Haven' got any pictures downloaded from camera yet but will in a few days.
Started opening up the deck from about midway toward the front to see how far the rot goes. A dealer had started opening it up to check a soft spot just in front of the transom area. He drilled and said the transom looked OK for now. My son owns the boat but I am the one with the time to DIY. The dealer just wanted more than he could afford so it has been siting in my yard for almost a year now.
I started about 3 weeks ago and have removed another 4 feet of deck and think I have found the end of the rot under where the CC is located. Looks like a lot of the water came in around the cable boot going through the floor. It was loose. Also have found pockets in the foam that had water in it. Foam not saturated except the bottom quarter inch. I read somewhere in here that if the foam is rubbed or cut it bursts the closed cells and that is where the water is held in the foam.
I live close to friscoboater and have been following his adventures in his driveway. I am also a Jay but have a few years on that Jay so plan on taking a lot longer on my restore. At least I have a 40' x 40' barn. Not really a barn but for some reason they like to call them that out here in our area North of Fort Worth. I also have a shop full of woodworking equipment and have some skills in that area. I do plan on building a beam lift arrangement to lift the motor off so I can pop the back cap. I think I have to take it off to replace the rotted stringers from the transom forward. In fact I don't have any choice since the deck and stringers go under these boxes and they are not accesable unless I can get the cap off. Also I am thinking that the transom should also be replaced while the stern is opened up.
That's my area of questions on how to get the aft cap loose. There is a battery compartment and live well on each side of the back with a metal bridge that makes up the fishing deck on the rear. I can see a fine seam with a black adhesive of some sort that was squeezed out at the seam where it blends into the sides of the boat. Seems to be hard and doesn't just scrape of easily. I haven't drilled out any rivets on the rub rail yet but I think I will this weekend and see it the cap is glued down over the gunnel. Anyone have any experience with this and even better with an Astro boat of this vintage. I hope I can cut a little of the flange off the front of the 2 boxes at a time and see how far the glue goes under that flange. The flange is about 2" wide in this area. This same flange continues down to the floor where it is screwed to the deck on 2 sides.
Not so sure I have painted a great word picture so will try to get the pictures on the computer and uploaded in a few days. Have a bunch of them so will have do a lot of culling.
Thanks for any advice, except don't do it, you guys can offer. I have learned a lot from the iboats forumns but have a lot more to learn.
Thanks, Jay (the second one)
Started opening up the deck from about midway toward the front to see how far the rot goes. A dealer had started opening it up to check a soft spot just in front of the transom area. He drilled and said the transom looked OK for now. My son owns the boat but I am the one with the time to DIY. The dealer just wanted more than he could afford so it has been siting in my yard for almost a year now.
I started about 3 weeks ago and have removed another 4 feet of deck and think I have found the end of the rot under where the CC is located. Looks like a lot of the water came in around the cable boot going through the floor. It was loose. Also have found pockets in the foam that had water in it. Foam not saturated except the bottom quarter inch. I read somewhere in here that if the foam is rubbed or cut it bursts the closed cells and that is where the water is held in the foam.
I live close to friscoboater and have been following his adventures in his driveway. I am also a Jay but have a few years on that Jay so plan on taking a lot longer on my restore. At least I have a 40' x 40' barn. Not really a barn but for some reason they like to call them that out here in our area North of Fort Worth. I also have a shop full of woodworking equipment and have some skills in that area. I do plan on building a beam lift arrangement to lift the motor off so I can pop the back cap. I think I have to take it off to replace the rotted stringers from the transom forward. In fact I don't have any choice since the deck and stringers go under these boxes and they are not accesable unless I can get the cap off. Also I am thinking that the transom should also be replaced while the stern is opened up.
That's my area of questions on how to get the aft cap loose. There is a battery compartment and live well on each side of the back with a metal bridge that makes up the fishing deck on the rear. I can see a fine seam with a black adhesive of some sort that was squeezed out at the seam where it blends into the sides of the boat. Seems to be hard and doesn't just scrape of easily. I haven't drilled out any rivets on the rub rail yet but I think I will this weekend and see it the cap is glued down over the gunnel. Anyone have any experience with this and even better with an Astro boat of this vintage. I hope I can cut a little of the flange off the front of the 2 boxes at a time and see how far the glue goes under that flange. The flange is about 2" wide in this area. This same flange continues down to the floor where it is screwed to the deck on 2 sides.
Not so sure I have painted a great word picture so will try to get the pictures on the computer and uploaded in a few days. Have a bunch of them so will have do a lot of culling.
Thanks for any advice, except don't do it, you guys can offer. I have learned a lot from the iboats forumns but have a lot more to learn.
Thanks, Jay (the second one)