I finally finished the transom (I think) but I'm a little concerned after looking at this picture as it did not cure as clear as I have seen on other rebuilds. The first layer of 17 oz. biax that I applied about a month back dried much clearer as did the 17 oz. biax perimeter tabbing that I did a couple weeks ago. This picture is about 20 hours after I applied the final full overlay this weekend. The cloth looked as if it was fully wet out and I checked carefully for air pockets and rolled the few that I could find out with a bubble buster roller. The picture has some funky lighting going on and I did not get any impression of any problems when I took the picture so I hoping it has something to do with camera operator error rather than epoxy glassing operator error. Now I have to anxiously wait till I can get back up to the camp this weekend to get a better look.
The seat frames and motor box on the old girl were pretty much rotted at the bases so I have been rebuilding that stuff so that I can get them upholstered before summertime. I have a good friend that does boat covers, enclosures and upholstery and he told me that he can do them for me at the boating buddy price (cost of materials, beer and a little more if I aggravate him or get in the way). He avoids doing the upholster work in the spring and summer once he gets real busy with the canvas work (where he makes his money). Anyway, I have completed the motor box, the drivers seat and the jump seat that sits between the driver and the motor box.
Here is what the old motor box looked like. You can clearly see that it rotted where it had been in contact with the carpeted floor for 25 years. This was typical of the seat bases also.
Here is a picture of the "chamfered" corners of the new box. The manufactured used a bunch of staples along the inside corners to hold them together where the corners were simply left open and then hidden with the vinyl covering. I chose to make it a good bit stronger and filled the corners with hairy PB then put a layer of my 17 oz biax over the entire corner just for good measure. I was not too concerned with looks since the vinyl will eventually cover it.
This shows how the jump seat and motor box mate up.
I am using MDO for all of the interior at the recommendation of my canvas buddy. He has been using it for seat frames and such for many years and says it holds up really well (plus he gets a discount on the stuff). I can see where the resin coated surfaces have quite the benefit over outdoor plywood but I am still planning on sealing up all of the edges with epoxy resin. There will also be exposed areas such as the under seat storage that will be visible and would like to paint to give them a more "finished" look so if anyone has any paint recommendations I would really like to hear them.
Finally, I am thinking that before I do my next boat project that I should probably spend a little time making a good work bench and tool storage area :lol:
