Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

[LS1powerhouse02]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

Looks great! Keep up the good work!!

 

[ormjgrouch]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

subscribing

 

[HalfFish5087]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

Well for once the weather was on my side and it almost felt hot outside to today. Sure would have been an awesome day to be on the water. Today's objective of foaming is complete. But, man I thought this would be the easy part and ended up making a giant mess. Here a shot of me way over filling the port side.

 

[HalfFish5087]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot



Foam holes plugged. Not much else to report on.

But I would like to weigh on our local experts for some checking. Here is the rest of my game plan to finish out this deck.
1.) Sand down the entire deck again and get it clean.
2.) Glass deck with 1.5 oz CSM with wax.
3.) Sand down, fair deck, and clean
4.) Add seat pedestals.
5.) Glass deck with 10 oz E glass cloth, no wax.
6.) Gelcoat deck - I was planning to roll the gelcoat on and possibly adding some type of texture to the gelcoat. I planned to conduct a few trails. However, I just had a friend offer me to use his shop and compressor. Would I be better off spraying the gelcoat? I would have to buy/borrow a dump gun.

I do not plan on adding carpet at least in the near future, so right now I'm looking for a non-skid durable surface. Thanks!

 

[GT1000000]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

Just my 1/2?...
You should only have to ruff up the spots that got resin on them...
Vacuum or blow out the dust, Wipe down with Acetone...then lay down some UN-Waxed Resin and CSM...
If you need to do any fairing of joints or whatever, you can use some PB and a bondo spreader, to this all in one shot...
You can glue down your seat pedestals with either PB or a layer of CSM, and as soon as everything gets firm enough that you can get back on it, you can continue with your final layers...
If it sits for more than a couple of days before you are ready to gel coat, you can go over the surface lightly with a D/A with 80 or 100 grit, to re-open the pores, wipe down with Acetone and do your gel...
I would fore-go the sanding step, if, when I wipe with Acetone, the surface becomes sticky tacky...but like I said, that's just me...

 

[HalfFish5087]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

Thanks GT1, I didn't think that through to well. I will wait and add the wax to the final layer of gel.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

If you're wanting some texture then rolling the Gel would be the way to go instead of spraying. Using a 1/2" deep Nap roller and waiting till it start to tack up and gel you can roll and get it develop a pretty nice raised texture. If its too rough you can nock it down a bit by sanding.

 

[HalfFish5087]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

Thanks WoG. Do you think it's even worth trying to add some type of additive to the gel? By additive I mean some type of non skid. Thanks again for all the good input gents!

 

[Idlespeedonly]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

I am going to start my transom rebuild in the next month or so. What is a rough (i know there are a lot of variables) estimate of hours involved in the project? The main reason I would like to know, is that I have access to covered storage for about a month.

 

[HalfFish5087]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

I am going to start my transom rebuild in the next month or so. What is a rough (i know there are a lot of variables) estimate of hours involved in the project? The main reason I would like to know, is that I have access to covered storage for about a month.

I would guess that I have about 80 to 120 hours of time in at this point. Brokendown as follows:
-10 hrs to remove all interior and engine and outdrive
-40 hrs removing decking, a portion of the engineered stringer, foam and old transom
-20 hrs making new transom, glassing, installing and tabbing
-10 hrs to repair stringers, replacing deck and foaming

I would imagine I still have about 20 hours to sand, glass decking, and gelcoat the deck. Then another 10 hours to put everything back into the boat. Best of luck on your re-build!

 

[HalfFish5087]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

I'm shocked, I ordered my new ladder and bunch of misc parts here from iboats on Sunday night. Last night I got home and it was sitting on the porch. Awesome speed iboats!

Here is what I ordered: 4-step ladder, seasence garboard drain with check valve (yes, I've forgotten to put my plug in before), some new u-bolts with large back plates, blower hose, and some misc SS parts.

The following isn't the best pic in the world, but shows the approximate placement of the new ladder.



Here is some angled aluminum I added for some additional strength under the ski locker decking.

 

[HalfFish5087]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

Alright gents looking forward to a productive weekend here. However, I have two questions that I would really like help with:

1. I would really like to use T-nuts to secure my seat pedestals, but how do I keep resin and PB from clogging them all up? My current plan is to CSM the floor, then PB the pedestal to the floor and tab into the deck with 2 layers of 1708. The only thing I have thought of is installing the T-nuts then installing a dowel, then PB and glass and then drill out the dowel.

2. Whats the most common practice of glassing the deck? I mean should I lay the glass bow to stern or port to starboard? I though it may be easier to lay port to starboard, but I will only be able to lay one layer at a time and I would think I would have to fair more so that the overlapping layers are less noticeable. However, if I lay the glass bow to stern I may be able to do both the CSM and the cloth at one time, but this will certainly be more cumbersome and may be a little overboard for a novice glasser like myself.

Anyways, today I got my supplies in and can wait to get after it. Here is a shot of the to do list



A pic of the 10 oz cloth



The goodies!!!! Minus another 5 gal of poly resin that I was to lazy to put on the table...

 

[GT1000000]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

For the t-nuts, just put a little oil on the threads of some sacrificial bolts to screw in from the top, glass away, then remove the bolts...
As for which direction to glass the deck...the less seams the better for final fairing, but what ever works the easiest is best...
You can always add a layer of CSM or PB to help fair any offending joints...remember that the actual amount of deck that will be left exposed after you add things like storage hatches or seat bases, etc...will be pretty minimal...if anything just try to make the seams fall where they will be the least noticeable...
Good luck with making some serious headway this weekend!

 

[HalfFish5087]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

Thanks GT1!!! Your awesome man. I really like the sacrificial bolt idea. As far as the glassing goes, i'll try and lay it out in tomorrow and just see how it will go. Thanks again man!

 

[JASinIL2006]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

I didn't protect my T-nuts before glassing and I paid for it. I thought about sacrificial bolts, but I was afraid they would interfere with the cloth laying flat. So I tried to be very careful and not run any resin into the holes. I wasn't completely successful.

Recently, I read of someone filling the lower half of the holes with Vaseline. I wish i had tried that...

 

[benjh1028]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

...remember that the actual amount of deck that will be left exposed after you add things like storage hatches or seat bases, etc...will be pretty minimal...if anything just try to make the seams fall where they will be the least noticeable...

Great point. I was amazed how little of the deck is exposed after the seats are reattached and the ski locker is cut out. You can also add a layer of finishing veil for a smooth finish and to minimize fairing.

 

[benjh1028]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

I didn't protect my T-nuts before glassing and I paid for it.
Recently, I read of someone filling the lower half of the holes with Vaseline. I wish i had tried that...

Sorry to hear about your nuts. Childish I know but just couldn't resist!

 

[JASinIL2006]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

Sorry to hear about your nuts. Childish I know but just couldn't resist!

Always protect your "hardware" when fiberglassing! :lol:

 

[HalfFish5087]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

Well I hope everyone had a great weekend! Man did it get a bit warm here this weekend... I think it make it to the low 90's with about 100% humidity. Got to love Arkansas weather!

Saturday I was able to add my backer for the new ladder, sand down the deck and add one layer of CSM to about half of the deck. After that I was whooped. Sunday, I completed the CSM to the deck and added my pedestals for batteries, captians chairs and bidge pump. Next I plan on tabbing in the battery trays and start laying the cloth.

Here is a pic of the seat pedestals



Battery pedestals



Layer of csm, and one large bubble that will get fixed up :facepalm:



Wife came across these photos a while back and I'd thought I would share. Sure miss this old boat! It was an 85' glaston 185 with a 4.3 merc that had sat in a barn for most of its life. I believe that pics where taken in 05' or '06. They're pics of pics, so not the best of quality...

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Is it worth it? '98 Larson 5.7GS DP Lower Transom Rot

Yeah, Broken Arrow Humididity Was BRUTAL this weekend. Congrats on getting some nice glassin work done.