Beginning my 1987 Fisherman 20 Restoration

[Myfathersson]

Less than favorable weather this weekend so all I got done outside was some sanding to prep for priming and applying a coat of TotalFair to scratches and pock marks on the transom and keel.

But I was able to tackle one lingering project in the basement after I wrapped up glassing all the surfaces of the new tank platform. I went to work recoring the fuel compartment cover. A new piece of 1/2" MDO laid in with peanut butter. Then I filled the gap between the edge of the plywood and the lip of the cover with a blend of thickened epoxy, milled fiber and 1/4" chopped strand before wetting out a layer of 17oz biax over the back side. I am hoping that this mixture will allow me to countersink the screws which secure the compartment directly into the newly reinforced edge.



The piece of ply covered with mylar tape sticking out the side is just a form to let me build up the edge where a hole had been cut in the edge of the cover for the original install of the cables to the console. Once the back side is set up I'll patch that glass on the topside and create a new hole with a proper dam around it for the console cables that ISN'T in the compartment cover.

Up next may very well be removing the hull from the trailer again and applying paint. Weather just has to cooperate. Stay tuned!

[Myfathersson]

It's Derby Weekend here in Louisville and the weather is freaking fantastic - 80° days and 0% chance of rain today thru Tuesday. So painting is on tap.

Over the past few weeks I've made some new hull supports. I wasn't overly fond of the stacked concrete blocks I used last summer so I took some scrap treated 2x6's I had and grabbed a couple 4x4's and 2x4's and made up these pylons:






And then earlier this week I set to the oh so fun chore of jacking up the hull and shimmying the trailer out from 'neath her.




Then set to fairing and sanding the hull to clean up where I sanded thru the old antifouling paint and in spots gelcoat, and the myriad of scratches from the PO beaching her regularly.

On the less dry days I cleaned up all the hatches, faired them and set the non-skid in a coat of epoxy to simplify the painting process.




The PO also mounted a swim ladder to the transom and put one of the screw holes right through the E in the HIN. I tried to dremel a new E in but it never looked very good. So I modeled up a negative of the HIN in Fusion360 and printed it on my 3D printer, packed the mold full of epoxy and milled fiber with a backer of 1708 and put it under a vacuum for an hour to yield this:




Lost the islands in a few of the digits but they read well enough that it works. Cut the old HIN out and glued the new casting in and faired it last night.


And finally this afternoon, after wrapping up a late post lunch meeting, I came home and set to spraying the primer:






Tomorrow morning I'll wet sand and start spraying the finish. With the fantastic weather I'll get 6 coats on her and be ready to install the fuel tank when it gets delivered next week. Just gotta order the new hoses and clamps to make final connections from the deck drains to the thru hulls for assembling the two halves.

Thanks for looking! - Greg

[Myfathersson]

Productive weekend! I sprayed a total of 4 coats of paint. My bodywork filling and fairing wasn't perfect, but from 10 feet away I can't pick out the issues, and even at 5 foot I have to know where to look. Plus, except for the 3' long scar along the port side, all of the issues are below the waterline, or under where the engine will mount on the transom, so it's a win in this amateur's book.

It's so nice seeing a glossy shine on her - she didn't have a lick of that when she came home.








I did have one sag starboard side just fore of the ice box thru hull but it's hardly noticeable.




I should have sourced acetone by the pail...




I used a variant of the iBoats "tractor paint" process. Rustoleum Oil Base Gloss Enamel, Acetone to reduce, and Majic Enamel Hardener from Tractor Supply in a 8:6:1 ratio. Each coat took 120 oz of mixed product, sprayed through a Harbor Freight Pressure Pot HVLP gun, fed by (2) 21gal compressors to yield a theoretical 11.6 cfm supply rate, just above the 10 cfm spec'd by HF for the gun. While spraying the hull I also coated all the hatch covers which all had coarse non-skid. That really took some serious application to cover. I bet 30-40 oz of each coat was sprayed on the non-skid. I sprayed the primer with a gravity feed HVLP gun and decided that the $60 pressure pot version was a good investment to let me correctly aim the spray for the keel and chines - I was right :)


Now, since the hull is off the trailer, I'm setting up to replace 4 of the bunk supports on the inner pair that were too short in my original setup. I've gotta grab a length of 2x4 tube and weld those on over the next couple weeks before my brother travels back down to assist with getting her back on the trailer and setting the cap back in place. So I rolled the trailer up onto the patio to where the welder can reach the outlet, and braced the bunks where they need to be, cut out the front 2 and made up a template for the new supports out of a scrap 2x4. Once the front set is tacked on, I'll cut out the mid supports and tack those in.




Fuel tank should be delivered this week so installing that will be the next big ticket endeavour.

Thanks for looking!

[Giorgio]

Looking GOOOOOD!!!!

[Pipe_Dream]

Really nice! Where'd you source your fuel tank? It seems like someone somewhere is always looking for one.

[Myfathersson]

Originally Posted by Pipe_Dream

Really nice! Where'd you source your fuel tank? It seems like someone somewhere is always looking for one.

Ocean Link - THIS 50 gal poly belly tank. Waiting for updated tracking info from the manufacturer presently. I've worked up a support platform to anchor it that there's some detail on a few posts/pages back. As I install it I'll try and highlight what I've done.

[Blue_Runner]

Great job, nice progress. She's really looking good. You'll be on the water soon! Can't wait to see splashdown.

[Myfathersson]

Since my last post I've hit my milestones for this season. Had a stretch of rain (not from Sally) that kept me in the shop for a number of days. Took that time to finally wrap up rebuilding part of the basement bathroom and laundry room to install a large stainless steel prep sink. But also fired up the mill and machined the slots in the tank mounting brackets.




Then when the weather cleared back up I loaded the flux core 308 stainless wire into the welder and welded the gussets on the brackets. Clearly I'm not a seasoned welder, but they are solid and I was able to hammer the brackets back to flat. This was the best of the welds, I won't show the worst LOL.




Then spent a bit of time waiting on my tank to arrive. While waiting my new hoses arrived. Fill, vent, and the hose for the deck drains and the ice chest. I used defender.com and was pleased with their service. I had also ordered a spool of 18ga jacketed duplex wire to wire up the nav lights prior to reassembling to make it easier and that was missing from the box. Once alerted they shipped the replacement out fairly quick.




Then got to installing the thru hulls, stern eyes and a replacement drain fitting for the ice chest.








I could not find that drain fitting at any marine supplier. I ended up finding it through a restaurant equipment supplier, and cheaper by 1/3 than anything I was seeing at marine vendors. Just a little tip.

Then last weekend I jacked the hull up and slid the trailer back under. Oops - forgot to take any pics of the 4 bunk supports I replaced to get the bunks in perfect alignment for this hull. Sorry.




And just like that she was mobile again.




All that done and I was STILL waiting on the tank. So I had my neighbor give me a hand maneuvering the console back up the basement steps last Saturday night, and started sanding and planning out the console rehab on Sunday.




Monday about 10am I got a call from R&L Carriers scheduling my tank delivery for Tuesday! About 15 minutes after the end of the delivery window the driver called and said he was 5 minutes out. I was a happy camper.




I wasn't impressed with the hassle involved in actually getting the tank. The tracking number I was provided was invalid and the vendor just kept telling me that the manufacturer was looking into it. For two weeks. And all communication was initiated by me. I was ready to throw in the towel and sent an email the Friday before delivery giving them an ultimatum. Then R&L called on Monday. In the end it worked out, but I would be a bit hesitant to use them again.

With the tank in hand I was able to dry fit my platform and the tank and verify everything mated up nicely and would clear what it needed to.




First I peanut buttered and glassed in the PVC bilge passage and then the riser assembly.




Then peanut buttered the platform to the riser, and tabbed the platform to the stringers and bulkheads.






The short ends were done with angles that I prefabricated, due to the fact that I was low on 3/4" ply and didn't want to by another whole sheet just to complete this. The tank rests on plywood cored glass, these tabs only seal the compartment to keep any liquid that may end up in there from making it's way to the inaccessible void under the platform or, if the PVC passage were to fail, to the bilge.




Then since the last of the hull glasswork was DONE I cracked a beer and admired my work.




Well, cracked the beer too soon. Halfway through the beer I decided to toss a finishing layer of 17oz biax over the platform. No pic though as evidently summer left and the sun now sets really freaking early. By the time I got my hands clean and everything put away it was too dark for a pic without flash and my phone was too low to let me use the flash


Next up...the two halves get reunited!