Glastron v156 hull repair & deck replacement

[rich158]

Hi All,

Bought an old V156 with a '79 70hp Evinrude just over a year ago from a boat dealer. It's a fun, stable & quick first boat great for estuary & lake fishing with the kids. It's not had any leaks in the past, but, 2 weeks ago it seemed a bit sluggish onto the plane & heavy winching onto the trailer. So much so, the winch cable snapped.

Bilge was nearly full. the 850gph pump go a good workout while I put a temporary knot in the winch cable & got the boat on the trailer. It took another 10 minutes to drain once the bung was out. Got it home & went for the ugly inspection..... Found this under the port sponson.






but wait,, there's more





Got a quote for "around" AUD600 to fix the hole. Then started looking through the glastron threads here.

 

[rich158]

Re: Glastron v156 hull repair & deck replacement

The deck had to come up to do a proper repair which is where things get interesting. I note all the v156 & v176 boats in here are american built - not by 'glastron boat co (Aust)' who don't exist anymore. All the american boats seem to have stringers supporting the hull strakes and a few also have stringers along the sponson edge. So that's a keel stringer and between 4 and 6 others plus cross bracing at 2 or 3 points underdeck.

This one, doesn't. A keel stringer plus two along the deep V section of the hull. cross bracing is just 2 pieces of 80mm wide ply that aren't even glassed to the hull. So It appears a few corners were cut in the building process. Additionally the port side seems to have plenty of resin & the starboard not so much. the calipers also show 4mm thickness on the port side & 6mm on the starboard Me thinks it's missing a couple of chopped strand mat layers.

http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx15/rick158/26012010363.jpg

http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx15/rick158/26012010364.jpg

http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx15/rick158/26012010366.jpg

what looks like a dog turd on the gunwale in this one is actually the rotted wooden remains of 'something' that was under the 80mm ply strip.
http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx15/rick158/26012010367.jpg

Starboard side showing the not properly wetted out, but much thicker mat. Could this be evidence of a previous repair?

http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx15/rick158/26012010367.jpg





Have to restore this thing now to stand any chance ever taking it out again. After speaking to a local fibre glass supplies place who suggest I grind it back until glass is exposed & then use 4 x 30cm strips of biaxial cloth with poly resin to get the strength back into it before using 3 layers of 'Duomat 10-80 630 woven/450gsm' to reinforce the whole port side of the hull. They said I wouldn't need to glass in stringers doing it this way.

I am a novice at fiberglassing so any pointers as to the best way to repair the cracks would be a big help.

Also saw a couple of threads from a year or so ago where the new cross bracing on this hull type was really rigid. How did this work out? Big improvement? Or did being too stiff cause other issues?

As I said, any pointers, help or suggestions would be a big help.http://forums.iboats.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

 

[rich158]

Re: Glastron v156 hull repair & deck replacement

Question for the glassing experts: would it be better to use epoxy on this repair & restore?

 

[rich158]

Re: Glastron v156 hull repair & deck replacement

update, almost done. Had the work done by a retired shipwright at a price I couldn't say no to.

new stringer to match the american built v-156 boats:

cracks ground out & patched. 1 layer biaxial (418gsm), 1 layer CSM 450gsm & epoxy reinforce the hull. Stringers then glassed & epoxied inplace.

new seats built to original pattern but with better foam & extra padding:

Deck & carpet down, aft view - electrics to be done!

All in, couple of kick panels to attach.

had a custom cover made for it too:

Just have to decide what to do about the tatty gel coat but that's a job for next winter.

 

[rich158]

Re: Glastron v156 hull repair & deck replacement

btw, looks like the original damage was caused by a badly adjusted skid on the trailer. Tying down for trailering stressed the hull & a few pot holes in the road did the rest....

costly mistake not getting it properly checked/adjusted after buying from a dealer.