My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

[icedimensions]

So, I picked this boat up for REALLY cheap and am finding lots of water log. Looks like the transom soaked(but not rotten), but there are several deck breaches.
My question is if this a tub build, how would I remove the upper body from the hull so I can get in there and replace deck and most likely stringers.

Also, any suggestionscon how to upload pics via mobile would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pckeen]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

Hi,

there are a couple of ways to post pics. The easiest is simply to click 'go advanced' which is right next to 'post quick reply', when you respond to a post. Scroll down, and click on 'manage attachments' - from there it is pretty much self-explanatory. The small photo below entitled 'attached thumbnails' is entered using 'manage attachments.' You don't need any software for this - it will just download on the iboats page.




Another way is to upload your photos to 'photobucket' (which is free), then click on the photo you want, then, on the right hand side of the screen, click on the text bar to the right of 'IMG'. That will automatically copy the photo, and you can then simply post it directly into your text - so it will look like the large photo below.

 

[pckeen]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

As for the substantive questions - if the transom is soaked, it may well be rotten. Take a look at the restoration threads, which will give you a good idea about what you are facing, and how much work may be involved.

 

[icedimensions]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

Started stripping her down and tearing out some of the deck. Will have to remove cap to finish deck removal, but am finding a lot of saturated foam. I would be this thing has an extra 300 lbs of water on board. I drilled a 1/8 through hole in bottom of transom and water has been weeping out for almost a week now(no rain).

As you can see in the pics below, there are multiple hull/keel issues that need to be addressed. There are also a multitude of cracked gel coat spots and half-a%# previous repairs.

I wish an picture of the original back jump seats was available. The PO, or others, appeared to have made some shade-tree seating for the back. I also ripped out a fishing platform that was installed in place of the bow seating. Should be fun making new seats in the future. After stringer, transom and deck repair/replace, I am going to flip her and start on the underside.

Fantastic thing is the boat was CHEAP ($450.00) and with new plugs, impeller and thermostats, the motor runs like a champ.

More pics to come.

 

[icedimensions]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

More pics of work in progress. Will post pics of deck work soon.

 

[icedimensions]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

I hate grinding fiberglass, but I do ice sculptures as a small business and I have several discs that rip through ice. I used my super disc on the fillet against the hull where the deck was and it just tears through the larger stuff. Will have to switch to softer disc to smooth it, but for those looking at doing a lot of resto work and having to grind out bulky glass, this disc is a dream:



These are available via icesculptingtools.com. Although, I think similar discs can be found at woodworking supply shops.

 

[icedimensions]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

So, round two begins the deck, stringer, transom tear out. What a mess! Tons of water weight sitting in the bottom. Keel stringer was free and moving inside the fiberlass covering.
Got everything cleared and abojut 95% ground and ready for new stringers. But, decided to flip hull and start working on gel coat patching first.


I will take more bottom hull pics soon, but there was a lot of automotive Bondo used to patch holes. Noticed some slight keel damage and saw the boat was not sitting on the rollers in the back. It was actually sitting on the axle. After pulling hull from trailer, it looks like the PO had duct taped a flip flop over the axle in the spot where the boat sat. Thought I had seen it all.

Anyway, due to the extensive gel coat damage, I decided to grind off all the gel coat on the bottom of the hull and the transom area. The sides will stay and be repaired accordingly. I would rather put the work in to grinding the crappy stuff off and starting new.

Transom appears to only have a solid piece of wood on the lower center part. I cannot believe the tow hooks did not rip the back off!

So my question at this point is.... when I finish the gel coat and outside hull, then get ready to bed stringers, would it be best to replace the old keel stringer with a 2 x 12 or with a laminated stringer made with 2 pieces of 3/4" arauco with 1 piece of 1/2 sandwiched in between?

 

[surlyjoe]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

I have had better luck laminating stringers than trying to find suitable boards, be prepared to shell out some dough for a decent 2x12 of any type of wood if you can find a straight one without a ton of knots..

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

Plywood!!!!

 

[icedimensions]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

Ok, I have stripped and prepped inside and have now flipped the hull for bottom work. After grinding off all the crappy bondo filler in multiple places, I was seeing gel coat flaking up all the way to the glass. Spent about 2 hrs trying to remove all the stuff flaking, dremeling the longer cracks, etc, the more work I did, the more gel coat flaked off. I am going to assume its because the bottom has taken years of abuse without proper internal support.

I said to heck with it and started grinding off all the gel coat, etc all the way back to glass. I have finished the transom area and am about 50% done with bottom. I am going to just feather into the sides because they do not look too bad.

So my question is, once I get it down to glass, fix any high/low spots, sand and clean, what would be the next steps for finishing the outside of the hull? I have white gel coat on order and was planning on rolling it on the bottom to build up and another coat on sides up to the color line. Plan on just finish sanding color and maybe clear coating it.

Will white gel coat be sufficient, or do I need to plan on primer and paint over it? Only plan to have white bottom and sides with existing burgundy on upper sides.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

Rolling gelcoat is not ideal. It's usually sprayed. Gelcoat needs to be applied very thick. 4 mils is ideal. You will then sand off 1 to 2 mils to finish with a final coat of 2 mils. It will Orange Peel really bad when sprayed or rolled on so thus a LOT of sanding is Required. It is Poly resin based and has an added hardener so it hardens fairly quickly to must be applied quickly. This makes rolling or brushing large areas quite difficult before it starts to set up. No painting is required afterwards but buffing and polishing will be needed. Do an advanced search on the forum on how to apply gelcoat. You'll find a lot of threads on the subject.

 

[icedimensions]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

Thank you for the response WOD. I want to spray it on, but was worried about setting up and clogging sprayer. The gentleman helping me has one of the HB cheapo spray guns. I think they come with disposable paint canisters, so that would be helpful.

I don't mind the sanding and polishing.

So, since spraying is the way to go, I assume the whole gun has to be cleaned with Acetone between each batch? Just wondering how far a mixed batch for the gun will go. I will dig a little deeper too!

 

[delta07d]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

Would you be able to post some pics of the inside of the hull? Also did you see these pics of the logo?
Thanks.

 

[icedimensions]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

Delta, thanks for the pics. I did see them and truly appreciate it! No current pics of inside hull because I gutted it, grinded out the crud and flipped it to work on the outside and bottom. Will post when back on trailer.

Current scenario, just about finished grinding off the terribly cracked and flaked gel coat off and discovered what appears to be stress cracks in the hull glass construction. These were directly under some really deep gel coat cracks and at first I thought it was just discoloration from exposure. But, I ground a little bit in a couple of spots to see if it was deeper and it appears to be.



I am hoping that once the new gel coat is on, and after I lay down about 3 layers of glass on the inside over this area, then stringers.. that it will be once again reinforced enough to not be too concerned. I looked closely at them and do not see broken fibers or evidence of water intrusion, so I am hoping it was just over-flexing.

Should I be worried, or just proceed with plans and roll the dice? Not sure if this is a common occurrance in older boats.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

Just caught this one. Can't believe you scored a running Evinrude 150 for $450! Jealous. I personally think you're crazy to rehab that mess of a hull but I suppose we're all a little nuts. Good luck with your project. Could be a sharp boat all fixed up and will haul butt with the 150.

 

[icedimensions]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

Tks EZ. Really got lucky with the motor. Really only replaced plugs, therms, impeller & housing, gear lube and thats it. New battery got her spinning. The only kicker was the tilt/trim unit. Still battling with that one, but it is off the boat now and I am replacing all the o-rings I can find without digging too deep. Hopefully, I have the issue addressed with one of the trim rods not being sealed and sucking water back into the unit.

Didn't really know what I was getting into until deconstruction started, but now it is a mission! I figured that another $1500 investment and some sweat and I will have a decent toy for the family. I am dying to get the motor on and in the water just to see if it will run like I visualize it to. Very grateful for a friends driveway right now! Plus, I guess by default I am on the Tyvek weight loss program!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

You don't use a typical spray gun for gelcoat. HF sells one for less than 50 bucks. It's this one...
Professional Spray Gun Kit

Yes it sets up in the gun so you have to make sure and get it all sprayed out in about 15 mins. and then Acetone clean it immediately. It's a bit nerve wracking but not as hard as it may seem. If you have the boat prepped you can spray a quart of Gelcoat real easy in 10 mins and plenty of time to get the gun clean for the next batch. You have the gelcoat in quart containers ready to go so all you have to do once the gun is clean is mix in the hardener, dump it in the gun and start shooting again. With a helper it's pretty easy to do actually.

I would do some more grinding on those cracks and prolly lay some glass on em on the outside as well.

 

[icedimensions]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

Was afraid of that. Thought about laying glass on outside, but didn't want to grind any more of the actual glass and be left with build up. But I guess I can take it down just a slight bit.

Would you recommend CSM/1708/CSM for the outside? Same as inside.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

It depends on how deep the cracks actually are. Grind one of em down and take a pic and let's see what you got. Just remember, with fiberglass, anything can be fixed.

 

[icedimensions]

Re: My 1977 Intruder Aquarius rotten deck

Will grind and take pics after work today. They are weird looking. Not open cracks really. Just discolored lines. Close inspection didn't show frayed fibers or typical visual clues. However, I will grind some and take some photos.
Really amazed how much gray and red bondo was used to fix gel coat issues under this thing. Appears someone didn't quite understand where the water ended and the shore began!