V20 Hull Construction
 

Is the hull of a V20 cored? *I see a lot of talk of replacing stringers, but never anything on the coring material of the hull.

I am asking this question because I own a 1968 Seabird V21. *There isn't that much information about the Seabirds. *Then, I saw a Wellcraft V20 on a ship I was working on. *Tonight, I saw the pictures of one being rolled in the repair forum. *After seeing the bottom of the hull, I have come to the conclusion that the Seabird V21 and the Wellcraft V20 had to have come from the same mold. *The only difference I have seen so far is that the Seabird hull and sides are cored with balsa wood as well as the deck and portions of the cap. *The Wellcrafts seem to share a similar construction except plywood is used instead of balsa. *The Seabird does have some stringers that run about 2/3rds the length of the hull, but seem to be primarily there to support the deck and provide a mounting location for the engine. *I would swear my boat was a Wellcraft if I didn't have the Seabird nameplate that states capacity and such as well as the shadow of the Seabird logo in the gelcoat.

The Seabird may have more deadrise. I haven't measured it yet, but I know the later models had 24 degrees.

Here are some pictures of the boat.

Same bow flare:
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8...0/DSCF1117.jpg

Same "step" and chine setup:
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8...0/DSCF1119.jpg

Very similar lines. *You may notice the rub rail is straighter on the Seabird, but everything else seems to be shared. *Even the outward bulge of the sides towards the stern.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8...0/DSCF1180.jpg

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

Very similar, nice looking ride

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

One thing I'm noticing on this Seabird is the hieght of the roof over the cuddy and height of steering collumn. Those are 2 complaints I have on the V20. Well, not really complaints ;)

So, does this Seabird actually have enough headroom to sit straight up in the cuddy? Or am I seeing things?

Beautiful boat you have there. You are welcome to call it a V20 and hang out here as long as you like! Set up a gallery and put lots of pics! I want to see the inside!

Blue

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

It does have enough headroom to sit up towards the console. *I'm not a big fan of the cuddy, though. *It has a bubble top and no walkaround access. *It's pretty hairy trying to work up there in a swell. *I would like to cut it off and build a new, flat cuddy out of plywood and glass one of these days. It would still be raised, it just wouldn't be curved so one could stand on it. It would also allow me to put a hatch up there for access.

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

Seabird is a fine hull . I have a friend who had one a few years ago. He had a center console ,heavy boat with a great ride !

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

Ah, I see what you mean about the bubble. Flat would be better for sure.

Thanks for sharing.

Blue

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

Even flat it won't be a walk around, none of the cuddies are. It's an older classic style and there are 700 members here who fish the bejeezus out of them with no hardship.
Can you walk thru that windshield and drop an anchor, or use the bow pulpit to do so without climbing on the cuddy top. On the V20's you can and thats all I need to go up there for. I made a solid piece of wood to put on the foot well area in the cuddy and I can store a potti under it and it gives me a solid floor to stand on. I open the sliding hatch all the way stand up there like the Master and Commander and can reach all my anchor equipment and drop it and haul it like a galley slave on the bow pulpit.

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

.....and I thought it was a dance floor was for the SM's. ;)

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

76GMC1500, that hull looks just like a v20, weird. All Seairds I've seen don't look like yours. They look more like Bertrams and have 24 degree deadrise. Is 68 the first year? The earliest I remember seeing is 69, I think. Are the Seabirds a Ray Hunt design? The 69's and newer look like Bertrams and your 68 looks like a V20.

I was going to suggest you got to boardnation.com but I see you're already there :) Hopefgully someone over there can shed some light...I'm curious too....let us know what you find out...Good Luck! :)

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

Pelican looks like a nice ride, welcome and good luck w/ the boat....I really like it!

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

Is the hull of a V20 cored? I see a lot of talk of replacing stringers, but never anything on the coring material of the hull.

I don't think we ever answered his question, I don't think it is but that is not a for sure answer. Anyone? Bill Mc ;D

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

i don't think it is either ???

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

What was the first year of the v20?

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

My understanding of cored hull refers to a hull built in a laminated manner with a sandwhich of so called rigid foam of one kind or another, Franco's boat is a cored hull and that is why he could not use the volvo trim tabs he had bought earlier.
The V20 hulls are the solid fiberglass hulls and not cored

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

The only thing "cored" back when my ol' '74 was laid up was APPLES!!... ;D...Wellcraft did add flotation later, but when I think of the term ''cored'', I belive that refers to a hull that contains flotation actually LAMINATED between the hull and the deck/ cap...like the Pubah's McKee... ;)...

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

I BELIEVE THAT A "CORED" HULL IS WHEN MATERIAL IS LAMINATED BETWEEN FIBERGLASS CLOTH, USUALLY ON BIGGER BOATS, IT ALSO IS THE PLYWOOD OR WHATEVER MATERIAL IS USED FOR DECKS, ETC.......

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

This is what a cored hull looks like.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8...0/DSCF1277.jpg

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

For those who want to see the inside, I have none of the cuddy, but here is the console
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8...0/DSCF1194.jpg
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8...0/DSCF0790.jpg

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

The V20 doesn't have a cored hull. The hatches and stringers are cored with plywood, but the sides and hull are all glass.

I looked a seabird 27 or 28. It looked like a big v20. The hull and sides were cored with Thick Balsa. The balsa core around the thru-hulls had rotted out, but the hull was very solid still after 35+ years.

The 24ft seabirds have the 24 degree deadrise!! I think they made a 21 with a 24 degree deadrise too, but I'm not totally sure.

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

wow that wireing job is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mine looks like a bowl of pasta!!

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

The products by Blue Sea Systems can make even the most novice of wiring jobs look great. *Bundle up your wires and throw on some cable loops and you've got a professional looking job. *The other thing to do is to cut your wires to the right length, looping up the excess never looks good. *Following the lines and corners of the cabin also helps. *Terminal and bus bars also improve the look of wires where many circuits come into one or where wires need to have removable connections. *That thing on the left with all of the loops is a terminal bar turned bus bar for the nav lights. *Bus bars cost about 2x as much as a terminal bar, so I just connected each terminal on the bar with the loops to make it a bus. *Then, I attached one nav light to each one of the bars. *It looks a whole lot better than trying to gang all of the nav lights together onto one switch *or just twisting all of the wires together.

The Seabirds were famous for their cored hull. *It makes them light and sturdy. *The hull on mine is over 1" thick with 1/4" glass on the bottom, 5/8th" of core, and another 1/4" of glass on top. *The sides are 1/4" glass, 1/2" core, and about 3/16" glass again. *Even the console is balsa cored. *It kind of makes it a pain to install guages because it is over 1" thick as well.

They are also famous for rot and delamination of the core just like all other balsa cored boats. This one seems to be ok. I drilled a few exploratory holes in the boat. There was water up to a few inches from the keel from a sketchy repair, but no rot or delamination. I drained the water out and sealed it up.

Re: V20 Hull Construction
 

There is no foam in my 73 cuddy. I had it opened up for new stringers and transom back in 89. I will post pic's.. no, really, I will.. as soon as I find them. I have a million pic's to post from my 21 (almost) years of owning the High Dive. I may have some questions about setting up a gallery. I will see when I go in there.