Not so proud owner of a restoration project

Discussion in 'Fiberglass and Composite Boat Building' started by Adam, Jan 11, 2020.

  1. Mr Efficiency
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    Mr Efficiency Senior Member

  2. BrissoDamo
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    BrissoDamo Junior Member

    Last edited: Jan 14, 2020
  3. Mr Efficiency
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    Mr Efficiency Senior Member

    Most do opt for twins, there are advantages and disadvantages, but the one of having a back-up in case of an engine failure is probably the main advantage. If you can get the boat on plane with one engine, that advantage is greater still. CR props offer better handing in confined spaces, no torque effects, but you lose with more fuel, earlier ventilation, and greater initial cost, maintenance, and weight. I'd say it depends where you are using it.
     
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  4. BrissoDamo
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    rough water cruise speed is way better with a single outboard
     
  5. Mr Efficiency
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    Only if the hull and/or occupants are up to it. I suspect CR has pushed a lot of people toward twins. The cats I have had generally struggled to plane on one engine, you had to go further down in pitch than desirable to guarantee it, but if you can plane on one motor, without going back a lot in pitch, it is almost an automatic choice to use twins, especially when needing to cross bars.
     
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  6. Adam
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    Adam Junior Member

    Well, I guess its time to eat my words, Mr. Efficiency - you were right. While grinding away at the transom I discovered multiple significant areas of what appear to be hull delamination. Voids between layers of glass, full of water, and patches where the gel coat seems to have separated. Also, it may appear that the transom was laid up with chop strand directly on the gel coat, with weave laid over top of that. Hard to tell with all the dust and grinding, but the back of the gel coat looks like its composed of chop strand. I guess on the bright side, I discovered this now as opposed to sinking a ton of money into her only to discover the damage later.
    I'm going to see a glass guy tomorrow to see if its any way salvageable, but as of right now I'm preparing to strip her down and scrap her.

    On a side note, I will be selling a ton of boat parts in the near future, including a Merc 4.3 drive line, with power steering. I ran it last year and stored indoors.

    Update will follow tomorrow with the verdict.
     
  7. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    I paid 3 grand for a 1974 Starfire full of core rot. Cost me $300 to have the dump crush it. Bought it in winter; didn't know what a rotten core was...you are in good company. There are thousands of crappy boats out there. Oftentimes; the owner doesn't know they are selling absolute garbage.
     
  8. Mr Efficiency
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    Gelcoat is usually backed with chop, woven fabric under that. It may be salvageable, I guess your glass repairer's opinion is worth hearing.
     
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  9. KeithO
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    KeithO Senior Member

    The sea ray that I scrapped had a solid csm laminate. No woven material anywhere that I could find. The hull was actually in fine shape, transom and stringers were shot. The csm is applied in some cases by a robot equipped with a chopper fed by rolls of continuous e-glass roving. Im sure it is cheap for the oem.

    In my case I scrapped it because I realized that no boat that I would ever be able to afford was going to make my ex wife feel safe. So I stopped the bleeding. I had been ready to go with a 4 cylinder marinized ecotech motor (there is a company in NZ making water cooled manifolds for them). No way I was putting an ancient cast iron block back in there....
     
  10. fallguy
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    twin outboard on their own systems only risk is drowning them
     
  11. KeithO
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    KeithO Senior Member

    2x 115hp outboards would be nearly $20k. Whereas, at the time, ecotech engines could be had with 20k miles at the junkyard for $350. I already had an outdrive. Exhaust manifold was $500. The rest I could do myself. So far I have never had more than $5000 into any sort of powerboat and usually less than $2000.

    Our season is very short and it sits out out under a tarp for 8 months of the year. In the winter one has to be on a constant lookout for raccoons looking for a place to make their nest. Investing big bucks only makes sense if you have a lakefront property with your own dock and a boathouse and a barn to keep it in during the off season......
     
  12. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    I just bought two 90hp Yamaha outboards.
     
  13. KeithO
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    KeithO Senior Member

    Where is the "thumbs up" emoji ???
     
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  14. Adam
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    Adam Junior Member

    After speaking with the local glass guy, his opinion is that I'm already half done and I should keep going. A couple days after my previous post I did indeed realize what I was seeing was normal.
    I just finished a 4 hour stint with the angle grinder. 3 sanding discs later, 2 minor injuries, and a pressure headache from tight head straps, I'm all done grinding the transom, and about 3 feet of stringer and engine bay area. It looks like all the reinforcement of stringers was done with "kitty hair" thickened resin. I couldn't find any evidence of tabbing with woven cloth. That being said, it looks like the layup of the hull is the CSM backing with what appears to be 3 layers of woven.

    New question - How much of the pre-existing resin is acceptable to leave behind? I'm taking off what I can as deep as I can but there is several spots where I've broken through at least 1 layer of the woven glass. The transom itself is down to the CSM layer due to the multitude of pits and voids I found, but the hull I've managed to keep as shallow as possible.
     

  15. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    As with any repair; remove all damaged material.

    Replace and make level with thixotropic material before glassing to avoid voids.
     
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