13' Bullet 130 Rebuild & Repower

**TwzteD** · 04-22-2019, 03:23 PM

Seat and brackets are done, I dropped it off at the upholstery place
, Seat is going to be hot rod Red with gray 10" stripes with diamonds stitched in the gray, black stitching throughout the seat.

**1954bmw** · 04-22-2019, 10:26 PM

Lookin good, now, how are you going to attach the seat covers, staples???, glue, or a draw string????

**TwzteD** · 04-23-2019, 05:03 AM

The only removable piece will be bottom cushion, everything else will be glued and stapled to pvc that the guys is going to be adding strips in the corners of the seat and the bottom so he can staple to. bottom cushion possibly have industrial grade velcro but no snaps or anything to rust over time.

**TwzteD** · 04-23-2019, 08:27 AM

These are the colors im going with, gray may be a little dark and get hot but nothing a towel cant cover, after all my last seat was all black. Going with the gray and red theme throughout the boat. I think red interior looks premium and classy, looks bad ass imo. Defiantly don't see many small boats with this color combo often.

**TwzteD** · 04-24-2019, 05:51 AM

Got the battery box mounts made, t nuts installed, just need to glue and glass them in the boat. This will be a reoccurring trend in the boat with t nuts, all the mounting points in the floor will be coosa plugs with t nuts on the bottom, glued and glassed under floor for a strong mounting point and clean install.

**TwzteD** · 04-24-2019, 05:52 AM

Got the battery box mounts made, t nuts installed, just need to glue and glass them in the boat. This will be a reoccurring trend in the boat with t nuts, all the mounting points in the floor will be coosa plugs with t nuts on the bottom, glued and glassed under floor for a strong mounting point and clean install.

**W2F a V-King** · 04-24-2019, 06:07 AM

Are you planning on covering that coosa with glass before mounting/glassing in boat, at least the side the T nuts are going on (bottom)?

Coosa is tough and strong, but imo...needs a layer or two of glass (1708) on it before the T nuts go on.

The coosa will compress a bit with tightened bolts. And a battery is heavy....add to that the beating your planning on with the boat...... I'd hate to see those T nuts pull loose.

I did some compression testing on the heaviest coosa they made at the time....(think iirc it was the 26lb). 2" thick when I was shopping for transom materials. My test was done with "naked" coosa ( no glass over and under ) and it does compress some with bolts and nuts run through it. Or mine did anyway.

**TwzteD** · 04-24-2019, 08:25 AM

Originally Posted by W2F a V-King

Are you planning on covering that coosa with glass before mounting/glassing in boat, at least the side the T nuts are going on (bottom)?

Coosa is tough and strong, but imo...needs a layer or two of glass (1708) on it before the T nuts go on.

The coosa will compress a bit with tightened bolts. And a battery is heavy....add to that the beating your planning on with the boat...... I'd hate to see those T nuts pull loose.

I did some compression testing on the heaviest coosa they made at the time....(think iirc it was the 26lb). 2" thick when I was shopping for transom materials. My test was done with "naked" coosa ( no glass over and under ) and it does compress some with bolts and nuts run through it. Or mine did anyway.

Yes you do make a good point and I have thought about that, do the little Barb's that dig into the coosa penetrate glass when you tighten them to keep the t nut from spinning? that would be the only reason why I would not want to add a layer or two of Glass on the bottom because those little prongs need to dig into the coosa to grab it in order to keep it from spinning when you tighten the bolt.

**Gorilla0178** · 04-24-2019, 09:34 AM

As Far as the T-nuts go. Ive installed them like this a few times and had no issues that I know of. But maybe I just haven't heard anything. The prongs are the reason I always put them in with no glass. they do make t-nuts with a flat flange and 3 small holes for brads, but I don't think those would be too good. Coosa does compress a little, and I think they would hold better than even self tappers into coosa or even wood. And if you recess them a little or smush them in a vice, the nuts sit flush with the bottom and don't raise the whole thing up. I cant imagine them ripping out. I don't know how else to fasten I down, either self tappers into coosa in the deck, or t-nuts in coosa. Or glassed in which isn't poss in this situation.

**TwzteD** · 04-24-2019, 03:50 PM

Okay so I did a little bit of torture testing today to get an idea of how the Coosa would perform under extreme conditions, I put the t nut in like I normally would and put the bolt through and tightened it down intentionally so the coosa would compress and the t nut actually started to mushroom out a little bit. I then hung a 57 pound vise on the end of it and started hitting it with a hammer to see if it would split the Coosa or pull through and it didn't either. It also did not compress anymore as I was hitting it. The Coosa does compress fairly easily and it just never gives you a "tight enough" feel with the bolt but that can be attributed to the way I had the bolt set up with nuts and had a lot of pivot points to turn but it's fairly easy to compress however after I hit it with the hammer and whatnot I tightened and tightened the bolt to see how far the Coosa would compress and it actually stopped at a certain point and the bolt sheared off. After the bolt finally sheared off the tnut compressed into the 3/4 Coosa about 1/8 of an inch. I really don't think there will ever be an issue with the t nuts pulling through the Coosa especially with glass over the top of them. My only concern at this point would be that the Coosa could potentially compressed slightly causing the bolts to become a little loose over time. now I just have to kind of figure out what the best way to reduce the compression slightly so that would not happen. Coosa is strong stuff and I'm not sure actual plywood would have done any better.

**W2F a V-King** · 04-24-2019, 07:43 PM

Wasn't trying to cause any trouble, just share my findings. Once covered with glass maybe predrill a small relief's for the locking tabs, retaining the added compression the glass will give and keep the t nuts from spinning.

I believe it was suggested here somewhere to add extra layers of glass in the area where bolts go through to negate this small compression issue. In my test example where motor mounting bolts would go. That's what I was testing for.

Might be as simple as a re-torque after a few trips out and done!

**TwzteD** · 04-24-2019, 08:03 PM

Originally Posted by W2F a V-King

Wasn't trying to cause any trouble, just share my findings. Once covered with glass maybe predrill a small relief's for the locking tabs, retaining the added compression the glass will give and keep the t nuts from spinning.

I believe it was suggested here somewhere to add extra layers of glass in the area where bolts go through to negate this small compression issue. In my test example where motor mounting bolts would go. That's what I was testing for.

Might be as simple as a re-torque after a few trips out and done!

No I understand, its always good to have a second opinion, just like the guy who recommended lengthening the knees to avoid a hard edge in the hull. That is what this place is for sharing ideas and experiences to help make better decisions an help other people out, I appreciate the input, I'm fairly new to this stuff so im always listening.

**TwzteD** · 04-28-2019, 12:26 PM

Ok so I did some more testing and added a layer of 1708, one hole with t nut installed in wet glass and one with t nut installed after glass dried, definitely intalling either way is a huge improvement, but installing in the wet glass is nicer as you can get it flush and the resin will essentially glue the t nut into the glass and coosa for an overall stronger bond. It also doesn't splinter the glass as the prongs penetrate. I tested it by torquing the bolts down and it did not compress at all and gave me the very tight feeling I was looking for. Little extra step buy gives me the piece of mind I was looking for. So I went ahead and got all the plugs glassed up and ready to go, after they dry just have to clean them up and they will be ready for the boat.

**Gorilla0178** · 04-28-2019, 01:56 PM

Sweet, Guess this will be the new standard.

**XstreamVking** · 04-28-2019, 03:17 PM

I glad you guys decided to improve on the t-nuts install. After all the beefing up that was done, custom seat mounts etc. To have fastener failure would be a shame....Penske has very low holding power especially over many stress cycles. Also be aware the t-nuts have a bad habit of backing out when the fastener is removed if there is any resistance. This is one reason to glass over them.