HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

[projecthog]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

Jserb,....

Man I gotta hand it to you, NEVER.....NEVER give up,

By the time that boat hits the water you are going to be one lucky, happy and very experienced boat builder, and from the way it started, it didn't look like you were completely working on all cylinders, and some still think there's a few plugs fouled.

I think that guys like you are the backbone of accomplishment, the same stuffing that Grant, Washington, Lee, Lincoln and many more had!
When the crap hits the fan....all the more reason to put on your crap gear and push on!

As I stated before in an earlier quote, I am still chewing my nails in anticipation to see this thing roll of into the water. And it will!!!

I had a similar thing going on with an old boat that I had bought. Against everyone's anticipation and friendly and concerned but negative advice, I got it spiffied up just peachy, and it became a crowd stopper.

Was it worth the money? Is it ever?? Never!

Was it worth every drop of sweat, financial frustration and bucking the advice from others who just couldn't see anything but the stupidity behind it? YUP!!!
I know everyone means to look out for your wellbeing and I certainly think their concern is for your benefit, but I admire your steadfast plodding to finish the dream that was in your head, regardless of what storms are on the horizon, and regardless from where the wind blows.
You'll do to ride the river with.

Hope I didn't offend anyone.

You got my vote!
PH.

Budgets are like speed limits, you can never stay under them. Hammer down!

 

[projecthog]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

question.....i have an aluminum rub rail.....it had some pits in it so i used my grinder and grinded down and polish out the scratches.....but then AFTER the work was completed i thought..."HMM i wonder if i just removed a additive in the alloy that seal is from water".. like do i need to seal the alumninum since i have done this, will it turn bad...?i live in MI so i dont have to worry abotu salt water but im still concerd i did something worng. Please help! I wil b back in an hour to check for ansers I am working on it right now!!! thanks everyone!

Jserb...

If it is indeed aluminum, it should probably have either an annodized coating on it (like an electroplated finish) or a polymer kind of finish. I would guess the first.
On a quality boat like a Scarab I'm not sure wether it would be SS or Aluminum.
Show me a close up at a few angles with a few screws mounted and I will be able to tell you.

If you have ground that coating off, you may have a situation where you will have to polish the ground part once and a while, as the aluminum will now be bare and will be more subject to corrosion.
Don't panic when I say that, as when it is polished up, it will not be very noticable from a few feet to most peops. The shinier you get it the better it will resist corrosion/staining.
Only you will know.

It will discolor quicker then the coated part. So with a bit of elbow grease and luck, you shouldn't have any worries, as long as you pull a rag over it every few days or so.
You gotta remember though that professionals and fussy people wouldn't stand for that, but I know you'll do with it.

Grinders leave scratches though and you will be able to tell yourself if the scratches are bad or passable. The more you polish the more it will come shiny as you progress and it may be ok. If not ok, you can polish with 300 500 and finer to get the scratches out to get the rails to look respectable. Then polish with pastesticks and a wheel or any other generic alum polish.
If you get to do that after you have finished the hull/deck paint. cover the paint job so you don,t polish IT, makes a hell of a mess.

If it is Stainless Steel, which I doubt for a rub rail, you should be ok regardless of what you used, as long as it came shiny and smooth. Stainless Steel coats itself with a kind of oxidizing (like a patina kind of coating on bare steel over time, but instantly on SS) and becomes "stainless" because of that coating.
You remove it, and it comes back just as fast (no time for corrosion to happen). If what ever you use on it makes it shine (not that easy because that coating is hard as hell) then you have what you see for a good long time.
If you use a steel wire outfit (don't even think about it!) you'll incur brown streaks because of the steel mixing with the SS.

In any case, on the Aluminum, a rub a day, even without polish, keeps dullness away, and if done regularly will sorta look like chrome.
leave it too long and it will turn gray, (corrosion)
Way too long and it will etch (like sandblasting)
Unreasonably freaking long (whatsa matter wit you!) And you're back at square one, don't get to pass go and what the hell did you mean by budget anyway?

PH.

 

[Mark42]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

I think the easiest way to keep that aluminum rail looking good is to spend the time to polish it up shiny just once, then wash clean and rub down with acetone. Then shoot a few coats of clear LAQUER paint on it. Keep the paint on the boat and some fine steel wool or brass wool. Then when ever a bad spot shows up from scratches, a quick polish then shoot the area with laquer and its done.

The reason I suggest laquer is it dries fast and re-coats nice. Even though laquer does not hold up in the sun as well as other paints, it worked on cars since the 1900's. Give it a coat of wax every now and again and it will last until you can get a proper stainless steel rail for it.

BTW, this is the first time I have heard of aluminum rub rail that I can remember. Look at the boat salvage yards, they often stock the rails, and I'm sure they are almost all stainless. so you should be able to get a replacement cheap.

 

[legoman67]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

yup, budgets and boats never work, When we bought our 29' we had this great plan of finishing the boat for 2-3k and then selling the trailer and actually make a profit on the whole thing, well that never happened. Just to get ours running and functional in the water is going to be about 8500, the trailer is not worth as much as we hoped, and the interior is still far from nice.

Hopefully we will be able to sell the trailer and then make the interior look good with that money...

then theres fuel...

 

[jserb]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

The rod holders....

Go to Lowes, buy some of the 1x6 or 2x6 white plastic outdoor trim boards. They are solid plastic, solid white. Use the old rod holder as a template and cut them out with a sabre saw.

Cheap, white, easy to work with, and holds up in the direct sun 24/7.

Mark, i am not familiar with this plastic? What is it generally used for in construction? its is like a copping for vynle siding? I have never see this stuff before and I worked at home depot about 7 years ago in high school? can you explain?

 

[jserb]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

Below is a photo of the area in the floor that I had a question on a few weeks ago. As I was explaining; the layer of fiberglass had delaminated from the plywood core, and to be really quite honest, I did a poor glass job on the wood core and it was VERY weak overall. These two issues combined with no support (stringers) under this area made it a serious soft spot. So I got to thinking and I came up with this simple yet very strong, dependable solution.
If you look inside where the live well tank goes you can see the supports I made for the floor. I took 2X4?s and fibreglassed/(with peanut butter underneath so their were no ?hard spots?against the hull) them to the bottom of the hull, this was done to distribute the weight of the person that would be standing on the floor. I then took the studs and ran them to the bottom of the floor with a header joist going across. AND YES I coated every inch of these 2X4?s in resin, I figured its just a support for people and not a ?structural? item on the hull or anything so I though glassing was a bit unnecessary, just unneeded strength. As you can see that made the wood core nice and solid, but I still had to fix the delimitation. So I drilled a ? inch size hole in the fiberglass floor, cooked up some resin (or about 3 quarts) and used a turkeybaster and filled the void between the two materials with resin. Aaaaannnd as you can see I did the old hillbilly maneuver and dug up some landscaping, an old cast-iron sprinkler pump, and a box of mics chemicals and piled it all on top of the area to clamp the two pieces together?.(HEY ITS NOT HOW YOU DID IT, AS LONG AS ITS STRONG AND LOOKS PROFESSIONAL!). Now the area is better than new and hasw more support that it ever did in the factory! So needless to say that?s how I fixed my crappy glass job in front of the cuddy!

 

[jserb]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

Photo 1- CC
Photo2- last night i started on the stress cracks in the floor, i used "easy glass" and filled in all the notches i cut out with the grinder.(same process for the rest of the boat) I will sand them down tomorrow night and then come back with one more layer and then a layer of "glazing puddy" for the final coat.
Photo3 Just another clear shot of some of the areas i filled in last night
Photo4 this is 1 set of 7 sets of wire i wired throughout the gunnels of the boat. These are my "mood" lighting which is going to be RED LED lights. as you can see i positioned them close to the floor, they have an average spacing of 4.5 ft. ......this is the project manager in me thinking ahead! we wired these BEFORE we put the boat back together......quite the concept i tell ya...
Photo5 also last night put the ceiling in the cuddy. As of right now its luan and then we are coming back with rubber flooring for the ceiling and floor, it is a light tan color which will help "open" up the cuddy and give it the illusion that its larger than it is. We will be putting marine carpet on the sides of the hull.

 

[GO OVRIT]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

Mark, i am not familiar with this plastic? What is it generally used for in construction? its is like a copping for vynle siding? I have never see this stuff before and I worked at home depot about 7 years ago in high school? can you explain?

Its used anywhere painted wood trim would be used outside. Its cheaper than Starboard, but still not all that cheap. The biggest issue with it is that it "moves" considerably with the temp. It expands and contracts and warps. Its not as big of a deal screwed every 8" to a solid backing, but in the case of your rod holders; I don't think you'll be happy. Sikkens makes some really great stuff for teak that lasts a long time if you decide to keep that.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

The only issue with the PVC trim boards would be they are slightly foamed to make them lighter and cost less. If you cut them the porous surface of the cut edge may not look good.

 

[Mark42]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

Its used anywhere painted wood trim would be used outside. Its cheaper than Starboard, but still not all that cheap. The biggest issue with it is that it "moves" considerably with the temp. It expands and contracts and warps. Its not as big of a deal screwed every 8" to a solid backing, but in the case of your rod holders; I don't think you'll be happy. Sikkens makes some really great stuff for teak that lasts a long time if you decide to keep that.

Maybe the warping depends on the brand. The shutters on my shed are made from it and they are a few 1x2's vertically nailed to two horizontal cross braces. That puts about 20" between the horizontal cross pieces. Been outside for 7 years and they show no signs of warping. Its definatelly worth giving it a try, its not much more than clear pine.

 

[jserb]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

Hellllloooo! Well I have attached a few photos of what has taken place since Sunday. Sunday was a BEAUTIFUL day here in Michigan, it was 45 degrees! I opened up the grage doors and worked with some natural light for once, I stepped out for a minute to get something and saw for the first time since the boat was put back together the natural sunlight hit the hull, let me tell you that was all 100 percent motivation!

 

[jserb]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

AnywaY I have attached the next few steps I have completed on the inside of the boat and CC. I filled in my notches with ?easy glass? (the dark green stuff) and then came back with glazing putty(light green) to make the surface smooth. These are photos are after I applied the glazing putty.

 

[jserb]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

These are photos of the CC you can see I put the bottom half of it together, then applied my easy glass and then sanded them, now its ready for the glazing putty that will happen Thursday.

 

[jserb]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

hey everyone! just a little update, currently the plan is to finish the stress cracks in 2 weeks and then continue on and mount the oputboard bracket on the boat. At this point it should be first week in march and i have contacted that AMAZING Johnson Evinrude mechanic I was telling you all about and expressed how i need to have my saltwater Evinrudes tuned up and running perfectly. Currently when he checked the EMM report it shows the counter rotating engine is overheating. He said he would have it taken care of. I tell you what, if you Michigan guys with Johnsons or Evinrudes ever need ANY WORK done on your motors you need to check out Lockemans! They are pro's when it comes to these motors, they carry every part in stock to basically rebuild your engine, and best part of all they are GOOD HONEST people. I had heard nothing but great things from them, and i personally have had nothing short of great experiences with them. Check em out if your located in Ohio or Detroit www.lockemans.com
So the point here is they will have the motors up and tweaked out by march and then I will mount the motors and send the boat in for paint by the 2nd week of March. This is different for the original plan of having the boat painted in 3 weeks (feb 20th) and then mounting the bracket and then the engines. This is because once I get that darn thing out of the garage, its not goin back in, so I would be forced to work outside in the freezing Michigan winter trying to mount hardware, engines, and electronics. So this way I can keep the boat in the garage for an extra 3 weeks and install the gas tank, bracket, and engines. By then it will be the last week in March, which is MUCHHH warmer than it is in Feb. Regardless, the completion date is STILL April 27th (this guys B day!). Thats the plan for now, ill be back with more questions and photos after this weekend work! Take care everyone!

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

You're doing a great job. Good to see you still moving forward.

Not like that local guy who hasn't done anything in weeks............

 

[jserb]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

Well this weekend was quite productive. A few buddies came over and we got things movin. One friend worked on installing the ? inch plywood substrate that goes on the ceiling and walls under the carpet that will be installed in the cuddy. The other worked on wiring the cuddy. And I sanded down the floor and interior of the boat. We have gotten almost all the stress cracks filled. By sanding down the entire boat this weekend I got to see exactly what I have and what still needs to be done, and I gotta say, thiers not a whole heck of a lot! The boat was so dirty from the years of grime I thought it would be best to rough and scuff the area with 100 grit sanding to allow the primer and paint to adhere to something. So as I described the other day I have changed the schedule of the project, we are now going to leave the boat in the garage for another 4 weeks instead of it going for paint in 2 weeks. The extra two weeks will give us enough time to install the gas tank, brackets, and outboards. In the photos below if you have been following this thread you will be able to tell the boat has moved!!!! We have pulled it out a bit to allow us to work more on the transom and mount the bracket. We hooked out little cart we made for the boat to sit on to a truck and pulled her out. As you can see we have NO ROOM to play with here on either end of the boat.

 

[jserb]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

What the hack is this thing????? I know my I boaters can tell me when this is. I pulled this off the interior back by the transom. It looks to be a plug or something? Anyone ever seen anything like it?

 

[jserb]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

what you see here is a photo of our working space on the transom now that the boat has been moved. you will notice that i have several holes and the person who own the boat prior to me filled in some holes from previous trim tabs. Needless to say i didnt know what products he used and how good of a job he really did, so i decided i would cut out the stuff he used to plug the holes and put my own peanut butter in. As you can see right now the exterior of the transom looks like swiss cheese, however I am using a think peanut butter with chop strand in it to cap these. I already have the strength due to the replaced transom, I just wanted to seal these properly.
Also I did my first cut with into the transom for the control wiers. I still have to dress them up a bit but you can see the thickness of the transom. Its 2- ? inch ply and 5 layers of 1708 and then the original ? inch exterior layer of fiberglass.

 

[jserb]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

Heres a photo of the little cart my buddies and I made. Needles to say its pretty much falling apart due to the fact that its been pushed around about 4 times and with the cold the plastic casters are cracking. We have to reinforce it before the big move out of the garage March 6th.

 

[jserb]

Re: HUGE PROJECT!! 30' Scarab Sport overhual

Ok I need your help with this. I have these holes in the boat and I cant match up what type of rod holders these are. Iv never see this shape rod holder. Its interesting cuz it has 4 screws, caN anyone tell me what these were photo?s???



Lastly, two items #1 anyone know of a cheap place to find red bottom paint? #2 where can I get this white hoes, i dont need the fitting just the white tube (I know you all know of a cheap place for this!) (see photo)