Tri hull rebuild

[Stealfeathers]

Good evening gents!! I have been trolling this site for a while and appreciate how helpful everybody is here. Your input on others builds has helped me tremendously. Hopefully you don't mind my first post asking advice about a build I'm doing myself. My questions are how do you reccomemd I re instal the cap? Also the overhang the cap had inside the hull, should I do something about that or leave it? I am building the boat to hunt diver ducks out of in larger rivers. And to transport a layout boat in and out with. I want to add a tiller handle, this is a 15 foot boat, 5 foot wide. What should I do to sturdy this thing up?!?!

 

[GT1000000]

Hello and welcome, Stealfeathers...
Looks like you have done a nice job on this boat so far...
Not 100% sure what you are asking, but if you are talking about the gap between the cap and the hull all around the outside edge, you can fill the space with a good quality marine sealant to prevent any water from coming in through there...although it might take quite a bit, since the gap looks a bit large...
As far a making it sturdier, you could add some stiffeners to the gunwales vertically...you can see what I mean by looking at "amincha's" build...http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...r/650652-deck-coating-turned-complete-restore

Also when the cap is secured to the hull with screws or rivets and the rub rail, that should stiffen things up quite a bit...

The overhang on the inside of the hull makes for a good place to run wires and such, if needed...the shape also adds stiffness to the design...if you want to make it even stronger, you could add some small bulkheads to make them capable of supporting a lot of weight without cracking or collapsing...

Best of luck and keep up the great progress...looking forward to the finished product.
GT1M

 

[jigngrub]

How was the boat designed before you gutted it?

Did the cap fit tightly before you removed it?

What possessed you to use OSB? Most people that have read the forum realize OSB isn't a good choice for boat building, while some brands of it may be ok for aluminum boat builds... it's mainly regarded as evil voo-doo for fiberglass builds, especially if the sheets use a phenolic resin and the fiberglass being laid on it is using polyester resin. Polyester doesn't like to bond to epoxy (phenolic resin).

 

[friderday]

Post #134 & #245 on my Larivee thread will show similarities to your cap-gap. Fortunately for me, it was not a full boat length cap, so I decided to flip the hull over, fill with PB, fare & sand, & gelcoat. I wasn't sure how to address the gap as I figured if I used a fastener of some sort, pulling the 2 together might put unnecessary stress & crack either the cap or the hull. My cap never "fit" perfectly, but fit even worse after I firmed it up with some new glass without paying due diligence to measurements. Lesson learned for me... firming up the gunwhales is always good, and in most boats, some sort of bench seat going side to side, maybe just one mid-ship, will add volumes of strength & keep the boat from torqueing & twisting..however, because your boat has that full length cap, properly attached, that may just be enough support depending on "high seas" you may or may not encounter. You could always add a seat of some sort later if you feel the need to tie it all together better. I, too, am a fan of wide open spaces....nice boat