1992 Wellcraft Excel 18sx custom rebuild. Project name "Aqua Rover"

[Tnstratofam]

You are moving along nicely. Mark is right that dust will get everywhere. Do some research on how others have contained their grinding messes. Some people tent their boats. Some people reinvent their shop vac using cardboard boxes, and air filters. WOG has some great ideas. Ultimately a combination of things works best for everyone I think.

Most importantly suit up well, and have a good respirator. As you already know.

 

[nurseman]

+1 on the full face respirator! You can usually pick them up at a Sherwin Williams (or equivalent) paint store, where I live, they are going for about $200, but they are worth every penny! For my grind I rigged a tent with a box fan and furnace filter and it worked very well. If you are going to grind in your garage, use painters plastic to "bag" off the garage. Cover everything that you don't want dust on, because dust will get EVERYWHERE. Enjoy the experience:faint2:

 

[sphelps]

You could pull the boat out of the garage to sand . That is if your not to close to the neighbors ..

 

[Rickmerrill]

I got my 3m 6800 full face for about $87 online, no filters included. Most important to get a good fit, which you can't do online, but I think they say the medium fits about 80% of us. Wouldn't grind without it!

 

[nurseman]

I got my 3m 6800 full face for about $87 online, no filters included. Most important to get a good fit, which you can't do online, but I think they say the medium fits about 80% of us. Wouldn't grind without it!

THAT is a smoking good deal!.

 

[Jared9220]

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice guys.

I'm ordering a 3M full face mask off Ebay this weekend. I found a few different ones with filters for around $125 and that's money well spent to save my lungs and eyes. Is the Medium size mask the one most people get? They show M and L.

Nurseman, I saw your dust tent in your rebuild thread and although that is an awesome setup, I think I'm going to do the grinding in my driveway because I want to wash everything out afterwards and I'll have to pull it out anyway. I will have to buy a cheap canopy from Wal-Mart for shade because it's still hot down here in South Texas and the tyvek suit won't help things. In the shade with a big shop fan and I think I'll be good to go.

I was able to do a little more work today.
I cut out the stringers, bulkheads, and motor mounts. Next up is the Transom. I was looking at the transom and there is very little room at the top. I think I can cut it out okay but I'm trying to think how I'm going to glass the top part when I install the new transom. Can a wrap the whole transom twice with CSM outside of the boat before I put it in place so the top is sealed, and then tab and glass everything but the very top as normal to install it? (picture of transom below)

Day 8:

 

[Rickmerrill]

Whew, I was afraid someone would ask me for a link to that full face mask and I couldn't find a receipt or info in the CC charge (but I did find another $87 deal with free shipping). That's a good price with filters and when the grinder is throwing dust right in your face, I still flinched every time, you'll be glad. As I understand it the top of the transom is ok to leave un tabbed, it's the sides and bottom that count strength wise but do waterproof that top edge. Also I have seen Wood recommend just one layer of CSM for the outer skin side of the transom and for the inner skin you can skip the CSM because you are going to be putting two layers of 1708 over it anyway - it will be strong and it will be waterproof. I do have the link to back that one up but if he has a reason to do it another way I'm sure he'll be along to correct me on that advice and I'm good with that.

 

[PitaBoat22]

Is there a keel running down the centerline in the first of your last 2 pics? I had one and it felt pretty solid and I almost didn't cut it out. Glad I did, though. Oil and water caught between the wood and the hull.

 

[nurseman]

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice guys.
I think I'm going to do the grinding in my driveway because I want to wash everything out afterwards and I'll have to pull it out anyway. I will have to buy a cheap canopy from Wal-Mart for shade because it's still hot down here in South Texas and the tyvek suit won't help things. In the shade with a big shop fan and I think I'll be good to go.

Don't forget to close your garage door (don't ask...)

 

[Jared9220]

Is there a keel running down the centerline in the first of your last 2 pics? I had one and it felt pretty solid and I almost didn't cut it out. Glad I did, though. Oil and water caught between the wood and the hull.

I'm not even really sure what a keel is, so I have no idea if I have one, but I don't think I do. Honestly I thought a keel was only on a sail boat.

 

[PitaBoat22]

I wasn't sure either, Jared, when I posted info about this particular piece in my boat. Others confirmed with me that its a "keel". Anyway, at the bottom of the V, running right down the center, it looks like you have a piece of wood that is encased in glass. That's the piece I'm referring to.

Here's a pic of mine before I removed it. Its running right next to the crowbar.

 

[Jared9220]

Day 9:

I cut out the transom and that should complete almost all of the wood removal. The transom was rotted all the way except for the last 2 inches at the top. The glass skin on the very top was already separating so I knew that the whole thing had to come out.














I noticed a few things while cutting out the transom that I thought was really weird.

1) It looks like the previous owner tried to fill the old rotting transom with foam at the bottom. Anyone ever seen that one before?

2) I noticed that the stringer and transom were not glassed separately. I looks like the stringers were just set up against the raw transom and then glassed over as a unit. So all it would take is one of the stringers or the transom to start rotting and it would spread to everything. (you can see the crow bar going straight threw it in the pic below) In every single rebuild video I have watched everyone always glasses the transom in first (separate from the stringers) and then glasses in the stringers. Why would the manufacturer skip that step? Just to save a little time and money?

3) The stringers were positioned on the outside of the transom instead of right up against the face of it. Is that normal?

 

[PitaBoat22]

You'll want to hear from the experts regarding the foam, but my bet is that is was purposefully placed to serve as a buffer between the transom and the hull so the two were not directly touching. Some do this when replacing stringers as well given you don't want the stringer resting directly on the hull. Now let's hear from the experts and see if this thinking is correct.

 

[Tnstratofam]

Never seen foam at the bottom of a drive opening like that. The foam looks like it might have been added to slow rot, and or to attempt to shore up a leaking gimble housing. As far as the stringers and transom being glassed over together I think you've figured out that's one way mfgs save coin. Rebuilders are going for strength and waterproofing. That's why the transom usually gets glassed first, then the stringers are added. Finally they are tabbed into the transom for added strength. At least I think that's correct. Woodonglass has the boat rebuilders handbook on transoms, stringers, and decks.

 

[Rickmerrill]

I'm not sure what's up with the foam but I tend to agree with tn. Just wanted to clear up pita's thing. The idea of keeping a stringer off the hull is to avoid hard spots. Hard spots have soft spots around em so the hull panel would flex and eventually fatigue and crack. If you could perfectly fit the stringer there wouldn't be a problem but that would be hard to do. So, just elevate it and fill - a perfect fit. Most foam wouldn't be suitable for this purpose because it would compress. The example that helped me was to step on a piece of plate glass on a flat surface, it won't break. Now put a bb under the glass and step on it. BTW, I is no expert in nottin.

 

[Jared9220]

I have one more question.

I noticed that there appears to be thick layer of glass that runs all the way up the hull and is riveted on. It looks like the rivets run all the way around and are from the rub rail. I really cant tell if it's a thick layer of glass molded to the hull for support or the actual hull itself. Do I need to grind all of that thick layer away or just rough it up and tie the new glass into it?

 

[Tnstratofam]

I think just rough it up. Since you're not removing the cap you don't have to grind up that far. Actually I think you only have to grind up the sides as far as you're going to tab the deck in. I could be wrong.:noidea:

 

[Jared9220]

I think just rough it up. Since you're not removing the cap you don't have to grind up that far. Actually I think you only have to grind up the sides as far as you're going to tab the deck in. I could be wrong.:noidea:

That's what I thought, Thanks

 

[Rickmerrill]

Yep, if I'm understanding correctly, if you follow Woods advice, from the edge of the deck you'll need to grind 9" (plus a little wiggle room) - 3" for 1708 tabbing, 3" overlap for the first layer of CSM and 3" more overlap for the second layer of CSM. Just to be clear the tabbing is 6", 3" on the deck and 3" on the hull. That's what I remember but check me on that.

 

[Jared9220]

I went and got some stuff to start the grinding and I wanted to make sure I got the correct things before I open them and get to work. Will these discs and backing pad do the trick?