Re: Man vs. Boat (season 1, episode 6).
Re: Man vs. Boat (season 1, episode 6).
Hey Guys:
Glad to report with some actual progress?. I got a ton of stuff done this weekend!! You guys are not going to believe my progress. I did the following all in one weekend:
Re-foamed the boat; added some decking; re-powered the boat and installed some seating; See pic below:
]
]
....wait for it...
....drum roll
Okay: On a serious note, I actually did get a lot of ?real? work done this weekend. My cousin lent a hand on Saturday and we were able to do the majority of the demo (foam and stringers completely out). Having an extra set of hands = real helpful!!!
There was not much to salvage on the stringers. In fact when I ground away some glass at the base of my engine mount stringers, water started running out of them ? seriously. How it got ?in there? but couldn?t get out is a bit of a mystery.
Also, when we lifted the old ski locker woven FG matting, there was literally about 1 inch of standing water under there, and the base board for the ski locker (under the fiberglass overlay) was obviously a rotten, soupy mess (my camera battery was dead at that point; I wish you guys could have seen it).
Today, I went back out there and did my initial grinding on the remnant fiberglass ridges where we removed the tabbing. I used my heavier duty face mask with brand new filter cartridges and it worked quite well. I felt like I was getting clean air, which was good since dust was flying everywhere.
A couple of little tricks I learned this weekend:
(a) When we were cutting out stringers with the sawzall, we found a piece of flexible sheet metal and laid it down on the downhill/opposite side from where we were sawing. We always cut down angle (towards the keel), because it simply is a better angle to avoid through-hull cuts. We simply let the blade on the far (keel) side ?ride along? the top of sheet metal to protect the hull. In doing this, we were able to cut really low, close to the hull, without worrying about going through. Made the work easier and eliminated some worry.
(b) I found that Cetaphil lotion (which we have on hand for one my children's dry skin issues) knocks at the fiberglass itch almost immediately. I highly recommend that too.
I know this is getting ?long winded? but I also wanted to share that I think I found my ?donor? boat this weekend. I pretty much have a ?verbal? with the guy; I just have to drive a couple hours this weekend to inspect the engine and listen to it on muffs, etc? I promise I did not do this on purpose, but it is a mid-90s starcraft (glasser) with a 350 magnum and alpha 1 outdrive. Let?s hope the engine test goes well, because I think I am getting a good deal. I may be the only fool on earth that is using a mid-90s boat with a 350 magnum/mercruiser as my donor boat, and a 1970s Chris Craft with a OMC stringer as my primary boat. However, the SC has some significant hull issues/leaks (with gel coat stripped off and jerry-rigged repair gone bad). Plus, I really love my 70s model Chris Craft and want to restore a boat of that vintage to its former, shagadellic splendor. Plus, if I can get this donor boat (that comes with a trailer), I can use the existing transom as my template for keyhole cuts, etc?
Pics and video update to follow in separate post below.
