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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Wiring Wiring I thought I had taken some "before" pics of the wiring, but I can't find them. If I find them, I'll post them. At this point, just let me say that the wiring in this boat was a nest of snakes. Dozens of wires that went nowhere. I figure it was years of accessories being...
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Finished Stringers Finished Stringers I was finally able to get the time in to finish glassing the stringers. Here's a picture. Amazing to me how transparent the fiberglass is. Three layers of 1708 cloth, and you can still clearly see the foam's brand markings. That is the primary test of if...
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Starting on Stringers Starting on Stringers It was all easy enough to shape and fit the short rear stringers. But I noticed right away that stretching a string across wasn't going to work so well for the long front section stringers. I pondered this for a bit, then remembered a tool that...
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Starting on Stringers Starting on Stringers Someone may ask or comment about the foam, so I'll try to answer ahead. The most common foam boards are polystyrene or polyurethane. The problem with these foams is that fiberglass resin will cause them to melt, so they don't serve very well as...
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Starting on Stringers Starting on Stringers I assume this is normal. I noticed that the stringers were laid out "generally" in the hull's chines. I started with the very rear section, which originally had four narrow stringers under the two rear decks. (The bilge between them was open, of...
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Starting on Stringers Starting on Stringers Here is the stringer layout that I drew up before cutting out the stringers. Notice that in the front section (the right side of the picture) there is one rib going across the hull. Triton boats have a reputation for being exceptionally stiff...
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Starting on Stringers Starting on Stringers I've gotten started with the stringers. I decided to make the stringer cores from foam instead of wood. -- Foam is easier to cut and shape. -- Foam is much, much lighter. The only caveat I could find for using foam is that it is probably necessary to...
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Patch that big hole! Patch that big hole! Here's a close-up picture of the fresh, wet patch, showing how I layered the mat and cloth. The arrows are pointing at the edges of each layer. The CSM layer is there primarily to hold resin. It's chopped strands of fiberglass that are loosely laid...
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Patch that big hole! Patch that big hole! For the outside, I pretty much followed the same pattern as on the inside. In this pic, I have the cut pieces of mat and cloth laid out, ready to use. The hole was 72 inches long, but the mat and cloth come in 50-inch wide rolls. So there had to be...
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Patch that big hole! Patch that big hole! Pics of the "inside" part of the patch, from the outside. Lengthwise view: Side view. The chine isn't lookin' too bad. And the wide section, original impact point:
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Patch that big hole! Patch that big hole! This next pic takes a big jump ahead. Something I didn't take a shot of, you can see through the wet fiberglass in this shot. If you look above, you see the plastic is flat across the hole. But the molds were cut to give me a starting point for the...
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Patch that big hole! Patch that big hole! FINALLY the weather warmed up enough that I could keep the temp above 60 in the garage, so fiberglass resin would set up. Sorry for the quality of these pics, but I didn't think to take my good camera with me, so these shots were taken with my phone...
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Transom first Transom first I purposely overlapped the top of the transom, figuring I would cut off the excess to finish it. I also thought I could just use a pair of snips to cut it. This is about as far as I got. Wow! That stuff is HARD. To trim off the transom top, I ended up putting...
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Transom first Transom first Now the pics. I learned a variation in the old rule to "Measure twice and cut once." Well, I measured more than twice, but didn't finish my cuts. Here's the first two layers. I got them laid in, then noticed I was having a little difficulty. Something about cutting...
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Finally -- Going after that hole! Finally -- Going after that hole! Now to go after that hole. I almost made a mistake. I misread a guide on doing this repair, and I was about to do it on the inside of the hull. But I read another guide from West Epoxy, and they said below the water line you...
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Sanding the hull Sanding the hull There she is, all sanded off. This is just the first "rough" sanding. The main purpose is to expose all areas needing repair, fairing, etc. In this pic, the contrast isn't so great. But you can still see all the beating this hull has taken over the years. The...
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Sanding the hull Sanding the hull I'm back! Sorry for being so long. I finally got all the black Durabak coating off of the hull. It looked like a big watermelon. You can see the first section where I started sanding. The leftover Durabak is acting like a "guide coat," a thin coat of...
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    Rich idle, bog, no hole shot. Reeds? Coils?

    Re: Rich idle, bog, no hole shot. Reeds? Coils? Oh, yeah. I'm certain the floats are spot on the factory spec. I double- and triple-checked. Even took them off after running a while, and checked them again. It makes sense that it would get richer when trimmed down. But this is a LOT richer...
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    Rich idle, bog, no hole shot. Reeds? Coils?

    Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to be sure to have ALL the information. 1978 "V1500" Mercury 150 HP V6 1979 "16-8" Champion bass boat Symptoms: When trimmed down for idle and no-wake operation, seems to "load up" with fuel. Burns very rich. No-wake operation is difficult at best. Will...
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    1979 Champion Bass Boat - Tear Down and Restoration -- with PICS

    Mold for patching the hole Mold for patching the hole Measuring the gap, I need to trim 1/4" off of the right-hand piece. I had to trim the left-hand piece almost the same amount. But here you can see it's a pretty good fit. I've got some more cleaning to do, then I need to grind and prep...
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