1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

[Triangleboater]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

mrThunder,
Love seeing the resto! I am over in Durham on the middle of a resto myself, glad to get the lumber place on site. $120 for marine. ouch! but I can swing the $42 for the good ole' stuff. I will be watching and if you ever need any help, let me know. I go to Falls lake often on the upper end past the marina if you are ever out. Also, Officer Morgan, a good frined is one of the two game wardens in Wake County, good to get to know him if you are ever out when I am.
Look for the "HoboPacket".

 

[jbillingsley]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

Tank will be out tomorrow. Stupid come-along I bought today at Harbor Freight broke within two hours of ownership, but fortunately did the task I needed it to. It was about about time I got burned by a HF purchase, but fortunately only out $15.

 

[jbillingsley]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

In hindsight, I could've bought a $15 case of beer and called some friends over to accomplish the task. Plus, they would likely have stayed around longer than 2 hrs.

 

[jbillingsley]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

Fuel tank is out and it's in decent shape.

 

[flipbro]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

Ha mrthunder im also in the middle of a rebuild it is a 1984 200 elite 260hp very sharp boat. My stingers look just like yours. Glass nice and tight but wood under neth is mush. Mine was full of foam and it was saturated.My tank has some pitting but no leaks also encapsiled in foam and water.Any way good luck and nice boat

 

[jbillingsley]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

Beautiful weather today and quite pleased with the progress I made. Started off with getting the boat setup on blocks on the aft corners and forward chine, hovering a couple inches above the trailer. Removed the transom assembly, found the transom is mulch (as expected.) Removed all hardware from the transom. I'm now all set to cut out the old stringers, remove the inner skin and wood from the transom.

 

[Bomber Goober]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

Looking good, Feels good to make some progress huh? Weather here was excellent as well, we just need to keep our fingers crossed and hope that tomorrows rain misses us.

 

[jbillingsley]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

It sure does. Been a bit frustrated seeing how fast others are progressing with their projects while mine has been so slow.

 

[Bomber Goober]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

slow progress will get ya done faster than no progress

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

Fuel tank is out and it's in decent shape.
View attachment 185590View attachment 185591View attachment 185592View attachment 185593View attachment 185594

Absolutely remarkable that a 28 yr. old foamed in below deck tank could be in decent shape after all that time! *insert sarcasm emoticon here*

Maybe this will be proof for those that think foaming in a below deck fuel tank is a "DEATH SENTANCE"

Even with the amount of moisture/water it took to rot your stringers and transom, it still looks like your tank fared well.

 

[flipbro]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

The nice thing about the transom being mush is it comes out much easier lol

 

[jbillingsley]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

Got a short break in the rain today and got started cutting the stringers out. Learned that the motor mounts were made of 2" x X" dimensional lumber, which answers a question that was puzzling me. Not sure that I'll rebuild them in the same manner.

 

[jbillingsley]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

Oh, and there's practically zero adhesion between the fiberglass skin and the wood core, even on the pieces that aren't rotten. I'm now completely sold on doing the repairs with epoxy.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

Epoxy costs twice as much as polyester resin, but is at least 4 times better... so you actually get more than you paid for.

 

[jbillingsley]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

For the replacement cores, since I can't find suitable dimensional lumber locally that's wide enough to build the main stringers out of (they're 14" deep), I'm planning to buy 1/2" marine grade plywood to construct them out of. I will bond two 1/2" pieces together with epoxy to arrive at a 1" thickness, and stagger the joints. For example, my longest stringer is 12' long. What I'll do is on the inboard side, have an 8' piece starting at the stern, with a 4' piece running the rest of the way forward. Bonded to that on the outboard side will be a 4' piece starting at the stern, with an 8' piece running the rest of the way forward. Thoughts?

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

For the replacement cores, since I can't find suitable dimensional lumber locally that's wide enough to build the main stringers out of (they're 14" deep), I'm planning to buy 1/2" marine grade plywood to construct them out of. I will bond two 1/2" pieces together with epoxy to arrive at a 1" thickness, and stagger the joints. For example, my longest stringer is 12' long. What I'll do is on the inboard side, have an 8' piece starting at the stern, with a 4' piece running the rest of the way forward. Bonded to that on the outboard side will be a 4' piece starting at the stern, with an 8' piece running the rest of the way forward. Thoughts?

Sounds like a plan.

You can buy the Aerosil-Cabosil filler to mix with the epoxy resin to thicken it up and make your own epoxy adhesive.
Fillers
You'll probably want to buy at least 4 gal. for making the bedding adhesive for the stringers too.

 

[jbillingsley]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

Made big progress today!

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

Looks like your timing is going to be just about right for the warmer weather and the resin/glass layups.

 

[jbillingsley]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

Nearly cancer free, just have to remove the rotten transom and rough up the fiberglass, then I can start putting her back together.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 1985 Wellcraft 210 Elite Restoration

You'll want to grind that fiberglass back to good fresh pink glass for the best adhesion/bonding on your new layups.