Rebuilding the 26 footer

[PKomrowski]

I'm rebuilding my new prize, I thought I would make a post and share some of the progress.

Right now I have a question some may have experimented with... I want to put my batteries below the deck, I also want to put a fish well below the deck. I have lots of depth but there is a Z support running right through the aria. Now I think these supports are mainly for the floor support, there is a gas tank that runs from the motor to the cutty stairs in the center, then a large support box channel on both sides of the gas tank, the motor mounts are on what looks like a 4x4 box channel or maybe a 4x6 box channel that run on the floor and it looks like it runs the length of the boat. I'm not thinking of cutting these only the Z support that's about 12 in from the out side of the boat, there is another one about 6 inches toward the outside of the boat from that one, and the box next to the gas tank is on the inside of the one I'm thinking of cutting about 12 inches.


My plan is to build the containers onto the bottom of the floor with plywood, then epoxy the outsides and fiberglass and epoxy paint the top and insides of the containers with all the right fittings of course. I'm not worried about building part, I'm a master wood worker with all the tools so no big deal there.

Its cutting the floor support I'm not positive about. The bottom of these are normally held in place by a single rivet into each of the "Hull TUBES" that run from side to side in these boats, so that's not any massive connection or strength there, that's what leads me to think these are only for floor support and not structural support.

Thanks for any input.. from someone who has experience at "doing stuff"

PK

 

[elkhunter338]

Re: Rebuilding the 26 footer

I would post some pictures of the supports you are thinking of getting rid of.
Putting the boxes below the floor for the batteries I ??, I would use the gel batteries.
Battery fumes eat wood, alum. So when the batteries are charging the fumes will be kept below the floor with is not the best of ideas. With a 26' I would just keep the batteries above the floor in a plastic battery box with tie down. I have a 21' and wish I had the 26'.
I was thinking about a fish box in the floor would be nice.
Keep in mind anything you put below the floor will have bilge water to deal with.

 

[PKomrowski]

Re: Rebuilding the 26 footer

I would post some pictures of the supports you are thinking of getting rid of.

Putting the boxes below the floor for the batteries I ??, I would use the gel batteries.
Battery fumes eat wood, alum. So when the batteries are charging the fumes will be kept below the floor with is not the best of ideas. With a 26' I would just keep the batteries above the floor in a plastic battery box with tie down. I have a 21' and wish I had the 26'.

I was thinking about a fish box in the floor would be nice.
Keep in mind anything you put below the floor will have bilge water to deal with.

I will have to take some pictures..

The box will be made of wood covered with fiberglass and then painted with epoxy paint, so no real issues with fumes eating the box, and they would be drained into the bilge, these are so much bigger and deeper than the 21s or the 22 that there is probably 12 to 16 inches of drop from where the bottom of the box would be to the bottom of the bilge so pleanty of drain height.

I want as much floor real estate as possible. I may concider trying to fit them in the back and building a step or platform over them on the port side. But not sure I want that either. In the floor (vented) would be the nicest way to go. But your right on the venting that may be a issue, I will have to see how others have done it.

 

[Pugetsound]

Re: Rebuilding the 26 footer

Nice Irish name there Bud. Very nice big project there to work on. Take any advice well as these guys have learned it all the hard way. Keep us posted.-------- Pugetsound

 

[GLG fishing]

Re: Rebuilding the 26 footer

I?m currently working on a newer duckworth boat that has the batteries in the keel area near the back. They are mounted in a battery tray, nothing special. I like the idea of having the weight low and in the center of the boat. The draw back to this boat would be if the battery were to split then acid would be released onto the metal hull. The other draw back would be submerging the battery if you took on water. I don?t know anything about off gassing so I can?t comment to that. If it were my boat I would have no problem with mounting my battery down there as long as precautions were taken to prevent leaks and water intrusion.

Perhaps more research would be in order.

GLG

 

[barato2]

Re: Rebuilding the 26 footer

GLG, that's myy take too. i want my batteries at floor level so in case i ever start taking on water, my BILGE PUMPS AND RADIO will still work for a while. even thought about adding backup gel-cell Odyssey motorcycle battery mounted up high but decided that was overkill...saving my $ for the life raft instead.

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: Rebuilding the 26 footer

Looking forward to some photos

The stringers are somewhat structural, besides supporting the deck they tie in the entire hull since they are riveted into all the ribs.

I added some extra rivets and replaced damaged ones to reinforce the stringers on my Starcraft.

Good luck to ya!

 

[PKomrowski]

Re: Rebuilding the 26 footer

I thought I would put some pictures up and the progress I have made so far. Its turning out great, and I love working on it all though it seem like the project is getting bigger and bigger. These are some before pictures, I had a great all finished 22 ft Islander that was turned into a dive boat and was completely finished, I only looked at this one because I had never seen the mighty 26 footer and was curious. That turned out to be a great decision! I love the size of this boat as I normally boat on Lake Ontario and big is better! So here are some before pictures.

It was a strange day, as they guy who owned it had it on a dead end street behind some bushes with the for sale sign facing away from any would be traffic. He said it had been for sale for 2 years, no bites. I didn't wonder why, and then I figured the trailer and boat if you scrapped them would net at least K, but since I didn't want another boat I made an offer.... figuring he would swore at me and walk away I timmedly offered him 2K and he countered with 2500 and I owned a boat! I couldn't believe it. This has the rare 350 4 bolt main 260hp merc in it as well!

 

[PKomrowski]

Re: Rebuilding the 26 footer

My first task was to rebuild the trailer, I thought it was rusted out but turns out it was all surface rust. It had hydraulic brakes that were shot. I stripped all the breaks off and planned the replacement with electric breaks, as I do not like hydraulic breaks on a trailer. I then sand blasted the whole trailer primed and painted it. Then I did all the wheel bearings and breaks converting to electric. I then installed new lights and wires and plug, and then replaced all the rollers that were bad or cracked up. I replaced all the tires with the right size because the previous owner though any tire would work and thats the farthest from the truth. Boat trailers need the right size to make loading and unloading easy. I then replaced all the springs with a 5 leaf instead of the 4 leaf increasing the load carrying of each spring by 500 pounds for a better ride as it was much to mushy.

 

[PKomrowski]

Re: Rebuilding the 26 footer

Since then I replaced the toung winch with a 2400 electric winch and rewelded a new front support as well. There is no way to say how nice an electric winch is on this size of boat. I can unload it in 3 mins total, and I can load it on to the trailer in 4 to 7 mins max from me getting out of the truck to getting back in the truck.

 

[PKomrowski]

Re: Rebuilding the 26 footer

The next step was to build a hard top. Since I weld aluminum it was a simple choice of what I should build it out of. I removed the existing windsheild and everything elce that would be in the way, and then started the fabercation. It was hard to get good welds out in the wind that was the hardest part of the job, as I had to build it in my driveway. It did require a lot of thought as how I was going to rewire everything as the winshield wipers, lights, radio, two way, hail horn, anchor light, cabin lights all had to be figured out along with the antennas, and hand rails so I could still get to the bow without taking a bath every time.

I wanted windows as well so I planed it out to install 4 sets of sliding windows in the sides as well as the two main winshields in the front. Here is how it turned out.

 

[JD in Milwaukee]

Re: Rebuilding the 26 footer

Very nice!