Hartley Flareline 16 project

New 5mm Dyneema rope.......................All rigged up.

Ignore the black plastic pipe on the motors gear/throttle morse. It's an idea I was toying with this arvo, plastic pipe split lengthways to wrap around the morse.(not firm enough though). The morse's plastic outer coating is cracking so I'm actually going to encase it in some rubber hose & bind it up. I also fitted a steel bar to the steering post to aid as an emergency tiller should the steering rope ever snap. I'll take better photo's tomorrow & upload them.

The binding idea I used on the accelerator cable of my old car. After I fitted the extractor exhaust manifold the cable would get hot & the plastic outer casing melted once. I bound the new one with fuel hose & electricians tape & it never failed again. The Merc's morse cables have a pretty solid steel core tube but I'm taking no chances & it saves me buying new ones.

Steering "old school style"!!! (Starboard side under aft deck)

Now a silly question:
Is there a definitive way of telling Dyneema rope from regular nylon. Something the sales rep' said got me thinking. He said with the new rope, the outer blue section is nylon & the Dyneema is the core. Does this sound right or is the bloke yanking my chain.....er' rope!!!
Plus the Dyneema was only $2.80 per metre, which I thought was a bit cheap.

 

Yeah, Dyneema core and polyester braid outer casing is normal. The Dyneema is strong but not very resistant to UV and abrasion, so it's best protected.

A few of the 4WD comp guys found this out the hard way after their winch ropes failed due to abrasion on rocks during comps.

But the big plus to Dyneema as oppposed to wire cables, they simply let out a bit more rope, tied a knot and kept winching.

The other big plus is when it breaks it drops flat, losing all the energy stored in the rope by the winch tension, whereas wire rope whips about and can take your head off, so Dyneema is much safer for winch ropes.

It's also easier on the hands - you don't need thick leather gloves to handle it as you do with wire rope- in order to avoid the 'fish-hooks' of broken wire strands in the cable.

 

I should have checked the label on the roll that the rope came off but I was reasonably confident it was Dyneema based on the rigidity & feel compared to other cheaper nylon rope. I went to a hardware store afterwards & was able to draw a comparison.

I bought 11 metres in total & came out with about a metre spare. Total cost $30. A good investment.

Thanks again Buzzman.

 

Yeah, and a damn sight easier to install than plastic-coated wire rope, too.

 

Fixing the steering & talking about the failsafe I put in place in case it ever fails again. The idea being that 1 person can get the boat home singlehanded if a trip goes pair shaped.

With the steering fixed properly & some nice weather to play in, I took the Hartley out on the Leven river again today. Got mum to shoot some nice smooth video of the Hartley at its best.

This was of course after I hit the sandy riverbed trying to explore further up river. On a low tide it wasn't happenin'!
I came off plane & started to slowly cruise then the channel vanished & left us in 2 feet of water & the outboard in silt.
There goes the touched up paint job on the prop!

 

1 & 2 ,I put in place a rubber splash guard on the outboard well where the cables etc' come through.

3. also welded on an extra bit of galvanized tube to support the winch post. It takes a fair bit of effort to winch up the old Hartley, didn't really want to be in a position where the winch post folded over mid' retrieval.

Also Buzzman you'll be glad to hear that I'm looking into fitting some foam for floatation, now that I found a place for everything on board I know what gaps I can fill etc.

 

As promised Buzzman, I raided the rear dock of a fruit shop & filled up the boot & back seat of my car with polystyrene. I just have to do a glue test first to ensure the glue I plan to use won't melt it.
I plan to put most of it on the inner sheer & the transom area. Then some under floor & in the cabin if I have enough.
This lot should be enough to counter the weight of the motor so if the boat ever gets swamped in theory it'll stay upright at least.

These 2 shots illustrate the bit of fibreglass that lifted from hull under the cabin area.
I sanded the area today to ensure I got rid of all the loose stuff & assess the damage. I thought water was creeping in but I may have been wrong. The discoloured area is a different type of resin I think. Looked like some filler was added too.

My guess is some damage occurred at some point in the boats past & it was patched up.
I have shot some video of before & after as I put some new matting & resin on today. I also removed the motor to gain access to the transom area under the mount. With small cracks visible I thought it best to do a thorough job. Also covered the inner rear section of the well with matting & resin.

 

Dirk
You don't need to 'glue' the sheets of 'styrene together - cheap silicon or Maxbond ought to do the job, and you definitely don't want to glue it to the hull..!!

Overlap it like laying bricks and then trim blocks to size. Make them as big as you can squeeze in around the timber supports and add blocks till the transom cavity is as full as you can get it (while leaving room for other stuff like tank etc).

You want it to be removable so that if you suspect rot again, you can get to it without a major drama.

You can probably even 'warm' (as opposed to heat) the thinner sheets so they'll curve and conform to the sheer. Cut yourself a cardboard template of the curvature, the useing a cuppla bits of transverse timber, sit the styrene board over them with a few bricks as weights, and pour boiling water over it.

If that's not enough, you may need to use a hot air gun. Hairdryer might work but will take longer. Hot air gun is how the pros do it in the boatsheds when forming foam for hulls before glassing.

Alternately, you could scribe the foam to the curvature along one edge, then laminate the pieces of foam face to face till you have enough of a block to fit between two of the frames. You can scribe both edges and trim to the shape of the frame AND the hull this way.

Then if you want to get fancy, some 3mm ply sheeting over the top, screwd off to the frames, to hide the foam. If you want 'pockets' for gear in this area, simply carve it out of the foam before you cover it with the ply, and epoxy the exposed surface to stop flaking. Again, don't 'glue' the foam blocks to the hull, maybe a couple of dots of Silastic on the stringers. Keep it off the actual hull surface to prevent it trapping condensation and causing a rot spot.

I agree that the patch underneath is probably a different resin, or not mixed properly, or applied on a cold day (you do have them in Tassie..??) and has not gone off properly.

Epoxy resin, brushed on, cuppla coats, light sand then paint.

You're getting there..!!

 

All good ideas, thanks Buzzman.

I shot some video today of the foam going in, will put up a link tomorrow maybe when the compilation is on YouTube. Did a bit while I waited for some resin to harden.

I am not going to glue any foam to the actual hull surface, only atop the stringers.
I glued roughly 1" strips to the front & rear of the last frame then started to build it up in layers, each sheet glued to the previous being careful to leave the gap from the top of each hull stringer to the actual hull plating. This allows water to drain to the bung & allows it to breath.

Stuck a few random blocks to the lower transom under the well box, (& on strbd side so far) again strategically keeping it off the hull. basically all the areas I can put foam into I will. As for the sheer, I plan to glue it to the stringers to leave a void between outer hull skin & foam. I can cover the sheer foam with ply in the future but not a high priority at the mo'. That's a good idea having storage pockets too but this does make for slightly less foam onboard.

My main goal is to have the transom & cockpit area loaded with foam, so if she ever gets swamped it'll stay afloat & hopefully upright. I plan to fill most of the space in the aft side boxes but leave enough space to get a tank in & out & maybe slide a tackle box or 2 in there. Having said that, I have decided to keep the main tank under the rear bench seat for ease of access, this free's up space in front of the bung but I don't want to glue any foam in there of course.
I can use this space for auxiliary fuel storage perhaps.

I also need to keep space free for routine inspections of steering gear etc. I'll figure it out as I go.

Fibreglassing has gone well. The hull patch & transom are done. They got a coat of resin after extensive sanding, some matting rolled on then a further 2 coats of resin. It all looks really nice & smooth now too .
Tomorrow I'll give them a light sand to eliminate bloom & put on some gloss, then I'll silicone the stainless plate onto the transom & refit the outboard.
There's 2 bolts that go through the transom to hold the motor firm, along with the motors clamps of course, so I need to silicone the bolt hole entry points to stop water penetrating the transom.

Silicone will go between the transom & the s' steel plate, then some rubber grommets will go between the outboard mounting bracket & the s' steel plate.
This should keep the water at bay!
I also made sure the well box drain holes are resined good & proper so no water should ever get in between the transom timbers. Time will tell.

 

Please don't rely on silicone to keep thru hull holes water free. It drys out and shrinks away from the wood, and as the mouldy silicone in rented house bathrooms attests, eventually stuff gets underneath it.....

The 'proper' way to prevent water getting into thru hulls is to enlarge the hole a bit larger than the bolt, fill the hole with a stiff mix o=v epoxy (have first lightly brushed thin epoxy onto the exposed wood a couple of times, and clamp scrap pover it to allow it to dry without slumping.

Then redrill the hole through the solid resin.

Even if it cracks, there is still the brushed on coating, but normally this works well.

Very basic just hit the exposed innards of the holes with *several* coats of thin epoxy, wet on wet.

 

I hear ya' Buzzman. I have heard that trick before but you've caught me asleep at the helm, I hadn't given it a thought. My bad!

I think what I'll do is use a small brush to get some resin inside the hole. The bolts are a tight fit so I'll need to open the holes up a tad'.
Then I'll slap the silicone between the plate and transom, not the whole plate surface, just around the hole. It should last a while as the plate gets pulled in damn tight once the bolts are tensioned.

Then there'll be some thick rubber grommets go between the motor mount & plate, then another 2 grommets between mount & bolt heads.

 

LOL....well done mate! Just shows what a bit of graft and imagination can achieve.

Was at the Grafton Jacaranda Festival Wooden Boat Show on the weekend with my 'project' Hartley Scamp, and there was another near identical boat there, fully restored.

Stupid me forgot to take photo, but it was truly gorgeous, with polished timber inside and gunnels, paint outside, and a 50HP tiller-steer Merc.

The owner told me his boat when purchased looked worse than mine...!!!! And he *stripped* the paint using chemical stripper and scrapers.

Now THAT'S an effort!! Dunno if I've go the patience...... Sigh.

Anyway, good luck with your boat and...Happy Fishin'..!!

 

You'll achieve the the finished product you want if you just plod along, do a little each week.
I went full throttle at my project to get it done although I wasn't aiming for perfection, I don't have the patience for that either. I like to see results quickly when I tackle a project.

My Merc' survived the reef whack with barely a scratch. It was a worst case scenario & I got off extremely lightly, considering the outboard leg is only 13" below the hull!!!. Suffice to say I've sworn off that particular area. My own stupid fault really, I knew there was a reef there somewhere, it's visible from shore at low tide, I made the mistake of thinking I was out further past it.
Plus I always see other skippers go out the river mouth to seaward & they ALL go to the West or due North. I drifted across the river mouth to the East about 800 or 900 metres out. Tide was receding too.

A thorough inspection back home found only a match head size "ding" on the fin in front of the prop.

Neptune would not deprive me of my vessel so soon after going to sea as he has much to teach me.

I will follow up with some more on this thread in a month or so when I get some paint & start on the hull. Might have to start another thread by then but we'll see how we go.

 

Well, if I was to sell I'd start at about $5000 & go down a bit from there.
With the purchase of any boat you just don't know the history. The bonus with mine of course is the rebuild was all documented on YouTube.

$4000 is the average price for these boats though. Which is a shame if you ask me. Considering that anything with the name Hartley on it commands a decent price, especially the trailer sailors.

I have no intentions of selling mine though. As stated, I know exactly what I'm taking to the water in & the work that's been done.

I'm very happy with it actually, with most things I expect the worst but hope for the best.
So far the Hartley's looked after me. I've gone a good 1.5 klms offshore & dropped it off the back of a few 1 metre waves under power, she's come down with a thud but she's still goin' !

 

The next few jobs entail a full paint job, some new dyneema starter rope for the motor, some more handles to make it easier to get on to the bow & also while standing behind the cab when were planing.

Now here's a couple questions for ya':
why is it I feel good on a rolling swell until I stop the motor & drift, then I start to feel unwell/seasick?

Also I wonder why, when I stop the motor & drift, the boat always prefers to face the stern to the swell. My guess is it's the dead weight of the motor dragging in the water maybe...?