Small boat restoration advice

Robbie IRE

I decided to buy a small boat to restore. I wanted to learn as much about the process, make mistakes but eventually get a nice boat out of it.
So I've been looking about for the right deal & found one last week . Early trip to Cork Sunday morning & done a deal for a small boat & trailer.
I've no clue what make ,style etc it is.Owner hadnt a clue as it was it the garden under a tarp for years & belonged to his father

I could really do with some advice . Im just outside mullingar. I can't seem to find a marine boat supplies shop about . So I'll have to order online for anything I might need down the road .

Firstly . I removed all the rotten wood flooring . I checked for leaks & remarkable there is none. I can see a few patch jobs in the fibreglass. However when I lifted the old floor they seemed to have braced the centre floor with bits of wood . I removed all the crap. The centre is pretty rotten .
What would the best way to tackle this issue . Would I need to cut it out? Bracket with wood ,aluminium or metal? Or treat it with some compound .

Secondly, anyone know what the boat is ?. I only intend on cruising the lakes & rivers around westmeath.

fergal.b

Hard to tell from those photos but could be a Glastron, Have a look at one I did here https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=96112235 Might need to replace your windshield






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Robbie IRE

Ill take better pics for sure . I had taken them in a hurry last night. Very similar but not the one .

The window is in the bin . Looks like it was cut with a butter knife ! Terrible job.
I figured out the center is a stringer?

fergal.b

No not the same one but the same job replacing the stringers also worth checking the transom timber, Glastron made a lot of different boats along with the one James Bond used to jump over the cop car in "live and let die"





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Robbie IRE

That is some job Fergal .
You've inspired me now. I was having bit of regret & thought it was doomed from the start.
Seeing the result from yours & seeing the fixed deck etc .
I know my own can be saved now.

I should have listened to my old man when he had a boat. I might have actually learnt something ��

Would you recommend where to shop for supplies & parts etc ?

fergal.b

Robbie IRE wrote: »

Would you recommend where to shop for supplies & parts etc ?

"Marine parts Direct" in Swords will have all you need they also have an online shop with free postage over a certain price. Good luck with the restoration and keep us posted also fell free to ask any questions.





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Robbie IRE

fergal.b wrote: »

"Marine parts Direct" in Swords will have all you need they also have an online shop with free postage over a certain price. Good luck with the restoration and keep us posted also fell free to ask any questions.





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Great stuff & thanks

Robbie IRE

OK a few pics to see it anyone can help with identification.
I had a good look about the net last night & I figured its a runabout of some sort . Lots of similar boats but nothing exact .

It has a handle with marina as the only identifying mark .

fergal.b

As it say's on the handle it's a "Marina" possibly a 14 sport, here are a few photos one.

Robbie IRE

fergal.b wrote: »

As it say's on the handle it's a "Marina" possibly a 14 sport, here are a few photos one.

Thats it !! Thanks ....I searched the net & couldn't find it

Robbie IRE

I've started to take all the crap out. Flooring , old carpets , old leather upholstery, old rusty bolts etc .

I removed the old plastic /rubber from around the Hull. It was all brittle & painted in that green gloss type paint thats flaking off.
Looking at the pictures is it worth drilling out the rivets holding the top of the boat on? Completely remove the top 1/2 then work on the bottom 1/2 of the boat then re-rivet everything back together when the time comes ?

fergal.b

It's a big job to split the hull along with the rivets it will also be glued, you have a good bit of open space and have access to most jobs you need to do and it will be easier to cut out the splash well to replace the timber in the transom "if needed" than splitting the hull. Don't let things get on top of you or you may lose interest keep it simple and within your capabilities and budget remember some boats are not worth saving, hulls are ten a penny it's the engine thats the money so it may be better to buy a good hull than spending a lot of time and money on a bad hull especially if you are not sure of what you are getting into also the boat will likely never be worth more than you put into it. Don't get me wrong I love to see old boats being brought back to life but as you have seen it Danme's post it can take it's toll.






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fergal.b

Marina boats started out as Hemming & Morris Marina Boats Ltd Jeff Hemming I believe is still around and retired now, His email is posted in a comment here https://forums.ybw.com/index.php?threads/14-ft-speedboat.326691/ If you wanted to try and get in touch.

Robbie IRE

fergal.b wrote: »

Marina boats started out as Hemming & Morris Marina Boats Ltd Jeff Hemming I believe is still around and retired now, His email is posted in a comment here https://forums.ybw.com/index.php?threads/14-ft-speedboat.326691/ If you wanted to try and get in touch.

Where do you find this information. I had a look all over the Internet & found nothing .
You're an encyclopedia of info..

Robbie IRE

So its a marina 14 continental!
Time to bring it back to life

daveville30

https://youtu.be/w5DaQvwTY3I
He has good videos of what your going to have to do for the deck and stringers

Robbie IRE

What would this be ?
Is it modified ladder or to mount an additional motor?

I'm thinking of taking it off for good ,replacing it or just restoring it by polishing it back to a nice finish.

daveville30

Looks like it was a ladder that someone mounted a plate to for a back up engine

fergal.b

Yep it's a ladder, the two brackets at the bottom held the bottom half that folded into the water, the plate has nothing to do with it and would not be safe to as an AUX bracket .



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Robbie IRE

daveville30 wrote: »

Looks like it was a ladder that someone mounted a plate to for a back up engine

Yeah , think ill remove it .
Dumb question but is a back up necessary? As I'm only going to put her in the Shannon & lakes around the midlands. Small ores & vhf/mobile phone as a back up.
But if its recommended a 2nd engine ill just clean up the mount.

daveville30

Probably not safe but I guarantee there was an engine there no reason for a plate otherwise

daveville30

I'd put proper bracket and a 3 or 4 hp beside your main engine you might not ever need it but it's there saves being towed in by lifeboat or friends

fergal.b

On the Shannon the only time I go out without a back up motor is when I have a back up boat, even with the wind blowing at 5 MPH you will never be able to paddle yourself away from rocks, better to have a backup and not need it than to need it and not have it. The setup that you have is not safe and should be scraped.






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Robbie IRE

Window gone . Lucky enough i can get a new polycarb window cut in work when the time comes.

That ladder is off. I might clean it up & actually put it back as an actual ladder.
Ill get a engine mount for the other side.

fergal.b

You are missing the bottom half of the ladder might be better to replace it as the last step you have looks like it will be at the water line making it very hard to pull yourself up. It would have looked something like this.

Robbie IRE

Replacing alltogether is the thing to do for sure

Robbie IRE

I've been looking about at vids & some older posts. I'm still unsure the best thing to do with the stringer.

Its pretty soft, wet & rotten in the front part the back part doesnt look to bad.
So I'm drying it out .
I could drill holes & fill with a hardener of some sort then fibreglass over it .
I could completely remove it.replace with similar thickness wood & treat that & fibreglass over it.
What would the best option?

Also I notice the stringer is just one single length running the full length of the boat however nothing running cross sectioned along the width of the boat. I take it not all boats have stringers running width of the craft?
Thanks for any advice

fergal.b

Handiest thing to do would be to cut the top off the stringers and remove the timber to use as a template but the fibreglass on yours doesn't look great anyway so it might be better just to cut them off and make complete new ones like I did in my link. The cross timbers are more likely to be found in wider boats your stringers are quite close together so should have no problem supporting a floor without sagging you could also add some if you feel it will need it like for somewhere to bolt the seats to.




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Robbie IRE

I'm going to cut out the stringer as advised.
What would be the material to replace it. Marine ply, normal ply treated with waterproofing ?
Also what epoxy & fibreglass sheeting is recommended?
I hear on YouTube people making peanut butter ��... is that something to buy or is it a mix of epoxy & something else ?

daveville30

Robbie IRE wrote: »

I'm going to cut out the stringer as advised.
What would be the material to replace it. Marine ply, normal ply treated with waterproofing ?
Also what epoxy & fibreglass sheeting is recommended?
I hear on YouTube people making peanut butter ��... is that something to buy or is it a mix of epoxy & something else ?

All your doing making peanut butter is thickening the resin using a filler could be flour or carboilal silica add a few bits or mat chopped up fairly small for strength

Robbie IRE

Steering wheel seems to be rightly stuck on despite removing all bolts etc .
I take it a steering wheel puller of some sort is required?
I'd like to keep the original wheel if possible

fergal.b

You are the steering wheel puller The shaft on the steering is tapered with a keyway and forms a tight fit on the wheel, spray it with WD40 and leave it over night then put the nut back on the shaft and tighten back down just enough that its protecting the treads of the shaft then while you are pulling the steering wheel evenly with both hands get someone to wack the nut with short sharp bursts.





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fergal.b

Robbie IRE wrote: »

I'm going to cut out the stringer as advised.
What would be the material to replace it. Marine ply, normal ply treated with waterproofing ?
Also what epoxy & fibreglass sheeting is recommended?
I hear on YouTube people making peanut butter ��... is that something to buy or is it a mix of epoxy & something else ?

Pine, Douglas fir, or any hardwood will be fine plywood is not great at holding screws going into the layers as it causes them to split apart allowing water in so everywhere you screw the floor down will become a weak spot. Fibreglass does not like square edges so you need to round them and fill the bottom edge with "peanut butter" to create a curve like in the photo below. I like to use 8 oz fibreglass cloth because its easier to work with compared to matting. When wetting out the cloth you will need 3 coats to fill the weave you do one coat then wait 3 hours then the next coat another 3 hours and then last coat, I use west system epoxy with the pumps as they are easy to work with "not cheep" and you will be very surprised how much you will use when wetting out so buy more than you think you will use it will never go to waste

Robbie IRE

fergal.b wrote: »

Pine, Douglas fir, or any hardwood will be fine plywood is not great at holding screws going into the layers as it causes them to split apart allowing water in so everywhere you screw the floor down will become a weak spot. Fibreglass does not like square edges so you need to round them and fill the bottom edge with "peanut butter" to create a curve like in the photo below. I like to use 8 oz fibreglass cloth because its easier to work with compared to matting. When wetting out the cloth you will need 3 coats to fill the weave you do one coat then wait 3 hours then the next coat another 3 hours and then last coat, I use west system epoxy with the pumps as they are easy to work with "not cheep" and you will be very surprised how much you will use when wetting out so buy more than you think you will use it will never go to waste

Would hardwood faced ply work . Ive 2 sheets in my shed.
Also does it have to be one continuous length of wood from bow to stern?
Again I've 2 8ft lengths that could be put together to make 11' length

fergal.b

A length of pine is only a few euros and will save you a lot of work splicing plywood together and as I said the end grain of ply wood isn't great at holding screws so if you fix a seat to it the screws will just work their way out and split the ply.




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Robbie IRE

Thanks Fergal!

Robbie IRE

I've quite a few bolt & screw holes in this boat. Anyone recommend what they would use as a filler ?

fergal.b

Robbie IRE wrote: »

I've quite a few bolt & screw holes in this boat. Anyone recommend what they would use as a filler ?

Get some "Marine plastic padding" Most marine shops sell it and I think Halfords also sell it.




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Robbie IRE

so I was going to remove these stringers as Fergal suggested. My god I start to cut away the old fibreglass & the wood underneath is soaking, rotten & full of insects!

Hope a manage to keep the shape of the stringer for a templet for a new one to be cut !! Falling apart .
This is the last thing to come off it . Everything else has been stripped .

fergal.b

Good to see you wearing the safety gear, fibreglass dust is not nice If you can't get a template from the old one you can run a plumb line from the high spot of the stringer to the low and just take measurements every few inches and that should give you the curve to cut in the timber.






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Robbie IRE

well a boat restoration is a journey of discovery someone said !!
It certainly seems to be the case with this boat .

So taking the stringer out in bits & pieces & it was treated with creosote. Smells pretty strong ....

So there seems to be some kinds of weird fibreglass fabric sheets like a wet t shirt stuck down & not even hard .Never mind the floor that I can lift up to find to old floor underneath.
The fibreglass on top only seems to have partially adhered to the original floor. So that'll all have to be cut out i suppose!

Robbie IRE

I dropped into marine supplies & got west systems kit for hardening & some glecoat filler also some fibreglass sheets for later on in the project .

I filled allot of the holes however I've noticed a few cracks around the transom. Don't look bad but still can be too good either. I'd rather not remove a transom . Its a big job that I don't have the confidence to do correctly. So I could drill a couple of holes & inject a load of hardener in it . Later on reinforcing it with internal & external stainless plate .
Would that be OK to do?

Also the green paint im going to sand back . I was then going to spray a good primer followed by spraying a nice coat of single coat paint ( whatever suggested )
Is it OK to spray over a sanded down paint ? Obviously cleaned prior.

I'm use to spraying & refurbing wood furniture. So spraying I've all the equipment. Just unsure whats its going to spray like .

fergal.b

The Glastron I did also had a large stainless steal plate front and back and it didn't solve the problem as the flexing caused by the outboard just moved to the next weakest spot in the fibreglass and it's just a matter of time before it fails, injecting resin also wont help much as there will more than likely rotten wood between your drill holes that will always be week spots.


I would sand away all the old paint you never know if the last painter did a proper job and if some of it is peeling off now it will more than likely peel off when you paint over it.

Sorry for all the bad news.

Robbie IRE

fergal.b wrote: »

The Glastron I did also had a large stainless steal plate front and back and it didn't solve the problem as the flexing caused by the outboard just moved to the next weakest spot in the fibreglass and it's just a matter of time before it fails, injecting resin also wont help much as there will more than likely rotten wood between your drill holes that will always be week spots.


I would sand away all the old paint you never know if the last painter did a proper job and if some of it is peeling off now it will more than likely peel off when you paint over it.

Sorry for all the bad news.

OK so sanding is no big deal. Ill just work on that .
Regarding the transom . I could drill the rivets out very easily. Remove the top of the boat .Seems to be just riveted together. Then cut the transom out completely & re-do... pretty nervous about doing that but I did buy this boat as a learning process.
Ill post a few pics of progress ��

fergal.b

If you are going to separate the two half's try and build some type of frame around the bottom of the boat to stop it bowing out of shape the hull is very soft and flexible without the top and can be tricky putting it back together if the sides are out of shape, you can do this what's the worse that can happen.




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Robbie IRE

Well I'm back. I haven't been working on the boat much . I had a house restoration going on also.
So I replaced the transom since I last posted. It was too rotten to fix .

A we quick question on the stringer . The old stringer was rotten & I've taken in out in bits . The last time it was recommended to get hardwood for this stringer. I'm finding it hard to get hardwood in 17ft lengths in the Midlands. Can I use any other options or is it hardwood or nothing ? Does it have to be one length of 17th or can it be in two smaller lengths . Will the joining weaken the structure?
Thanks for any help

fergal.b

Go with whatever wood you can get even pine will do as you will be coating it in fibreglass it will give it strength and waterproof it to some extent, you can splice 2-3 lengths together about a 4"1 angle should do again the fibreglass will help to hold them together.






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Robbie IRE

fergal.b wrote: »

Go with whatever wood you can get even pine will do as you will be coating it in fibreglass it will give it strength and waterproof it to some extent, you can splice 2-3 lengths together about a 4"1 angle should do again the fibreglass will help to hold them together.






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Once again Fergal, thanks allot

Mick Tator

Google 'Scarf Joint'