Marine Restoration & Fabrication

[delawarerick]

I itch just looking at this thread really great work.

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[Instigator]

I was decent w/glass when I went to work for the boat builder in Sebastian Fla and learned a TON while there.

Changed from avoiding glass projects to enjoying the challenging ones.
Like motor building, its fun doing the projects that the arm chair quarter backs say won't/shouldn't/cant do.

Like painting, the prep work is the worst/nasty part of the job.

Was also enlightening moving to Fla and seeing how/what the guys do that do it every day Vs what we read on the internet.

One of the first myths to be crushed was that doing a transom from the inside is the only/proper way to do it.
Lots of boats are built to where you'd have to strip the boat to bare hull to do it that way and aren't worth it.

I bought a small basser in Fla that I knew needed a transom and I did it from the outside due to the above.
Had it done, by myself, in a weekend.
As long as its as strong, or stronger than new.........., and costs 50% less...., who cares?
I actually scraped the crud off the inside of the outer skin and glassed it back on when done!

BTW, diagnosed the bad transom, in front of the seller, after doing the tap test w/the handle of a screwdriver.

[Instigator]

Another slick project was cutting down the transom on my STV River Rocket.
Never would have attempted it until working/learning at the shop in Sebastian.

Came out as my favorite cut down STV.

[Instigator]

Another trick I learned.
If you need a flat glass panel, use a glass door as your mold.

This thing is WAY heavy and a PIA to move (4 times so far) but works great!

Used it to lay up the balsa cored, deck section of the motor bracket for my Convincor project.

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wow that came out smooth as glass!




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[Instigator]

Old bow hatch on my Convincor project had a pointed front to it, and that triangular shape was mlolded into the deck.

So when I updated it to a traditional, square Bomar, I also had to reconfigure (didn't realize this when I started the hatch replacement, Ugh!) the deck contour to match the new hatch.

[Instigator]

When we were doing the cabin cruiser thing, I always had a dinghy to explore new ports with.

Did the traditional inflatable route the first few yrs but was a PIA so I built one.

Found a set of plans at Glen L but it was for a 10' tender. Add the motor and youre at 11'6" LOA and our boat had a 10' beam at the transom.
We hung the dinghy/motor on davits on the transom so this meant it would have stuck out on both sides and hit the dock when coming/going.


I solved that by insetting the transom. Byproduct was a drastic improvement in stability.
Negative was, I got busy on other projects and didn't get it finished until we sold the cruiser. Got near zero time in it.

Found a great new owner for it over on OSO and made a great story/memory.
He was on his way through town, on his way home, after picking up a gorgeous 40' Cigarette w/twin 1100 HP blower motors w/# 6 drives! (100 MPH boat!)


I met him at a truck stop by me and helped load the dinghy on his truck, w/the Cigarette behind it!

Has a summer house on a lake and he took it there for his granddaughters!

Sucked selling it but helped going to a great owner and new home.

[JBS]

You guys are very talented. I'm not, so I've got to pay someone to do a resto. I did a 17 whaler and a v21.It wasn't cheap but I'm glad I did it. What I've learned,is sometimes it's better to pay up for a good one,unless you can do the work yourself.

[Instigator]

Did someone say Whaler?

Bought and redid this one in Fla.

Was I think, a '69. Had a 15" transom that I raised to 20.
Was fun to show the pix's of the 40 yr old, rock solid wood transom core to the no wood in boats faithful.

Refinished the interior, found a 50 HP OMC, added trim, built a jack plate, ground/beat on a bunch of alum props and got it to 48.6 GPS.
Had a blast in that lil booger!
When the Sonic was in process, this was out BOAT!

Camped w/it, explored w/it, had it out in the Atlantic, raced jet skis w/it....

[Instigator]

My first serious performance OB project.

Hydrostream Vector that didn’t need a core 🌴

Was stock lay up that I put on a diet.
Bare hull ended up at 543 lbs.

Ran 101 w/a work bench OMC.

Doing the core sucked but was a great lesson.

Had a blast w/that rig, had it all over the country and burned a bunch of gas.

Quite an education on Streams 🤓