Beginning my 1987 Fisherman 20 Restoration

[Slightly_Twisted]

Damn you’re moving along fast! Nice job!

[Myfathersson]

Originally Posted by Slightly_Twisted

Damn you’re moving along fast! Nice job!

Things will slow down a little bit now Twist. Being on vacation last week and devoting most of that time to the project helped make some major progress happen :)

Got the final layer of the new transom core epoxied in place after work this evening:


Tomorrow evening I'll work on the gap filling and fillets. Climbing around the clamps wasn't the most attractive thing and frankly my legs are sore from climbing in and out over the last week. I ain't as young as I once was...

[Myfathersson]

Yesterday evening I got the gaps filled and filleting in place on the transom. Went much smoother than I thought it might. I used a few PVC pipe fitting as my forms for the different radii that I was after. I may still add a little more filler at the strakes and chines to help the fabric flow better when I lay it this weekend.



This evening I cut the sheets of 1708 I'll cover the transom with. And in doing so I came to the realization that I ordered the wrong line item...instead of getting 50" wide biax I only ordered the 38" wide. Still works for the transom but is too narrow for how I'm planning to lay the stringers. So instead of the plan to place an order for 18oz roving for the back side of the sole, the sole will now get 1708 and the stringers will be getting 2 layers of 17oz Biax without mat. I'm sure that won't be my last hiccup of this adventure! I didn't get to working out the cuts to match the patterns as my frustration with the mis-order had me too worked up. Better to walk away for a day and come back refreshed and clear.

[Slightly_Twisted]

Nice work getting the core in!

Ok about your new plan if i remember correctly you are using epoxy resin?
This whole opinion is based off that.

I’m NOT even close to a expert so take this with a grain of salt.

With epoxy there is no need to use 1708. You can just use 17oz biaxl. The 1708 soaks up to much resin and does not increase strength of the glass. The reason for this is 1708 is just 17oz biaxl stitched with 1.5 oz mat. The mat does almost zero for strength, but it does waterproof the core plus add thickness.
The 1708 will also not make the curve on the top of the stringer.

What I have picked up is this layer up with epoxy.
All wet on wet for chemical bond
1. Clean everything with a chemical solution.
2. Glue the stringer down PL or peanut butter. Add fillets
3. 1.5 oz mat to waterproof the make the curve on top
4. 6 inch 17 oz biaxl tape
5. 10 inch 17 oz biaxl tape
6. 12 to 16 inch 17oz biaxl tape enough to reach the top of the stringer and 4 to 6 inches overlap of the last tape on the hull side,
7. If fairing 1.5 mat over the area.

This is both sides of the stringer.

Someone Else will confirm if I’m right and or close!

Don’t just take my word for it!!!

[Myfathersson]

You are correct - I am using epoxy - US Composites, I've got 6 gallons of slow and a pending order for 13.3 gallons of medium along with my 50" biax. I knew I was going to have to implement some sort of solution to hold the radius at the top (I'm putting a 1/4" radius on the 3/4" boards) using 1708, switching to straight biax will make life a little easier there. I'll use the 1708 on the transom this weekend, and then on the sole, if I need to tab the edges of that layup to make the turn onto the sides of the sole I'm okay with that.

I'm not using tapes on my stringers. My plan from the start has been (2) 50" wide continuous wet on wet layups. That gives me a little over 8" tabbed onto the hull each side of the stringer for each layer. I am thinking I will break it down into 3 or 4 ft lengths and then stagger the location of joints on the second layer.

[oteps]

Keep the pics coming, great job. I have been thinking of doing this to my boat. Seems like a lot more work than I thought, but I don't know a lot about fiberglass. Ill just drop my boat off at your house. Im probably 14th in line, you should have it done by next spring right?

[Myfathersson]

Originally Posted by oteps

Keep the pics coming, great job. I have been thinking of doing this to my boat. Seems like a lot more work than I thought, but I don't know a lot about fiberglass. Ill just drop my boat off at your house. Im probably 14th in line, you should have it done by next spring right?

I won't lie, it's a LOT of work. And it isn't easy, but at the same time it isn't hard. This is the largest fiberglass project I've ever undertaken by a long shot (previously built a handful of fiberglass RC airboats with hardware store poly resin) but with the knowledge found here and other forums I think I've got a solid plan to achieve my goal. My pocketbook begs to differ but that's another matter LOL. Knowing the hours I've got in on this thus far I don't even want to fathom a guess at what a pro shop would charge. I'll be lucky to get my cap back on before winter here in the Ohio Valley. That's the goal right now.

I got the transom glassed on today. I'll post an update on that later when I'm on the couch with the laptop. A storm is rolling in right now. Gotta keep an eye on my tarp and make sure I don't get any water in the bilge since I don't have a drain at present!