1974 Grady White Restoration

[Arawak]

but i was even more amazed that the PO used construction adhesive to make repairs on such items.

I'm not going to say that I recommend it, but I had an old 14' runabout that had the old sole replaced using construction adhesive by a friend of mine. Needless to say I was a bit nervous when I found out, but the boat had been out on Lake Erie in 3' waves full throttle (another thing I would not recommend in a 14' boat) on more than one occasion and there were no signs of cracking 5+ years later.

I'll stick to epoxy myself, and that's what I recommend to others who like to have piece of mind, but I have considerably more respect for construction adhesive.

 

[Derekxj]

I'm not going to say that I recommend it, but I had an old 14' runabout that had the old sole replaced using construction adhesive by a friend of mine. Needless to say I was a bit nervous when I found out, but the boat had been out on Lake Erie in 3' waves full throttle (another thing I would not recommend in a 14' boat) on more than one occasion and there were no signs of cracking 5+ years later.

I'll stick to epoxy myself, and that's what I recommend to others who like to have piece of mind, but I have considerably more respect for construction adhesive.

Dont get me wrong, I have ALOT of respect for the stuff, and im sure your boat held up just fine with it. However, after time, moisture, and years of water this stuff will loose its adhesian to whatever it was once holding. Your stories arent far from mine. On my birthday this year a friend and myself took his 17' Proline center console about 35 miles out into the ocean shark fishing. Pulled up a 50 lb brown shark, and then i literally snagged a 140 LB thresher. Fought it for an hour and dragged that thing onto the boat and brought it home. It was really something else fighting a fish that big, using a small little helm seat as a fighting chair while in the harness. two 220lb + guys, plus that fish on the side of the boat, and let me tell you she was seriously leaning. i probably could have leaned over and put my face in the water lol.

None the less, i will stick to epoxy or whatever the more suitable stuff is to use. This i havent quite learned yet but soon will.

 

[Woodonglass]

 

[Derekxj]

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!

The CC we were on is fully outfitted for big game fishing. Its actually quite funny. Boat's name is Deception.
I would have named it " small craft advisory " if it were mine. May be trailoring it up to the Cape in a few weeks to chase big tuna if they come close enough.

 

[Mikeopsycho]

HAHA!!! :laugh: My favorite line in Jaws. :fish2: I use it all the time, even when it makes no sense what-so-ever.

Hey Derekxj, I'm just quietly lurking in the background, watching and learning. :couch2:

 

[Derekxj]

HAHA!!! :laugh: My favorite line in Jaws. :fish2: I use it all the time, even when it makes no sense what-so-ever.

Hey Derekxj, I'm just quietly lurking in the background, watching and learning. :couch2:

Dont quietly lurk too much, because compared to most of the folks here, i know absolutely nothing. I have construction experience, automotive experience, and a whole lot of ambition. Dont confuse this with boat building knowledge. PLEASE chime in as much as possible. Even your questions could probably guide me a bit better because it will force more research on my part to answer them.

 

[pckeen]

I need to really come up with a game plan for stiffening the ENTIRE legnth of the gunnel where i'll be mounting rod holders and stuff.

Once you get a look underneath the gunnel, you'll know if that is needed, but you can just put a backer plate in the locations where you want to install the rod holders etc. The fiberglass shell, with a backer plate, should be plenty strong enough to hold those types of additions.

 

[Derekxj]

Good afternoon gents!! Took a little bit of a break from the Ol' Gal, as life's been as usual getting in the way. I've been working 8 days a week and really running myself down not sleeping much etc etc etc, and now what do you know. Im sick. So another pause must be taken. However! this past weekend i did manage to get some serious demo work in and am feeling a bit better about the boat. Nervous, but better. The wood was so saturated, 7 mill demo bags wouldnt support the weight of a couple pieces in each bag. Saturday morning i picked up a really old school 50's garcia trawling setup. Antique atco roller guides and a REALLY old looking gimbel butt. Paid 50 bucks for it. The color coincidentally matches the grady I may only be 27 but im a sucker for anything old. Anyway........

What was VERY strange was while i was working on the demo, I realized that about 50% of the floor, inbetween the crappy rotted plywood was all of these small scrap pieces of that white " starboard " laminate crap that you'd use for dashes and stuff............that seemed to be all applied together with a ton of 4200 silicone. What the heck is that all about? Also the " lockers " that were in my floor, were constructed of this.........really crappy too. What i found suprising was that the foam was really not wet, and pretty much 100% dry in all of the areas that i checked it. The stringers are completely shot. I can breathe on them and they wobble side to side. Infact. ...........This fiberglass " capping " that was i guess folded over the tops of the stringers were completely seperated from the wood on the sides, and basically just floating there ontop. very light tug and it all pulled off exposing the bare wood. Enjoy some DEMO Photo's below!!!!








Here you can see how theres no foam under where the two seats would be. This almost looks factory. Why would they only foam the rear of the boat from the factory??? Im kind of baffled here. Additionally. I uncovered NO fuel tank. I can only assume it was in that front portion ( middle of the boat ), where there seems
to be some wood supports on the bottom of the hull creating a flat surface.




also found a brand spanking new lure kit UNDER the floor. Too bad its all garbage id never use! ....along with about 15 empty beer cans.
Maybe if eddie griswald hadent drank so much he could have put this boat together properly and not like a 2 year old working with linken logs

 

[UConnMRB]

Nice work, keep it up!

 

[Derekxj]

Nice work, keep it up!

Thankyou kind sir. Im trying!

 

[52FordF2]

Is there any location on the Gunwale that show a fuel filler or a fuel vent location? If none then it may have always been a portable tank.

Just my $.02

 

[Derekxj]

Is there any location on the Gunwale that show a fuel filler or a fuel vent location? If none then it may have always been a portable tank.

Just my $.02

Yes, theres actually a fuel fill that can be seen here. Im not sure when, but at some point someone probably tore up the floor to yank out the old fuel tank, and did the worst job ive ever seen putting the floor back. Ugh!

 

[kcassells]

Is that a vent right under your pabst can?

 

[Derekxj]

Is that a vent right under your pabst can?

Why yes it is! The hoses to and from the fill and vent were ( when i got my hands on the boat ), being routed to the big huge dumb 10k lb wood chipper tank that was crammed underneath the splashwell. I've found no hoses underneath the deck at all while removing it....so whoever ripped the OEM tank out, must have done a complete removal of the system.

 

[Derekxj]

Let me ask you gentleman.

What is the best way to remove the foam. it seems nice and dry and when i was pullin a few spots with the claw of the hammer, it was more or less coming up in nice big dry chunks. Maybe the bottom will be wet i dont know. Im deathly afraid of accidently hitting the hull and doing damage either a hole or something else.

Whats the best way to get all the foam out without doing damage and being most efficient with my time and mitigate the chances of putting a hole in the bottom of the boat.

 

[Rickmerrill]

Well I know you'll probably a afraid to use it but I found this very effecient. It's actually pretty safe if you don't jump and down on it with two feet. Others have used a wirewheel, a vacuum sucks the debre right up. Or you can use a drywall saw or even a long blade on a sawsall to cut it into chunks. There's all kinds of things people have found to get foam out just try a few and see what you like.

 

[Woodonglass]

I like an old Carpenters Hand Saw to cut around the edges and then a small Spade shovel to pry it loose with.

 

[kcassells]

Sawsall with varying depth wood blades. Slice the foam into cubes and pry bar to lift ot those shovels up there from Rick are a nice plus! OH yea...knee pads.

Never seems to be enough time in the day to keep up the rehab of a boat. Keep pluggin along!!

 

[Derekxj]

Thanks for all of the input gents!!! I would probably have to get a heck of alot of nerves up to stick a sawsall in there with the blade pointing at the bottom hull!!
Call me crazy, but im always trying to think of overcomplicated ways to make life easier lol. My brain keeps going back to the idea of a hot wire. I've used them before back when i was in school for sculpting models out of rigid insulation foam. Works absolutely amazing and i even built a table-top one. It doesnt seem to me, that this would be difficult at ALL to build into some sort of " Wire Wand " if you will for soley accomplishing the foam removal task quickly and painlessly. Could ride the wire right along fiberglass getting REAL close without damaging the glass ( minimizing griding after ) etc etc etc.

 

[kjdunne]

Be sure to post pics of the hand held hot wire tool you create. Sounds like it might work. Beware the fumes!