hate to love it
Cadet
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2012
- Messages
- 27
Hi everyone. I've been watching the forum for a few weeks, but this is my first post. This is also my first real boat. 
I purchased a 1975 16' fiberglass boat along with a Evinrude 70hp motor. The boat needs some work, which I am starting now. The deck is rotten (it was unprotected plywood on top of the old rotted deck) and there's a small leak about 4' from the bow. The boat was set up as a hunting boat, which I plan to also use it as, but it causes some problems.
The biggest is the bow was used for storage (of wet items), but this left the foam between the deck and hull exposed. I am pulling it out currently, but the mold and gallons of water are pretty nasty as they've been there a while. I have a couple questions with this:
1) I plan to clean and reseal the interior hull. What is recommended as a sealant and a cleaner?
2) I plan to leave the bow open for storage, but am concerned about water getting back into the foam again (I expect that to happen if it's open). What is the best solution? Should I put some type of a seap drain (like a PVC pipe with holes in it for the water to drain through?) at the bottom when I replace the foam? Should I try to seal the bow section from the deck (if so, how do I do that and do I put a bilge pump in to pump out the water that will get in there?)?
The other part is the leak in the bottom. To put it in perspective, it looks like someone patched it with fiberglass previously. However, with the wet foam and gallons of water in the foam, it was leaking. The leak was about 1-2 cups of water per day. I could see where the hull appeared to look wet by the patch also. If I seal the inside and outside of the hull, will that fix it? Or, how do I test it to find out what I should do?
As far as the deck, the stringers look good so far, although I need to let them dry out before I am 100% confident. I believe once I get the hull cleaned and sealed, I should be able to replace the foam and install the deck. I plan to use MDO plywood (probably 1" thick) that I'll seal with some type of epoxy per instructions I've seen in many posts on this forum. I'll also use the same plywood to build out the storage and such. With this, however, I have a couple more questions:
1) I was planning to install seat pedestals after I put the deck down. How do I do that without creating another place for water to get into the plywood? Should I mark out the positions of the pedestals prior to installing the deck, put some type of support under the deck (like a stainless steel plate), leave bolts sticking through the top to attach the pedestals to, and seal everything up like that?
2) I am not planning to fiberglass the deck. I plan to only seal it. Is that going to cause me problems?
As I said, this is my first real boat. I've spent weeks reading the forums and various other materials and believe I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do. As Will Rogers said: "Good judgement comes from experience...experience comes from bad judgement." I am hoping to get some experience from you so I do the right things with this rebuild. Thank you!!!
I purchased a 1975 16' fiberglass boat along with a Evinrude 70hp motor. The boat needs some work, which I am starting now. The deck is rotten (it was unprotected plywood on top of the old rotted deck) and there's a small leak about 4' from the bow. The boat was set up as a hunting boat, which I plan to also use it as, but it causes some problems.
The biggest is the bow was used for storage (of wet items), but this left the foam between the deck and hull exposed. I am pulling it out currently, but the mold and gallons of water are pretty nasty as they've been there a while. I have a couple questions with this:
1) I plan to clean and reseal the interior hull. What is recommended as a sealant and a cleaner?
2) I plan to leave the bow open for storage, but am concerned about water getting back into the foam again (I expect that to happen if it's open). What is the best solution? Should I put some type of a seap drain (like a PVC pipe with holes in it for the water to drain through?) at the bottom when I replace the foam? Should I try to seal the bow section from the deck (if so, how do I do that and do I put a bilge pump in to pump out the water that will get in there?)?
The other part is the leak in the bottom. To put it in perspective, it looks like someone patched it with fiberglass previously. However, with the wet foam and gallons of water in the foam, it was leaking. The leak was about 1-2 cups of water per day. I could see where the hull appeared to look wet by the patch also. If I seal the inside and outside of the hull, will that fix it? Or, how do I test it to find out what I should do?
As far as the deck, the stringers look good so far, although I need to let them dry out before I am 100% confident. I believe once I get the hull cleaned and sealed, I should be able to replace the foam and install the deck. I plan to use MDO plywood (probably 1" thick) that I'll seal with some type of epoxy per instructions I've seen in many posts on this forum. I'll also use the same plywood to build out the storage and such. With this, however, I have a couple more questions:
1) I was planning to install seat pedestals after I put the deck down. How do I do that without creating another place for water to get into the plywood? Should I mark out the positions of the pedestals prior to installing the deck, put some type of support under the deck (like a stainless steel plate), leave bolts sticking through the top to attach the pedestals to, and seal everything up like that?
2) I am not planning to fiberglass the deck. I plan to only seal it. Is that going to cause me problems?
As I said, this is my first real boat. I've spent weeks reading the forums and various other materials and believe I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do. As Will Rogers said: "Good judgement comes from experience...experience comes from bad judgement." I am hoping to get some experience from you so I do the right things with this rebuild. Thank you!!!
