Bought my first boat to cut, gut and rebuild from bow to stern, including engine. Killed my back and suffered the wrath of the fiberglass demons

havoc_squad

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Messages
738
Thank you!!!

NEXT QUESTION...
PAINT AND THEN WAX OR GELCOAT AND THEN WAX????????
PROS/CONS?
ADDITIONAL INFO????

Thinking on tipping the boat over after the new transom is installed and fixing the holes in the hull that I made, repairing any cracks or marks and then giving it a fresh new layer of gelcoat before putting it back on the trailer...and then flip it back over and start rebuilding.

THOUGHTS?

You either need:

1. some form of gelcoat on whatever exterior part of the boat that former had gelcoat on it

2. Or you have to use waterproof filler that will bond to the existing fiberglass & poly resin on your boat hull to smooth out the surface. Then when that is 100% you paint the boat hull with paint that is made to be used in a marine environment.

Paint in most forms simply isn't thick enough to fill voids left by fiberglass mat and cloth.

You can paint over gel coat (boat bottom paint is a prime example), the issue is surface prep and the right paint. The wrong paint will perform very badly on durability and will be a labor intense process to get rid of.
 
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stresspoint

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Sep 19, 2022
Messages
1,045
whats the big problem here , cut the outer skin off the transom ,chunk out the rotted wood >> stuff a new bit of wood in >> feathers the join >> glass a few layers over that join > slop some fairing filler >> tidy it up and paint it flat black gel coat .

as far as what you start on the inside >> prep it up and put some new glass in .

look at youtube vids , people here cant hold your hand with every single aspect of your build.

I'm going to sit on side lines ,only to help when there is no other option ,for the time being .
FYI , this part of the project is less than a weeks work for a shop , even with grunt monkeys doing thee work , you have done the hard time consuming work now for the easy part !.
 
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kcassells

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Oct 16, 2012
Messages
8,715
Thank you!!!

NEXT QUESTION...
PAINT AND THEN WAX OR GELCOAT AND THEN WAX????????
PROS/CONS?
ADDITIONAL INFO????

Thinking on tipping the boat over after the new transom is installed and fixing the holes in the hull that I made, repairing any cracks or marks and then giving it a fresh new layer of gelcoat before putting it back on the trailer...and then flip it back over and start rebuilding.

THOUGHTS?
Ya...get all the structure back in under deck before flipping including
transom. I think flipping that hull would be difficult, would require some serious rigging and peoples.
Maybe after above put on blocks or leave on trailer and access repairs that way.
 

kcassells

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Oct 16, 2012
Messages
8,715
Flashback.....
then I took the deck to flush and added transom drain off holes instead of all those little water holding wells.
1711722813083.png
 

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
whats the big problem here , cut the outer skin off the transom ,chunk out the rotted wood >> stuff a new bit of wood in >> feathers the join >> glass a few layers over that join > slop some fairing filler >> tidy it up and paint it flat black gel coat .

as far as what you start on the inside >> prep it up and put some new glass in .

look at youtube vids , people here cant hold your hand with every single aspect of your build.

I'm going to sit on side lines ,only to help when there is no other option ,for the time being .
FYI , this part of the project is less than a weeks work for a shop , even with grunt monkeys doing thee work , you have done the hard time consuming work now for the easy part !.
No problem.. just exploring options at this point and asking questions.
 

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
Ya...get all the structure back in under deck before flipping including
transom. I think flipping that hull would be difficult, would require some serious rigging and peoples.
Maybe after above put on blocks or leave on trailer and access repairs that way.
I would prefer this.... but how do you repair... gel coat or wax a surface that is covered by a trailer bunk?
 

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
What a beautiful day today! Couldn't work on the boat..... but did get this completed! Finally built an engine stand for the outboard! Beats the old stand I had it on! Now I can work on it properly!

How'd I do?
Does it need anything else?
 

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The Force power

Commander
Joined
Feb 3, 2019
Messages
2,335
How'd I do?
Does it need anything else?
Looks good, just make sure you have enough/long screw in the critical joints.
Just a suggestion.....
-You could shorten the one end (prop side) so it would take up less room in the garage
-made it a little wider so a water barrel could fit between the supports and sit on the entire assembly
 

kcassells

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Oct 16, 2012
Messages
8,715
You can just move it around with your engine lift. I would if you haven't
put something on the base to protect rom moisture.
 

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
Looks good, just make sure you have enough/long screw in the critical joints.
Just a suggestion.....
-You could shorten the one end (prop side) so it would take up less room in the garage
-made it a little wider so a water barrel could fit between the supports and sit on the entire assembly
That kind of was the idea......I put lots of screws in this bad boy....I would like to think that it is sufficient....I climbed on top and moved around some.... couldn't hear any cracking or feel any give.

I would like to think I'm good there.
 

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
Took me a while but I got back out there today. Made decent progress. Decided to remove the transom from the outside.... was so much easier than from inside. Came out in almost one pice too. Was still rotten. I found remnants of previous restoration work and old stringer remnants. The last guy who worked on this boat's restoration did a horrible job. I also found a huge crack along the stern from the top of the transom to the top of the stern. Got my work cut out for me regarding glass work....I did however stumble upon a local fiberglass and fell coat business who can sell me some glass as well as give me tips!
 

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