1978 V20 CC Rebuild
 

Hello All. I am new to the V20 forum. I am looking to do a total refurbishment on my '78 V20 CC with a '95 Johnson 150. She runs out great. It has several areas with soft spots. I plan to pull the top cap and replace ALL the wood in the floor, stringers and transom. I would also like to add a motor extension bracket with 6-7ft swim platform. I will be doing all the work myself. I am looking for any helpful hints, tips, best material to use in each area, etc. Does anyone know what the stringer size is? I can not find that info. Hope to start this project next year. Thank you in advance.

Welcome to the Cult. Where in Fla are you? You'll love your V20, but be cautioned about jumping into a cap off restoration, lots of time blood sweat and beers. If the soft spots aren't too bad I might just run it as is for a couple years. Or at least start it in the off season although Fl doesn't really have one. Lots of good, helpful people here who have done just about everything you can to these hulls at one point or another.

Bradford, I am in the Destin, Fl. area. I agree, we do not have much of a off fishing season. I have found several soft spots throughout the boat. I have had no problems so far with the way she runs out. With the areas that I have found bad, I don't want to wait too long to do these repairs. Most of my floor has soft spots. I know it will be ALOT of work. I have to remove the cap to accomplish the repairs needed on the floor. While I have it off, plan to tackle the stringers and transom as well. Get it all at once. No signs of any repairs from previous owners.

great to have another member south of I-10.. not sure, does the 78 have a 20 or 25 inch transom, also doesn't that deck drain into the bilge. if so, might want to raise deck to drain overboard. is your gas tank under the deck or saddle tanks?

adding the bracket & swim platform will be a big job alone. might be quicker to look for a newer hull with a blown sea drive set up. these are usually mid 80's with below deck fuel tanks, raised deck, and transom already closed.

what ever u do lots of knowledge on here. and we like pictures.

Phatdaddy, sorry for taking so long to reply. I have not been on the forum in a long time. My transom is 25". My floor drains into the splash well. I currently have a Johnson 150 and she runs out great. Recently I was cleaning the boat and found 2 cycle oil in the bottom of the hull. Upon investigation and pulling the fuel tank, I found several holes in the bottom of my original aluminum tank. Fuel finally worked its way through the expanded foam surrounding my tank and started draining back. I am currently prepping to remove top cap and replace stringers and bulkheads that I found rotted when I pulled the fuel tank out.I will replace the transom as well. Going back with a poly tank. I am going to do some customizing while I have everything apart. Adding a 30" motor extension and getting rid of my splash well. Moving my center console forward as well. Going to be adding about five feet of space in the back of the boat for fishing and diving conveneance.

The original tank manufactor is alive and well over in perry if you want to go back with oem stock. I know moeller makes a poly one thats close, either way no leaks is important.

Good luck and take pics

Thanks for the info. I already have a poly tank that was given to me. It came out of a wrecked boat. Boat was run hard into a dock and destroyed the port bow area.i have a few pics of my v20 so far and will be taking more throughout the rebuild process. I am hoping things work out and get the top cap off tomorrow.

Bundle up, its cold for us thin blooded florida folk.

I'm very interested in seeing pictures of the stringer setup once you get the top cap pulled. I'd also like to see pictures of the underside of the top cap if you can get them.

My 1977 V-20 Center Console will probably need stringers replaced in the near future also and the floor needs some work for a couple of soft spots behind the center console.

Redloon, I got the top cap off Sunday and sitting on saw horses. Waiting for weather to clear up to get some good pictures. I will post them later. Do you have the bench seats/storage on both sides of the bow or do you have the raised deck in bow area? I have the seats on each side of the bow. I have several spots on the floor that are soft as well. Most of the area behind the console is soft. Especially around the helm seat. After removing top cap and further inspection of the stringers and bulkheads, I found all of the bulkheads are rotted and very little wood in the stringers. Most of the floor is rotted too. Good luck with yours.

TIP: When you replace the underside of your deck, cut the marine plywood into irregular size pieces. (Kinda like a jigsaw puzzle) If you make long seams all in the same place you will create weak points. So by making some large and some small you will avoid that. Then, when you have it all glued in place (Liquid Nails Construction adhesive or it's equivalent) place a thin sheet of fiberglass over the wood so it's permanently sealed against moisture.

Additionally, when you replace the stringers do the same thing with the fiberglass. Water is the enemy of wood. By sealing the wood with fiberglass you avoid any problems in the future. If Wellcraft had done this simple and relatively inexpensive step many more V20's would still be alive instead of sitting in landfills.

My V20 CC has the two bench seats/storage up front instead of the raised deck.

When I remove the cap on mine I've been thinking of making boxes for the 2 storage area so that the foam/stringers are not exposed and making it harder to lose items into the bottom of the hull.

Does anyone know how to upload pictures to the forum from an Android phone? I have a Galaxy Note 3 that has all my pics of the boat restoration so far.

Thanks for the tip Destroyer. I will be rebuilding the floor along with making a few changes to it.

You won't be able to do it directly because your pix are too High Res so the file size is >1 meg. There are some threads about posting pix, try searching, but here is the abbreviated version...


One way, get a Photobucket account online and post them from your phone to there, then copy and paste links to your thread here using Insert Link.

Another way is to email them to yourself as Medium or Large file size (not original size), save them to a folder in your Pictures folder (I have a folder called "email pix" so I can find it easily) and then post them to your thread using Insert Image

1978 V20 hull with cap removed.

Bulkhead behind fuel tank.

Bulkhead forward of the fuel tank.

As you can see in the pics, the bulkheads have little to no fiberglass covering the side facing the tank. Due to no coatings, they are rotted enough for me to push my finger through. I removed some of the foam along the sides today and upon closer inspection, most of the wood in the stringers and bulkheads on sides are 75%-90% gone. Most of the joints were not glassed properly. Large gaps that allowed water and moisture into the wood core. Most of the fiberglass tabs are poorly layed out. Some appear to not have enough resin (dried out) or was left with large wrinkles in the glass not sealing core material. I am not happy with the way it all looks. However, it will all be reworked correctly when I replace all the bad material.

I had a 1984 Wellcraft 180 Fisherman and saw the same thing with the bulkheads next to the hull sides - parts of the plywood was not covered with fiberglass leading to rotting wood. It appears that taking a shortcut or just poor workmanship was a common mode of operation back then.

Thanks for the picture of the hull with top cap removed. How did you get the cap off - forklift or other means?

Glad mine doesnt have any foam.

I had an 18 with those same problems.

I suspect this is the same thing I would find under my '79 center console floor as I too can see the foam in the front storage areas. It weird though that the '79 cuddy that I'm working only had foam around the tank. I plan on filleting the tops of the stringers, cleaning out any existing wood with an electric chainsaw and poruing carbon core. It's going to be pricey but I will have a boat that will never rot. I guess I'll get around to it when it gets a bit warmer.

I hear you on waiting until it is warmer. I was actually doing a little work on my boat yesterday. We got hit with that artic front and the temperature went from 70 degrees at noon yesterday (Saturday, 12/18) down to 18 degrees this morning (Sunday 12/18).

For cap removal. After removing rub rail and screws, I raised the bow and stern with a neighbors tractor and placed 2x4's in corners to hold top above stringers. Tractor would not lift the whole cap. Too much weight at that height. I made an A frame 12 ft tall and used a chain hoist to lift it up. I built a wood beam from doubled up 2x4's that went from the splash well to the anchor storage wall. I doubled more 2x4's as cross braces. Placed boards in the openings of bow storage areas and secured to cross beam. Lashed cross beam to top of center beam. I placed 2x4's under floor tank opening about 8 inches from the ends and did the same with the double openings in front of splash well. All of these were strapped with heavy duty ratchet straps to pull everything tight to floor. I made some steel brackets to bolt to beam and attached chains to and hoist hook. Took me a few tries to get the center of gravity right. After that, she came up with no problem. Placed several saw horses under cap and set down. I plan to modify the lift rig to rotate cap when I get ready to rework the floor. Unless someone has a good way flip it over without breaking anything. I am up for suggestions.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!! I will be off line till next year.

Same to you!

:beer:

Fldivebum,

Thanks for the detailed explanation of how you got the top cap up and off the boat. I don't have a forklift or big tree in the backyard to use so that definitely helped.

I'll be in Florida the first week of 2017 - taking the family to Pensacola Beach area for some R & R and some ocean fishing.

Merry Christmas to you and to all on this forum.

Slight de-rail

Redloon, our water temps are still pretty warm, so don't pass up the chance to do some surf fishing. Bring a long spinning rod and set up while kids play on the beach. Some of the largest pompano & whiting are cruising the sandbars this time of year.

Phatdaddy,

Yeah - I plan on bringing a couple of surf rods. I'll be out on the Pensacola Beach pier and the Navarre pier also. We did this a few years ago and had fun with the bonito and trying to keep them away from the sharks once you caught one. My kids are both over 25 so they will be there right alongside me fishing.

I've been following the Pensacola Fishing Forum and am looking forward to this.

Good deal, have fun

Redloon,
Just logging back into v20 since the new year. Just returned from a New Years Cruise with the family. You are welcome for the procedures for top cap removal. I researched several methods and the one I came up with was the most cost effective at the time. It worked out great. Wish I had been on here sooner. You could have stopped by and seen the boat separated and how bad things were rotted and the bad fiberglass job from the factory. At the moment, I have all the foam removed and all the center bulkheads removed as well. Weather has not been good lately and have not been able to work on it. Unfortunately, I do not have a shelter or building to work on the boat.

http://wellcraftv20.com/community/sh...ad.php?t=17379

HI Bum,
Nice project ya got. I did a complete restoration on my 81 that is linked above. Check out divynicell for your deck material it is a great product. I used AB Baltic birch for stringers and transom and epoxy resins but would have used divynicell for the stringers and bulkheads had I known what a great product it is. Also made sure not to create hard spots in the hull. This is really important in your layup. If you have any questions feel free to send me an email and I can look back at my notes and suppliers. Oh, all the stainless fasteners from the big box stores will be stained with rust in a year.

Tartuffe,
Thanks for the response. I am still removing all the bulkheads and stringers. I have been debating on what material to use on the stringers and bulkheads. I haven't started with floor yet. Going to try and finish one part at a time. Where did you get your stainless hardware. I have already seen the results of big box SS hardware. Starts rusting in a matter of months.

That's because just like steel, there are different grades of Stainless Steel. There is 201, 301, 304, 305, 310, 316, 321, 347, 409, 410, 430, 439 and 441. Most big box stuff from China is type 201, which has a reduced amount of Nickle in it. Looks pretty, but Nickel and Chromium are the 2 major ingredients in SS for corrosion resistance. (IF you are forced to buy that stuff, buy a can of Helmsman spray Urethane and coat each part with it. The Urethane forms a barrier that will resist water from getting to the SS fittings). Much better would be to use type 304, 304 DQ or 305 SS, all of which have excellent corrosion resistance (because they have higher amounts of Nickel) and are what most marine fittings are made from. Don't worry about the other grades, they are mostly for industrial applications like strength, work hardening, or heat treating or the ilk.

I bought big box and have been trading out each time I go to west Marine. I probably will pay 5 times more over time but it's just easier given I am doing 3 screws here, 8 bolts there every few months but it's frustrating nonetheless.