Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

[system-f]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

More pictures. Today all I finished was two of five stringers and the rest of the deck. I finally found a method for cutting out these almost in-tact stringers.

This picture shows the rot starting to form between the stringer and the bottom of the deck.

This is one of the larger stringers and you can see how far off the glass is from parts of the wood. The complete opposite of Chris' restore.

Here it looks like they put down CSM over the stringer and while wet put the deck on and the CSM pulled away from the stringer.

 

[system-f]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

JerryLee has found the outdrive hole is good for handing the ball to me.

One stringer almost done...took about 2 hours to do this much work.

Wood looks in good shape, but the bottoms of the stringers are wet and rot is starting. The stringers were not beded at all, but the fiberglass is thick.

This is where I lift it for the day.

I highly doubt I am tearing into a boat done by the manuf. If in fact this is all stock then my hat is off to Glastron and the POs. This boat is almost 40 years old and rot is just now starting.

 

[199q]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

Looking good!

your project has been awesome to follow! Keep up the good work! I really like your can-do spirit, gives a great inspiration to us all. I am interested to see how you glass everything in.

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

Hey system-f,
Great progress. Keep on keeping on.
I love the dog and the ball, very cute.
Bob

 

[tinkeringwackyone]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

looks like your doing a great job. I love the pic with your dog dropping the ball through the transom.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

Great work. Gotta tell you though, that boat is about the worst, slapped together pile of fiberglass I've seen. It's like the manuafactur made it with scraps they had laying around! It will definitely be better than new when you're done with it.

 

[92excel]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

easiest way i found for stringer removal was a cutting wheel on a grinder.. this gets you pretty close to the hull and like you said it gets the stringer out almost whole..


soo mean. that pup cant get his ball...

 

[system-f]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

Also, I forgot to report on the Lancelot chain saw grinder tool. It works great as long as it is sharp but it dulls WAY too fast. Now that it is dull it is practically useless.

Gotta tell you though, that boat is about the worst, slapped together pile of fiberglass I've seen. It's like the manuafactur made it with scraps they had laying around!

You say that but there is almost 1/2" of fiberglass firmly attached to the deck and up each side of the stringer. The crappy job with the covering of CSM makes it all look like poop. This boat was very sound, but 5 years away from destruction. Back in this time period Glastron is known for using scraps and even cardboard, though.

easiest way i found for stringer removal was a cutting wheel on a grinder..

Cut off wheels eat fiberglass and are awesome, but they suck on wood. I am using the circular saw and an angel to go through the glass and wood, then ripping up the top part of the stringer, then pulling the bottom 2"s of the string out of the groove and finally removing the extra glass with the cut off wheel. The glass as simply too good of a hold on the wood to just cut the glass and lift them out

Also, I forgot to report on the Lancelot chain saw grinder tool. It works great as long as it is sharp but it dulls WAY too fast. Now that it is dull it is practicaly useless.

 

[system-f]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

Also, thanks guys for the kind words I am going to need all the support I can get. Friday nights I go have dinner with the guys that I hang out with on the lake and they understand my love for boating, but do not understand why I am putting so much effort, time and money into an old boat (except Monty because he reads this ). It does feel good to get input and support from people that are in the same 'boat'.

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

System-f,
Sorry to hear about the Lancelot grinder. You could sharpen it like a regular chain saw blade.
As for know one understanding why you would work that hard or put money into an old boat. Well, they don't understand it's not about the money, they keep asking me how much I going to put into mine and I just say whatever it takes.
I love to bring things back from the grave, and making them useful again.
I just love my old boat and doing the rebuild myself. :redface:
We are in this together,
Keep up the good work.
Bob

We can't control what people do to us, We can only control how we react to it.
Keep the faith.

 

[system-f]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

This weekend I finished what I had planned: tear out stringers and transom and prepare to grind.

I got very lucky and was able to save an outer stringer, middle stringer (in pieces, and the bow curve of the center stringer. I shouldn be able to trace all of my stringers!

Here is the curve of the bow stringer. I also have another several feet in another section.

This is at the begining of the day. After I found the way the stringers were easy to remove.

Here are my stringers:

Top is about 7feet of the center stringer, bottom is the outer most little stringer and bottom is 2/3s of the middle stringer.

Everything is going except the small last piece of the center stringer and a piece of the motor mount. I have tons of fiberglass to remove from the hull.

View from aft.

Here is a shot of the transom. I have tons of prep work to do before anything can get installed.

I hope to be ready to install stringers by the end of this weekend. Since I have several days off over Thanks giving that is when I am planning to at least get the transom in. First the cap has to go back on.

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

Good progress,
Soon you will be going in the other direction and putting it back together.
Keep it going.
Bob

 

[system-f]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

Question regarding prep for stringers. How much of the old glass that surrounded the stringrers should I take off? It seems the center stringer has a pretty deep channel it sat in. Should I take the glass down so that it is flat on each side and the hull glass is good and sanded up for the poly? I have already made one cut through the hull and don't want to push my luck.

 

[system-f]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

Order placed. This is the most money I have spent on the boat at one time except for the purchase price and I think this is only half of the glass I need.

 

[thrillhouse700]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

Question regarding prep for stringers. How much of the old glass that surrounded the stringrers should I take off? It seems the center stringer has a pretty deep channel it sat in. Should I take the glass down so that it is flat on each side and the hull glass is good and sanded up for the poly? I have already made one cut through the hull and don't want to push my luck.

Hey whats up man, I forgot about your thread sorry! Glad I checked it again tho looking good. You should grind the glass around the stringer down so that its level with the rest of the hull, you don't want any tabs left over.

Wouldnt worry about getting everything perfectly level because you will be "bedding" the stringers in, prob with PL. You don't want your stringer to actually touch the hull, you want a layer of something between the hull and the stringer. When it touches in it creates hard spots and thats where your hull will crack under the right circumstances.

If you need help fixin the cut on your hull um I think lowkee did the same thing and he fixed it real nice.

We cut through our hull but on purpose to grind out stress cracks that were letting in water, you will want to repair it from both sides.

 

[system-f]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

Thanks for the information. I saw your hull repairs and was using that as a guide. I have to flip it anyways for paint.

 

[system-f]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

I have been working on this boat everyday and it feels like I am gettng no where. There is a lot of glass to grind down before I get to good glass, but I have found the metal grinding wheel on the angle grinder EATS glass and scratches up good glass for new glass.

I bought this cheap belt sander thinking I would use it a lot on the prep work for new glass, but I think I will use it more on marking up new glass for more layers or before paint.

Not much to see, but you sure can tell I have been grinding A LOT! This was only from the where the center stringer went.

You can see the groove where the new stringer will go, but I still have more to grind off before the hull is ready. The tin guys have it so easy

 

[vegasphotoman]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

looking like your going at it headfirst...NICE!
dont worry, just keep plugging away and like thrillhouse said...youll be reversing the "damage" and glassing it all back in!

Nice work so far...and I havent hit the powerball yet...so I cant buy you a brand new 2010 boat ....

good thing about all this is you'll be a pro when your done...now no boat is beyond your repair capabilities! and youll know what to look for in future boats for a good deal and a solid boat etc

Rock on system f by spring youll have a like new poor mans ski boat!

 

[divimon2000]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

I left some semblance of the old glass forms on the bottom to make installation of the new stringers easier. I'm sure it's not a bad thing. I got a nice strait keel that way!

 

[system-f]

Re: Poor Man's Skiboat...Restore?

I want to see that darn Sleekcraft in the water, Vegas! That thing is my dream boat. So much so that a local guy has a Hawiian hull that is very similar and I was thinking about picking it up, repowering and redoing one of these years.

Right now I have the glass in the center ready for a stringer and the glass on the starboard middle stringer almost ready.

I keep grinding through the damn hull! I have at least two repairs that have to be done now. Part of it is the metal grinding wheels eat glass fast and part of it is the way the stringers were installed the excess glass is confusing me from the stock lines. I also think I am digging too hard too hard for good glass when I already have found it.

I just got off the phone with US composites and over $600 worth of resin and glass is on its way. (well over $700 with hazard fees and shipping). Tomorrow I go and pickup my decking material and stringer material.


On a good note it turns out the bottom part of the transom came out in tact so I have a template of the curve.