Seeking Advice - 1978 Larvo Drift Boat Build

Thanks again!

So mother nature here in utah has decided it's still winter, too cold to lay epoxy, fairing material or gel. Most containers say 60F.

So now I'm just waiting for a warm day, next weekend looks great.

Side note - got my decals back they look awesome, so very excited about them. A small detail I think will make all the difference.

 

Starting to think ahead to the top side/ interior of the boat.

I was kind of thinking of going with Coosa board to rebuild the wood parts with. Any reason not to other than price?

 

Which parts are wood?

 

The interior "rowers seat wings", back seat swivel mount location, and the transom.

Transom had 1/2 on both sides of the fiberglass with ~9 through bolts.

 

Coosa would work, so would PVC trim boards.

 

PVC makes perfect sense for the wings, saves a ton of money over Coosa as well.

Looking at the transom - it looks like they originally stiffened the tramsom with plywood and thin aluminum. That wood is now kaputz.

I thinking of replacing this with
Quarter inch anodized (or powder coated) 6061. Buddy has a water jet shop, and I have remnants I could drop off with the cut CAD geometry. Seems like it would last longer, and be cheaper than coosa.

Fairing tomorrow, glass work is 80% done. Some before and after attached.

 

Coosa doesn't work as a stand alone product for this type of application, it needs to be encapsulated in glass to survive.

Plywood is actually a better surface for the transom if you're mounting a motor occasionally. And nothing needs to be done if you're never putting a motor on it.

 

Much appreciated. I'll go pvc on the wings. TBD on the transom.

 

Never epoxy below 60. I did at 55F and stood there with a hair dryer for like 3 hours helping it go.

 

That sounds miserable... I put my mr buddy heater on low underneath the boat to help it warm in the morning then started working around noon when the temp finally picked up.


Looks like spring is springing here.

 

Interesting Project. A little bit familiar with the Green. Spent a weekend at Buckboard Marina. I was stationed in SLC for two years but traveled all over the state and up into Wyoming as part of my duties. Saw an awful lot of drift boats. You should have a good one once you finish the project. And I will ditto fallguy's comment. Never use Epoxy below 60 deg. No need to ask why I know.

 

I love flaming gorge, it's one of the best fisheries in America. Kokanee, small mouth, burbot, and trophy lakers keep you occupied. Not to mention the scenery.

Slowly making progress, got all the glass work done. Just fairing, sanding and fairing some more on the underside.

It's at a place where I would be happy with it now, but since I'm waiting on epoxy primer...I'll just keep fiddling.

 

Quick question - does this process sound right?

Wash with soap and water
De-wax / degrease
Shoot epoxy primer
Block sand
De-wax / de grease
Shoot gel


Or do I just shoot the gel when the epoxy primer is "thumb pront tacky"

Thanks,

-Josh

 

No need for epoxy primer, it's a waste of time and money.

Plus the two products don't play well together.

If you need to use something go with a polyester or VE primer from Duratec.

Epoxy primers are designed for paint.

 

Back in the early 80's met a fishing guide up there named Ray Johnson. He held some kind of world record for Brown's and has some lure named for him. He needed a six pack license so I gave him the test. He passed no problem. I didn't get a chance to do much fishing though. Too bad.
I agree with ondarvr: Epoxy primer is a waste of time. I tried it on one of my boats. I ended up sanding it all off and starting over.