1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

[ezmobee]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Well epoxy is never exactly cheap. I got mine from Clark Craft http://www.clarkcraft.com/cgi-suppl...esin&*******=9dc4fdd1e5a2e3ba99a65448a569d333 and there's US Composites and any number of others. erikgreen said Menards has that Arauco ply I was talking about.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

I was looking really hard at the Arauco plywood when I did my boat, lighter than douglas fir marine ply, more ply's (more rigid), same glue as marine ply, void free (or at least more void free than my doug fir marine ply) and at $25-30/sheet it's economical. The only thing that swayed me away from it was (form the few sources I could find) ratatarian (sp) pine is not as rot resistant as douglas fir,,, not that doug fir won't rot. With the Arauco I bet you will use more epoxy as it's supposed to be more porous, drink the epoxy better.

I'm still on the fence about it, kind of wished I had used it, but didn't want to be the guinea pig

I guess, as long as you seal it really well with epoxy you should be OK. But then you have all the staples going into it, seat hardware, etc, etc. Have to seal up all the screw holes really well with 3m5200.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

With the Arauco I bet you will use more epoxy as it's supposed to be more porous, drink the epoxy better

Well I used Arauco for my transom and regular exterior for my deck. I'd say they were equal with the Arauco actually soaking up a little less. It is really nice stuff.

Now I will share one other comparison.....North Beach used marine ply on the Liquid Limo and he was able to use WAY WAY less epoxy than I did. So it may be a toss up cost wise. Spend more on marine ply or spend more on epoxy.

 

[RobbyA]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

i made my transom from the arauco ply from lowes which is super nice. Virtually void free and a beautiful surface. I have heard that it's made from a softer wood but i figure it's gotta be better than the regular exterior ply from home depot i made my deck from which was void-city.

As for sealing it pretty much goes like this from best to least bestest :
- sealed both sides with glass and poly or epoxy resin
- sealed with epoxy resin with glass on just the top (poly resin is no good without glass)
- sealed with epoxy resin and no glass
- marine spar varnish
- porch and floor paint
- watercolors

lmao!!!!

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Got a friend to come give me a hand last night after work to get the rest pulled out, and well...... I think i have hit that point where I am questioning my sanity yet again. On the plus side i can now pick up the tongue with about 3 fingers my tires have tons of clearance to the fenders.. I realize I will add weight back with the new floors and such but there is no way it will be as much as what has come out.

Can anyone guestimate epoxy resin coverage? Are we talking like gallons per sheet or sheets per gallon here?

And pics for you hounds.

Almost ready to yank the floor boards.


A shot of the transom, the pic doesnt show really well, but this seems solid and dry.... Im really on the fence about messing with it.


Bottom side of the floor..... Slimey, nasty, wet, and just plain HEAVY.


Was thinking the pool noodle approach to put foam back but the more i look at this the less i like that plan... I would have to make a lot of small pieces.


Better shot of the foam, I have done some screw driver poking, in the shallower foam, at the outer areas it seems dry but i poked the middle where its black and yeah water and seemingly alot of it.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Epoxy usage depends on how much your ply sucks up. I went through 3 gallons on my deck. I think you can leave the transom if it looks OK. On a tinny, the transom has nothing to do with the stringers or deck so it can be a completely separate project at a later date. Check out this application of sheet foam, looks like the ticket for you http://picasaweb.google.com/pacerdude/EntireDeckReplacement89Celebrity224se#5305852018165355202

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

thanks for the coverage guess ez, just looking for a starting point...

and yeah i think sheet foam is prolly gonna be the answer...

at least it wont be hot this weekend here, so foam removal can proceed....i suspect it may be a high beverage consumption project.

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Got some foam out today, this is somewhat time consuming.... But i have a pretty good method going now, involving a flexible putty knife and a flat wrecking bar to get the big pieces out.

There quite a bit of dry foam, but also alot of wet foam the deeper i go... Its actually really nasty...Pop a piece out and get sprayed with nasty water. It smells like a room full of wet dogs on a hot day with no ac.

All in all Im glad I am removing it. Probably gonna use pink sheet foam do to the stringer layout, and local availibility.

Bow foam is all out, to under the console area, need to pull the fill and vent hoses, to do the next section.


Gotta get a helper again, to pull the tank. Is that tank gonna be stuck in foam? I cant really tell from what i see so far.

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Just one picture today and it speaks for itself.. Kinda wierd to crack off a piece of foam and find standing water, or to see water just rush out.

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Single pic again, finally after a couple busted knuckles and some choice words, have the foam out, short of the 2 small sections next to the fuel tank. i need to pull it first or that foam will be a royal pain. The 2 rear sections of foam were very wet, from top to bottom, most of the rest had been limited to the bottom foam, while the upper half was dry.

I found that Menards can get me marine ply by the sheet @ $70 thinking after measuring i need 5 sheets to get all the pieces. cdx running about $30.

Home Depot can get it, but you gotta get the whole bundle so i didnt bother with a price.

Really struggling with the cost vs gain of doing it right. I want it to last but.....jeez... As was mentioned above this boat is pretty tuff to replace wood in, at least the main floor. So I may do the full out sealing job on the main floor only and just use naked marine ply on the rest.

I believe this boat was in some extreme conditions with regard to moisture, such as midwest winters full of snow, or being extremely full of rain water for long periods. And it definately spent its summers at a dock. Yeah the lower floor was totally rotten, as was the front deck, however these were covered over with that lame excuse for a repair.. which i dont beleive was all that old, based on condition of that wood and the screws that held it down, and probably accelerated the rot by trapping the moisture.

The rest of the wood that was only carpeted over.. especially the rear deck was in pretty good shape, wet yes rotten NO.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

It is a real tuffy deciding how "right" you want to do it. My deck boards really sucked up the epoxy. North Beach was trying to talk into glassing my deck. I was like "I can't see spending $300 to protect $60 worth of plywood!!!" Like you are contemplating, I epoxied the deck but just porch and floor painted all above-deck wood.

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Pretty much nothing going on right now, really on the fence with the cost vs gain of doing the floor wrong right or really right...

I am turning my attention to other things like top side paint color and will start getting cleats and such out of my way there, gonna be some work involved in prep since the previous owner was nice enough to slather it in housepaint presumably when the floor repair was done... also need to be finding rope for the rub rail, saw a suggestion that home depot or lowes had the right stuff. I also need the caps for the bow and transom ends of the rub rail, i emailed crestliner and havent heard anything yet... looked around the web a little but didnt see much. i have the bow cap and one transom endcap, but they are more or less destroyed, the rubber part of the rail surprisingly isnt bad, some scuffs but nothing major.

I also priced the pink foam sheet insulation and about fell over.... I saw that about 6 2 inch sheets would float 1800lbs..... i imagine this would be more than sufficient to keep mine floating.. but Im not sure i can cram that much in it.. Iboats info claims 990lb hull weight, + guessing 300lbs of motor? so probably 1500lbs with gear not counting people or fuel.

Any thoughts on floatation are welcome as well, I need to get that before i need a floor anyways.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

I know how you feel about spending the $$$ on deck materials. I was in the same pickle when doing mine (Arauco ply...), but said to *ell with it and popped $600 for marine ply. Seeing how it wasn't totally void free, one of the biggest reasons I went with marine ply, I'm not sure I'd do marine ply again.

The rope I used in my 01's rub rail was from Lowes, black 7/16". I think it came from one of the bulk spools.

House paint,,, Ugh! That's going to be a mess to clean up. If you call Crestliner they can give you the paint codes for your boat, then you can go to a PPG paint shop and have then mix you up a quart. I had to do blue and cream, $100 for 2 quarts of paint, catalyst, reducer, prep solvent, strainers, etc, etc.

For foam, you don't have to float 1800#, fuel and water is neutrally buoyant, wood floats. If you replace the volume of foam that was in there you'll be fine.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Real good info above from Dan.

As I said before, that Arauco ply is really nice. REALLY nice. I have heard it may be made from a little bit softer wood though so I would seal it up real well.

Tell you what, I'll make the decision for you. Use Arauco ply, seal it on the bottoms with 2 coats of epoxy resin. Put one coat on the tops. Install it in the boat and then apply your second coat to the tops. Forget the glass and use marine vinyl for your flooring as it's tough as nails.

Step 1: http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/New Boat/DSCF2370.jpg
Step 2: http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/New Boat/DSCF2386.jpg
Step 3: http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/New Boat/DSCF2491.jpg

As for the foam, yeah it ain't cheap. That's one of the reasons why I didn't feel TOO bad about the bad price I paid for noodles. I knew I would have spent a bunch on foam board also and at least the noodles were less of a mess to cut/fit.
Step 1.5: http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w200/ezmobee/New Boat/DSCF2378.jpg

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

I hate decisions.....

EZ thats great guidance, the arauco ply is about the same price as plain jane exterior.. its not a stock item at my menards so i will have to check into that side of things cant imagine it would take long to get.

one thing is for sure i need to at least get the wood and get my pieces cut, cuz i keep having to move my old ones around and they crumble a little more each time.

the noodle idea is cool, and looks like it works really well in the starcrafts since you guys have the lengthwise stringers, mine has ribs, and then the bulkheads over them so i would be making alot of tiny noodles out of big ones.. sheet foam should be easier, i think. as for volume of foam, i have no idea what the volume of what came out is, since its all in tiny pieces... i think i emptied the garage type garbage can 3-4 times, but i also just dumped my buckets a couple times too.

paint wise, i am holding off on color untill i get carpet and vinyl samples, the place that was supposed to send them lost my order apparently, so it was supposed to go out yesterday.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

dmoriarty51

You really oughta take a look at this stuff. MDO Plywood. It is "In the Middle" of costs between CDX and Marine. It's as close to Marine Ply as you can get and will Not soak up the resin like the CDX OR the Marine. It is already totally impregnated with resin. They make roadsigns out of this stuff and they last for Years just being painted. If you coat it with more resin it will last longer than you. It's FLAT and Stays that way. Lowe's and HD usually don't stock it but can order it or you can get it at quality Lumber yards. 3/4" 4x8 sheet runs around $50-$60 bucks.

This article will tell you all you need to know
http://www.pacificwoodlaminates.com/img/PDFs/PlywoodGuide.pdf


I'm just sayin...

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

MDO sounds like just the ticket.

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

thats intriguing... not that i need more options but if i can find this stuff... it seems it may be acceptable to just use it...and forget all the added time and money of resin.?

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

scratch the idea of using as is, i just googled into a forum where a sign builder states explicitly that it still needs to be coated and sealed or its no better than reg exterior in terms of water resistance..

 

[pmillar]

Re: 1995 Crestliner ProAm interior overhaul

Re. noodles vs. foam board, it seems like you could use a mitre saw (chop saw) to very quickly cut a bunch of noodle pieces to the correct length. Assuming that would save a bunch of money in comparison to foam boards, you could purchase a good saw blade (very fine, or an abrasive disk maybe?) to do the job without making a huge mess. Just a thought...

BTW, I am following your progress closely even though I am kinda confident/hopeful all I need to replace is the rear casting deck on my sportfish 1750. I will cry if the rest of the deck is on the way to mold/crumble once I get to peak underneath. It feels ok. THe weathering my boat suffered from prior to my ownership (she's in a garage now) was limited to a low/pooling section in the full snap on cover... I think :redface: