Project 2nd Chance… 1977 v-20 CC

[Mikeyz]

Well boat is on hold for a week or two. Last Sunday we had a bad storm and a 65ft tall oak tree was hit by lighting 20ft from my house. ( BOAT IS OK) The lighting jumped out of the tree and also hit the house ( will have pic's soon very scary what lighting can do ) So I have got to get the tree down and fix a few things that are burned up. I lost both laptops, printer tv,surround sound and few other things. I did get the boat ready to pull the cap off on Sat, but pics are on the computer that was smoking on Sunday night. If a storm is by you be carefull this strike was so hard it broke CONCRETE PAVERS and moved one almost five feet..

Mike

[spanishmak]

ive been wondering how difficult it would be to get that cap off!I have the same boat and need to redo transom im in pasco county fl ill be following youre work good luck

[Destroyer]

Damn Mikeyz, tough luck on that lightning strike. We had a huge Maple in our back yard take a strike about 3 years ago.. split the tree down the center and caused one side of it to fall.. destroyed the above ground pool, the split rail fence and the corner of our house...So I know what you're talking about ... It's amazing what 50 million volts of electricity can do... Glad to see that you're back online at least so we can comiserate with you. Keep your chin up... (that way your jaw is an easier target)

[Mikeyz]

spanishmak

I don't think you will need to pull the top cap if you are only going to fix the Transom. I am pulling mine so I can replace some stringers install new foam (old is full of water) and add a bad *** live well in the floor (going to use the two useless hatches behind the console in the floor) I am thinking about doing a pourable transom from what I have heard it’s stronger then wood and you never have to worry about rot again. I live in Dade City, I don’t know why it says Tampa Bay but good luck and talk to you later.

Mike

[Mikeyz]

Find a big tree and hope for the best...
Today I pulled the top cap off the boat. It was not very hard to do and it took longer to setup everything then to get it off the boat. I did get so good help from Mopar and dear old Mom driving. I am glad I went ahead and did it the foam is waterlogged and will need to be replaced. I also found some stringer damage under the floor that I would have never seen if I haven’t pulled the cap. Now the next step will be to remove all the foam and replace the damaged wood. I am wondering if while I am at I might do all of them (any thoughts) is it worth it to just replace all the stringers at one time since the cap off and will be easy to do now. I am also looking at a way to rebuild the Transom. I was thinking about doing it in layers using ¼ marine ply and fiberglass mat maybe do a sheet of ply then fiberglass mesh and repeat until it’s built back up to the thickness it needs to be. Would this be stronger than just two sheets of ¾ glassed together? I also will be looking into installing tubes for the wiring and fuel lines to make it easy to wire at a later date. I can’t wait to get to the building stage of the project so far it’s been a three week teardown but I see the light and it’s getting brighter.

Mike

[Destroyer]

Great pics and it's great that you made "mom" famous by posting her pic here.!! Well done.. As to the laminate question on the plywood, my personal reccomendation would be to put the wood sheets together...the fiberglass in between them, although helping to insulate it from water, would (IMHO) actually weaken the final structure since it expands, flexes and contracts at a different rate then the plywood. Maybe that's why boat makers don't do it?

[Mikeyz]

Well I got the foam out today, found a shovel to work the best just don't get to crazy with it. Looks like I will be replacing ALL the stringers as I found rot in all of them. I can't believe that Wellcraft would build a boat and not fiberglass all the stringers, I found cuts they made in them and never glassed over it I also found two of the stringer to not be glassed in all the way and fell out once the foam was removed. It was like the foam was holding the stringers in place. I didn’t take any pic’s but I will post some once I get everything cleaned.

Mike

[nymack66]

Good luck with your project, your approach has potential for excellent success (removing the cap) Replacing the stringers is a huge job which I have zero experience.
In regards to the Transom you have two options pour or plywood its up to you since you have the cap off the sky is the limit.
Shop around for resin and materials I personally recommend Fiberglass Services, excellent price and delivery options ..
http://www.fiberglassservices.com/index.htm
They have a new location closer to you see below ??
3851 62nd Avenue North
Pinellas Park, FL 33781-6007
(727) 525-0830
Your marine grade ply from http://www.dixieply.com/tampa.shtml#about
BTW here is nice video on youtube ..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gY1ZJwIJAI

[Mikeyz]

nymack66

Thanks for in info, I have both companys on my list to contact for supplies. I am going to try and do the stringers one at a time so I will have the other to use for Measurements. I am also going to do a scale grid on paper with every measurement I can take before I cut anything. I have never done a project like this before so taking my time not to make things worse. I also have a good friend who will be helping me on the harder parts, We call him doc AKA Buckey he helped build the molds for ROS boats out of Westport, MA so it's not his first rodeo so to speek of. I am doing the hard labor and getting advice and how to from him. I might bring the boat over to his shop when it comes time to do the transon and stringers. I will see how it goes if I get over my head I have a backup plan in place if needed. Now only if the rain will stop so I can get back to work I was going to try and fit the boat in the shop but then the my 72, 340 duster goes outside and I dont see me doing that I have way to much time and money into it to make her spend the night outside...

Mike

[wellcraftinmass]

Nice Job so far. I am going to folow this one, as I have a 18 CC Fisherman and have a couple of soft spots in the floor and I know the foam is wet in spots. I did the entire floor and tranasom in a 20 ft. Galaxy Conquest back about 10 years ago. That was a tough one to do with the cuddy, but I also pulled the cap on that one, was a ton of work. My stringers were so bad, when I hit the throttle my engine jumped up and opened the engine cover for me. But in the end the boat was lighter, stronger and had propper floatation in the floors. Took me about a month with entire hull regripping. Sweet boat and served me well. Good luck and keep the pictures coming.