New Project

Note: Posted this in the wrong place, so I moved it here. Mods, please delete original posting, Thanks!

Howdy guys. I stumbled upon this site while doing a Google search for fuel tank design. Im currently in the middle of rebuilding/restoring my dads 1973 Valco Jet Sled. The boat sat for about 3yrs and had many things (including the throttle and jet gate controls) redneck-rigged. I brought the boat home last Saturday and started stripping it down on Sunday. As of now I have it stipped down to the bare hull.

Plans for the boat include:

Replacing the rotted out floor boards with pressure treated plywood (I do live in the rainy state )

Repainting the inside of the boat and adding a color stripe down the side.

Replacing the rear compartments across the transom.

Building a new center console and installing new controls.

There is a lot longer list, but I will spare you the details.

A few questions I do have are:

What techniques do you use to prep for paint on aluminum?

What techniques/materials/tools have you used to polish aluminum?

What paint should I use on the interior and side?

What company would you recommend to build a roto-plastic fuel tank? And how much would a simple tank cost?

Any input is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Clarence

 

S*it, you got a 70 on that thing? Sounds hairy (or fun, depending on your perspective...)

Floorboards- Pressure treated ply isn't bad, but will still deteriorate in a boat; far better would be AC exterior ply soaked in resin and with a fibreglass skin on each side.

Paint- For the interior, I'd look at something like Zolotone if you want a tough zero-maintenance finish; other options are Awlgrip and Interlux Bilgekote. Or just leave it as aluminum. For the exterior, an Interlux or Awlgrip two-part urethane would be the tough, shiny choice. Both these companies have good little booklets detailing how to prep aluminum and other surfaces, and how many layers of what primers are needed. If you follow their directions you will end up with a very tough, long-lived paint job.

Looking at where the waterline is on that boat, I'd consider adding some sort of splash guard to the top of the transom.

Johnson/Evinrude/OMC/Bombardier sells plastic tanks that are suitable for that motor and boat. The fittings haven't changed in over 30 years. I'd get two or three 23-litre portable tanks and build the console/seat so that they can fit underneath and have some ventilation. This way you can remove them for filling, you don't have to go to the trouble of installing and certifying a built-in fuel system, you can have a reserve tank filled at a different time (so you can still get home if you have the wet-and-dirty-fuel problem), etc.

 

The 70 pushes it just fine

With the jet, you lose about 30% of your thrust, so you gotta go big.

Your vote for Zolotone is the 3rd that I have heard.

As far as the waterline goes, Im redistributing the weight forward some to compensate for that. In the past, all the fuel, battery, etc was in the back. The center console was located towards the rear also. I plan on moving the console forward about a foot and putting the fuel tank under it. As far as I know, boats of this size are not inspected like larger vessels are, so Im not sure on a built in tank.

This boats primary use will be in the rivers around the northwest and some lakes. Most of the rivers require a boat with a draft of 12" or under to pass some gravel bars.

I've gone over gravel bars with it where the water was around 4" deep, you could feel the boat almost rise as the water was compressed under the hull