'79 teardown and rebuild.

[3 Squids]

You probably seen my post in the general area about the '79 cuddy I brought home. I figured now that I'm actually working on it now I'd move over here to the repair section.

I knew the transom needed work and hoped it was otherwise solid. Today my wishes were crushed. I cut the cap off of the rear and started gutting the transom.

Cap section removed:


Shot of the transom pre demo:


I was quick to see there was not much left of the transom. There was actually one layer of plywood with just a second layer in the raised area you see around the sterndrive hole. Tapping on it with a hammer showed that only near the top was there any structure left.

Pulled the inner skin off. Rather easily thankfully:


Port side:


Stbd:


The center section of plywood around the sterndrive was mush. Scraped right out. I then used a flat bar between the rest of the wood and the outer skin and it came off surprisingly easy. Probably 70% of it just came off with majority of the layer of CSM with it. You can tell where you can see the woven roven clearly that it came off good there. The other areas left a layer of plywood. I scraped as much wood off first to lessen the sanding and gumming up of my sanding disc.

Here she is with a light sanding over it all. I plan to try and sand all the existing CSM off before reinstalling the transom:




Port:


Stbd:


Now the crummy news. Stringer's are mush. I checked them up to the tank hatch and they are pretty much non existant. So I imagine they'll need replacing all the way up. Not at all what I wanted to find but it is what it is. Just now I have no idea where I'm heading with this project. My very first plan with this boat was to strip it all the way down and rebuild with all composites and make it a center console, skiff type boat. Then I thought just putting a transom in it and running it the way it was sounded good but it appears stringers and I'm sure the deck will need to be re-cored.

My next plan is to pull the gas tank and see if the stringers are rotten all the way up. I'm not holding my breath that they aren't. I really am stumped at what to do. Part of me just wants to build a center console out of this one then maybe sell the green boat as I don't see any reason for having 2 center console (the wife doesn't see any reason for 2 boats period). Then again it's a beautiful boat as is. I guess I'll cut the floor out and see where that takes me. Either way I'm looking at a lot of time and money but in the end I will have a rock solid, non wood boat.

[3 Squids]

I read online about measuring the transom angle with a carpenters square. So I followed that and found it to have a 13* transom. I found a Stainless Marine bracket for $400 I'm just waiting for it to be removed so I can check that boat and make sure it'll work for me. I read a few places that you can have a +/-2* window that tilt and trim will take up. I know the boat is a Proline but not sure what model. If it has a 11-15* transom it should work for me.

No matter what direction I go with this boat I need to figure out how I'm going to lay the transom in. I plan on going with composite (Coosa I assume is my best option??) however the transom is not only curved like all V-20's but it has a kind of pop out. So I won't be able to lay 1 solid piece in the transom, even if I notch it to make 3 "separate" surfaces. Above the pop out will be 1/2" from touching the core material. Here's some pics. Let me know what route you'd guys would take. Originally they had the popped out section as 2 seperate pieces of wood. Then the rest of the transom arched around it and it was filled in with some sort of filler. I don't really like the idea of completely separated pieces in a transom.

[3 Squids]

Here's the bracket I found. Waiting for it to get removed. Priced them at $1300 new so $400 for this one seems good enough for me.

[Redloon]

You're not wasting any time tearing into this one!

[steplift20]

Boy I wish I could tackle a job like that Keep the pics coming as you move ahead,

[3 Squids]

Originally Posted by Redloon

You're not wasting any time tearing into this one!

Having boat withdrawals. My green boat has been at other people's places for the past 3 months. I just needed to cut into something.

Originally Posted by steplift20

Boy I wish I could tackle a job like that Keep the pics coming as you move ahead,

It's easy to do what I've done so far. Trust me I feel I may be getting in over my head. But between friends at home and guys here I feel I can do it. Well with YouTube also.

Also something weird with this boat. The bottom of drain hole is about 2" off the bottom of the hull. This thing holds a lot of water unless I lift the tongue 4' in the air. May have to relocate that as well. The bottom of this plug is where the top of my green boat is. Weird to be that different for the same year.

[3 Squids]

Had a little time today between work and kids hockey practice so I pulled the tank hatch off, which was not sealed or fastened at all. The tank was foamed in nice and thick. Of course the foam on top of the tank was completely saturated in water and or fuel. I got most of the foam off the top of the tank. I was mostly just curious of what the tank looked like. I can imagine it's going to be a nightmare releasing the tank from the foam.



I think I've come to conclusion to keep this hull the cuddy cabin. At this point it's obvious the stringers and floor are gone. Floor has some solid spots but many soft ones too. I'm assuming this may be from the parquet core they used. It seems to have worked properly, only rotting the pieces that had water intrusion. But it seems it has many places for the water to get in.

I was going to cut the floor out tonight but I am now debating trying to get the whole cap off. Just trying to figure out how to do it. It seems stripping as much as I can off the cap to lighten it up. It sucks that I cut the rear of the cap off now that I'm planning on doing this but hey, it is what it is. Planning on removing the cap this weekend.

[LESTERUS]

Boy, have I got the perfect material for you, there's a company in Miami call Poly-u-mac, they sell a product called Gatorboard, is like a foam sandwidched in between fiberglass, extremely light but very strong. I reinforced the stringers next to the gas tank with it, 1 1/2 I used. Very easy to cut and to work with, I'vee seen a transom made with this material holding 3 300 HP outboards.

[3 Squids]

Well all you cuddy guys are probably going to curse my name but after I really got into this boat it was obvious that 90% of the wood in it was soaked. Wash boards, sole, cuddy roof...all of it. I drilled test holes everywhere and found everything is wet. Nothing that was screwed to the deck or cuddy top was sealed. So after a few nights of sleeping on it I said F-it. Get the sawzall out!!





My original plan for this boat was center console conversion. Then I tossed the idea of keeping it as is and having one of each. Well I brought my green boat home from the motor guy last week and even he was disappointed with the quality of fiberglass work as he received multiple glass splinters working in the bilge plumbing the motor. So here's the new plan and now there's really no turning back.

Get my green boat put back together good enough to use. I'm going to redo pretty much everything but the actual transom (splashwell, reshaping the transom). The edges of the transom look terrible and the splashwell was pieced together 2x4's and plywood. So I'm going to make it right as possible and put a new paint job on it (I'd stick with the geeen but for some reason it was sanded 8" up the sides so now it all needs paint). Then use the boat while I work on this one.

This boat will be obviously rebuilt from the ground up. My original plan was making a flat cap boat just like Kracker Jacks build. I like the thought of a work boat, skiff type hull. To me it gives you more room and a simpler build. After doing some measuring the sides would be much shorter with a flat cap. I thought about lowering the sole but I'd like to keep it a self bailing deck. So after cutting the cap today I'm thinking about just using this cap to build off of.



I really like the look the boat has with this cap. The plan is to use as much composite as possible. The stringers are 85% hollowed out for me so I'm thinking about a CarbonCore pouring the transom and stringers. As far as the deck and wash boards I haven't researched as much on that yet. I see Coosa and the honeycomb material but not educated enough to know what's the best to use. We will see how this goes and it will be a long process as I'm in no rush to hurry this thing and do something I'll regret.

Anyways and suggestions from you guys as far as materials to use and things like that are very welcome. And sorry SkunkBoat about not pulling the cap.

[3 Squids]

Also I have many parts I pulled off the boat that will be free for the taking for anyone here. I got all the glass in good shape, dash with helm and steering cable in good shape I believe. Sliding hatch (2 piece slider), fishing rod boxes, all the trim from the cuddy door, folding cuddy door with the glass in good shape. Let me know what ya need. I may have it. Oh and I guess this enclosure I have will be no good for me. It's a Bimini frame, sliding mounts for the gunnel and the canvas and vinyl.