Beginning my 1987 Fisherman 20 Restoration

[Myfathersson]

Slowly plugging away. I've got all the wiring removed except for the running lights and the bilge & live well pumps. Removed the outboard yesterday and started power washing and stripping off the well worn vinyl decals today. More power washing on tap for tomorrow. Then I'll start fabricating 2x4 supports for lifting the cap off. I plan to get a half dozen guys from the office and feed them lunch one day to lift the cap up and roll it upside down. The gel coat is looking even better than I thought as I get it power washed. A number of spots where I'll have to spot repair the gel but paint might be limited to the floor itself.

Outboard off!


Outboard parked behind the Harley:


Freshly naked transom:


Transom cap removed:


Found this penciled on the back side of the aluminum transom cap:


Just before power washing started:


Side by side comparison of the dirt coming off:


Results of day 1 of power washing:

[Pipe_Dream]

Making sound progress!

[Myfathersson]

Made some good progress this weekend. Got the tank emptied and all the suspect fuel recycled - it was 25% water. The interior of the tank looks really good, but I'm going to pull it anyhow to be sure since I'll have unfettered access with the cap off.



That out of the way I cut off the top of the splashwell at the transom so that I could get a bunch of chisels down thru to separate it from the transom. Then set to work on breaking the adhesive joining the stringers and the sole. A piece of 1/8"x1-1/2" steel 36" long with an edge ground onto one end made for a handy long reach chisel to get the hard to reach bits between the tank and the transom and the tank and the casting deck.

With everything broken free and disconnected I set to building the support structure that will be used to lift the cap. 2x4 spanning the gunnels tied down to 2x4 under the sole placed in at the bilge, fuel tank and insulated fish box.



I used 12 footers across the gunnels as I originally planned to get a crew of guys to come over and help lift and walk the cap off but now I don't feel that's realistic so I'll be building a gantry to use a chainfall and hoist it off then pull the hull on the trailer forward and set the cap down. I jacked up each section and had the cap 2" clear to make sure that I had released all the adhesive.







Looking in between the halves on the port side from the transom:



and on the starboard side:



2" of clear lift achieved the full length:

[Pipe_Dream]

Looks like tremendous progress. I tip my hat to you!

[Myfathersson]

Today was the big day - lifted the cap off!







And rolled it over:





Just seeing the hull without the cap in place was overwhelming. First thought was "what in the hell did I get myself into..."



The transom has rot up high even though down low it feels solid. This is the port side:



Though the starboard side looks pretty solid but we'll see when I pull the interior skin:





Timelapse video of the lift and the roll over on my Facebook page:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10215784076969907&id=10836330 13

Tomorrow I'll pull out the shop vac and start getting the junk out of the hull then begins the task of chunking out all that foam. Placed my order from US Composites yesterday, should arrive late next week just in time for my vacation the week of the 5th.

[Slightly_Twisted]

Great job! You took your time and did the lift right. It is completely overwhelming when you see it, but it is sooooo worth it! You have room to work, and you will always find a problem you didn’t see before. The form is a *****! The first v20 rebuild I did had from like your, I used an ice chipper and it worked well.
https://www.menards.com/main/outdoor...4445290308.htm

I will recommend if you don’t have a full face respirator get one. They are hot as hell but so nice when grinding.

[Myfathersson]

Thanks Twist! I know it'll be worth it, just an overwhelming moment, partially because I was exhausted and sweating gallons! I got this - just a thousand tiny steps to get to my goal.

Spent 7 hours Sunday chopping out foam. Plenty of rest breaks to let my ankles unkink and guzzle water by the super size Yeti full. I started with a floor scraper which worked great until the final cell on the starboard side when the cast aluminum head of it cracked. Picked up a long steel chipper from Harbor Freight on the way home from work tonight to replace it, along with an air chisel to assist with removing the globs of adhesive. Wish I had thought to bag the adhesive chunks separately - it weighs a ton and there's a massive amount of excess everywhere. Is that really 3M 5200??

I managed to get all the foam on the starboard side out. Port side remains along with the fuel tank. I think I will remove the rear bulkhead from behind the tank and use the long reach chisel I made for breaking the adhesive between the floor and stringers to break the foam from under the tank then tab that bulkhead back in or replace it altogether. Another option is the stringers either side of the tank where they weren't fully capped are mushy so maybe I'll cut those sections out and go in from the sides. Still not sure and it's a couple steps off so I've got time to think and evaluate.

Picture time!
Working on the first cell:




Found this nugget of history encapsulated in the first cell under the conduit:


You can see my scraper in it's handy holster (foam yet to be removed) in the background:


Three cells down:


I must not have taken a photo at the end of the day LOL. Lugging all the tools back down to the basement is enough of a chore let alone remembering to document as much as possible :)

4 lawn bags filled with foam done, so likely 4 more to go. There wasn't as much waterlogged material as I feared there might be. But there was some. Nice how the waterlogged foam releases from the fiberglass of the hull rather easily. I'll go back in with a wire brush after everything is stripped to clean up the remaining residue.