Cobia 24' rebuild project.

[zuluwarrior]

Hello All, bought an old Cobia 24' boat and am in the process of rebuilding. I don't have a hard and fast completion date but would like to see her completed for next summer. I live in Bermuda and we are blessed with the beautiful Atlantic ocean to fish in. Once completed that will be the main use of the boat but moonlight cruises are not out of the question. The boat was originally an inboard/ outboard setup but the P.O. had made a modification to an outboard bracket. The new setup will also use an outboard bracket but one that has a swim platform and a new power plant, eyeing a yamaha 225 four stroke.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

Sounds interesting, post some pics.

 

[zuluwarrior]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.



Not sure about picture upload yet. First try.

 

[zuluwarrior]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

Ok I think I have the picture thing sorted. So far I have removed the rotten transom core and the main cockpit sole along with close to 30 bags of wet foam. Yeah the hull had a full fiberglass inner cockpit inner and was foam filled. The P.O. Had the boat in his yard open to the weather for some time and I guess thought that the drains where working. They where not some the foam became saturated.

 

[zuluwarrior]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

More pics
.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

Welcome to iBoats!
Looks like you're doing some great demo work. What's your plans for rebuilding the transom? What kind of outboard bracket and swim platform design do you have in mind for her? Got any sketches?

 

[zuluwarrior]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

The transom has a notch bump out and a gentle curve in it just to make things interesting. The bump out portion is relatively flat which will make for easier bracket mounting. I want to get the platform bracket from a company in Florida called A and J marine I believe. Because of the bump out and curve I will need to make a template of the transom and send it down to them so I can get a perfect fit. I wNt the platform to be 72" and want the full flotation bracket model. The transom core is in and just need some decent weather to get the glass work done. The bump out is 3 sheets of 3/4" marine ply and then that is covered across the entire transom with 1 sheet of 3/4" plywood. Then I will finish with 3 layers minimum of 1808 biaxial glass. Also need to glass the outside hole left by the out drive.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

You might go to a boat scrap yard and see if you could cut out a piece of an old transom and fabricate a "Plug" for your transom. It would make it a lot easier to patch it in an smooth it out.

 

[zuluwarrior]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

Last full sheet of core for new transom



Next phase of project will be to fab and install stringers, transom knees, main bulkhead and short bulkheads and fab fuel tank compartment. The cockpit sole will be raised a little bit over the original and will self draining. I left a 3" lip all the way around from the original cockpit sole.

Want to reuse this fiberglass coffin back into the boat for the fuel tank. Also kept the fiberglass lid which will be recorded and reused. Working on a tight budget so recycle parts that I can and fab the rest.

 

[bigdirty]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

looks like a cool project, think I'll tag along for this one.. Looks to me as though the original (factory) power was an OMC stringer drive, and likely part of the reason someone along the way went with the outboard to replace.. looks like a bit of a hack job covering the hole in the transom, which didn't help it survive the elements over the years. I'm workin on a bayliner at the moment that sat abandoned for the better part of 4 years (on land at least!) and I consider myself lucky the transom and stringers are still in decent condition.. i imagine your interior is in about the state of mine though.. good luck with this one man, but dont worry, theres lots of help and knowledge here, you're in the right place!

 

[zuluwarrior]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

You are correct about the omc i/o and the reason that the transom rotted out was because the P.O. Didn't use any caulk(5200) to seal anything along with the boat left open to the elements. Original transom core basically was scraped out with a pry bar!







Here are some pics of what came out and as you can see that plug came out in one piece. The outside fiberglass piece came off just as you see it and I was just trying to scrape off a bit of 5200 left from the previous bracket that was installed. So ended up cutting the hole bigger to get back to good glass. After seeing these "fixes" I decided to bite the bullet, take nothing for granted and rebuild the whole boat. She really has beautiful lines.

 

[zuluwarrior]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

Thought I would post a few more pics of the work done

 

[zuluwarrior]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

Well couldn't get any glass work done over past weekend as the weather was bad, lots of rain. But I did manage to clean up a bit. Amazing how much crap accumulates as you work. Took out the rotted bulkheads to the cabin entry. I think that one is good enough to make a template from though. That is a small project I can do even if the weather gets bad.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

The people with restoration projects that find something to work on EVERY DAY, are the one's that have successful restorations!!! An Hour a Day, EVERY DAY!!! You'll be on the water before you know it.

 

[zuluwarrior]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

Your right, chip away at it.

 

[zuluwarrior]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

Well the rain persisted all day and made doing anything a real challenge but I was determined to get something done in spite of the weather. Made bulkhead template and cut and fitted 2 pieces of 3/4" plywood for new bulkhead. I'm happy with the fit but may need a touch more in a couple of spots.

 

[zuluwarrior]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

Well managed To get a bit done this weekend. The weather wasn't the greatest, gale force winds and rain on Saturday but it cleared up a bit today so I took advantage of that. Made a cardboard template from one of the cabin panels and cut out 2 new panels from 3/4" plywood and trimmed for fit. Still needs some minor trimming but fits pretty good. The thicker plywood will definitely help beef up this area and give me some addition strength for the door frame. Need to make a couple of cut outs in the starboard panel for steering and wiring etc. here are a few pics.

 

[zuluwarrior]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

Had some decent light yesterday evening and managed to get a layer of 1808 biaxial tabbing on the transom. Came out pretty good. Going to try on Friday if weather is good to put a second layer on.

 

[kcassells]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

Good job and attitude! Dirty job but you'l own her at the end of it. Doing almost the same thing on my SportCraft 222. Total rehab. Weather just starting to break here so I can get back into the meat of the restoration.
Good Luck!

 

[zuluwarrior]

Re: Cobia 24' rebuild project.

Thanks, gale force winds and heavy rain this evening so no glass work done but will be back at it this weekend. Forecaster looks pretty good. Need to pick up some more resin and hardner don't want to have to stop due to lack of supplies. Goal is for 2 layers of tabbing and 2 full layers across the entire transom and finish with 1 layer of chopped strand. All tabbing and glass work will be done with 1808 biaxial and epoxy resin. Only want to do this transom once. Right now I'm happy with work completed so far.