The inevitable 1973 15 Reinell tri-hull restoration!

[dOb]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

I?m back at it. I took some time for a little R & R. I spent last week at the gulf coast with the family for a much needed break. We tried to get a fishing trip in, but the times just didn?t work out.
I made a little progress yesterday. I PB?d the seat mounts in place and got the battery pad glassed in. The battery box is the basic black box from WM. It was kind of big, and didn?t want to fit under my splashwell, so I cut it down about an inch. Now it fits perfectly.

I used 1708 to cover the battery pad. I wet out the glass before laying it down. For small sections, this is the way to go. Very few bubbles to work out. And it conformed to the edge of the wood without having to be cut. One piece, no cuts, no bubbles. I like it.

Sorry for the mess. I used the grinder to prep the area for the battery pad, and as usual, I found a few bumps and edges that I wanted to smooth out. Again, a boat load of dust.

Here?s a question: now that the deck is sealed, can I wash out the dust. There?s some under the bow seats that I can?t reach with the shop vac. Is it OK to spray it out, or at least wet mop? It should be around 102 when I get off work today, so I think it?ll dry up pretty quick.

 

[dOb]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

I?ve been trying to figure out what to do with the trim on my transom. The original trim is one of those half pieces, like angled aluminum that curves up both sides of the transom. It?s in decent shape, but it was originally screwed in place, and I would have all of the empty screw holes. I don?t plan of putting any screws back into the transom. His is what the transom had originally:

22 screws! That thing never stood a chance! 4 smaller screws aren?t indicated, but you get the idea.

Also, the cap and the transom don?t line up perfectly. But they never did. I looked back through photos of the demo, and this space was always there. I filled it with PB. This not only filled the gap, but it will secure the splashwell to the transom instead of the screws.

I think I?m going to use the original aluminum transom trim. I'll stick it down with 5200. I can grind off carriage bolt heads or use brass tack heads, and glue them over the holes. That will give it the appearance of being bolted down.

 

[Robert D]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

I would glass it in. Forget the aluminum strip, and just finish it nicely....it'll look better and be water tight.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Your 5200 plan will work. That's what I did. However glassing it ain't a bad idea either.

 

[DALLEN7]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

thanks for bringing this up Dob I have the same dilema I think I will do as Robert suggested and glass it in and just paint it.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Yep Glass it. Lay some CSM and Structural PB in there and form an nice rounded edge and smooth it all out and paint it. It'll look like the factory did it.

 

[Robert D]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Here's a few pic's after glassing it.......




Now finishing this with a broken elbow, I went ahead and used a bedliner in the splashwell...and very happy with the results. I toss everything in there, i.e.: Fish net, bait, etc.....and hose it out later!



..And it cruises at 50mph+ depending on weight in the boat!

 

[dOb]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Nice work RobertD. That came out great. I?ll go ahead and glass it in. I like the idea of it being totally sealed. And if I decide down the road that I want the look of the trim, I can always stick it on there later.
Did you need to put anything under the motor clamps?

 

[Robert D]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

I made the transom about 2 1/2" thick, installed knee braces all the way down to the stringers. The knee braces also tie into the underside of the splashwell. Absolutely solid, that motor can't flex anything. On the inside of the transom within the splashwell, I didn't like the idea of that much weight on the top two bolts with maybe a washer under them. I fabricated a 14" x 5" piece of 1/4" aluminum plate...polished nicely, to spread out the force of the motor hanging off it. It's kind of nice, about 2 years later, that I can spend the day in the water and when pulling it out on thetrailer have people comment that I don't have a drain at the bottom. I reach down into the bilge area under the splashwell, wipe a finger around and hold up the dry dust that is still there No leaks, so no need for a drain...which in all liklihood causes most leaks! (I keep the boat garaged, so it's not out in the weather long term.) It's a lot of overkill on the transom.....a local Merc shop that looked at it gave it his seal of approval, suggesting I could mount two 150 hp engines without a problem....other than possibly making the stern settle down in the water from weight! I used epoxy for everything, and the 3M 5200 in the bolt holes. (Which were bored oversize, filled with an epoxy/glass fiber mix, then drilled to size......no wood exposed to the bolts at all.) I've put about 200 hours on it since finishing, about half of it on some rather rough water in the Columbia River. Tri-hulls don't like 3 foot+ swells at speed, but we were in a hurry a few times and ran full speed....the hull was slapping the waves pretty hard.....and the boat is rock solid.

 

[dOb]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

I went ahead and glassed the splashwell to the hull to create a transom cap. It worked pretty well. I thought I had pictures of the whole process, but I can?t find them. Anyway, I squished Peanut Butter under the cap and along the edge of the transom. I laid some mat to level it out, but to be honest, I think I ended up sanding most of that away. After sanding it smooth, I painted it with rustoleum primer and oil based paint (and hardener).

I also painted the area where I repaired the cap, as well as the inside walls (gunwales?) and the repairs on the keel.

The boat will get a proper paint job in the winter. This was a good chance to work with paint and get a feel for it.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Nice Work!!!

 

[dOb]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

I?ve been doing a lot of little stuff this week. I have a long list of small details that need to be taken care of. One of the bigger things I?ve been dealing with is the gas tank. All in all it?s in pretty good shape. It needs to be cleaned up, but it seems solid. I had to dump about 8 gals. of old gas. It was thick and brown. The last registration on the boat was ?97, so I think this gas was well beyond usable.

The sender for the fuel gauge was completely trashed, so it will get a new one.
Also, when I pulled the fuel line out, I realized that it was about 2 ? ? shy of the bottom of the tank. The end had just rotted off.

Question: The connection looks brass, but the threads look copper. Can I just sweat a new piece of copper to the connection?

 

[dOb]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

OK. New fuel line siphon doo-dad. I left about ?? clearance at the bottom of the tank to avoid any blockage.

And the old tank cleaned up pretty nice.

When I pulled the tank out, it had four strips of a rubbery tar-like caulk on the bottom about 1? wide and 1/8? thick. Not rubber strips. It looks like it was some type of adhesive. The question is, is this for absorbing shock, or adhering the tank to the deck? I see some people use rubber strips. Could I just use four thick beads of silicone or PL adhesive?

 

[dOb]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

A quick update:
I ended up using bicycle inner tubes for the gas tank padding. They were about the right size. I cut two tubes into five pieces (2 long, 3 short). It worked out great. I screwed the tank down and used 5200 on the threads.
I also installed the wind shield. I ended up using the toilet bowl T-bolts, but I still had to grind them down to fit. They were a little bit big. Also, the motor has been mounted, the electrical run and the seats installed.
I have been spending time on the motor forums to get the motor up to speed. I am currently waiting for parts to rebuild the carbs. I figure by the time I get the motor worked out, it?ll be time to paint, and I?ll be back here asking a lot of questions. I?ll try to get some pics of where things stand by this weekend.

 

[dOb]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

She Floats! After rebuilding the carbs and making some adjustments, we took her out this weekend to check the motor and see how she rides. Still a lot of work to do on the motor. We had a couple of issues, but we did manage a full afternoon on the lake with out using the back up.

What a blast! I'm still smiling. I'll get some picture of the interior this week. While the motor work continues, I'll be gathering information on painting for this winter.
This forum really is an amazing source of information.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Congrats on the splash! Lookin' good in the water.

 

[dOb]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

I?ve spent the last few months reading through the mercury forum trying to get my motor in shape. Some of the problems were fuel related. So unfortunately, I had to remove the original 16 gal aluminum tank. I just didn?t trust that I had gotten it totally clean. I even called a muffler shop to see if they could clean it and they said that they couldn?t clean an aluminum tank. After rebuilding the carbs and fuel pump, and replacing all of the fuel lines, I didn?t want to take a chance that the fuel was dirty. So now I have a 6 gal removable plastic tank. At least it cuts down on weight. Maybe One day I?ll go back to the original tank.

Most of the other stuff was covered on the motor forum. But I?ll post this here. I think it falls under rebuilding.
I installed a tach to help work on the motor. There was an unused cut-out on the dash, and I found a mercury tachometer on ebay. My (Mer)control box has a plug on the front to connect a tach. I didn't have the male plug that went to the tach, and the wires in the box were completely trashed. I had originally planned on hard wiring through the front of the box when I replaced the wires, but decided to go ahead and build a plug. It?ll be easier to work with down the road.
The plug is a 1 inch pvc cap painted black. It?s a very snug fit, and very...budget friendly.

Now that the motor is running good, and the boat is structurally sound, I still need to build some seating in the bow and paint this thing. I?d like to keep the original gel coat, but with so many patches, I don?t think I would ever get it to match.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Check the link in my signature below for a good cheap but durable paint method for your boat.

 

[fstorm08]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

I?ve spent the last few months reading through the mercury forum trying to get my motor in shape. Some of the problems were fuel related. So unfortunately, I had to remove the original 16 gal aluminum tank. I just didn?t trust that I had gotten it totally clean. I even called a muffler shop to see if they could clean it and they said that they couldn?t clean an aluminum tank. After rebuilding the carbs and fuel pump, and replacing all of the fuel lines, I didn?t want to take a chance that the fuel was dirty. So now I have a 6 gal removable plastic tank. At least it cuts down on weight. Maybe One day I?ll go back to the original tank.

Most of the other stuff was covered on the motor forum. But I?ll post this here. I think it falls under rebuilding.
I installed a tach to help work on the motor. There was an unused cut-out on the dash, and I found a mercury tachometer on ebay. My (Mer)control box has a plug on the front to connect a tach. I didn't have the male plug that went to the tach, and the wires in the box were completely trashed. I had originally planned on hard wiring through the front of the box when I replaced the wires, but decided to go ahead and build a plug. It?ll be easier to work with down the road.
The plug is a 1 inch pvc cap painted black. It?s a very snug fit, and very...budget friendly.

Now that the motor is running good, and the boat is structurally sound, I still need to build some seating in the bow and paint this thing. I?d like to keep the original gel coat, but with so many patches, I don?t think I would ever get it to match.

great job dob!

 

[dOb]

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

Re: The inevitable 1973 15? Reinell tri-hull restoration!

OK, so the motor needed more attention than I expected. There was an exhaust leak that was causing the motor to overheat. Again, I won?t go into detail here, the info is on the Mercury forum.

While I waited for parts to arrive, I went ahead and made cushions for bow seating. I found a good deal for marine vinyl online. I measured where I wanted seats, and transferred the measurements to ? inch plywood. I cut the plywood and installed T-Bolts, and made sure that I could install the panels before putting the foam and vinyl on. I also cut air relief holes in the panels.

For the padding I used three layers of egg crate foam. I marked the vinyl about an inch beyond the plywood backing, and then cut about an inch beyond that. The marked line helped top keep even tension when I was pulling the vinyl to staple down. They came out OK. Especially when you consider that the total cost was around $80.

Now I have begun to prep for paint. I have removed all hardware, and snipped all of the (more than 100) snaps that I won?t be using. I?ve washed down with degreaser/de-waxer and fill the holes with marine-tex. Sanding today and hopefully painting the first coat of primer tomorrow.

I?ll be using:
Rustoleum metal primer
Rustoleum Pro oil based white
And a quart of Rustoleum top side Navy Blue that I found on line for a blue stripe on the side of the boat.

Question:

I?ll be spraying this on using the Woodonglass formula with acetone and hardner. I have read to wait any where from 12 to 24 hours. Obviously I would like to get it done in half the time, but should I wait 24 hours between coats?