1992 Crownline 196br stringers, transom and the whole bit

[steely85]

I put caster wheels on the bottom of this pallet so I could wheel the engine to and from the garage. I also screwed a bunch of the scrap 2x4's to serve as a engine mounts on the pallet.

 

[steely85]

Now that the engine was out I could finally measure and cut everything else out.

This is one of my motor mounts. The wood is completely gone. It looks like they used a piece of 1/2 inch plywood between tow 2x4s vertically to form the motor mounts. So for the time being I will be changing my motor mount idea. Instead of stacking them like I was thinking, I am going to sandwich three 2x10's vertically and have the boards planed down so they are the desired width when glued together. I think it will be 3.5 to 4 inches wide. I havent taken exact measurements yet.

 

[steely85]

Here are the motor mounts side by side, You can see the top one with the sandwiched plywood and two 2x4's. the bottom one has no wood left.

 

[steely85]

Lots and lots and lots..... and lots and lots and lots of grinding. Almost done. the hull looks to be in great shape, I do however have some gel coat spider cracks by my drain plug. :/ I might have to grind those down and fill it in with new gel coat.

 

[steely85]

My transom's thickness was only 1.75", I thought that was a bit strange because I thought mercruiser recommended it should be 2 to 2.25 inches thick. So the question for the night is, what is the proper thickness for a alpha one gen 2 transom? So far I am going to make it the same thickness unless anyone has any input on weather or not I should fix this thickness somehow. I will be sandwiching two 3/4 inch pieces of plywood for the transom layered with 2 or 3 layers of 1708.

 

[zool]

2 - 3/4 pieces of ply is 1 1/2 glued in. 3 layers of 1708 is around 3/16 to 1/4 not including the outer hull. The outer hull is most likely 3/8, putting you at 2 1/8..which is optimal for MC. 2 1/4 is tops, 2 inch is bottom...1/8 deviation around the keyhole is max tolerance for flatness.

 

[steely85]

2 - 3/4 pieces of ply is 1 1/2 glued in. 3 layers of 1708 is around 3/16 to 1/4 not including the outer hull. The outer hull is most likely 3/8, putting you at 2 1/8..which is optimal for MC. 2 1/4 is tops, 2 inch is bottom...1/8 deviation around the keyhole is max tolerance for flatness.

Perfect. that's just what I wanted to hear. I was hoping I wouldn't have to deviate from my plans. Thanks zool

 

[steely85]

Here is my foam template for the first layer of the transom. I have measured and cut out the first and second layers of the transom based on this template with some minor modifications. Unfortunately I got called into work on the 10th and wasn't able to waterproof or glue the two layers together. I was hoping they could be drying while I finish the rest of the grinding with my dremel tool. I have some hard to reach places with the 4.5 inch flapper wheel. We will see how it turns out.

 

[steely85]

Here was my attempt at keeping things clean in the driveway before I decided just to hose out all the dust.

It works really good but I wanted to see how far along my grinding was going so I would grind one section at a time, then hose the boat out, then grind another section. It is much easier to see what needs more sanding and what is done.

 

[steely85]

I hate that base for the bilge pump. As you can tell, it holds water and prevents it from moving back to the drain. I really want to figure something else out for this. I was thinking Two wood blocks fiberglassed to the hull about the same width as the current base, most likely 1x2 cut 4 inches long. Then take a piece of aluminum and bridge the gap with it. That way it would be above where the water is trying to drain from and it will retain its original height in order for it to kick on when it is supposed to. Hmmm... Thoughts? or am I over thinking it.

 

[bigdirty]

Progress is looking good man! :thumb: I had the same thoughts about my rear bilge pump, and the silly wood 'dam' they glassed in to the hull from the factory. I left my transom and stock motor mounts in place on my rebuild, but the bilge pump is now mounted to a piece of aluminum screwed to the first bulkhead (attached to the front of the motor mounts) which works well, and is easy to pull out to clean or replace if need be. I'll see if I can find a pic to describe how I made it..

 

[muskyfins]

Here was my attempt at keeping things clean in the driveway before I decided just to hose out all the dust.

It works really good but I wanted to see how far along my grinding was going so I would grind one section at a time, then hose the boat out, then grind another section. It is much easier to see what needs more sanding and what is done.

Brilliant!!!

 

[steely85]

Progress is looking good man! :thumb: I had the same thoughts about my rear bilge pump, and the silly wood 'dam' they glassed in to the hull from the factory. I left my transom and stock motor mounts in place on my rebuild, but the bilge pump is now mounted to a piece of aluminum screwed to the first bulkhead (attached to the front of the motor mounts) which works well, and is easy to pull out to clean or replace if need be. I'll see if I can find a pic to describe how I made it..

That is a great idea. Please do send me a picture if you can dig one out. I was doing some more research last night and found some side mount bilge pumps... That might be a purchase some time down the road so I drew up a mount that I could both use with my bottom mount pump and later on if I do decide to get a side mount pump it should just bolt right up. I will use a scrap piece of wood just lying around and cut it to the angle of the hull of the boat so there is a flat face of 90 degrees facing towards the center of the boat. I will bend a piece of aluminum from the back of the mount around the top then over so my bilge pump can rest on it. It will just hang there suspended about an inch above where the water will be draining. The only reason I am choosing this rout is for the fact that I would rather not screw into my bulkhead or anything that would be a P.I.A. to repair if any water damage does occur. Doing it this way means I can cut out my 4" by 4" block of wood rather than cut a bulkhead or a stringer. Once again, I am over thinking everything. But please do send me those pictures.

 

[steely85]

LOL... Also in all the frustration of grinding the floor and fighting through the back pain, I ground on my humminbird shoot thru hull transducer cable and exposed some of the wire. It's not all the way through but I might be able to patch it up with some liquid black tape. Those suckers are expensive!! It's probably for the best anyways because it only worked now and then anyways. Probably best to just take it out now while nothing is in the way than try to fix it with the motor installed. Any ideas on how to remove it? From what I understand it is epoxied to the hull. thanks again.

 

[steely85]

Question. I am getting ready to glue in my transom, I will be using thickened epoxy with cabosil and 1/4 chop strand for my peanut butter. It has been in the 80's here in Virginia... My question is after I bond the transom to the hull and clamp it in, how long do I leave it clamped for. I am wanting to clamp it in then once it sets I will remove the clamps and put my fillets on. As soon as I have my fillets made I want to lay my 1708 tabbing right away so it is wet on wet. I will then wait for that to set up and get tacky, then I'll put on my 3 layers of 1708 for the skin.

Thanks.

 

[Woodonglass]

when you clamp it the PB should goosh out around the edges and you should immediately form your fillets at this time. When the fillets begin to firm up, usually with epoxy that will take 3-4 hours, you can roll out more epoxy and start your 1708 laminations. I'd prolly lay the 1708 down with the fabric facing down so the mat side would hide the texture since you're using epoxy it doesn't really matter which side goes down first. That's just my preference.

 

[kcassells]

Old vid but might be interesting;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtTSzyA8X-M

 

[bigdirty]

Not the greatest pics.. but hopefully gives you an idea of how/what I did to mine;

Its basicaly a piece of 2" x 1/8" aluminum flat bar that I put a few bends in, with mounting holes on one end to screw it to the bulkhead. Added a piece of alum angle on the end of that to hold the float switch and pump itself, off a few more bits of flat bar. I might redo it, now that I've looked at it again, and lenghten it to reach further back under the motor.. but even as it was, it turned on automatically just as water was touching the oil pan of the motor (454v8) and the boat seldom got that much water in her anyway..

?@
You can sort of make out the square spot under the motor where the factory had the piece of wood glassed in, (just in front of the switch/pump) creating a water dam and drainage issues. I did loose a bit of skin chiseling it out, as I left the motor in place for my rebuild.. :lol: but cursing and swearing, loosing a bit of blood, well.. thats just part of rebuilding boats right? :laugh:

 

[steely85]

when you clamp it the PB should goosh out around the edges and you should immediately form your fillets at this time. When the fillets begin to firm up, usually with epoxy that will take 3-4 hours, you can roll out more epoxy and start your 1708 laminations. I'd prolly lay the 1708 down with the fabric facing down so the mat side would hide the texture since you're using epoxy it doesn't really matter which side goes down first. That's just my preference.

Thanks for the advice woody. I saw about 4 hours or so would be long enough but I am a bit of a worry wart and don't trust my own research with all the different advice out there with all the different materials. I start getting confused.

Bigdirty:
That looks good brother. I have no Idea why the factory would plop a block of wood and create a dam for the water to get stuck.

 

[steely85]

Well... More progress was made today. After I woke up I ran to lows and grabbed some all thread for my clamps, test fit both skins of the transom and glued them together with the thickened epoxy. I wish I would have mixed just a hare more... There is one spot on the upper port side of the transom where the peanut butter didn't gush out. I wonder if it would have if I had just one more clamp in that location. Everywhere else was good. Not sure what to do about that... I might try to just squish some peanut butter and see if anything will go in in that spot, throw a clamp on it and make my fillets then. That way if it is weak the fillet might help to hold things together. :/ Will this be ok or should I start over?

I also got almost all my motor mounts cut out today. I'm using two 2x10's and one 1x10 and gluing them together vertically to get my width. I'll post pictures when I get those together.