completion update

[Craig W]

Hey guys (and gals) it's been a while since I've posted here regarding my project boats that I replaced the stringers and floors in during the winter months. All I have to say is WOW!! what a difference! My father-in-law's boat was in pretty sorry shape, and after replacing the stringers and floor with FRP we dropped it into the water and could not believe the change in handling. I was worried that there may have been a minor increase in weight -I'm still not sure if there is or not. The most noticable difference was the way the boat now handles the waves and rough water. At 20', it's not a small runabout, but he'd always admired my 16 1/2' for the way that it carved thru the roughness. The only thing I can guess that was happening with his boat was that due to the decay below deck, there was no structure holding his boat true, so it was basically a "wet noodle" rolling and flexing thru the water. A few structure problems were corrected with the new stringers and floor on my boat. Both boats now have greater top speeds by almost 10mph! and handling is better than could have been imagined.<br /><br />I must say, the best reward after getting involved in projects like these is having excellent handling and everything turn out rigth

 

[E. E.]

Re: completion update

Congratulations on a job that turned out as planned.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: completion update

When ya gonna publish your album?

 

[Craig W]

Re: completion update

Here's my boat album

 

[Craig W]

Re: completion update

and<br /> here's the album for my dad's boat <br /><br />I still have to get a couple finished interior pics of my dad's boat, but other than that, the pics are the main highlights.<br /><br />[EDIT: sorry all looks like the link won't UBB code due to some characters in the link. To see the album cut and paste the "http: ...to the =ph" into your browser ]

 

[timbo1963]

Re: completion update

corrected URL is:<br /><br /> http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ch...wnQABKT9ONJQD&.dir=/Dad's+Boat+Rework&.src=ph

 

[Boomyal]

Re: completion update

Looks real good Craigw. Kinda makes me feel like a snail. You did two boats while I'm still in the tear down of one. It looks like you foamed before you laid the floor? How did you control the rise?

 

[E. E.]

Re: completion update

Boom, Couldn't you pour just a little foam at a time and then shave off any excess above the stringers?

 

[Boomyal]

Re: completion update

Originally posted by E. E.:<br /> Boom, Couldn't you pour just a little foam at a time and then shave off any excess above the stringers?

E.E., I thought about doing that. Seems you could use a hot wire but CraigW's doesn't look like it's cut. Another issue, re cutting, when I tore my flooring out, the foam was sticking to the underside except where the plywood was rotten and delaminating. I really like that idea because of the strong structural box that it made. The foam really tied the stringers, hull and floor together and I really like to pound em hard in the rought water.

 

[Craig W]

Re: completion update

Thanks for the link fix Tim <br /><br />Boomyal, I wouldn't say that the jobs were easy by any stretch. My FIL's boat, I knew had problems and could be quite a bit of work. Mine on the other hand, the actual structure was "good" but suffered some severe episode at some point -therefore necessitating the replacement of the stringers.<br /><br />I did opt in both cases to pour the foam prior to laying the floor. My FIL's boat was the first subject and what I did was had the floor sections pre-cut. With his being the first, there were multiple pours until I reached the top of the stringers (it was a reletively deep hull) for the last pour, I poured a section of foam, laid down an opened up black plastic bag over the top of the stringers (so the foam wouldn't stick to the underside of the floor) then I stood on the floor, with the foam rising underneith, until the foam stopped spreading. Once finished, it left very little foam to be trimmed off, and was relatively good at forcing the foam to spread out. With my boat, I'd had enough practice pouring the foam, that I decided to pour without placing the floor down and it rose up and spread nicely, like baking bread , with very little trimming. BTW- to cut the foam, I used a standard wood saw, it was simple and worked like a charm.

 

[Winger Ed.]

Re: completion update

That's a heck of a job. <br />You should be proud of it.<br /><br /><br />If the manufacturer had done all that you've done:<br /><br />The price of the boat when new would have about doubled.<br /><br />And,<br />It'd never flex, much less sink, even if ya ran over a stump and tore the bottom out.

 

[quantumleap]

Re: completion update

Very nice work. I love the smiley face before you glassed the floor in! Hopefully no one will ever get to see it again!

 

[Craig W]

Re: completion update

LOL!! happy to hear you liked my little bit of personalization Quantumleap On my FIL's boat, I placed a beer cap off a bottle of Labatt Lucky Lauger on top of the foam prior to putting the floor down They are both things that, if lucky, no one else will ever have to see, but if someone does, hopefully it brings a smile to their face while in the midst of such a painstaking job... if you can't have fun when doing these jobs what's the use in doing them