Project With Pics, My First One

[4everphotos]

First, howdy to everyone here. I've had a GREAT time reading about the numerous projects everyone is working on, and am learning a lot just from seeing what you guys have and are doing that works/doesn't work.

After years of dreaming about having my own boat and doing a repair/refurbish/whatever on it, I finally have my very own First Project!

I'll post some pics of it here, and if you want a little chuckle, feel free to check out the blog on my myspace, where I linked a goofy little movie I made about it, as we have just started on it. The pictures I'll post here are the ones I used in the movie.

Got my tax refund back (yay!), and had enough to get the camera I wanted (Sony Alpha D350 for freelance work) with plenty left over to get this boat and some startup materials. Found it on craigslist, the guy was asking $300.00, but since it was designed as a sailboat and I wanted to retask it as a little fishing boat, he kept the mast and sail and let me get the boat and the trailer for $200.00.

My cousin, Lonnie, who works for UPS repairing their trucks and equipment, and who is a whiz with fiberglass, is having a blast working with me on this little project boat, and it's giving me an awesome opportunity to see first hand just how you go about working with fiberglass. My brother, Tommy, to the right in the above pic, will be helping me in refurbishing the trailer.

This pic above shows a better angle on the bow and underside of the boat, and the trailer it is sitting on.

Above pic shows an interior shot of the boat towards the stern.

This pic above is an interior shot from the stern looking towards the bow.

I'll continue in the next post...

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: Project With Pics, My First One

Welcome to the forums, and howdy there 150 mile away neighbor. Congrats on the project boat. Can't wait to see pics and see what you're going to do to it.

I got mine for $200 bucks too... but somehow, by the time I'm done, it's going to cost me thousands and thousands... lol. Boats are funny like that, the cheaper they are, the more expensive they are.

 

[4everphotos]

Re: Project With Pics, My First One

Another pic stern to bow showing a bit more of the boat.

This is a pic of the transom...before Lonnie had found out about my little puddlejumper project boat D), I had already glassed in the left corner of the transom area, NOT KNOWING that the wood underneath was bad. It felt solid to the touch, but when he came over, he wanted to check to be sure, and I said go for it.

Lesson learned...NEVER ASSUME! lolol!

He cut a small opening in the other side from where I had been working, then looked at me and said that my glass job was fine (not bad for a first time, hehehe), but whoever had done the PREVIOUS glasswork was either plain out sloppy or they were cutting corners. Apparently, instead of putting in a new transom, they slapped in some thin sheets of luan (spelling? lol!) and then slapped on some thin fiberglass over that. Because the boat hull is formed all around, including across the top of the transom area, which is still strong and very firm, it hid the weakened and rotted out condition of the underlying wood.

I told him to rip it all out and let's do it right. He asked if I was sure, since I had already patched the one area on the left, and I said dang skippy, cuz I wanted to do it right, so he proceeded to go ahead and completely remove the bad wood and fiberglass overlay.

If you look in the above pic, you can see the worst of it laying on the ground beneath the boat. Once he removed that outside layer of rotted wood and glass, he then cut out the rest of it.

I had already done a huge chunk of work on it, as it seems someone along the way must have thought tub caulking was a good thing to use to seal the seams??? Sand sand sand, cut cut cut, and more sand cut sand cut, all day, as I labored at getting that gooey, rubbery crap out of the seam and off the edges of the seam. I then went to work on the inside edges, where the edging was cracked and also crappy. Good thing I have long thumbnails, it was the only thing that seemed to work in some areas to pop and scrape the mess off!

So by the time Lonnie showed up, I had finally gotten back to the transom, and he finished that part up for me, giving my aching back and aching fingers a much needed rest!

You can't see it very well in the above pic, but on the hull are several old stickers, dating back to 1974 and above. The boat was at some point registered in Du Page county, Forest Preserve, and I found when I googled it that this county was in Illinois. I have no other info on the boat, when I bought it, the guy didn't have a title, just a bill of sale that he gave me, so I think I'm in for a rough time in getting it registered when we get done. Ah, well, that is a headache for another day!

We took the next day off, due to work and weather, then Lonnie worked some more on the transom yesterday.

Just a few more pics in the next post...

 

[4everphotos]

Re: Project With Pics, My First One

Okay, my last few pics to show what we have so far...

Lonnie worked on the transom yesterday, making the pattern...I went to Lowe's and got some 15/32 two foot by four foot for the actual transom wood, and after he cut it using the rough pattern from the scrap wood, he then glassed it. The following pics show him making the pattern, and give a better idea of the size of the boat, too...I'm going to take some more pics in the morning, showing what he did today, as he now has it glassed into place, and will be adding more.

If for any reason the pics don't show up (photobucket sometimes cuts off showing pics if you reach a certain bandwidth), you can see them on my myspace page that I originally set up for my photography stuff, at
http://www.myspace.com/4everphotos.

In the first set of pics, you could see the drop through for the keel. He has already cut that out for me, has cut down the keel, and will be putting it into the drop through and glassing it on both sides, for strength. What I'm knocking around in my head is this...I'm wondering if it might not be a bad idea to see about adding some sort of runners down each side, sort of creating a tri-hull for it, to help compensate for the loss of the keel.

Since it was designed as a small sailboat, the keel was an important component for stabilization. But using it as I am planning to, I'll be going into some shallow areas, and it was just impractical to keep it.

We'll also be adding two bench seat areas, building them so they will give me some storage area, and on top of the benches I'll be putting in some simple swivel fishing seats.

Tomorrow I'll take some pics of what he did today, show you where he cut down that drop through keel area, and then I'll be running around trying to scare up some more fiberglass matting! lol! WalMart didn't plan on my project so they don't have much stocked, hehehe!! maybe I need to clue them in?

 

[4everphotos]

Re: Project With Pics, My First One

Welcome to the forums, and howdy there 150 mile away neighbor. Congrats on the project boat. Can't wait to see pics and see what you're going to do to it.

I got mine for $200 bucks too... but somehow, by the time I'm done, it's going to cost me thousands and thousands... lol. Boats are funny like that, the cheaper they are, the more expensive they are.

lol! that is so true!!! My dad went with me when I got it, and laughed all the way home, saying I just bought a big hole for my money! hehehehe!!!!

But I am having a blast! Yeah, it can be exhausting, and for a woman who is just learning about all this, it can definitely be intimidating to delve into what is usually considered a guy sorta thing, but I am loving it.

If nothing else, I've provided a good source of laughter for my family, as my folks just shake their heads and crack up every time I head out the door to work on THE BOAT.

I'm learning so much watching my cousin do the fiberglassing, and even though we had to remove the whole transom area, it felt good when he saw the glasswork I had done and approved of it...coming from him, that meant a lot, with him being so good at it. The problem wasn't the glasswork I had done, because I did the actual fiberglassing right...it was simply that whoever had done it before me had just covered over the crap, giving the 'illusion' that the transom was okay when it wasn't.

What he does, I don't know if I could do. He makes it HOT, speeds up the curing process, so it isn't a day's wait for it to cure, it's ready to roll in thirty minutes or less! I am amazed at it, and am looking forward to getting the floor layed in, which we will probably work on in a day or so.

Thanks for the welcome, and it's doubly nice to meet another Tennessean here. I really do look forward to getting to know everyone, and hope I will be able to at least provide some comic relief? hehehe!