I used marine grade Baltic birch, it was some high dollar stuff but all of those you mention are all quality products from my research but I have not used them. Sounds like you are on the right track.

So do you plan to save the cap or are you going to transform her into a center console?

I used 1/2" divynicell foam for my floor core and hatches. Really great stuff to work with. May want to research those foam cores and consider them for your deck. My hatches alone weighed 80 lbs before the recore and 33 lbs after and solid as a rock.

One thing I will say about the wood you select, I had my boat at my friends dealership in his pit doing some fine-tuning on the engine. It is incredible the amount of force that is placed on that 1-1/2" of ply and maybe 1/4" of fiberglass. I see guys using everything from the products you mentioned down to bottom-dollar plywood.

Once it is all done, and the 600+ hours invested are to be enjoyed, never worry with if you should have spent the extra money on the wood. Skimp on light packages, pop-up cleats, rod holders and all the bells and whistles as they will end up costing far more than what you spend on the structural components and you can change those out later as they start to show their age.

Tartuffe

That raised another question. If I decided on the full transom/ bracket. . How thick should the transom be? I'll be replacing the stringers to and plan on tabbing in knees which will rise from stringers to the top of the transom. I'm either glassing in insulation for a fish box or making a livewell.

I would think to go with the same setup for a transom with a bracket of 2 layers of 3/4" ply. The one thing I would do would be to have an aluminum or stainless backer plate made to bolt the bracket to on the inside. Whomever you buy your bracket from should be able to tell you how large of an area you will need to distribute the force across.

I have a piece of aluminum c-channel that the bottom bolts of my motor bolt through. Because of the curvature of the transom I laid out a thick pad of thickened resin, covered it with saran wrap and mashed the channel into it. Once it cured I peeled the saran wrap off and sanded down the resin that squeezed out. This gave me a perfectly flat area that the c-channel rests against.

http://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-...storation.html

Thanks

Awesome build by the way. So you used compsite board?

Thanks, was alot of fun. I only used composite core material on the deck and hatches. There is some pretty neat stuff out there that can used on a transom but I wasn't aware of them when I started in on my project.

Tartuffe

For composite board dose it have to be infused vacuum bagged? Or whatever the proper terminology is? Doing research and it looks like awesome stuff. Did you start your rebuild onthe exterior of the hull? How did you flip it? Still have your support? Sorry for so many questions but I really appreciate the help!

The gelcoat is also completely shot. . I've started exterior sanding and hit the glass in a few spots.. grinding down all cracks. Does the gelcoat all need to come off? 2hrs sanding didn't get a lot done.. I'll post some pics in the am

All the gel coat doesn't need to come off.

Going back with paint will be a whole lot easier.

It's in the blood, Picture of my great grandfathers ship building tools. My dad donated them to our local maritime museum.
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/...sd6sop67f.jpeg

Pics of the gelcoat, where I have sanded and alot more to go
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/...psdeb4gqoj.jpg

http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/...pslvdex4wk.jpg

http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0wfrezvw.jpg

Next couple pics are for fairing related questions. How thick can fairing be on its own? At what thickness should i be adding CSM?

http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/...psh96vrvz9.jpg
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/...psfrlnykmk.jpg

This last pic has me concerned. this is the top where the outter and inner skin match up. Looks like it's resin starved? recomendations on fixing?

http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/...psrjlxtwo3.jpg

http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5b3e71wv.jpg

Bored at work
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/...sqiidk64b.jpeg

Thanks again for your input & help!!