87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

[MountaineerMiner]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

Thanks guys! Tonight I finished fitting the first piece of ply for the transom and cut out a piece for the "bump out" where the drive bolts. After doing so I decided it would be best to add a full second sheet as it will be much easier to glass and provide a little more rigidity. I will try to get a couple pics tomorrow. This decision was also made after handling 1708 for the first time. I knew it would be a pita to shape around those hard angles.

I also got a present from the guy in the brown truck today...I helped him unload it and could smell the resin before I got in his truck. He said he decided to stop by my place after his day was over and see if I was home so he wouldn?t have to ride around with that smell again! I know this stuff stinks but I never had a 5 gallon bucket of it before.

What are the recommended handling instructions for poly resin? I figure protect from freezing is one, but are there negative consequences to heat exposure? Also I believe it was in Oops thread that he mentioned grinding or roughing up the hull a second time because it had set to long. Am I mistaken or is there a certain time frame I have between roughing up the old fiberglass surface and laying new resin?

Mike

 

[osborn159]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

i would worry more about the mekp shelflife, im not exactly sure of the time ive had the stuff go bad after about 6 weeks, i keep mine in the beer fridge in the garage and it seems to extend it some.
i do all preliminary grinding 1st, a day or 2 before glass day i go back and run over it quickly, shop vac it up, wipe it down w/ acetone the day of glassing let it dry then the party begins.
im no expert but this seems to work for me, good luck, D

 

[MountaineerMiner]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

It?s been a while since I have posted an update. Maybe I need to start a more regimented schedule! Since my last update I have made a pattern for the transom, cut out and glued in the transom, made a pattern for the inside stringers and cut out the inside stringers. I didn?t do much today, but a little mental planning and built a tarp support since I had to change the design after taking the top off.

I started with the transom template by taping a piece of cardboard close to the center of the hull.

I Then measured the distance to where the old transom sat. I did this for both sides.

Using some scrap wood, a Sharpie, and a piece of welding rod I made a trammel to lay out the bottom of the hull. After cutting out this shape I had to trim about a 1/4" off both sides due to the angle dropping down.

 

[MountaineerMiner]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

Using PL Premium I laminated two pieces of 3/4" ULX Ply. After cutting everything out I became concerned that I messed something up, as the drain hole was not centered. After looking at the hull I realized it wasn?t me! I used a 1/2" forstner bit to countersink SS-SMS to pull the two half?s together. I will use short pieces of dowel to fill these holes before fiber glassing.

I used two trowel laid coats of PL to glue the transom to the hull. I applied a coat to the wood while my buddy Drew spread one on the hull. I cut the ends off the big tubes and then cut them in half. A 6" pointing trowel worked amazing to rough spread the glue.

Here you can see the gluing and clamping process. I was quite proud of my clamp design that can be seen in the last pic.

 

[MountaineerMiner]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

For the stringers I wanted to use plywood as I was afraid of the stability of dimensional lumber. The problem was plywood is only local available in 4x8 sheets and the inside stringers were 128" long. To get past this I laminated a piece of 3/8" and 1/2" together and staggered the joints. I used PL and 5/8" staples to fasten them together.

 

[SnowHunter]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

Looks like yer makin some good progress there!!!!!

I'm bettin the other folks in the complex been givin ya some strange looks?

 

[MountaineerMiner]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

Thanks SnowHunter! After a year they gave up on the looks?I think deer season did them in!

Well it?s been a long week. MSHA shut down the mine I work at until we fix a small water problem. They are really being a pain in the a** since the Big Branch thing. I still get paid in full but have only been working half days, so I?ve had lots of boat time. Also, don?t believe anything the media has to say?they try to sensationalize everything and spread their politically motivated propaganda. I could go on for days about BS federal compliance and red tape but will keep to the project.

Before gluing in the transom I did not coat it in Poly. This was a big mental debate for me. I decided I really wanted to use more of an adhesive than poly to hold the transom in place and didn?t want to pay for epoxy, so PL it was. I was afraid that if I sealed to wood off the PL would not cure fully as it needs moisture for this. Hopefully this will not turn out to be a decision I regret.

Today I finished fitting the inside stringers. I wanted to bed these prior to cutting the outside stringers because I will use their height (measured off the chines) to determine the height of the outside stringers. I then realized I was getting ahead of myself and needed to slow down. I needed to tab in the transom before I could properly set the stringers. I began to clean up the PL I used to bed the transom and found it had not cured fully in many areas and had been in place for a week! I decided it would be best to dig out this gooey PL and properly bed the transom with peanut butter.
If I am still off work tomorrow I will try and drive up to West Marine in Pittsburgh and get the supplies necessary to make peanut butter?I knew I should have got that stuff with my US Composites order!!!

If you look close in this picture you can see where I filled in the screw holes with short pieces of dowel and glued back in a small piece of ply I tore off removing a clamp.

I managed to get a coat of poly on the stringers and the cross braces. I used a pocket hole jig to fasten the cross braced to the stringers. These too will be plugged prior to glassing

Here you can see the gooey PL on a putty knife.

Here are the after shots of removing the PL.

 

[MountaineerMiner]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

So I made it to Pittsburgh on Friday and and perused the West Marine store. I was a little disappointed in their selection of fiberglass supplies. The only filler type materials (carbosol, chop, ect.) were the expensive little West System cans. They did however have a good selection of one part polyurethane top coat paint there and it was on sale. I picked up the paint I would need to redo the cap, bilge/deck, and top stripe. I bought Brightside for the stripe and West Marine house brand for the cap. Has anyone used the West Marine stuff? I also bought a can of primer and the necessary thinners for both spraying and rolling.

While I was looking at the paint I meet a gentleman that was restoring an old wood boat, and asked him about other places to buy fiberglass materials. He told me about DiPCRAFT Manufacturing, a fiberglass roof panel manufacturer and how to get there. Somehow I actually found this place?if you have every driven through Pittsburgh and are not familiar with the city you understand what a feet this was! I talked with the receptionist who led me back to the manufacturing facility. There they scooped up a pound of Aerosil, a pound of Microballs, and 2 pounds of ?? Chop from 55 gallon drums. All this with tax only cost $30, much cheaper than the West System stuff!

I played around with these fillers a little last night and got the bottom of the transom bedded and filleted. I would like to thank drewpster for his in-depth explanation of peanut butter preparation a week or two ago. The only question I have is do I need to wait overnight to tab this baby in as drewpster eluded to , or will a couple hours of dry time be sufficient?

Till next time,
Mike

 

[osborn159]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

i was informed by the manager of my local wm store that their house brand paint was mfg by Pettit for them, if this is fact its not crap paint.
good find on the f/g shop, save a few bucks and get a better selection at the same time.

 

[MountaineerMiner]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

Thanks Osborn, I hope it turns out well...I?m a little nervous about using a single part...I would use Perfection, but want to spray it, my father has experienced some problems with the roll and tip (nothing sever, still an option).

At the same time I am fighting the mental battle over flip and gelcoat or patch up gelcoat...paint is out of the question on the hull. Then this makes me think I should re-gelcoat the top too, but that sounds like to much sanding...too many angles to deal with

I feel that if I am going to go this far I might as well make everything as perfect as possible. I am aware of the heart ache involved with gelcoat, but this is a project that hopefully last many years...

I have read the "need advice on paint, gelcoat, duratec" and "hull extension" in entireded and still am considering gelcoat. ondarvr eluded to using paint in the first-most mentioned post and spoke of its durability. What type of paint are your speaking of? Can this paint be left in a slip for the summer...can a gelcoat be left in a slip for the summer (fresh water)?

My father always used antifouling such as VC17 ...is this a similer procedure for power boats left in a slip?

Sorry about the rambling,
Mike

 

[MountaineerMiner]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

This forum makes me think I should have invested in a Starcraft...

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

We're here for you MM but we don't know jack about glass!!

Yes there's a lot of glassin' knowledge on here but the guys seem to stay in their own couple of threads. I'd love it if they expanded out a bit more to help others. I responded to a glass thread yesterday with the little knowledge I have just to help the guy out and of course I was wrong

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

Mike,

I don't have much experience with peanut butter, but with typical glassing you can go right over the top of polyester without waiting. I can't see how peanut butter would be much different.

I ended up getting most of my glass stuff from fiberglasssite.com. They had a pdf file on there that had a lot of good information, you might want to take a look at that. Also there is a difference between laminating resin and general layup resin. Laminating resin allows you to put on multiple layers without sanding between layers. General purpose resins are waxed, and require sanding between layers. Most resins at HD or parts stores are general purpose. 95% of what I used was the laminating version. Fiberglass site actually sends the wax too, so if you want it waxed, you just add the wax to the laminating resin. The wax allows the very top surface to cure, on laminating resin it will be slightly sticky. Waxed resin is usually used for the top coat. Now that I typed all that....I hope you are using poly.....I guess if you are using epoxy I just took up space on your thread .

Have you looked at skibum1ms thread? He did gel coat....lot of work! I would think you could leave a re-gelcoated boat in the slip, but I would recommend a lift. The bottom is going to be really nasty after a summer in the water. I used an automotive paint on mine (I love to stir up controversy here!) but it will be on a lift or trailered except on the weekends.

 

[SnowHunter]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

This forum makes me think I should have invested in a Starcraft...

You aint the only one


Sounds like things are comin along!! Keep up the good work, and keep the pics comin

 

[MountaineerMiner]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

Thanks for the encouragment guys! And thanks for the tip on the .PDF Arch!

Ive been busy with work and glassing and havent been keeping up with the pics quite as much as I should. I will throw some up tonight hopefully. I got the tansom glassed in last night and a third coat of resin on the the inner stringers....

 

[MountaineerMiner]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

With the help of a few friends and a 30 pack of encouragement the inner stringers and center braces (???) were bedded in place last night. The transom was bedded and glassed over the last couple days. I used peanut butter to bed and fillet both the transom and stringers. I know most have successfully used PL to do this, but after the fiasco I had with the transom I am done with the stuff for anything but thin film applications such as bonding. I used about 2 gallons of resin and half my stock of filling materials for this?looks like I will be ordering another 5 gallons of resin from US Composites on Monday

Transom bedded, filleted, and tabbed in with 1.5 oz CSM.

Layer of 1.5 oz. CSM

Top coat of 1708. I originally wanted to trim the overlap of the two pieces, but thought I should leave this doubled up because it completely covers the drive hole (???). Man does this stuff soak up the resin?I feel bad for the guys that soak dollar bills away with epoxy in this stuff

The last piece of mat to go on...it seemed like a long night.

Reward for the hard work?

 

[MountaineerMiner]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

The crew awaiting peanut butter. These guys held this assembly up while I laid down a thick bead of PB to bed into. The whole this was then set in place and final measurements taken.

Little tip, put the bag that will hold your PB in a mixing cup and fold the top over the sides, much easier to transfer into the bag.

Still needs a little sanding and possibly a touchup of the fillet, but it was beer 30 and about to rain?

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

Looks like you are moving along nicely! Keep up the good work and keep buying encouragement....a good crew is hard to find!

 

[MountaineerMiner]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

Ya, Im suprised I havent scared them away with fiberglass dust yet!

Also I was looking through the Jamestown Distributors catalog and read Arch's review of West System Six10...small world

Mike

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 87 Glassport rebuild, 16.5'

Yep, good stuff...I swear by it!