69 Woodson Tri-hull with 68 Johnson 55hp

[steve_h7]

. Been busy with other things like tearing up the admirals short bus.

Wow, those pics makes rebuilding a boat look easy!

 

[Hab]

Not alot to report this week. Dad, me and my son spent the biggest part of the weekend getting set up for the fall hunt. It rained again on us so we made a stump fire the first day. Second and third day was better, we got our fields mowed and cleared a few more trees.

We finally started to dry out this week, and I managed to get the center stringer in and started the second round of tabs and cap on the port stringer. I was doing a lay-up last night, it was warm and there wasn't a breeze to be had. The stench of the resin was strong and hung in the air, strong enough the neighbor behind me came over to see what the heck was going on. Just goes to show that building a boat is a great way to meet people.

 

[Hab]

Progress was nearly halted last month. Ive had alot going with school starting again. I sneaked away last night and got a second stringer completed. Temps dropped on me hard. Had been high 80s all week then dropped to upper 60s yesterday and was falling in the evening while I was making the layup. Had to mix the resin hotter, and it was harder to work with multiple layers going down wet on wet. I ended up with a few bubbles, and it was still somewhat tacky this morning. hopefully with some heat this afternoon it will set completely. Ive still got 1 more layer to do on the last stringer, and some odds n ends, but will be starting the deck in a week or so.

 

[archbuilder]

The afternoon heat should help, but some halogen lights will do miracles on getting glass to fire off. Also pre-heating your stringers / hull will help get it to go off, but just don't get them too warm or it will fire off too fast. I have found that high 70's low 80s air temp are a good temp for poly work. Much below that it doesn't seem to like it a lot. I have worked in much colder air, just plan on having something to help keep things warm till if fires off.

 

[Hab]

Thanks Arch, Ive been experimenting with temps, cat rate and exposure to sunlight. Ill have to come up with something better for the next few months, winter is trying to set in early this year . Stringers are finished. 6 months and $1500 dollars later, the boat is right back to where I started.

Im kinda at a cross road of what to do about the under deck. I'm not going to go with the foam fill. I guess I'm wondering if i need to put in some drain/vent holes between the sections that will be sealed. I will be adding a bulkhead at the back of the center stinger to tie it into the side stringers. That will leave me with 4 sections that are either sealed off or vented in some way. Original installation was without the bulkhead, but the outer section of the side stringers was sealed off, no vent no drain.

 

[kcassells]

Some guys add foam panels pcs. cut to fit so water has flow to bilge. I think it's the pink or blue stuff.

 

[oldrem]

Like this

 

[Hab]

Ground off the old deck ring and finished the bulkhead. Decided to go ahead and cut the deck pieces. Getting there, now i got to figure out what to put below deck. I cant decide if i should add foam, or just put some vent holes so any moisture can get out of the 4 sealed compartments.

 

[Hab]

Reviving my thread for the spring.. I had almost given up over the winter. Then the Rona happened. We were climbing the walls in quarantine, so I took my son and the neighbors boy down to the river to throw the cast next and goof of for a while. we caught some shad, crappie, sunfish, and small catfish. when it got dark the boats started coming in and one fellow and his girlfriend stopped by to chat. They gave us 3 good 3-5lb blue cats, they didn't want to clean them that night. It was pretty cool of them, and the boys were flipping out getting a couple good fish for goofing off at the river. got me exited about boating again. I went home and got my motor up and running and then bought more glass. now if I get 2-3 days of good sunshine the deck is in, and Im on to buttoning up the keel and cap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4QMckr77Oc

 

[Hab]

Man that hurt to put so many holes in my deck and stringers, but its down at least. I opted for the rainbow color upgrade on the foam. Its way more than what the boat had originally. I ran a seal coat of resin over everything i could reach with the cap down. Ill get some filler ran and 2 large sections with CSM and roving before i pick the cap off again to finish. Rain coming back over on thursday.

 

[archbuilder]

Glad to hear you got back after it! The kidos will really have fun in the boat.

By the way it is pretty hard on the water pump to run without water. Basically rubber rubbing on stainless steel. When you get a chance pick up some muffs to run it on, you can get them at Academy or even Walmart. I would think about replacing the impeller either way if you haven't. They get hard after a few years. Not sure on your engine, but its about an hour or a little less job on mine. Glad you got her running!

 

[Hab]

Thanks for the tip Arch. We did replace the pump a year or so ago, but then discovered shifting issues with the electric shift solenoids in the lower unit. I knew i couldn't run it for long, but i guess i got exited and figured 30 seconds or so wont kill anything. I have since, cleaned up the forward controls and hooked them into my stand, and started the full rewire job on the engine. I will definitely find the muffs for the next phase of testing. As for the hull, I glassed over the deck last night. I'm not going to lie, I did a right amateur job of it. For some reason i thought large flat layups would be a piece of cake, but i was wrong. So very wrong. I think I'm going to grind back the edging and lay in another layer of CSM for tabbing, then gel coat. After that I will spend a week or so making boat noises from a chair on the new deck.

 

[archbuilder]

If you can get some help on the deck layup. I also put resins (no MEPK) in several quart cups, that way as I run out all I have to do is put MEPK in and go. Just saves a step pouring the resin in the cup. It can be a good workout trying to stay ahead of the glass firing off lol!

 

[JASinIL2006]

After that I will spend a week or so making boat noises from a chair on the new deck.

I think it's pretty safe to say you won't be the first of us to do that! :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

Looking good!

 

[Hab]

I went and bought my Gel Coat last week, thinking I was ready to paint. A wet weather pattern settled in the same day and has been hanging around since. It ended up being a good thing, since I was getting ahead of myself. I really needed to finish a few items before running the gel, so i would only need to paint it once. I had to finish the bilge, so i got the pieces cut and set in filler, then resined over. I still need to cut vent holes and run some CSM over it, but its nearly complete. The other was to replace the gunwale/cap gusset things. They didn't really seem to support anything so I decided to cut some rod holders into them. I know ill never be able to completely get them covered and sealed in csm but they will last a long time sealed in resin and gel coat. The originals didn't have much for sealant at all, maybe some tabbing and a covering of that fake looking zolatone stuff. The last is to figure out my sacrificial seat bases. I should be able to get that knocked out tomorrow and get everything installed by the time we dry out on Saturday. Maybe start painting on Sunday or Monday if my calculations for coverage come out right. Think i can get the entire deck gel coated with 1 gallon plus1 quart of gel coat? the boat is roughly 15'-0" X 6'-0".

 

[archbuilder]

Sometimes it doesn't hurt to step back for a day or two.....funny how you think you are ready sometimes and realize you aren't lol! Pretty sure the turtle wins the boat restoration race! It is looking nice, keep up the good work!

 

[Hab]

Got a few punch list items finished and the first coat of gel run. 2 more coats of Gel this afternoon and a round of PVA and that will be that. I didnt think much of those gusset things at first but, they sure did stiffen the sides of the hull.

 

[archbuilder]

Looking good! The gussets do stiffen things lot!

 

[Hab]

Well that was fun. Man that Gel-Coat kicks off quick. I started mixing it at 2% but by 5:30 when I ran my last coat i was down to 1.5% and it still stuck my roller on the first cup. Needless to say it looks like an ape kicked the paint can around, but so be it. Fish guts wash off just the same. I ran a pint of PVA over it after the last coat was somewhat kicked off and sticky to the touch, about 15 minutes after i cleaned up. I made myself wait an hour anyway. Done and done, Im gonna wash off the PVA tomorrow and figure out the next task.

 

[archbuilder]

Cool always feels good to cross things off the list.