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My first fishing boat
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Not bad for an occational Colorado fishing trip.
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Is equiped just right for my needs.
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Nice tilt trailer also.
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four stations are about right
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Took it out for a shakedown cruise and had a blast. The 50 hp is just about right for this boat and the trolling motor works fine. The 50 hp idles just about right to trol with as well. Seems like there is a soft floor up front. I'll pull the carpet and see what's up.
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The plywood that used to be under the fiberglass is rotten.
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No wonder it was loose
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Nice storage right?
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Made for very usefull storage uner the two mid deck seats.
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You can hide the real problem, but it won't go away.
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Now I can see why the storage was added
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Who said Closed cell foam won't retain moisture?
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All the foam is like a wet sponge and there is trapped standing water under the rotten flooring.
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The more I look the worse it gets. There were three layers of flooring ranging from OBS to 1/2 ply overlayed with poly and mat. The reason? Someone thought hiding it under cheap carpet would do just fine.
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More of the same
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No plywood is left here.
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The only structure under the front deck was provided by the fiberglass layer.
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I can't get over how much water retention you can get from foam.
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It's amazing
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Following about 20 hours of cutting and grinding
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All I can say about this phase is "Very dirty and tedious".
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Took me about 30 hours with a 4 1/2" angle grinder to get to this point.
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Down to Rotten Stringers.
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So this is what a hull looks like?
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Down to the bare hull....what a joy...40 hours and I am going to quit counting
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cut down too far removing the rotten floor and went thru the hull.
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Got alittle carried away here.
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Outside View
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I guess I'll have some outside and inside layups here.
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4 New rear section stringers cut and sitting in place.....let the epoxy begin ....only 80 hours more or less and over $500 in materials....more...not less...
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Stringers take time...they are all unique
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Slow but sure progress
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three rear section stringers down and one to go
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Battery/gas tank deck is now in, rear pedistal and main seat reinforment is in...all it takes is time and money and time and money and more time .... you get the picture...can't wait to get this baby back in the water so I can actually have some fun.
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I'm beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel
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Rear Passenger deck
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After multiple trims even after using a cardboard template...not as easy as it looks. rear segment is installed after sealing in epoxy resin and then mounted using SS screws on all four headers every 8 " or so. Edges get filled to the hull using thickened epoxy.
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3 lateral stringers also sealed and set in filled epoxy, set using 6 inch strips of S-glass on each side and then overwrapped by S-glass and epoxy......lots and lots of epoxy....and glass
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Forward pedistal subfloor reinforcement
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Last two pieces of decking
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Finally the last two deck pieces are set, screwed in place and gap filled.
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How good does this feel.....tomarrow this gets a final wipedown and then the whole surface gets glass strip around the side and 6 oz. glass cloth and epoxy over the whole thing.
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Full flooring in place
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slot repaired
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hard to see, but inner and out layers with thickened epoxy in between.
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Looks alot like two SS screws
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another oops
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The other side
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These screws pull the flooring down onto a reinforcing strip of plywood mounted perpendicular to the stringers and used to tye the flooring junction together....now all I have to do is figure out what to do for this fupah repair....like I don't already have enough work to do here....
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