Slipaway repairs

[slvrlng]

Figured I would start a rebuild thread since yesterday I decided on a whim to pull the coffin hatch cover. This all started when I tried to pull the starter bendix off the motor and quickly realized that I was way over my head. Since I was already there at the boat and since I had a brand new beckson clear pie plate to replace the siliconed and dryrotted one. I decided to pull the old one.

This is what it looked like.



So I start to remove the screws. I pushed the screwdriver down into the silicone where the screw should be but it was really down in there! I gave up on that one and went to the next one, same thing! What the heck!  I tried one more and realized there weren't any screws in any of the holes! I got my putty knife and went around the edge of it and it just pops out.

UH OHHHH!
Can you say WET!
Water was literally dripping out of the edge of the hole.
When I saw this I knew what was next, follow jduprees lead and pull the hatch like he told me.



Check out how much silicone the previous owner used to "seal" this thing up. Boy this idea really works well!


So I got my screwdriver and started pulling the console screws. Most of them I could just pull them out once I had loosened them a little. I took jdupree's lead again and leaned the console over on the starboard rail and tied it off. I then stared removing the hatch screws, most of them actually were in there pretty good. Now the fun part! How in the heck do I get all of that silicone to let go of the hatch? My harbor freight tool that I used on the anchor hatch worked perfect! I mean this thing is awesome! It has already paid for itself 10 times over. I went around the gap with it and had it out in 15 minutes! Of course the core is mulch and completely soaked.








Now for some good news! The previous owner didn't lie he actually did replace the tank 2 years ago!      
It too has a couple of issues but so far it looks really good except for the fact that the hack silicone job leaked water.

Check out the where the clamp is on the pickup! Dang I wonder where all that black stuff came from?

 

[John Jones]

You know, these old boats would probably be in a lot better shape when we get them if it were not for the half-witted DIY previous owners and shade tree mechanics.

[wingtime]

You know, these old boats would probably be in a lot better shape when we get them if it were not for the half-witted DIY previous owners and shade tree mechanics.

You can say that again!  ALL of the damage on my boat was from stupid PO's and lack of simple PROPER maint.  Loose screws with no 5200 on them.  Little to no caulking around the coffin cover,  hack jobs of installing things.  etc etc


I took my girlfriends father out fishing on my boat yesterday.  He used to work at Morgan Yacht back in 70's doing glass work etc.  He even helped built the Nautilus submarines for the 10,000 leagues ride at Disney World.  He was very impressed with the Aquasport.

[slvrlng]

Here area a couple of shots before I cut the glass off the bottom of the hatch. This ended up being a layer of mat over a layer of 24 oz roving. The wood is gone in places and the rest is saturated. I bet this thing weighed 100 lbs. I measured it today and its 29 wide and 92 long.

 

[slvrlng]

So I got busy this weekend and got most of the core out. The skin now weighs about 15 lbs.







Its a real shame that this thing was soaking wet. Only about 15% was mulch. I still have a skin of ply left in places to remove but its pretty much cleaned out now.

[thennutts]

Slvring,

A 7" grinder with a 36 grit sanding pad will get that layer off in a heartbeat. That's what I did to some of my stuff and it ripped it off in seconds instead of hours with that vibrating tool. Just a thought...

[slvrlng]

Yeah thats my next step tomorrow! I use the vibrating tool to cut the glass around the edge since its easier to control. Plus tomorrow my wifes car won't be sitting next to where I'm working. Don't want to piss her off with fiberglass dust all over her pride and joy!  :queen:

[slvrlng]

I got the wood all the way out and found there was resin starved glass under the wood where it had sucked the resin out of the mat when they laid this thing up. I ground most of the bad glass out until it looked pretty solid. I then laid a layer of mat down and wet it out with epoxy just to give it some thickness since all that was left was basically the gelcoat. I let this sit for a couple of days and then got my belt sander and leveled it out I then used my DA with 80 grit to finish it out.

 



I found some H45 Divinycell up here and cut it to fit. I could only find it in 32 x 48 pieces but I think these will work. I cut them to fit and after talking to Fitz decided that I need to shave the edges down since the H45 doesn't have much screw holding ability. The idea is to create a fillet around the edge made of mostly thickened epoxy with cabosil and milled fiber. This should give plenty of strength around the edges since that is where the screws are.



Once I got my supplies I primed the entire inside of the skin with neat epoxy. I then spread thickened epoxy with cabosil and used a 3/16" slotted trowel to get an even coat on half of the skin. I then placed the H45 over this area and weighted it down to seat it. I moved the weight around on it every few minutes to make sure it had good contact with the skin. While the weight was on one side I mixed more "glue" and spread it on the other half. I then repeated the weight on this side as well.





I then put a fillet around the edge and tried to level it as best I could with the edge leaving enough space for the 1708.





I spread epoxy over the whole lid and wet out half of the 1708 which I had folded back on itself. When I laid it on the lid I didn't have it lined up and had to move it back as it was short of the edge. What a mess!




I got it fixed and wet out the glass. Since it was so cold I waited till the next morning and ran a fillet of mostly resin and milled fiber around to fill the core all the way to the edge.






The good news is it worked!!!
The other good news is the whole thing now weighs just under 37 lbs.
A little grinding around the edge tomorrow and I should be good to go.

[pete]

nice work!

[Capt. Bob]

Love the horseshoes    

Lookin' good Lewis.

[RickK]

Looks good Lewis  

[gran398]

Yo buddy,

Was looking at the pics you posted on the other thread, and remembered you had talked about re-doing the floor at some point.

JD just did his with Durabak, you won't believe it....it looks brand new. If you decide to mess with it, give him a holler for install tips....he got a great job.

It comes in different colors too, and he said it was very reasonable...He got two coats with one gallon, and some left over

[jdupree]

Yo buddy,

Was looking at the pics you posted on the other thread, and remembered you had talked about re-doing the floor at some point.

JD just did his with Durabak, you won't believe it....it looks brand new. If you decide to mess with it, give him a holler for install tips....he got a great job.

It comes in different colors too, and he said it was very reasonable...He got two coats with one gallon, and some left over

Thanks for the compliment Scott.  It is amazing what this stuff will hide such as birdshot, buckshot, silicon, etc.   Came out looking like a new deck

[slvrlng]

So between work and my back going out I haven't been able to get anything done on this thing lately. But I got busy the last week and got the hatch back in. I used Skoot's method with the plumbers putty around the edge of the coffin then used the original screws to tighten it back down. I then siliconed the gap for a final seal from deck to hatch.









Looking at this picture I really don't think this hull has a rigging tube.






So I got it back in and got the console back down too. On Saturday I took it to my motor guy, so I should be in the water in the next two weeks.

[pete]

nice job