Charlie's Superboat resto

[CharlieN]

It is warm out today and I could muster some time, I am in the mood the clear the snow off the boat, get it uncovered and free the liner up. I am thinking if I circumcise around the top of the liner and cut across the bottom of the toe board I could lift it out. Question is how well tabbed it is along the sides and if that would peel free or need to be cut?
Probably best to leave it till I bring the boat in the shop.

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

Cory , it's all good considering i only use one primer that fit's the bill for everything , and can be used on Epoxy , Vinyl Ester or Poly .

[RobF]

for duratec primer you will want to sand with 100, 220 would be too fine.
If you are going to use a FINISH primer over it you sand according to the primer you are using. Someone mentioned "epoxy primer"- you can get high build epoxy primers and finish epoxy primers. For finish primer like Awlgrip 545 or Alexseal over a duratec you will want to sand with 100 DA 180 hand. Sand for topcoat according to the paint you choose.

This is the area you should reinforce while the tank is out:

[Coryc]

I use 545 and sand with no less than 320 with a d/a. That's just me.

[Coryc]

Offshore Ginger, I gotcha.

[RobF]

I use 545 and sand with no less than 320 with a d/a. That's just me.

you need to make sure there is enough "tooth" for the primer, otherwise you create a polishing effect. Prior to topcoat sanding 545 with 320 for imron is ideal, over gelcoat and bodywork 180 is the finest I would advise.

Surface Preparation
Aluminum: Sand blast or grind to a 2-3 mil (50-75 microns) profile, clean silver color. Alternatively, on small parts/components, prime
with Wash Primer CF. Steel: Sandblast/Grind SSPC-SP10 or Sa 21/2. Gelcoat/Fiberglass: Sand with 100-150 grit paper. Wood:
Smooth sand with 80-100 grit paper.

[CharlieN]

Rob, when I spoke with John Coen a few weeks back he did state that one mistake had been leaving core out with the expectation the tank would suffice as a structural member. So yes I will be adding core as you did.
For planning purposes is that section added a ½ or ¾ core?
Just how I get down in there I am not sure yet. Might cut the floor as you did, might cut a strip out of the middle on top of the stringers using the two longitudinal boards to bond back onto, or remove the full well.

If anything the seat boxes need to either be lowered down to a few inches or flattened to the floor.

John also stated the original top deck mold was in pretty bad shape and nothing he would want to pull a fresh deck from. Just this morning I got a wild idea about setting my deck back into that mold to hold the shape while the core and inner skin get replaced. I have not called him for his opinion yet. By just using the mold to hold my outer skin the surface finish would not be an issue.
I have also not checked across the island with Intimadator about their deck molds.

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

Offshore Ginger, I gotcha.

LOL , Ha Ha Ha , and just curious how do you figure ?

[Coryc]

LOL , Ha Ha Ha , and just curious how do you figure ?

Haha I mean I got what you were saying. And yes Robf, only sand a topcoat 545 with higher grit. For body work 180

[CharlieN]

I got a few hours to work on this. Primarily continuing cleanup and inspection. Part of my task was to cut out more of the floor up front. Not wanting to run the saw into the stringers or the hull I wanted to have some sort of view under the deck as I cut.
Well, what a great use for my WiFi action camera. I set it up in the bilge with an LED worklight and linked it up to my tablet. It worked slick
The blade is a little hard to see but it is in view.

[rjdubiel]

haha, thats a good idea!

[CharlieN]

haha, thats a good idea!

Thanks, actually when the sun got lower late in the day this system was working sweet.

As I have started picking away and prepping to a near future work session I have come up with a delay that will prevent any productivity this fall.
I am scheduled for a shoulder reconstruction on a nasty 8 year old injury. Middle of August I will be given the chance of relief of moderate disability and long term pain. I so look forward to the opportunity of being more productive and maybe even sleeping more than two nights a month.

[CharlieN]

It is hard for me to think it has been nearly 6 years since I have been able to pay attention to this project. When I left off here I was going in for some much needed shoulder repair. I was blessed to have the best surgeon in the region and he went in three little incisions and removed a mountain range of bone spurs and about 60% of the destroyed AC tendon. It was nice to have a major release from pain but now had to realize every time I pulled on something like a wrench or pick up something when bent over my shoulder dislocated forwards. The bone spur developed due to the shoulder having been dislocated for years. I have gotten used to doing an inclined pushup to reset the joint. It just will not stay there. What a way to live. I can not lay on my back or try to work over my head with my right arm. What a way to live when I have been earning my living working with both my mind and body over 50 years now.
But here I am, it finally has stopped snowing up here in Vermont and a week or so ago I uncovered this boat for the first time since since 2015 when it was setup for storage.
I want to say thank you to everyone who has participated in this thread, the tech support and knowledge base in here is fabulous. Again thank you.

When I closed out this boat years back I had no expectation of not getting back to it right away. But I did my usual with plenty of 2X8s, poly and tarps over it. It has had 4+ feet of snow on it at times and did this past winter as well. Now I have it opened up and cleaned out of bits that were stored in it such as all the rollers from the trailer it is on.

This hull looks good, it needs work, we all know that. The past week I have spent time working at forming a plan to proceed.
The first and foremost task is to recore the delaminated front deck. 6 years ago my intention was to build an external support structure for the skin, roll the hull over, clean out all the delaminated material, fit a new core, bag it and infuse it in place.
Well, since the degradation of my shoulder, the full arm and hand actually and finding I really do not have anywhere near the use of my body as I did a decade ago, I can't do that anymore. I can not crawl in the access hole and work 8' in front of me.
And in this region I have yet to find a young one with the care and technical ability to hire. At a point in life decades back I had 7 great employees doing aircraft restoration, those years are gone and will never be seen in this region. I have not found or hired one good person in close to 15 years now.

So my thoughts, I want to move forward with this. I think in the past week I am leaning towards lifting the cap off. I will build out a support structure and get the deck - cap upside down in the shop. This way I have my best bet of recoreing the front deck. This will surly not be as good as setting the deck back in a mold but it should work well. Should I say

With the deck removed this allows me to then remove the cockpit, lift the tank out allowing the best possible inspection re-work and core under the tank.
Opinions?

[CharlieN]

I am back, hopefully for awhile. Most of the snow is gone in the yard and I took the opportunity to pull the cover back on this boat an look around. Turns out when I covered this last fall I only put a new tarp over it, no poly, heck it is a new tarp. It was damp inside.
Inspection shows well so far, cutting the top skin off the rear of the fuel tank there was a wet spot in the foam just aft of where the fill hose connects, that bothered me, I cleared some access and routed out more foam, it was all dry. I used an 18" long bit and drilled through the aft tank bulkhead and was able to continue under the tank, all dry, wood chips from the bulkhead were good.
Using my new to me oscillating tool I cut out a section of inner skin over the pad, I had only noticed last summer that test holes had been drilled into the core near the transom. I wish I had noticed them years ago, does not matter since the aft 9" of pad core is much, moving a foot forward I was getting into wet but firm core, I will go further later after I have new material in stock, at least I know the thickness to buy, same as front deck.



Later I again used the oscillating tool and removed one of the seat boxes, a few reasons, One I do not like sitting that high up, and two to look around for planning and further inspection as I prepare for the real work.
I had determined I would want this style of seat an inch off the floor at the rear mounts and a few up in the front, Heck that new cutting tool flush cut so sweet I took the box right down.
The seats will be on adjustable rails, partially because I will be running a foot throttle, I have grown to dislike the hand throttle in rough water.



And now, for where I am really going with this project,

[XstreamVking]

Cool project. You have a lot of determination bud. Glad your back at it!