Aquasport Model Rebuilds, Mods, Updates and Refreshes > Other Classic Rebuilds

Custom 1970's Proline 20 rebuild

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Eastender:
So I'm doing a rebuild, or more specifically, am in the middle of a rebuild. With the help of many threads and even more knowledgeable members on this forum, I've been able to have many questions answered. I've reached a point where I have a small sliver of time to post some pics. The boat is a 70's Proline that was rebuilt twice poorly, and because of this, I had to gut the boat and remove a tremendous amount of poor layups. There were a lot of things wrong with the hull, and if the boat didn't have sentimental value, I would not have continued because of costs. This rebuild has not been cheap.

Due to several rebuilds and what looked like a a few epoxy repairs, I felt it necessary to use epoxy. I'll make several posts to get you up to speed and will try to answer questions, but I'm a busy guy and short on time. Cheers

Eastender:
Anyone that's had a tough rebuild knows it's a metal battle at times. The planning takes as much time as the actual work, with many unforeseen issues, and costs. This boat was no exception and the toughest build by a large margin. Poor layups, water in the layups, and a keel cracked in two spots were what I was starting with. The keel was ground out and feathered, and 7 layers of 1708 was put down, rotating the lay for maximum strength. The transom  was 1-1/2" airex PXC

Eastender:
I don't mean to give all of the facts and none of the flavor with this rebuild, and it took months and months to progress through these steps. If anyone has questions or want close-up's or specifics of areas, I'm happy to help. So, that said...

All the plywood was 3/4 marine 7-ply. In NJ it's difficult to find decent supplies (at a decent price) but I found the marine plywood at Jaeger Lumber. What you see in these pics is fully encapsulated plywood. Everything was filleted with an epoxy/silica/chopped strand mix. The fuel coffin was designed to not rest in the bilge, and is tied into the stringers for support. Before bedding the fuel coffin, I made sure to bilge coat the areas I would not be able to access once the fuel-coffin bottom was in place

Eastender:
Fuel coffins are a tricky business. Solid connections and 1/4 rubber I've found work the best. Allowing room for 3% expansion of the tank, I divided the anticipated Length, width, and height and glassed in chocks. The chock material is scrap pieces or Airex PXC so to avoid rot, with two fwd and two aft. The ends are of the same material as well as the top bands which were glassed in double 6oz to allow for flexibility. Last, the hold down bands were glassed with long strips of 1708 from the top. All contact surfaces were lined with 1/4" x 1" strips glued into place with 4200. The solid mechanical connections around the tank will hold indefinitely (fingers crossed) and far exceed any securing system offered by tank manufacturers.

Eastender:
Sometimes its the little things that matter. Techniques from years of fabrication. In this case, for the bow locker, I used two pieces of wood with opposing grain to allow for a perfectly flat surface. For the stencil I used the glued wood strip technique used for kitchen counter measuring, as well as boat builders using them for transoms and other compound curves & angles. Recently I saw Andy from the Boatworks Today posted a video on how to do this technique if you're lookign to learn or brush-up. I personally round all the edges of anything I'm installing with a router to allow for more surface area in connections. Radius edges also make it easier to bed pieces and allows for the bedding compound to get into all the spaces. I sandwiched the finished piece with 1708.

I don't have any tips on finding a flat and even edge for the stringers and side supports because explaining it would take pages, and probably exceeds my vocabulary :) But all I can say is time and patience, and checking the measurements a dozen times will help. I measure and cut the deck pieces (or sole as some or many say), and glassed the bottom side with a single layer of 1708. I bedded everything with a compound I mixed up consisting of epoxy, silica, and chopped fiberglass strand. I made sure to get a 100% seal on the stringers because I used 6 lb foam for flotation and strength later on.

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