Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

[lmuss53]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

Nope, not the corner cap, the 3 inch wide cap that runs from side to side covering the transom from the inside skin to the outside skin, where the outboard sits. Fab1 says they are C channel that is formed in a press and hard to bend without the press. I'm gonna take a ride and see if I can find it.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

You could always overlap two L channels

 

[lmuss53]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

Yep, it will probably be something like that. The trick will be finding the right L channel to use. It doesn't have to be particularly tough, I would not have a problem putting a heavier straight piece under the motor. I just need to find something that seals well (5200 is our friend) and doesn't look like a toad. Fab guy 1 has a huge selection of extrusions, and fab guy 2 says he has a lot of old trim from this thing or another. We'll figure something out, it just erks me badly to lose something so important. I know someone had a reasonable fix for this recently, maybe they will read this and post up.

 

[lmuss53]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

I met the guy with the console lids today and they are off of a 17 foot Sea Nymph that he rolled over coming home from fishing. He has the all aluminum front framework and casting deck assembly, and the TRANSOM CAP all on a pile to scrap that he will sell me for the scrap value. He is going to email me some pics of everything he has left. I just keep lucking out on this boat.

 

[lmuss53]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

Thought I'd give a little update. The boat is at the second fab guys place, we worked a deal for him to do the interior and paint work and I must say I am happy to only have to tell him how I want stuff, hand him tools, and try to learn. He has talked me into carpeting the inside of the boat instead of painting, that's what he did on the ones he did before and both of them looked very nice. He put a bunch of noodles in the front sections before I got there the other day and I had to re-educate him on the use of milk jugs and the like. The floor is mostly down, using about a dozen milk jugs and right around 80 pool noodles for floatation and sound deadening. I don't have a pic of the flotation before the floor went down to compare to Jason's, too bad because I really do like that picture and wanted one of my own. He told me he put a cow bell down in there for me too, very funny.

Noodle distribution during re-education seminar.

The transom cap from the wrecked FM170 was too narrow, but I got all the hatches, a couple of seats and seat pedestals with bases, some good through hull fittings, some live well hardware, and the base for the helm. The console cap was smashed in the wreck so I will move the Tracker cap I bought to the Sea Nymph base. I may take another trip up to pick over the carcass some more.

I got two 48" stainless reflectors out of a scrap light fixture at work that I bent to the size of the lost transom cap and the fab guy (Will) says he can bend them to fit the transom.

Seats out of FM 170, he only had 2.

Somewhat dirty but very solid new floor. Will also convinced me to run all of the electrics and cables up under the gunwale, so there is nothing to have to take the floor back up for. What you see here is riveted down, the rest in the stern where there will be livewell and bilge pumps, hardware and plumbing will be screwed down. Rivet heads will get a coat of sealer before carpet.

 

[lmuss53]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

Will and I on Sunday and then Will by himself yesterday made some pretty good progress.

Newly framed casting deck in rear. Note the ladder looking cable tray donated by my employer. We are cutting it up to frame stuff and using it on about everything. Livewell will go on port, 13 gallon aluminum tank just fits in the center section, and battery storage will be on the s'board.

Significantly smaller splash well, not quite finished,

New port to s'board connection, you can see where it was before in the shadows above it, small dark rectangle. That is the cross piece in the top picture, it's tied to both sides and the the top of the old splashwell frame.

More later, gotta go to work.

 

[lmuss53]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

Splashwell with all the angles cut, pieces in position ready to be glued in, cleaned, sealed then painted. The side angle pieces are the same fiberglass sheet I used on the transom, with a polyed Auruco backing. Everything else is the original splashwell modified to our specs. It's modeled after the Tracker pictured in an earlier post, and again below. It was suggested that I find a Tiller control for the 70 and just go fishing.

New deck, cut, ready to be sealed then wrapped with carpet and screwed down. It's got one coat of poly on, and another coming later tonight.

Bad picture of the gas tank, in position with filler method still to be resolved.

Tomorrow we clean everything, wash with Simple Green and paint everything that won't be carpeted. Will and his son may start before I can get there tomorrow.

I've decided to pospone painting this boat until late Fall. This is a fishing rig and with the early Spring it is time to go fishing. When the interior is done we will do a quickie fix up on the transom exterior and she will come back to my place for the engine and other rigging. When we are done fishing for the year we will take her back down to Will's, flip her, strip her and paint her properly.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

I really like your splashwell modification. Wish I had that in mine as opposed to my typical giant Starcraft one.

What I would do if I was you is flip it now and strip the bottom. Then flip it back and install your interior. Fish. Then this fall paint the side leaving the bottom bare. I think it looks cool and you don't have to worry about beating it up. If I ever do another one that's definitely the route I'm going to take. I wish I had some way to flip mine now so I could strip the bottom since my paint job has been such a disaster.

 

[lmuss53]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

That's not a bad idea EZ, has anyone had any experience with sandblasting a hull clean and then leaving it bare? Can you buff it back? I'm trusting Will (my body guy) on this, he has done three by sandblasting them clean, ZC'ing the whole thing lightly and then painting them. We would have to blast mine now and then get the bottom presentable, and ready for the Sharkhide. I have a quart of Sharkhide that I won around here somewhere.

 

[jasoutside]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

It seems to me that sandblasting to paint would be ok. Sandblasting to SH might look a little rough? Just shooting from the hip on that though.

 

[lmuss53]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

The sandblasting roughs it up pretty badly. I mentioned leaving it bare and he was not to enthusiastic about prepping it for the sharkhide. He did mention using different media, and then buffing it back out, so we'll see. I'm going to let Will take the lead on the refinish, that's his area of expertise. I saw a couple of the ones he did before and they looked very sharp. He doesn't seem at all put off by the prospect of rolling it after the interior is done. He says you just need a bunch of old tires and enough guys. Between his boys, his sons-in-law and my bros and I, we have lots of bodies. I told him as long as he knows he is fixing anything that gets broken we'll do it his way.

I went down today for a while, but we didn't get much done. With the framing we have for the bow decks we decided the 1/2 was a little flimsy so I'm going to get a sheet of 3/4 Auruco for the bow deck, so I'm off to Lowes. The 1/2 will be reused in panels, and on the deck of Will's glasser resto.

 

[lmuss53]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

EZ, could you ease yours off the trailer on to a few tires, then roll it half way, strip that half and roll it the other way to strip the other half? Slap on the sharkhide and pull her back on the trailer.

We put the red glasser down on 4 old tires and she settled in easy as pie. If you had some for down the center, and on each side they woud cushion everything.

I always move outboards on their side, ratchet strapped across a couple of tires, never banged one up yet. My cousin owns a gas station so we can always grab a pickup load to use and then bring back to his pile.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

I probably could. Be a major job. I'm still not done being pissed about my paint's demise, not ready to tackle a solution yet.

 

[carpedium]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

looks great!

 

[lmuss53]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

OK, we had a good work day.

Mock up of bow layout.

Deck, side and gunwale carpet is in. Old trim is on the bottom now. New trim for top is 1x1 1/2, should have just gone with 1x1, but too late now. We'll shine it all up, break that corner some and pull the screws out and replace them with pop rivets, we used the clamps and screws initially to draw it all in tight. It did NOT want to take that bend. 1x1 would have been easier to work with and would have covered plenty. Will wanted to replace the piece of carpet on the s-board gunwale but I put the trim on and now we don't want to pull it off. The glue would not hold on the colder day and it puffed up in a few spots. If it doesn't lay down I'll poke a little hole in it and shoot in some head liner adhesive.

We are going to cut the hatch into the port side rear deck to match the livewell, which is still at the fabricators. We'll then cut a matching hatch for storage and battery access on the starboard side. Gas tank fill will be somewhere back on the rear deck still to be determined. Fill will be through one of those Perko fill and vent combo flip top thingys.

I'm gonna need a shorter steering cable, the distance from the top of the CC to the engine is 3 feet longer than it will be from this side console. Any one got anything for a 17 to swap or sell? Once the console is in and done, I will know what I really need.

We're gonna try to get this thing a lot closer this week, but I think I will miss my pre-vacation (April 20) splash goal.

I have a May 16 Striper tournament I would really like to have it ready for.

 

[lmuss53]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

Got a used helm and cable from a trustworthy guy for $50, so I'm set there. I'll ebay the rack helm and cable or let him sell it for me. The gas filler cap and the splashwell drains are in the mail, seat bases are all here and the layout is finalized. I have 2 nicer matched Sea Nymph seats and the 2 fishing seats out of the pontoon, with bases and pedastals. I've got a tach and the new stereo for in the gauge holes. I still need an OMC trim gauge, or I may go with an electric temp gauge for in the last dash hole. I have the original livewell pump which is a cartridge type so I will put it back in, and a new bilge pump, float switch and all the through hulls fittings for that stuff. I'm going to wire the float switch to the trolling batteries, and a manual switch to the starting battery. I've got a flush mount horn that will pop your eardrums and really PO'ed Will's German Sheppard when we tested it. I've got three 2011 batteries that came with the boat, 2 giant group 29's and a starter/troller for the Johnny 70, and a new Shumacher 15 amp charger that could go on board but probably won't. Lowrance LMS-480 on a RAM mount for the console, and an X-125 that may go to ebay.

I'm all set to wrap up this build and I'm packing for a week out of town. Oh well, vacation is fun and my better half deserves to get away, it can't just be all about me and these @#$%^ boats now can it?

I'm going to leave Will and Brother Mike with a plan and hope it goes well while I'm gone. The plan is to have her ready to bring back to my place when I get back to town, with the interior complete, ready to hang the motor.

 

[Piece715]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

The sandblasting roughs it up pretty badly. I mentioned leaving it bare and he was not to enthusiastic about prepping it for the sharkhide. He did mention using different media, and then buffing it back out, so we'll see. I'm going to let Will take the lead on the refinish, that's his area of expertise.

I had mine soda blasted (baking soda) to strip it. The crystals are sharp enough to strip paint and adhesive but shatter on impact leaving the aluminum unscathed. Worked well! Its much much kinder on the aluminum and it puts a film on it so it protects the bare aluminum until your ready to finish it. Then that barrier just washes off with soap and water when it comes time.

 

[carpedium]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

Looks great Larry

 

[lmuss53]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

See ya all in a week, unless they have wifi on my cruise ship.

 

[andythomas]

Re: Aluminum v hull restoration, how-to's? Lmuss53's 171CC Sea Nymph Striper

See ya all in a week, unless they have wifi on my cruise ship.

great rebiuld, thanks for posting where you got the auruco too, because my local lowes doesn't carry it so i might have to run to new castle and see if they have it over in PA