaper to go the modify route, else it might be less to replace the whole rig w/ a better fit trailer.......

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

Been rolling the ''donor'' boat/trailer over also. Am keeping an eye on CL. Can get the axle and suspension thru work pretty reasonably. And the fab work as well. Seems like you start in one direction and before you know it you are down a path you hadn't thought about. I have time on the trailer if I need it, but am trying to do things in order that they are best. Thanks for input!

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

Only had a little time tonite for the boat. I got the 2 pieces of wood cut for the transom and test fit. Notch trowelled Tightbond III, lined up the two pieces and clamped and screwed together. Will pull clamps and screws tomorrow and begin epoxy coats.

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

Not having worked with fiberglas/epoxy much, I have a couple of questions. If we are going to be putting 3 coats on the transom how much would that typically increase overall size? Plywood fits well currently and I didn't want to be sanding off layers of epoxy to get it to fit later. Would seem to defeat some of the purpose of the 3 coats. If I need to belt sand down plywood now would be the time. Also, do I want to add glass fabric(?) to the mix? My understanding is it will provide strength, obviously not required as original did not have it, but is it a good idea if I have the glass anyway? Thanks.

 

[Teamster]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

I don't think you gain anything from adding glass mat in the transom,..

And enough epoxy to coat it should be fine,....

3 coats is overkill,.................In my opinion,.....

 

[lokonn]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

I don't think you gain anything from adding glass mat in the transom,..

And enough epoxy to coat it should be fine,....

3 coats is overkill,.................In my opinion,.....

So I'm looking to get plywood sealed, not ''encased''. Put 1st coat on let it soak in and dry, apply 2nd coat, call it done?

 

[Teamster]

Re: 1987 Bluefin Sportsman 1900 - The Fun Begins

That's what I would do,...

I don't think there is any strength gained from the epoxy,..

All your trying to do is seal the wood,.......