Currently rebuilding a 69 Aquasport 222

[Joe Vinson]

The hull that I had purchased is in great shape, although the deck was a little soft, so I have ripped up all of the decking, found that all of the stringers are in good shape, and that all the foam is dry.  I am cutting out some of the center stringer so I can install a below deck fuel tank, I have one here at my shop that I am going to make work that holds 80 gallons.  Not that I can really afford to run through 80 gallons of fuel on a regular basis, but it will be nice on those long Intercoastal adventures. I am putting the tank as far forward as I can. But I can only go so far because I have a bulkhead with glass plates, so you can see through the hull. (Does anyone Know if the glass plates were  done by the manafacture?),  They seem to be in very good shape, I thought about taking them out and reglassing the hull, but they seem to be holding up great so I am going to leave them, at least for now.  
   Right now I have the boat completely stripped down, and at the point of some reinforcement glasswork, and closing in the trasom and making a splashwell to keep that following sea out.  I have a 89 yamaha 200 that I am going to put on, it is a 25" shaft so I have purchased a 5" set up jack plate for it.  From there it is on to below deck rigging and then on to installing new floor.  I am using 58" sandply for all of my decking, the epoxy resin seems to adhere to it allot better, it is a bit heavier but I think that I will have plenty of power with the 200 yam.  and I dont think the hull was made for top end speed, so therefore low end power is more important. I am also thinkin of installing an aux fuel tank or water tank below deck in the bow for some weight balance, I just don't want to be to ass heavy, Trim tabs is also an option that I may have to do to correct that.  

  Please let me know what you guys think, any tips or advice from the experienced would be greatly appreciated.

  I am very excited about rebuilding the old 222 aquasport, they just don't build them like they used too, I just wish they would of given me a little deadrise, but I am young and enjoy getting beat up a little in a rough sea.
                                                                             thanks, Joe

[Tailgunner]

That all sounds great!

What caused the softness of the deck?

Pictures?

[Seadog]

Hey Joe

Are these the  glass panels you have on your boat?
 
From what I've been able to find out is they were factory installed as an option back during the day.  Mine was originally set up as a bait well, in the floor compartment forward of the console. I'm gonna keep the panels in and use the space for storage.

If your putting in an 80 gallon tank, how wide and long is that thing? It must be pretty huge with that capacity.

I'd say you are pretty lucky the foam is dry in the stringers. Most '69er's are soaking wet. That alone has saved you a huge amount of work.

Welcome to the forum!

Lets see some pictures when you can.

[DEFIANT]

Welcome Joe,

My 87 222 came stock with an 88 gallon tank, so you should be fine with putting an 80 gallon tank in. I added an aux. 28 gallon tank under the floor in front of the center console just in case for those long shark fishing trips.

Good luck with your rebuild!

[Joe Vinson]

The 80 gallon fuel tank is way to big to squeeze completely under the deck, the width & length are fine but the height is to high, so I am going to raise the deck where the fuel tank will be to fit, and then I will just mount my console & leaning post on top of the raised deck.  I will still have plenty of room to walk around the raised deck, so it should work out all right.

The glass plates are in the bulkhead that looked if were a livewell at one time but I am going to leave the glass plates and the bulkhead and just use it for storage, I have a new livewell that I am going to install behind the leaning post.

The decking was only soft because the wood  that they used was only 1/4"  with glass on both sides which made it about 1/2"  which was way to bouncy.

  I will start posting some pics soon

[gotoml]

My 67 FB has the "glass plates". I talked to the original owner (its a local boat) and he said they were there from day one. I hope you can post pictures of your work, I am getting close to starting my rebuild.

[g-man]

The "bottom viewing" ports were a factory option up until at least 1973, maybe longer. The boats were originally designed for Key's boating and were great for skinny water lobster spotting.