77 Skeeter Restoration

[fishbone77]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

Got back out to the garage today to finish building the frame and actually popped the cap off again! Nothing fancy, but strong enough to hold the cap and stand up to moving it in/out of the garage. I used 2x6's (7 feet long) for the cross beams, bolted 2inch casters on them, and used 2x4's (12 feet long) to run the length of the frame. I had built the saw-horses last year as an extra set mostly for this purpose. When I'm done, I'm planning on keeping them, so I built them to be stackable.

Here's some pics of how the frame went together:

Materials set out:

The Cart portion assembled:

And the Frame completely assembled:

Then I backed the trailer in the garage to ratchet the cap up:

Every time I do this, its just an eerie feeling having that thing hanging in the middle of my garage...haha

 

[fishbone77]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

Some more pics...

Got the cap lowered onto the frame:

And gotta have a shop pic with the cap and boat side by side...looks like we're parking outside for a while...haha

 

[fishbone77]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

Finally, I got to take some pics of the fiberglass work I did last fall - new stringers and transom. I have the new floor plywood cut out, and am just waiting for warm enough weather to finish up with glassing in the floor and tabbing in the transom!

I know this winter, WOG gave me some much appreciated advice as to what weight of glass (woven roving only) to use with the epoxy - so that is what I'll be using from here on out! After I finish glassing the bilge, I'm also going to paint it with Interlux Bilgekote.

After reading the posts by Oops and WOG regarding the importance of foam, I'm also planning on filling the bilge (except in the middle) with foam - the boat is a 1977, and came with foam, so probably best to replace it...

Transom shot:

Stringers port side:

Stringers starboard side:

And a couple of shots of the whole inside of the hull so far:

Thanks for looking guys, and as always, comment away!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

Have you tabbed the transom to the hull?

 

[fishbone77]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

Have you tabbed the transom to the hull?

Not yet - Last fall, I ran out of epoxy before I could tab it in...so that's the next step - I still have to fill around the edges as well. Here's kind of what I'm thinking for fiberglass work that I still have to do on the hull:

-fill around the transom, tab it to the hull
-need to shape out a new stem and epoxy/tab it to the hull (for a replacement bow-eye)
-need to glass the floor, tab it to the hull

Question - to people typically glass the underside of the deck? Wouldn't the pressure against the stringers crack the fiberglass?

Thanks,

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

You need to seal the underside. Condensatin WILL occur and get the wood wet. Since you're using epoxy, I'd just roll a couple of coats on the bottom and call it good. Epoxy is fairly flexible when it cures and should not crack. Hopefully your deck will NOT have much flex in it when you're done.

 

[fishbone77]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

That sounds good - I made sure when I installed the stringers that they went in level to each other and to the previous floor. I've dry-fit the new floor, and it sits very well. I'll plan on rolling a couple of coats of epoxy to seal the underside.

One other question - what is recommended as far as joining the floor to the stringers? Do people generally screw the floor to the stringers, or is that just an invitation for water to seep into the wood?

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

Varying opinions on this. Some leave it free floating so to speak. Other pre-drill the holes @ about an 8" spacing and then coat the screws and the holes with epoxy when installing. And others use PB or PL to adhere the deck to the top of the stringers by placing heavy weights on the deck at the time of installation. Personally, I like the Predrill and Fill method. On high powered boats, due to torque flex caused by the high powered motor(s) it's probably a good idea to use the glue AND the screws to make sure deck and the hull are as much of a a "One Unified Structure" as possible.

 

[fishbone77]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

I see - I had planned on using a PL urethane adhesive, but good point about the bigger motors. While I'm doing it, I may as well do both just to be safe! Do you just use drywall screws, or do you go stainless?

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

Use the coated Deck Screws and make sure to predrill and resin coat the holes and screws.

 

[fishbone77]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

Thanks for the tip! I wouldn't have thought to use deck screws - I'll make sure and pilot the holes first, and to coat them and the screws with resin!

 

[fishbone77]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

Ok, so I'm going to need to order some more epoxy - the question is, I read about a lot of guys on iboats that really like the UScomposites system. I'm not unhappy with the results I've gotten with the Maxbond, but I'm going to have to order foam, etc from USComposites and thought it would be just easier to place one order.

Is it ok to switch brands of epoxy brands midway through a project?

 

[fishbone77]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

Touched base with WOG today - I'm gonna go ahead and make the switch to UScomposites. Placing the order this week!

 

[fishbone77]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

Got some time to finish up a little side-project tonight - I've been re-carpeting the trailer bunks and just finished up the last two...will post pics tomorrow am!

 

[fishbone77]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

So I was leaving for work this morning, and the battery's dead on the car - so I figured I'd post some pics while I wait for my friend to pick me up! haha

The trailer bunks were another one of my "cold weather" projects. There are actually 4 bunks on the trailer, 2 bunks that the boat actually rests on, and 2 side-bunks. I didn't get any pics of the bottom bunks but for those the wood was still in pretty good shape, so I just stripped off the old carpet and stapled new on.

For the side bunks, the wood was in pretty rough shape, so I started by cutting some new lumber...

I replaced all the hardware with new stainless, because the old was all rusted up... I countersunk the carriage-bolts to keep them from rubbing the boat through the carpet.

These were 2x6's so I needed to get some wider carpet (Cabelas only had up to 12 inches wide, I needed 16.5"), so I ended up ordering the carpet off Amazon.com - If I remember right, it was less expensive than Basspro...

Also, I did not use any glue, and only used 1/2" stainless-steel staples to fasten the carpet to the bunks to promote better drainage...

I just used a utility knife to start holes for the hardware...

Measuring the carpet...

Carpet cut to size...

 

[fishbone77]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

One done...

Two done...

The 1/2" staples really help when you're tabbing the ends - I wrapped and stapled the narrow tabs first, then the broad tabs. I only have a hand-stapler, so after stapling I took a hammer and just made sure all the staples were in as far as they could go...here's a close-up of one of my ends...

Nice to have that done - I'm not sure when I'm going to get to repainting the trailer, so I wanted to make sure I had new carpet on the bunks before painting the hull this summer.

 

[jones01m]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

Fishbone, if you have not already installed your deck, I would highly recommend the screws pictured here. I just did mine a few weeks ago and these work great without a predrilled hole. They have the self tapping feature on them. You can get them at lowes. I chose the epoxy PB for adhering my deck. If you use epoxy and you need to remove the screw for any given reason, you do not want predrilled holes as the epoxy seepage will bond to the screw and you will never get it out - the heads snap off.

That epoxy is some awesome stuff, and I am extremely happy with the USComposites.

 

[fishbone77]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

Thanks Jones,

I'll have to check out those screws - good point about the reversibility, always a better plan. I guess I had been thinking that I'd end up glassing over the screwheads anyways, but if I needed to change anything before that, being able to take the floor back off would be helpful!

Glad to hear more good things about US composites - just to make sure - people are using their thin, laminating epoxy, correct?

 

[jones01m]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

I mention reversal of screws because I removed mine and filled the hole back in with epoxy. Maybe this is not necessary, but compared to the strength of the epoxy, the screws add little/no value for holding down the deck long term. I have also used the screws to temporarily hold parts together until the epoxy dries.

For the epoxy I used that shown in the picture below.

 

[fishbone77]

Re: 77 Skeeter Restoration

I see what you're saying now...haha - I guess "epoxy PB" should have tipped me off! I thought you were using PB adhesive - but I see what you're saying about the epoxy providing more of a bond than the screws.

Thanks for confirming the epoxy type for me - I thought people were referring to the 635, but wanted to make sure!