1988 Renken Cuddy Classic 2000

[dustinsapple]

Hey all,

Beginner boater here I'm just getting into boats and learning about them. I myself am a backyard mechanic, welder by trade and work in a machine shop. I'm not the best of wood workers as I prefer metal but I am going to attempt to gut my floor in the boat, clean and redo everything.

I just bought my first boat this season, with a cracked block from not winterizing it properly last year. The guy I bought it from picked it up late last season only used it a hand full of times before storing it for the winter. First time he took it out this season he quickly found out water had froze and cracked the block. He dumped the boat so I got it fairly cheap on a trailer with a brand new axle.

The boat is old yes, but after having just replaced the block and rebuilt the motor, its all in good shape. The hull itself is in good shape too, no repairs or cracks anywhere and overall I believe was well maintained during most of its life. Since buying the boat about a month ago, I rebuilt the motor fixed up all the gauges and small stuff like blower motor and plumbing, bilge pump, adjusted everything I could to make the boat work as it should and run great.

I've had the boat out for day trips and have about 12 hours on the motor rebuild at this time, it doesn't leak or require me to run a bilge and overall I've been super happy out on the water. Mostly Lake Ontario I'm 10 minutes away.

I've been stuck with not being able to get anything above 4000RPM with my OMC Cobra, using a few different props and such and basically the top speed I've seen was about 40mph. Aftering going through Don's checklist of mechanical things, I'm convinced mechanically my boat is on point and that its has to be something load related that is holding me back. Weather it is or not after doing some research and discovered I'm probably lugging a ton of extra weight in rotten wood and saturated foam I've decided to redo my entire floor. At this point rather than buying another older boat with the same problems I think that it is best (to not only learn but know my boat) to fix this one up and become more educated as I continue to grow and learn about boats

I believe the floor itself is all original, it seems to be wooden, but covered in a light layer of fiber glass. This is all new to me so I am looking for some tips from you guys on what I should be doing and looking for exactly.

Attached are photos of the boat, and now with the gutted interior and the cuddy step spot where I started to rip up the flooring and fibre glass as there was a crack in there so it was easy to rip up and take a look at whats going on in there. Let me tell you, its water logged for sure and I found milkshake oil in there from when the other motor mixed water in the oil and started coming out of the valve cover breathers lol.

Wish me luck and steer me in the right direction, thanks guys!

 

[dustinsapple]

So most of the boat is now gutted. But I have some questions for the guys who've done this before.

I am trying to stay away from where the engine is mounted and the transom as I don't want to have to pull the motor again as I just did that during the rebuild last month.

Basically I want to redo the outside stringers all the way to the transom, but the inner ones just leave them, reinforce with new wood then glass it all in and put an extra thick cross member back there to close it all off.

I'm debating the Epoxy vs Poly route. This isn't my dream boat, and I just want to be able to get a few seasons out of it without any worry. If I get 3 summers out of it I'm happy.

So the boat now to me doesn't look like epoxy was even used, I don't see any fillet material along the base of the stringers I used. If you look at the photos attached it literally looks like they just used some simple glue to hold everything in place and then just glassed it all in with a poly resin and fiber glass.

Let me know what you guys think, sanding and grinding begins soon to get it ready for new stingers.

Thanks

 

[dustinsapple]

Well I’m finally ready to start with the new stringers. First I’m going to reinforce the motor area and glass that all in again. I plan to use LVL lumber for all the stringers and marine grade plywood for all the cross members.

 

[dustinsapple]

Getting there. Next step is laying down the 1708

 

[drew_caplan]

That looks really clean now!

 

[dustinsapple]

Yea It’s finally starting to come around, I had a period where I was very discouraged and didn’t get a lot done. But over the last week I’ve really made progress and I’m starting to feel pretty good about it. I ended up getting some tabbing done with the chop strand mat before calling it quits for the weekend, I want 2 layers of tabbing before covering everything with 1708.

The boat is solid as a rock already which I’m happy about and I’m hoping to use it in the water before I have to put it away for the winter. Fingers crossed.

 

[Baylinerchuck]

I’m really not liking that you didn’t redo the transom and stringers all the way aft, to include the motor mounts. My buddy had a Rinker where the wood and glass the motor was mounted to rotted and the whole Motor fell and broke the coupler and bent the bolts at the transom plate. He ended up filling the hollow mounts with SeaCast after cleaning all the rot out.

A wise man says, It’s yours, do with it what you will..... I’ve actually seen him type that before.....here, in this forum. :lol:

 

[dustinsapple]

I understand what your saying fully. And if I didn’t already pull the motor once (since I just rebuilt it this year) I probably would have just pulled it and redone everything 100% but....... we live and learn and if something happens then it will a lesson learnt!

Well, I didn’t completely leave them alone. I did pull the old wood out from the motor mounts, one side at a time but left the original fibreglass in place. I actually used 6x6 treated wood, trimmed to shape, covered in PL and hammered them inside the original shell. Then by adding new wood against the 2-3ft section of old stringers, I’m pretty sure It will be fine. I used stainless screws back there that goes through new stringer, old stringer, and into the 6x6 wood that’s been put under the motor mounts. If the motors going anywhere it’s probably bringing the whole boat along hahah.

I am new to boating and this is my first boat, so I’m still learning really. But for a rookie I’m pretty happy with how everything is turning out!

 

[Baylinerchuck]

I’m not sure how the fitment is between the new wood and the old fiberglass shell In the motor mounts, but I’m guessing if you hammered them in, assuming you unbolted the feet from the mounts, they may have moved. Make sure you check the drive shaft alignment before you start the engine, as you could ruin the coupler. If you did move the mounts up or down by even the smallest fraction of an inch, the outdrive will be an absolute nightmare to pull off since the driveshaft will now bind in the coupler.

As an FYI, pressure treated wood should not be used if you’re going to fiberglass it. The resin won’t make a good bond. You’ll know now for the next boat.....

 

[dustinsapple]

Yes I know I used marine plywood everywhere, and dryed pine for the stringers. I just had a 6x6 left over from another project so I used that as it was almost to size for under the motor mounts.

They couldn’t have moved much if at all. When I say hammer I don’t mean like a 4LB matter to force them in. More or less just a tapping them in so they were a snug fit.

Only time will tell

 

[dustinsapple]

Well the floor is all in. I used my winter rims
to weigh down each section of floor. Everything got 1 layer chop map tab, then one small woven layer, then 2 layers of 1708, some areas 3 layers of 1708. I’ve used 9 gallons of the poly resin and I’ve still yet to glass in all the floors. I put multiple layers of resin down over all my fibreglass. Feeling pretty good about it all anyways!!