First attempt at boat repair

[jbcurt00]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

Better hit the shower, the Emperor won't want to be kept waiting for her friends wedding. These are the times that mine refers to herself as an iboats widow :facepalm:

Truthfully, as much fun as Trooper makes this all look, if I could pay someone to grind & redo 1 of mine, I probably would. Then I'd finish putting it back together & bolt on the hardware, motor & steering.... But that is not to be... I did not mean to discourage you from completing the work, if you are of a mind to, the guys @ here will surely help you get it done, and done better then it was from Ebko. Trooper's is ample evidence of that.

Enjoy the wedding & the reception....

 

[Railcar]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

wedding isnt till 4, she is just overly worried.
As far as the boat goes, we have 4 kids 5, 7, 9, and 11. she doesnt really want all the dust in here garage, and where to keep the chemicals. I have a 20 oz soda bottle with MEK in it from my railyard days, and the plastic is so disformed on it. That stuff is amazing, strips anything off anything. i used to work in railyards (hence the name) and in a place the built firetrucks. I can do the electronics, and any metal fab (both consoles are going to be redone with aluminum faceplates). Here is a pic of a computer I built at work one night when I was bored. I do miss having a waterjet.

 

[Trooper82]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

Nice case...looks heavy though!

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

It isn't the same as your car, when boat stuff goes sideways, you can't just pull over quick & get out of a boat. But if you're handy, the demo will help show you how your Ebko was put together.

The Friscoboater & oops threads listed in Don's list, and other threads will give you lots of info to help give you the confidence to rehab the boat. But w/ kids even the garage may not be ideal for poly resin work. MEK is only slightly worse then acetone, so if you're familiar w/ it & it's noxious properties & hazards, polyester resin is very very similar.

Maybe you can demo & put back after the glass work is done by someone else, if only so that the work is completed someplace else.

 

[Railcar]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

@trooper, yes it sure is. entire case made from 1/8 diamond plate. front face was bent on the brake press, tig welded, then the CD cover was cut out on the waterjet, and double sided to the CD drive. Took me about an hour to do it all.

 

[cedarlattice]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

If you can build that in an hour, learning fiberglass is going to be a piece of cake. The best thing I found to cut through the glass when ripping out my floor were those thin metal cutting disks on my angle grinder. They have a thin kurf and I could get into fairly tight corners. They are fragile though and I broke a few by accidentally sitting on the grinder. (not while it was running) For removing foam, I used a hand saw. I sawed along beside the stringers and then cut it into sections. I was able to pop the sections out with a flat bar and had very few small pieces.

 

[Seasonally.boating.jon]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

On the heating issue, as a matter of fact, the last few days I've been filleting my middle stringers in and the temp has been dropping down below 50 degrees at night. I had under 2 hours to work on the boat before the sun goes down. I mixed a pint of resin with the filler, layed it down. My boat is in a tent made of 3 layers of tarps. I used a little electric space heater to keep the temp around 80. and everything hardened just fine.

Grinding on my trihull, had no problems. I started my cut about an inch from the side. There is a lip around the hull now, but thats what I wanted. I'll use the lip as a guide for my stringer heigth. It has paid off so far. I used a cut off wheel on my angle grinder to cut the deck out. Just pay attention to where your cutting and you won't cut through the hull. The saftey shield can be adjusted and kinda help with the cutting depth.

Cool PC. My son just loves trains. He will be in the model train magazine soon. We went to a train museum and they just happened to have a model train show there.

Have fun railcar.

 

[b.gagnon]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

Get an aluminum boat!

 

[Railcar]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

I looked into tinnys, not many out here, and all are fishing boats. I wanted a bowrider for the family. To get one locally the best price is $8900. To get one with the layout I need for a family of 6, cost and distance are prohibitave. If I wanted a fishing boat or an outboard, no problem.

 

[Railcar]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

Short trip home, Friends wedding was fun. Managed to get 10 mins out inthe garage with my boat. had to get an idea of how bad the floor really was, so I used a screwdriver, vise grips and my size 11 Nikes to open a hole. ply is shot, suprise suprise.

Now I have a few big issues to tackle. The engine will have to come out, the motor mount system in this boat makes NO sense. Who in the heck lags a metal strap to fiber? I thought a vertical mount would have been used, but a Horiz. mount waws used, so I need to redesign the mount system,


and I may have to pull the cap just to do the floor. I have no room to keep the cap inside, and with the design I have, I dont have any clue how to store it outside. The bow section covers the floor, and is entirely molded to the cap. Floor, seats, all of it is one piece, if I cant salvage the bow section, I may be in way too far over my head to make it work.


Last, I need to figure out the rainbow spaghetti of wires that sit by the motor.


Good thing there is only 3 more days till I get a long 4 day weekend to start demo

 

[Seasonally.boating.jon]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

There you go Railcar! Cut that thing up and see what you'll have to do. If it seems like too much work, part it out.

 

[Railcar]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

starting to get quotes for supplies. While I am cutting the deck out I plan to start stockpiling supplies. Mixing cups, acetone, csm, 1708, cabosil and fibers, I will hold on resin till I am ready to start glassing. If all goes well, the entire deck removed, stringers cut out, and be started on grinding this weekend. 3 days and lofty goals, but if it is to float in only 8 months, I am going to have to work like a madman when I have the time. 60 working days by my current schedule I would love to have her floating by my Birthday, May 24. Earlier the better, but the kids are out of school in late may, and memorial day weekend is a beautiful time to go boating.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

Carp, I missed your b-day this year, Happy Belated.... From a May 25th Kid across the street & I have been friends for 42yrs (since we were 4). His is 23rd......

Occasionally I love it close to Memorial Day. When I have to work that weekend & the actual Memorial Monday, not so much... :facepalm:

Try & see if you can possibly find a local supplier for acetone and resin. Shipping is killer, to SD HazMat will not be inexpensive. 5gals is usually much less overall then 5 singles.... There are some iboaters out that way, 1 in Nebraska for sure. I don't know where BoatNut74 is getting his supplies, but he's got glass & tin projects, so he may be helpful. Shoot him a PM...

 

[Railcar]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

TY JB. I have contacted 2 of the local auto suppliers to see about supplies. 40 minutes from my home is Sioux Falls, the largest city in the entire state 156,592 of the estimated 824,082 poeple live there. I figure if I cant find anywhere local to get it, then it probably isnt available in the state. I am going to be refitting some of my current gear (Exhaust fans, lighting ect) to get geared up, and constructing a plastic wall to divide the garage, don't think the Emperor wants her van coated in fiber dust. I will also be using mainly air tools, to avoid sparks in a dust and chemical filled environment.

Anyone know, would it be a worthwhile investment for a chopper gun over using standard csm? I might be able to get my hands on a used chop gun with internal resin mix.

 

[Railcar]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

now so I am sure I got enough time to fully dry and prep the wood, what do you use fro the sub frame? I know the stringers are cut from ply, but what about the motor mount area. The motor I have is slung in a metal cradle. Should I go with a dimensional lumber for the bow to stern bracing or stick with ply, and would a metal saddle help keep the motor mount bolts from ripping free again? I can not figure out sketch it right now to draw what I am refeering to, so a paint version will have to work please excuse the primitive graphic.

 

[Trooper82]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

RC here is what I did for motor mounts. They are pretty beefy if you ask me..got them glassed in real good...just make sure you radius off the edges real good...the glass has a hard time making tight bends around corners...they aren't going anywhere...and...I can use through bolts /w nuts...so no worries of bolts backing out...as long as I use lock nuts...or a second nut to lock them in...I'm working on your list of materials...

 

[Railcar]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

i saw your mounts, I am not sure if mine is supposed to be assembled like it is or not. if that is the way it was supposed to be, I am definately going to find a way to reinforce it with some metal.

 

[Railcar]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

on a random string of thought here, has anyone tried composite for the stringers and deck, rather than glassed wood? I really dont want to have to do this floor job again, EVER

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

RC, If you do the stringers correctly out of wood, make sure to always maintain the boat properly, (i.e. keep it covered, never drill into the deck etc...) those wood stringers will last 30-40 years. I seriously doubt you will own the boat that long. the cost of composites would be prohibitive for this boat.

 

[Railcar]

Re: First attempt at boat repair

I did some digging, and if I can get the tops off the stringers, I could use seacast for only (10 gallons) $450+ shipping. $222 per 5 gal kit, 215 if I get 3 kits or more. I can still do a plywood deck and use Seacast for the sub deck, and it would save TONS of prep work, worrying about seams properly binding, and they claim that it will work on the engine mounts. the only glassing will be capping the stringers and glassing/tabbing the deck in place. Seems like decent win/win, and if I can find some composite decking, might cost a bit, but the time savings I think could offset the cash price with my severly restricted schedule, and limited facilities. Any thoughts?