16' MFG Gypsy Tri Hull Advice

[FreeGypsy]

I'm starting a new post where I am going to put pics up and show my progress on the boat as I go. I'm looking for advice and not to be rude but I am not looking to hear about the wasted summers or wasted money on restoring an old boat. I am not trying to be rude but this is the project I've taken on not just to get a free boat, but also for something to do during my downtime. So here it is I have already started tearing out the floor/transom and have removed the top of the boat and I'm ready to get the hull stripped to bare! My first ? is what is the easiest way to get it cleaned out and free of the old floor and foam? Should I just get a cut of wheel and start hacking away? Also the foam does not come up very easily but it is all water logged, what is the easiest way to get it out?

 

[Ezrider_92356]

Re: 16' MFG Gypsy Tri Hull Advice

looks like your making some progress, that is one rotted boat! i dont think your wasting your time, weather the rot isn't that bad or its completely rotted its still the same amount of work. if anything its a bit easyer when they are totally rotted everything just falls apart and you sweep up the peices, only bad thing is that it doesn't look like your going to have any pieces suitable to make a templet out of. if you dont have one already get yourself a grinder and some flapper disks, your be amaized how much easyer it makes things.

 

[FreeGypsy]

Re: 16' MFG Gypsy Tri Hull Advice

yeah there is no making a template out of anything which is why I will probably go with the foam suggestion made in another thread. can i cut the fiberglass portions of the stringers out completely, or are they needed for support as there is really nothing left of them. I was thinking even with the foam install i should still put in say two boards running front to back and then several left to right just to support the floor?

 

[Driven1]

Re: 16' MFG Gypsy Tri Hull Advice

Whoa! Dude! Thought mine was bad! Whoo! Gotcher work cut out for ya! Must be they put some extra stringers and crossbraces on the 16's. Yours is definately a better candidate for the stringerless foam job than mine. Using straight foam will eliminate the need for the stringers and crossbraces altogether. It'd make your job a lot easier. For me it would have been marginal.

STOP! Measure the heigth of the current stringers before tearing them out. You'll need those heights later on.

On the stringer's fiberglass sides, I wouldn't cut them completely out. You can re-use portions of them to glass or PL Adhesive temporary floor supports in before foaming (once the foam's in they become a moot point). Today, I cut mine down to a level about 1 1/2" above the hull to make it easier to clean out the "stringer channels" and grind the outer sides for reglassing in my stringers. I'll have a pic up hopefully tomorrow of what I've done today.

To dig out the foam I used one of these...

I used mainly a long, large, flathead screwdriver to dig out the stringers.

As far as cleaning up the hull, as mentioned already, clean all of the large debris out of it, vacuum with a shop-vac, and then give it a good hosing down or power wash. After a good hosing, mine cleaned up pretty well.

To cut my floor from the sides of the hull I used a saws-all with a metal blade. The metal cutting blade is thin and flexible so being careful of course, it does a pretty good job. A die grinder or hand grinder with a small cut-off wheel will work just as well.

As far as a template for the new floor, you're obviously not going to have one. (Neither am I) Just gonna have to measure it out. I measured mine out today using a chalkline down the center and then measuring out to important points. I marked the whole thing out on graph paper using each square as 3 inches. Worked out pretty nicely. It also helped me figure out what I was going to need in the way of plywood and how I was going to place it.

Nice job poppin' the top! Wish I could have done that!

Keep a few brews handy, have fun!