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

[TripleJGraffis]

Clean up day these past couple days. Got a trailer dolly from facebook marketplace! I love it already! Slapped another suit and some gloves on and just been blowing the Dickens out of anything that was in that tent. Try to clean as much of that powder off all my tools as possible. I let the rain clean up a little bit of the glass powder, but I will still power wash it when I can.

That's about all I've got for now.

 

[TripleJGraffis]

As I read more across 3 forums, I am realizing from some, that I am not done with grinding. I barely touched the ski locker and gas tank area and need to at least grind those areas a little further out (5 inches total from stringer and bulkheads) so I have dull glass to adhere to my resin. I also need to grind away some more paint as well as grind away at the outside of the boat at the transom. I am told to grind the inside of the transom skin, as well as make a tapered in grind where the tramsom skin that I cut out meets the stern on the hull, so......If you can understand my diagram, here is my uneducated, not to scale, rookie plan to replace and reshape the transom/back of the boat.

Thoughts? Does it look ok?

 

[redneck joe]

Buhahahahaaaa...


More grinding

 

[TripleJGraffis]

Buhahahahaaaa...


More grinding

 

[TripleJGraffis]

Back out there yesterday. Did some more grinding and cleaned up the transom area. I know I need ti focus on the boat but I got a notification and found a power head on ebay and I think it matches the engine I've got. Can anyone confirm? Thinking that might just get the engine running. I've got a 1993 85hp Suzuki

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[kcassells]

or what its worth I would mop down with bleach after a hose down to get any crevices free from mold growing or even with acetone to quick dry out same. Looks good, any flimsy thin glass take it out.

 

[redneck joe]

On motor start a thread in the Suzuki area

 

[TripleJGraffis]

On motor start a thread in the Suzuki area

Done

 

[TripleJGraffis]

I had intentions on starting the rebuild today but realized that I had a burr load of tools in my garage that still needed to be cleaned from all the fiberglass...... so I spent the afternoon blowing and power washing everything including the inside of the tent. All good to go! And and got a couple sheets of Styrofoam insulation to make templates and a couple sheets of half inch marine grade Douglas fir plywood for my transom and stringers. I realized my old stringers were ¾inch.....I think I'll just cut out 4 stringers and double them up. Same with the transom..... just make 3 sheets of half inch instead of two ¾inch sheets.... thoughts?



Talked to the local fiberglass guy in town. He's gonna look around to see if he can get me some 1708 biax shipped here. He's got copies stand mat at his shop.... that's all I need... right? 1708...csm.... resin.... catalyst..... brushes or rollers... acetone....cups... mixing sticks.... am I missing anything?

 

[Chris51280]

cabosil and 1/4 chopped fiber.
may need to add an additional layer on the stringers with 1708 to make up for the 1/2". or use the 1/2" for the deck later. no need for marine grade plywood unless you want to make it pretty. but nobody is ever gonna see it unfortunately

 

[Drivewayboater2]

Fiberglass rolling tools( not rollers to apply resin). This will be to rollout air bubbles in your fiberglass. they are relatively inexpensive.
I used cheap chip brushes instead of using a roller to apply the resin.

 

[TripleJGraffis]

cabosil and 1/4 chopped fiber.
may need to add an additional layer on the stringers with 1708 to make up for the 1/2". or use the 1/2" for the deck later. no need for marine grade plywood unless you want to make it pretty. but nobody is ever gonna see it unfortunately

What do you mean ¼ chopped fiber?
And what type plywood do you suggest if not marine? I want it to look nice and even for when I gel coat.

 

[Chris51280]

any outdoor rated plywood will do. ACX or BCX. marine means no imperfections in the surface.. the glue is the same. and wood is the same.
if you watch the youtube videos, you will see how to make "peanut butter".
its like glue/filler that will be used to under the stringers.
did you watch the friscoboater videos? bigger boat but same principle.
the 1/4 chopped fiberglass is there to reinforce the resin. resin itself is brittle. just like concrete needs steel. the cabosil is there to thicken the resin so it doesnt run all over the place. you want a peanut butter consistency to work with it

 

[Chris51280]

you will put cloth over the wood and then need to level it out anyways with a skim coat. if it is nicely sanded or rough surface wood won't make a difference

 

[TripleJGraffis]

any outdoor rated plywood will do. ACX or BCX. marine means no imperfections in the surface.. the glue is the same. and wood is the same.
if you watch the youtube videos, you will see how to make "peanut butter".
its like glue/filler that will be used to under the stringers.
did you watch the friscoboater videos?

Oki understand what you meant by that. Thought you were referring to something new. I have watched his videos.

 

[TripleJGraffis]

Found another fiberglass shop that carries the stuff here. I probably have him higher numbers than I need.... but I said I'd need 17 feet by 12 feet of 1708 biaxial....... the same in chopped stand mat... catalyst and a roller.... he said I would need over 50lbs of resin for all that and said I'm looking at about 1300 for everything together on the high end..... does that sound right? I asked him to break it up into 25% chunks and I'll take it from there that way Ican gauge where I'm at once it runs out and if I need more..I can come back. I know the price of materials is crazy... but 1300 seems really high. Is what it is I guess

 

[Chris51280]

this is what i used and i have a few yeards leftover from 1708 and csm but i used every bit of resin

 

[Chris51280]

that was 2019

 

[Chris51280]

17x12ft is very large. Who measures the resin in weight. isn't that in gallons?

 

[JASinIL2006]

I know I used at least 20 gallons of resin, and I didn't have to do my stringers.