1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

[jgarciajim]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

Day 12/13

Once again, managed to not really complete anything major, just got the cap completely cut away from the hull, but the cap is still on and this has been mainly a man-power issue. I looked around the threads for a good way of lifting the cap off and found Wood's idea to be the best. He used an engine hoist and a home built beam that goes across the front of the boat to lift it. I am planning on building this and FINALLY lifting the cap off.

To make matters worse, I went to a close Marine shop to buy some supplies and turns out they are closed until the 2nd, was planning on getting some Marine-Tex or similar epoxy to fill all the holes in my cap and some on the transom. Luckily I found another one that should be open on Monday.

I'm spending my day making a list of things to buy for the boat!

Hope everyone is having a better weekend than I am.

 

[a1964rn]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

Here's how I lifted the cap off of mine. I do have a tractor, but I think you could use the lift you made, if it's stable enough. If not, you could build an opposite side to it, with a 4x4 across it, kind of like an A-frame.
I lifted the front high enough manually (you may be able to use the tie-down cleats to lift it some) to place 2x6's across the bow section. I then did the same near the rear. I screwed two 12' 2x6's together making a beam and layed it longwise on the cap. I went over this 12' beam with tie down straps and attached it to either side of the 2x6's in the front and rear. I then lifted the center of the 12' 2x6 beam.
My cap was weak in the center where the console is, so I placed a short 2x6 under the seat compartments and went over the beam with a strap to support the center.

I propped it up like this to unhook any hoses, wires, etc. that needed to be.
You can see the 2x6's going across the front and rear. I went around the ends of these and over the beam I made that I ran lengthwise over the center of the boat.

I hope this all makes sense. Sorry I didn't take pics while I had it lifted.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

Lift the front of the cap and slide a 2x4 under it across the hull. Lift the back and do the same. Screw 2 more on either side to connect them. use nylon straps to connect em and determine the center point. Use your lift and pick it up.

 

[a1964rn]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

Was you able to get the cap off? I sent you a PM, did you get it?

 

[jgarciajim]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

I'm alive! I survived the hell that was the days surrounding New Year for me... Sorry I haven't been keeping this updated for you guys.

Get ready for a small adventure.

Turns out my neighbors are jealous of my beautiful boat that is sitting in my driveway that they have decided to whine to the homeowners association. So I went about half a mile away from my house and rented out a storage unit. 22' x 30', more than plenty of room to work with my boat. So we packed her up and moved her down the street into a nice cozy home, now I am able to work, rain, snow, or shine.

Some pics of the cutting of the splash well with the sawzall.

Thing about this storage unit is that the floors aren't concrete, they are gravel, dust, dirt thing. Did some leveling and have a smooth-ish area to work on. Installed some lights, got some lumber to make some work benches, and moved all my manly belonging from the jealous eyes of my neighbors into here.

Currently i'm doing a test over night to see if there is a lot of dust in the air just landing on everything. I wiped down a section of the cap and cleaned it thoroughly with acetone, this will determine how much tarp I will have to lay down when painting.

 

[jgarciajim]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

But... In other news, I did manage to get the cap off, and yes, I did take pictures. Don't you worry one bit.

Here I am setting up my lift, for the second time. Once again, this great design comes directly from wood. Same with technique I used for lifting the cap.

Once the lift was set up, began removing the cap, lifted it with the engine hoist and lift beam (come along).

 

[jgarciajim]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

So finally got the cap removed and parked the hull on the other side, eventually I lowered the cap onto some saw horses.

After everything was set. I began inspecting the hull for ANY possible signs of rot, first thing I saw was some large holes in one of the front stringers, I was worried at first, but after further inspection, despite not having any fiberglass protecting it, the stringer was dry and sturdy. Score one for me. Actually going to epoxy this nicely, to seal it up.

 

[jgarciajim]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

I discovered that the deck was actually glassed in over the stringers. So I don't know if I need to cut it out or what. You guys decide. but, I drilled some holes through the deck into one of the stringers. and it was dry.

Also drilled holes into the lower areas of other stringers. All bueno. I enjoyed the nice aroma they gave off also, turns out they used some sweet smelling cedar, still smells fresh. No worries in this part of the boat.

Score 2.

Yep that is water, its been there for a few hours, decided to rain again before the boat found it's new home. It's all vacuumed up now.

Moving on to the transom. Oh how I wanted it to be perfect, began drilling holes on the left side and slowly worked my way to the right. Dry, Dry, Dry, Dry... and on one of my last holes on the right, the wood was firm but it looked like it was retaining water (seemed dry, but I was able to squish some liquid out, further inspection revealed a poorly done glassing job on that side which allowed humidity to enter that side of the Transom, so I have made my decision, I will cut this baby out tomorrow and begin cutting a new one.

If anyone has any advice or links on how to do this, please let me know. From what I know, basically you get the thickness of your transom and glue pieces of plywood together to form the correct thickness, then cover this in resin, mount on the back of the boat, and use fiberglass cloth to secure it in place. Small strips on the side, then begin glassing with multiple layers over the entire surface. Correct?

Also, I found even more wasp nests in my boat. The tally has now reached over 20...

The foam above was for the live well converted into a cooler. Lucky for me I was planning on doing that anyway.

Now if anyone could tell me if flotation foam even exists on my boat? My guess is that it is under this wonderfully sealed glassed deck?

Thanks guys,

waking up at 6 am tomorrow. Have to get back to work on this thing.

 

[a1964rn]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

Nice progress! You should have flotation foam under the sole, or floor. The transom wood should be 1 1/2" thick. Some Home depots carries Arauco plywood. It is exterior grade and has very few voids. That's what I used. Two pieces laminated together. Are you using Epoxy or Polyester for your fiberglassing? The setup will be a little different depending on what you use. Poly is cheaper, but epoxy is stronger and more moisture proof. If your stringers are good, you may be better off removing it from the outside. Here's some info:
Fiberglassic Guide to: Transoms, Floors, and Stringers - fiberglassics.com

Here's a couple of other links for using epoxy:
Boat Builder Central - Howtos | Transom Repair - page 1

Boat Builder Central - Howtos | Transom, Stringer and Sole Repair

There are numerous threads on this forum as well, showing how it's done. Mostly using polyester, if you choose that method.

 

[jgarciajim]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

Day 15/16

Managed to remove the old Transom... oh it was much more of a pain than I expected. Bought my sheet of Arauco to make the new transom along with some extra things that I was missing to install the transom.

So The Splash well was still attached to the transom making removing it much more difficult, finally have to saw off the lip of the splash well one more time to get it off, so looks like i'll have myself a bit of fun reattaching it to the cap today.

In the process of removing the transom I guess with all of the vibrations the gelcoat cracked a little, it looks like it cracked at the seam because it is perfectly straight. But it is just in the gel coat, so I am going to sand it down a bit, making sort of a little "ditch" and then apply some fairing compound and paint it over. I have decided to paint the hull after all.

Still having some trouble figuring out how to remove the deck, maybe someone could help out here. I know it is fiber glassed in, but where exactly should I be cutting?

Anyway, going to cut and laminate the transom today, pics will be up later tonight.

 

[Teamster]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

Just following along,.....

Looks like a neat boat,...

 

[jgarciajim]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

Thank you Teamster, looking forward to getting it back into the water.

Here is my current progress, took a quick snack break at the house so i could post these.

A lot of sites and people recommended using door skin to cut the templates out, but my Home Depot has decided not to carry it, so I went to my fall back choice and used pink foam insulation. I always like to use this for any template, easy to cut and form, if you make a mistake you can get that piece and tape it back on with some duct tape.

I got the 2 sheets for the transom cut out, using my almost 20 year old jigsaw. It has never let me down.

 

[a1964rn]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

Nice progress. Looking good!

 

[jgarciajim]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

Day 17

Well today was certainly quite a day for me.

I have a new quote, "A simple carpet or paint job, almost always becomes a complete restoration"

This is certainly true for me. First off, apologies to Grub and Wood especially, should have heeded their warning, because everything was rotten (not mulch-like, but still rotting). Thank you to both of you, I just really didn't want the boat to be out of service for a long time...So i hoped for simplicity.

So, I was preparing the transom mounting area today, kept sanding with my grinder and sand blocks, then while I was waiting for the transom to dry I decided to sand the areas where I would be tabbing in the transom to have a nice fillet, instead of a jagged corner for the fiberglass to wrap around. Then, all of a sudden, water started oozing out of a small hole near the beginning of the back of the deck. At this point, I knew that was about to become a COMPLETE restoration.

Pulled out of the back deck, found waterlogged foam and a rotting piece of plywood.

Kept moving back hoping that the rot and watered down foam would stop, but it didn't. However the foam did get completely dry on the main part of the deck, but the plywood was still rotten. Even worse, the rear stringers were mulch under the rotted deck, but only in some spots. It is still going to require a complete replacement. I had to pull out the dry foam because I would need access to the stringers to tab the in.

Then things got even worse. They did such a bad job of fiberglassing that the structural pieces of wood inside the actual hull, not sure if these are called stringers, but basically they are 4 strips of 1/4" x 1'1/2" x 5' wood that runs from the back to around the center of the boat. The sections under the actual rear deck weren't glassed or anything so they rotted completely under the waterlogged foam.

These seem to be extremely important for the structure in the rear and I actually will need to lift the boat up off the trailer to remove these, as I fear that the bunk that is directly underneath them will put too much pressure and crack the bare fiberglass hull.

No restoration is complete without Whataburger.

I do have one question, can't seem to find a good answer. I plan on buying 8 cu/ft of expanding foam. I This will just be enough, and I might be short. Would it be ok to throw in some chopped pink foam? To increase volume and possibly make it slightly stronger?

Going to finish prepping the transom tomorrow if it heats up enough. Will cut out and prepare stringers and deck. What I like is that my transom is completely separate from my stringers so I can work separately.

 

[Teamster]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

Hmmmm,....

This is why I started following some glasser threads,.....

To learn what I'll be up against if I decide to do one,...

It will be nice when done though,....

What is "what a burger"????,....

 

[jgarciajim]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

Only the most delicious fast food burger you can buy in Texas (and a few other states). :laugh:

Notice how I only expected to do some modifications from the beginning. If you buy ANY fiberglass boat, follow the advice given to me by these guys, if there is rot on the boat, there will be probably be rot elsewhere. I hoped that just because it was sitting outside only the seats were rotten, but I was very wrong.

I'm glad you are following my thread, it will be an interesting journey for me.

This is another good thread to follow (if you haven't already), he is doing a very good job with his boat so far.
http://forums.iboats.com/boat-resto...0-tidecraft-bass-boat-restoration-584093.html

If you have any questions along the way let me know. :thumb:

 

[a1964rn]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

I'll have to agree with you on the Whataburger
Sorry you run into the isuues you have, but better to know now than out on the water, after you've got the cap all put back on.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

I do have one question, can't seem to find a good answer. I plan on buying 8 cu/ft of expanding foam. I This will just be enough, and I might be short. Would it be ok to throw in some chopped pink foam? To increase volume and possibly make it slightly stronger?

Nothing wrong with using sheet foam and expanding foam. It's a good way to stretch the use of the expanding and reduce the cost.

Don't chop it up, use chunks or slabs and pour the expanding over it and leave room between the pieces so the expanding foam can bond to the hull and hold the sheet foam in place.

 

[a1964rn]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

I believe the 1/4" pieces of plywood you are referring to are there to help stiffen the hull. Shouldn't be too hard to replace. As for the expanding foam, you may already know, the buoyancy is 60 lbs. per cu. ft. (2lb. density foam) so 8 cu. ft. is good for 480 lbs. I've heard it helps stiffen/reinforce the hull too.

 

[jgarciajim]

Re: 1978 Skeeter Wrangler Sport w/ 79' Johnson 140

I believe the 1/4" pieces of plywood you are referring to are there to help stiffen the hull. Shouldn't be too hard to replace. As for the expanding foam, you may already know, the buoyancy is 60 lbs. per cu. ft. (2lb. density foam) so 8 cu. ft. is good for 480 lbs. I've heard it helps stiffen/reinforce the hull too.

Yeah, I did my research and ordered some foam from AeroMarine, heard this stuff is pretty good. There was a slightly cheaper one from US Composites but I would end up paying the same for shipping and I got the AeroMarine shipped faster.

Yeah, that's what I figured they did, finished cleaning things up today did a little bit of sanding on the inside of the hull. Tomorrow I should be able to get the shop up the a good temp so I can glass in the new hull reinforcements. Then i'll cut out new stringers and a new deck.

Also, looking into ordering that Interlux Epoxy bottom paint you used.

Nothing wrong with using sheet foam and expanding foam. It's a good way to stretch the use of the expanding and reduce the cost.

Don't chop it up, use chunks or slabs and pour the expanding over it and leave room between the pieces so the expanding foam can bond to the hull and hold the sheet foam in place.

I did some measurements today and I should have enough, but since I may not be able to pour at the optimal temperatures I'm going to throw in some chunks of pink stuff. Thanks!