1992 Astro Restoration

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

I went ahead and cut about 12" of one of them out and believe it or not it was originally made of cardboard tube (you can see the spiral inlay in the glass and some reminants of the paper backing. Yes I think they are like mini stringers, and NO they do not go thru the hull. The hull is bery solid, the crack is only in the top of the mini stringer. Going to take your advice and use some cardboard tube back to patch and then take another layer of 1708 over the patch and the rest of the stringer. That should strengthen them enough??

 

[ondarvr]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

I typed out a longer response before you added your last post, but it was deleted by accident.

Those are not strakes, just hull stiffeners on the inside, strakes are on the outside.

Cardboard tubes are used a great deal, its only a shape for the glass and the tubes are what all of the glass the company buys is wrapped around, so they are free and cost money to dispose of if they aren't used in some fashion.

There is no need to remove any of the current glass even if its broken, just grind it and glass over it, just make sure what's bonded to the hull is in good shape.

You can bridge the gaps with most anything, the easiest method is to tape over the gap and gently apply a single layer of mat and let it cure, once hard you can put down as much glass as needed.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

See..there ya go m8.. .. Ond is correct IMO..

YD.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Cools, thanks for the replys guys. Here's my plan, I have plenty of tube that size (I'm an electrician and track lights come in it) so I'm going to cut pieces to fill in the gaps and cover them with some .75 matt (I have tons of it) just to bridge the gaps and then cover the entire area, up the stingers and all with a layer of 1708. Does this sound suffiecent? Or should I do two layers of 1708?

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

I would do more then one layer of 1708.

2-3 for over the stringers.

You may have allready said this..but how tall are your stringers ?

YD.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Here is a picture of the hull where the stringers go. The center ones that form the under deck storage are 7" tall and the main ones are 4" tall.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

You have an open canvas sorta speak..

You can have a bigger locker if you wish..the back end with those tubes .. keep them and lam over them.

The stringers ( Im assuming are 3/4 " ) should be wrapped with 2 layers of 1708 with "caps"...

There are tricks you can Prep your stringers for a good lam down to the hull..

Resin coat the stringers outside the boat in the work area after you round the edges of the ply..resin coat the top untill no other resin goes into your rounded edges of the ply..then prep and top cap the stringers on the work table ( not in the boat ).

When the stringers are "prepped and topped capped" then dry fit them so where the top glass cap meets your deck configuration..you may have to trim the bottom of the ply for adjustment of your deck.

After the dry fit..take your stringers back out and grind for bond for your Tabbings..(sides of the stringer forms).

Then put them back into the boat as close as possible for your deck level..

Then glass up to the top of the stringers ( but not over them or you will lose your deck surface mount ).

I know.. Its kinda hard to explain in words..but you will/should have your stringers encapsulated/glassed and level for your deck at this point...

Take some pics after this and we can go from there ..

YD.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

I understand perfectly, I always run a 3/8" round over bit down the edges to be covered and pre coat the plywood. I'll take some pictures of the stringer assembly before it goes in. I'll put everything together on a bench, easier for me to keep everything straight and true.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Hope this doesn't start a riot but just how imporant are the fillets on inside corners, I can tell you after completing the grinding on this restore that the factory didn't give a rats a** about them. There was just hollow pockets all along every inside corner in the entire boat.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Probably not much...pain in the butt is what I call them .

They do help in lam to some degree..but if not done correctly it could actually hurt the layups ( getting too hot for example ).

YD.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Hope this doesn't start a riot but just how imporant are the fillets on inside corners, I can tell you after completing the grinding on this restore that the factory didn't give a rats a** about them. There was just hollow pockets all along every inside corner in the entire boat.

Its more common than you may think, in fact its probably the most common method. Pre-coating the wood with resin is rarely done either.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Wow, now I always pre-coat the bare wood, I thought it was the proper way. Well then should I fillet all my inside corners on the stingers? I usually do. With all four stringers (both sides) and the cross members there will be nearly 60 feet of fillets here.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Wow, now I always pre-coat the bare wood, I thought it was the proper way. Well then should I fillet all my inside corners on the stingers? I usually do. With all four stringers (both sides) and the cross members there will be nearly 60 feet of fillets here.

Precoating is the proper way .

As far as the fillets..I probably would.. ( I would use Microballoons instead of Cabosil ).

OH..and Ill tell ya a trick about fillets. After you make your radi but before the putty cures..gently coat the fillet with resin to smooth it out. Wait untill the putty starts to cool down..then LAM..

Good luck.

YD.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

I didn't say not pre coating the wood was good, only that many builders don't do it, same with fillets. They may have 20 boats to build that day and waiting for resin or putty to cure takes too much time.

 

[idonthaveaname]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Just as a word of advice to anyone purchasing a boat, look at the pictures in this thread and you'll see how rotten the deck and stringers are. The add on Craigslist read "A small soft spot in the floor, easy fix". I knew what I was going to find so it didn't matter to me, but it's RARE that there is ONLY a small soft spot that isn't a major repair.

Very true words (from experience). Newbies always get caught on this one and sometimes even the old timer gets fooled now and then. But a soft spot is always a wake up call.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

I didn't say not pre coating the wood was good, only that many builders don't do it, same with fillets. They may have 20 boats to build that day and waiting for resin or putty to cure takes too much time.

No problem, I understood, was just surprised to hear it doesn't happen in production very often, I can certainly understand the fillets and the cure time in production. When I worked for NorrisCraft all we heard was "Aren't you done with that yet?" or "We're not going to make production if you don't speed it up" and the best one "Hell, that's good enough, they only have a one year warranty" LOL but even at that they DID pre-coat the wood, but I never ran a fillet or seen one the whole time I was there.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Precoating is the proper way .

As far as the fillets..I probably would.. ( I would use Microballoons instead of Cabosil ).

OH..and Ill tell ya a trick about fillets. After you make your radi but before the putty cures..gently coat the fillet with resin to smooth it out. Wait untill the putty starts to cool down..then LAM..

Good luck.

YD.

Never used the micoballons but I'll get some, thanks for the tip. Wish I could just grind up some 1.5oz mat I have 6 full rolls of it, and 10 rolls of 1708. (ran across a good deal)

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Hey guys,
Have a change to buy a couple 55 gallons drums of resin, but it's been in a warehouse (unopened) for 3 years. I know I've seen resin set up even without cataylst, do you think this resin is still good?

 

[Greg Mrozinski]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

Whatcha goin to do with 165 gals of resin?? I may be wrong but I thought resin was sort of like beer...the fresher the better.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: 1992 Astro Restoration

LOL, well I restore a boat or two every year, so I'll go thru it, but it's only two drums so 110 gallons. This would last a while, but was worried about shelf life. I've read about 6 months and a year but was for opened containers, didn't know about still sealed.