Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

[madgadget]

Wow looks like its my turn!

(P.s. why are smilies included as images in a post?!!)

Since chances are many US folk don't know of Fletcher boats here is a little bit of history which I hope you take the time to read.

Founded in the late 1950's From the humble origins of a model shop in the West Midlands Norman Fletcher built his first boat to satisfy a boyhood passion for speed and performance. His first boats proved so successful that soon others were asking him to build examples for them.

In the next 10 years Fletcher Boats was going to become a global force in the sportsboat market and be the largest producer outside the USA! Norman was fanatical about producing a quality boat at the right price. He invested heavily in new technology, research and design. Every boat show there was a new Fletcher or a new take on an existing model ? and there were literally thousands of people queuing up to buy them. Fletcher was a huge success.

The Economic down turn of the late 1980s saw Norman leave the company as Fletcher sold out to Hornby. R&D budgets were cut and the company diversified into other areas. Fletcher became a significant moulder for the likes of Avon Inflatables and Sunseeker - they also produced thousands of mudguards for ERF Trucks!

On the surface things looked good as the range was expanded and by early 2000 Fletcher product range extended from 14? ? 25?.

However, all was not well. Fletcher was suffering a double blow. Europe was still recovering from a recession and there was a massive increase in cheap imports from the States. Some disastrous Group decisions also served to put pressure on an already stretched company.

In 2002 the administrators were called in.

After the Hornby buyout the company started to look around for ways to streamline costs. One initiative was to outsource non-core activity. In Norman?s day they made everything and very little was outsourced. In doing this Norman felt he could control quality and costs, but this was soon to change.
Fletcher, being the largest single boat trailer user in the UK initially manufactured their own trailers. However after several approaches from SBS trailers they eventually sealed the deal and SBS began manufacturing on behalf of Fletcher. The design and branding remained the same and this heralded the start of a long association between the two companies.

Later when Fletcher got into difficulty SBS approached them with a view to buying them out and combining the operations at the Fletcher site.
Their initial attempt failed and the company was bought by someone else who distinguished themselves by going into liquidation barely a year later. Nevertheless, despite the recent bruising SBS made another bid ? this time for the Name, IPR and design rights - and managed to secure a deal.

So the next chapter of Fletcher history began. New premises were sought and both business now occupy a significant factory. Although under common ownership Fletcher Boats is totally separate from SBS Trailers and is now enjoying something of a revival.

I also happen to know that many of the origional non retired Fletcher staff still work for the company so it seems its retained some of its roots after some unfortunate management decisions along the way.

Also of interest I found out that a number Glastron hulls were produced by Fletcher in the early 70s and used in the James Bond Film "Live and Let Die"

Also in 1974 Norman Fletcher set a British Record of 79.61 mph driving a Arrowbolt in the Sports Inboards (unlimited engine capacity) category.

And onto my project. I have a 1989/90 Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO. Its a genuine 24deg deep hull design, Measuring 17'4" x 7'0" with a dry weight of 925lb (no engine) How this compares to other boats of similar dimensions I have no idea.

GTO means its designed for an outboard and I have a 1989 Mercury 220hp XRi EFI engine for it.

I recently picked up this boat with a new interior and good hull, but knowing it had a rotted transom that I would need to replace. So here I am!

Sooo onto the pictures:

Hull external. All origional Gel Coat with very little signs of damage. Its had a vinyl cover over it its whole life, which unfortunately didn't keep the water off the exposed transom wood as you'll see in a bit.

Very recently it had a new interior which you can see here. Its a cream leather vinyl. Still soft and nice and plush. There are some bits that could have been done better, which I do intend to correct, but its not a bad job over all.

Fuel tank is behind the centre piece, 'glove box' opens in a strange direction - they all do that no idea why?! I intend to change that as it scrapes against the screen (!!!) No gauges included but I have wild ideas for the dash area. Centre screen folds back allowing you to step out over the bow.

Drivers seat. Finish quite nice and tight.

Passenger seat. Finish not as good as the drivers side, needs tidying up a bit.

Rear bench seat. A bit of a strange design on this. Not sure I like it so high so I may modify that and bring it down a bit as it spoils the lines of the boat. Also the top bench doesn't line up exactly with the bottom, I want to sort that eventually too. Notice the brand new marine speakers. Never even had sound played through them yet!

Cant attach any more images so onto the next post...

 

[madgadget]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 project

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 project

Another of the rear showing possible hints of the rot on the transom which has been exposed to the elements for far too long.

And into the danger zone. Your staring at bare wood on the cut out in front. If it was not for that from what I can tell the rest of the boat is totally solid.

The ply was soft to the touch, and had de-laminated. Although it didn't look particularly rotted I knew it was bad.

The Exterior shows a nice clean hull and the old Fletcher stickers. This one I removed using a heat gun and gave it a polish.

And it came up rather nice and shiny!

More nice and shiny.

6 image limit next post...

 

[madgadget]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 project

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 project

Also began to remove the old stickers from the Bow. Some of the gel-coat is quite thin right at the front, too thin to polish it out correctly. I will probably leave that for now, but it looks a lot better with the stickers removed. You can see there is a hole on the bow in the middle right, that's for the fuel filler to connect to the new tank. I am not sure of its capacity. I want to hold at least 100 litres/26 US gallons. If possible more would be nice.

And the project beings:

This project I must add may be a bit slow. I'm a bit tight for ?$ at the moment, and right now my work shop is packed so I cannot get work done if the weather is bad (it currently sits under 3 inches of snow!) However:

First of all I cut a sample out of the lower transom to see how far gone the wood was. This 'core' sample was soaked through, and smelt odd like oil or something was absorbed in it. I allowed it to dry out and I could compress the wood between my fingers and it was easy to pull the laminations to bits.

I also started to dig at the transom (I don't have a pic yet) and managed to dig out about 5 inches with no effort at all.

So then I began to ponder how i was going to deal with this. I kind of need more pics to show, bit I can use a pic from another boat of the same model to show what I mean:

This is the inner skin of the transom on each side there is a foam floatation well, I need to somehow replace the transom at the back.

As I see it I have a few choices.

1. Cut the transom out from the back of the boat by removing the stern.
2. Remove the flotation wells etc and try and cut out the transom from within the boat.
3. Pull the cap of the boat to allow full access to the transom and everything else I want to get to.

So I like the idea of popping the cap of the boat best. Ok its a lot of work but IMO worth it so I looked into that as you can read here:

Removing trim nightmare

So that is where I am at. Sorry its not a that interesting. But then it snowed! I still need to figure out hows best to remove those screws. I am going to see if I can pick up a hole saw tomorrow and give that ago.

Finally one thing to end on I got some gauges!

With these I am going to make a nice dash to hold them. My main skills are with electronics and so I have some rather exciting and adventurous ideas which at the moment are in wayyy early stages of development. Also I have been working on another little project that you will see implemented on this boat too which I wrote about here.

That is working now in prototype I just need to develop it better and make it into a self contained system.

If your still following this thanks for reading and hopefully I will have more for you soon!

Ed

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

madgadget
Well, I'm glad to see that you have started your thread. I really liked the story. I'm somewhat of a history buff and love to hear about the origins of things.
Your boat has some very nice lines. That 220 HP on the back should really make it fly.
As for the transom, It looks like you will be changing that for sure.
I also understand that most folks don't want to hear this but, If your transom is that bad, I would be willing to bet that your stringers aren't going to be much better.
I would recommend that your take some small core sample of the stringers and evaluate them.
Again, glad to see you thread and a good looking boat.
Bob

 

[madgadget]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

You may be right about the stingers. Though I don't think it would have got that far along them. I had exactly the same boat as this for two months. I brought it for the engine and hydraulic steering (which was brand new!), took it out once and then sold it. That one needed MAJOR work and I decided to abandon it before it was too late. The whole thing was soft, and the trailer was really not that great.
By comparison this one is new. It feels dry and airy inside. Its nice and solid. I really don't think its been used all that much, and certainty never sat in the water and without a cover, which the other one had.

I may take a look at stingers tomorrow if I get the chance (and there is no more snow) Although I don' t know if they are exposed anywhere. Possibly around the bilge area.

As a final point what got me into all this was a 1980 Fletcher Bravo 16' 165 GTO with a 79' I6 140 on it. I love the boat its small but incredibly agile and sooo much fun! After I have done this I may do a restore on that too I have to share this video of it too Here haha love it!

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

Nice video,
I will look forward to watching your progress. It is not always a bad thing to move slow. Look at mine it has been very slow too.
Good luck.
Bob

 

[archbuilder]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

Nice looking boat, I can't wait to see your progress!

 

[madgadget]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

Well nothing done this weekend its sat under 3 inches of snow. So I decided to entertain myself with initial ideas for the Dash design..

First I got a decent photo and cleaned it up, etc to see what the flat surfaces would look like.

Then drew a rough idea of where everything might go. Next thing will be to take some measurements and do this to scale rather than educated guessing.

The angle of the origional gauge surface is daft, and you would stand no chance of viewing the dials from the seating position. So a fibreglass constructed console design will be made as above putting the gauges at a more sensible angle.

The middle rectangle piece is going to be a lcd graphics screen that I am going to get doing various bits and pieces such as monitoring engine conditions, run time, unusual event recall and whatever else I am able to implement. I really like my gadgets and have a reasonably good understanding of embedded design for a home taught chap so depending on how this goes it may actually end up quite a clever system (I hope!!). My dream and I am yet to see how practical this will be, I need to test the idea under real life conditions, is not to have a load of switches for everything (as I don't really like the look of the marine ones so far) and have everything controlled from that screen (its also optionally touch screen). But right now its important I don't overcomplicate the idea, but none of the less, my plan is to include the possibility.

Since I can't yet carry on with pulling the boat to bits. I have been working out my build plan/ultimate goal for this project. I see many projects abandoned because there was never a clear goal,aim and in some cases purpose to a project. This makes planning/time and money management difficult.

So it will go something like this:
As soon as I can, continue to explore the ways of pulling the cap from the boat.
Sort the important bits first: Repair the transom. Measure the fuel tank area and see what size tank can be fitted. Possibly look into a custom shaped one if something is not suitable in the size I want.
I would also quite like to add an anchor locker or some sort of storage on the bow of the boat. With the cap off I would imagine doing this would be much easier.
Re-fit cap, seal to transom, mount engine.

Additionally and when working on the hull is not possible I can be getting on with the on board systems, so the dash and the electronics relating to that
Also not to forget I need to change the trailer braking system. Its somehow an American import by the look of it, and were not allowed hydraulic trailer brakes in the uk.

I know this post is mostly just talk but I thought I would spill out my ideas anyway.

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

madgadget,
That's one good thing about us, we like to hear your thoughts.
Heck most of my post are just my thoughts.
This forum keeps me occupied so I don't go stir crazy while I'm away.
i like the concept of your gage layout. The two center large gages and the others surrounding them. Very nice.
Keep it going.
Bob

 

[madgadget]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

Today I ordered two 16mm Cobalt hole cutters with the intention of seeing if cutting around the impossible to remove screws will give me any more luck.

Apparently we are having the coldest winter for some 13 years (if not more) and its -5C/23F outside at the moment, so nothing has been done and possibly may not until it warms up a bit. But that has not stopped my enthusiasm anyway!

 

[boatflipper]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

I hear your pain on the cold weather Here in the states, Kentucky is really cold (compared to normal) we are experiencing high temps of 10-20 degrees farhenheit and lows of 0 This past weekend I spent getting the cap off my boat and I was decked out in cover-all's and a mad-bomber hat (insulated hat that comes complete with ear flaps that buckle under the chin and rabbit-fur lining!)
Cant wait till spring....
Good luck on your rebuild. Great looking boat.

 

[AJ163]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

Madgadget,

interesting project...am also keen to see how you get on, as got quite a few little jobs I've been meaning to get round to on my Fletcher. The difference from before and after just from your polishing is impressive. Good luck with the rest of it.

AJ

 

[madgadget]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

Well the boat is still under snow. Another 5 inches of it. Coldest period now I think since the 60's. (way before me lol). So still no updates.

We broke some records to I think with about -20C -4F a couple of days ago in the South of the UK. Amazing.

AJ163 Nice boat Make sure you start a tread on that once you get going. Its great to hear from other Fletcher owners!

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

Must be all that global warming.
Looking forward to seeing some progress.
Bob

 

[madgadget]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

Well a tiny tiny bit of progress. Today I had some 16mm cobalt hole cutters arrive. The idea with these to cut around the screws holding the trim on. The idea worked! I trialled it on a few stuck screws and the cutter ate the aluminium and took out the screw within a few moments.

Its going to leave a lot of holes I have to fill, but in the trim that wont matter, but at least I can now see a way this is going to work! Tomorrow I may clear the snow off the boat and have a go at some more screws.

The thought of being able to do this is pretty exciting. It really was holding me back so much

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

madgadget,
Wow, How many of those holes are you going to end up with? I hope that it's not going to be to many. That is a lot of filling.
Sometimes it just what it takes to get the job done.
I'll be heading in your general direction within the next couple months. Headed for Slovakia for business.
Good luck on the weather.
Bob

 

[madgadget]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

Yes it will be a few holes for sure, but I'm happy I'll be able to sort the carnage it will leave behind. I'm no fibreglass pro, but I have used it for years on automotive applications, and I feel I know enough to fix this, and to be honest the time it took to drill out those few was so quick, and sorting the damage with the right tools wont be too bad at all so I am quite happy even if it is last thing I wanted to do. I reckon a days work for cutting them of and repairing the damage in total is realistic, so that's not too bad in reality. I'm fairly sure it will be a case of looks worse than it really is...

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

madgadget,
I'm sure you will be able to repair. If opps can cut a boat in half and put it back together you should be able to repair some holes. I forget sometime that 16mm is only about 5/8" for me.
Hope all goes as expected.
Bob

 

[madgadget]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

Just to update, Not a great deal of change to this boat yet. I have decided to sort out my other one first and not have two projects. Once that is done I shall work back on this one

In the meantime on working on this one here: http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=379448

 

[madgadget]

Re: Fletcher Arrowbeau 170 GTO project.

So things distracted me for quite some time, but I've recently started carrying out more work on this.

In the end I did the drastic option and cut the cap of the rear half of the boat. This was NO mean feat. In fact a complete nightmare. All the 'stainless' bolts securing both halves of the boat must have been of a poor grade and were totally rotten. I couldn't even drill them out as the coarseness of them instantly ruined the best drill bits I could find. The only option was to get a small hole saw and cut around them, as shown in the pics above.

i also had to cut the rubbing strip. I wont be replacing this due to the work involved, but it should join back ok with care. I made it a neat cut.

And the cap is off, Look at the state of that Transom. The guy I purchased this from said it would be fine... Who was he trying to kid!!!