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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.

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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.

.

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 &#55357;&#56876;

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'