Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

[Fisherball]

I started it. After 4 years of good use my $100.00 16' 1975 MFG bowrider is rotted. I was going to put a casting deck over the bow seats & discovered when I pulled the butt seat from the front deck that a big piece of the deck just broke off with the pedestal.

I cut a hole between the front seats & found that a PO had covered the deck with bare, untreated 3/4" plywood. Everything under the deck was rotted & the foam was soaked. Water sqeeezed out of it like a sponge.

This site taught me what I have to do. Stringers, deck & transom. I derigged it & stored the parts in labelled bags in my garage. Disassembled the windshield. I can reuse almost all the parts.

I pulled the motor & put it on a stand. The last 2 times out I noticed a noise like a valve tap but 2 strokes don't have valves that tap. Piston slap, a bad ring. So when it's too cold to work on boat, I'll be rebuilding motor. It's a 1981 70 hp Johnson that until now always ran great. Never turned over more than 3 times without starting unless I flooded it.


I've been reading these threads for over a year & think I can do it. I'm pleased with the knowledge I've gathered here & am sure I will be asking questions & reading even more. Any or all help will be greatly appreciated. I started the restore in July, I'm taking my time cuz I'm really busy with work yet money is tight. Itchy forearms come from my first real grinding this weekend but I'll build this thread in the order it happened.

Here's a link to my Photobucket album on the restore if anyone cares to look.
http://s789.photobucket.com/albums/yy173/Fisherball1/MFG Restoration 7 4 10/?start=all

Thanks for reading.

 

[steve riddell]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

You'll have more than Itchy Forearms, But Its a Good Itch!!
Have fun on Your Project & Post lots of Pictures!!

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

Good luck on the resto. The boat and motor are worth it.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

Baby powder !!..

Before you get into the suit.. just pour baby powder in legs and arms of your suit.

buy some Thick and Foamy shaving cream.. put them on your arms and .. then just let it melt off on its own while taking the hottest shower you can stand. ( dont scrubb anything ). then Turn to Cold and scrubb the crap outa yourself with a Loofa pad.

USE ONLY COTTON sheets .

YD.

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

Yo WEAR A GOOD DUST MASK WHEN SANDING OR GRINDING THAT STUFF.. Or even better just throw that junk away and get you an old tinny...never itch agin

 

[Fisherball]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

I've got good dust mask, gloves & goggles. I tried a hat for a while but it caused the goggles to steam up too much too quick & made me sweat like a bear on a cool day. I'm thinking of trying a biker type doo-rag. I spent 15 of the last 30 years doing residential construction work so I've dealt with tons of fiberglass. I forgot to duct tape the sleeves of my shirt where the cuffs button together. I always start my fiberglass showers with cold water so my pores stay closed instead of opening wide like a hot shower will do. The baby powder trick works. I'll try the shaving cream trick. I don't have & probably never will have a suit to where. Thanks for the replies! I'll bring these posts up to current & update this as I progress.

I feel the boat & motor are worth what I'm doing to them. The motor is 45 hp shy of what the boat came with so someday I'll get a 115 hp & put the 70 on my spare boat. The 70 ran so good for so many years I have to rebuild it. I found all the internal parts in a kit for $450.00. I'll disassemble it b/4 I buy anything to see what it really needs.

 

[Kolar]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

Good luck, I will be starting my own project soon. I used to work in a FRP plant, the best stuff to use for no itch; barrier cream (look at automotive paint stores) or what I use at home is sunscreen (and no SPF does not matter ). My two cents from working with the stuff for years.

Have fun

 

[Fisherball]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

Kolar,

What FRP stand for? What do they make?

FB

 

[tallcanadian]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

I love these MFG trihulls. Get use to the itch. You'll probably have a few itchy days. All the work you will do will be worth it. Great looking boat, by the way.

 

[Kolar]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

Sorry about that Fisherball, that is the trade name for composites . FRP stands for fiberglass reinforced products.

Later

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

Actually I think its Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic .

YD.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

I thought it was fiberglass restroom panels (as that's primarily where I see them)

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

I thought it was fiberglass restroom panels (as that's primarily where I see them)

Geeez.... you lurk in some weird places

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

Geeez.... you lurk in some weird places

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

Yo WEAR A GOOD DUST MASK WHEN SANDING OR GRINDING THAT STUFF.. Or even better just throw that junk away and get you an old tinny...never itch agin

Forget about the dust masks .. Shave and get a resporator !

As for the little MOD squabble..Im thinking about making a ring outa old glass VHS ants and see what happens .

YD.

 

[Fisherball]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

The women that are attracted to me with the beard (my wife!) are much more fun than the women attracted without the beard (when I was single)!

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

Then Im sure your wife will not have a problem with you shaving lol..

YD.

PS. for some strange reason.. I think your right about the beard thing.. .

 

[SDSeville]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

Funny ez... I read that book to all 3 of my kids.

 

[Fisherball]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

Enough about poop! I removed all the interior panels which gave me some ideas for setting up the boat for why I own one, which is to fish from. I'll replace the panels that were in front of the seats with fiberglass covered wood supports with hatches so I can access the area under the bow seats for storage.

Looks like enough room to store unused rods without stepping on them.

I plan on building a livewell in the center of the bowseats & install a panel in the casting deck to access it. I'll set the bottom of it on the stringers which set 4"-6" below the decking that was there.

This boat had been owner by someone who was not lucky enough to know about this site. The idiot faired the unfinished plywood he installed with some type of self-levelling concrete used for flooring. It took me about 1 1/2 hours each to grind out the 2 places where the plywood ended just behind the bow seats, the area where those aluminum tube supports attach to the deck. This crap runs down both sides of the boat front to back where the wood butts to the gunwales & across the front of the deck & transom.

Here's a close up after I removed the layer of plywood added on top of the deck.

I removed as much of the fiberglass & decking underneath until I had to pull the cap to proceed.

I pulled all 87,000 screws that held the cap to the hull. The screws went through the hull & into a 2" wide plywood strip that ran the length of both sides & provided much of the structure that stiffened the hull. The wood strips were untreated but not rotted after 35 years. The side of the hull is now very wobbly. I will have to be cautious about getting in & out & where I put my feet while working inside the hull. There is a shelf that runs bow to stern about halfway between the deck & the top of the gunwale that I won't remove until I have the new stringers in. It is what is helping to hold the shape of the hull. I only have to remove it become MFG didn't completely cover it with fiberglass or even resin, only about half of it. It is rotting where there is no glass or resin.

It took a few days b/4 my son had enough friends over (5) to carry the cap into the backyard.

I'm trying to get it so there is nothing on it that will further rot b/4 I hang up the project until it's warm enough to fiberglass. If I can get it gutted, I'll just strap the cap on it, lift up the bow & spend the winter cutting stringers & working on the motor.

Just 2 more installments & the thread will be caught up to current progress. As always, any suggestions & ideas are welcome.

 

[produceguy]

Re: Sitting Here With Itchy Forearms!

Fisherball, would you like to come to AZ and restore my Mach 1. I will buy you a beer or a at least a cup of coffee.JK,hope all gos well.