Flatback Fireboat Rebuild

[dirtwheelsfl]

Oh yea, forgot about some other stuff i use called "e-bond".    Used some today and it jogged my memory...     Anyway i know Rick got a quart or 2 qt kit of it to do his bilge with from a guy local to me.  Its a 1:1 white epoxy.     Pm him and get some details on getting some if youre interested (i dont know what he paid for shipping and whatnot)...     Pretty sure you can get custom quantities.

[CLM65]

Thanks Dirt - forgot about the stuff Rick used.  Looks like it is about the same price per quart if I were to buy the individual quart kits ($80 for 2 quarts of each component).  There are some savings if I buy the 2 gallon kit ($120 vs $160), but then I need to factor in shipping.  I think I will need about 2 quarts of each, but I would rather have too much than not enough.  I may just bite the bullet and get the tile-clad.  I'm sure I can find other things to paint with it.  Which brings up the question - what areas should I paint - the bilge and any below deck storage compartments, but what else?  I see a lot of people painting the tank compartment.  It will (hopefully) never be seen again, so is there a reason to paint it, other than appearance?

[RickK]

I see a lot of people painting the tank compartment.  It will (hopefully) never be seen again...

Amen to that

[dirtwheelsfl]

My thought is if im ever going to be working somewhere, I want it painted.   Way easier to see what youre doing, especially in a lil access hatch with a flashlight or whatever, it will reflect...

Easier to clean oil and whatnot off of a glossy paint than uncoated glass too..

[RickK]

Craig, have you made any progress?

[CLM65]

Hey Rick, making a little progress here and there.  I'm off work next week, so hopefully I'll get a few productive days in.

I also was off yesterday and today, so got some work done on my deck.  Used 4 sheets of melamine for the form, and coated it with gel coat.



Yesterday I put down 2 layers of 1708, one layer of 1-1/2 oz mat, and 3/4" nidacore.  I put just about anything I could find on it to weigh it down.



And today I added 2 layers of 1708 to the underside of the deck.  Also added a few stiffeners to the area that has the greatest unsupported span.



With a little luck, I'll be taking it up to Young boats in Inglis on Tuesday to flip it over.  I'm really looking forward to sanding off all that bottom paint .

[RickK]

That's a lot of progress  
Did you make your own hatch gutters?  I see the bluish looking things that could be hatches.
I pulled my liner last weekend for the last time and did a little work on it.  Still have some more to do to it. I am on a cruise next week, family reunion thing so I won't get anything done this weekend or much of next. Starting the 2nd week in December I'm off and should get the liner, to include the transom liner and casting deck back in and tabbed in to tie everything together.  Then I will be ready to flip mine.
How will they flip yours?  How much will they charge you? I've been thinking through ways to use my gantries to do this but am not sure yet how it will work.

[CLM65]

I did make hatch gutter forms, but that is not what you see .  I made gutter forms for both hatches, screwed them to the melamine, and painted them with gel coat.  The gel coat looked fine on the rest of the form, but I got quite a bit of alligatoring in the gutters (strike 1).  I figured I could probably repair them, so I kept moving along.  I started glassing the gutters with 1208, but I was having trouble getting it to conform to my liking (strike 2).  Each vertical face of the gutters had a 5 degree bevel, but I was still worried about getting the finished deck to pop off gutters (strike 3).  The last thing I wanted to do was ruin the whole deck project because of the hatch gutters, so I pulled them off.

I screwed down some 1/4" wood the size of the hatch.  Then I used bondo to make a 12:1 ramp all around the perimeter of the wood.  I covered it with painters tape (the blue you see) and waxed it.  This should leave a recessed well to drop in a separate hatch gutter later.

Another thing I did, based on Eugene's recommendation, was to put several layers of tape around the perimeter of the deck (the tan tape in the picture).  I built up more layers on the outer edge than the inside, so it is somewhat beveled.  This recess is for when I tab it to the hull, and should reduce the amount of prep necessary to get a smooth transition.

[CLM65]

As far as flipping it, they have a bracket that bolts to the transom using a porta bracket bolt pattern, and another jig that uses the bow eye.  They use a forklift to lift it and rotate it like a rotisserie.  They charge by the hour- figuring 1-2 hours at about 85/hour or something like that.  That's worth it to me to avoid the hassle of doing it myself.

[CLM65]

Bottoms up!  Had the boat flipped today so that I can work on the bottom.  I hauled it up to Young Boats in Inglis (about a 15 minute ride).  Took them a half hour to flip it and get it secured on the trailer.  Best $50 I ever spent!



Hopefully this is another well-spent $50.  Got these Morse controls off ebay (well, actually I'm still waiting to receive them).  Although they are advertised as being for twin engines, I was told they would also work for dual stations.  Hopefully as simple as swapping a red and black handle.  Not sure what model they are...anybody have any ideas, or can confirm they will work for dual stations?  Worst case, I guess I am out $50 (well, $70 including shipping).



edit:  sorry for the small picture size.  I saved it from the ebay ad, and this is what I ended up with.  I have no idea how to make it bigger.

[seabob4]

Craig, they look like Morse "S" controls, dual lever, single action, which works fine for dual station, single engine setups.  It's what most use, been around forever...

[Blue Agave]

Craig, they look like Morse "S" controls, dual lever, single action, which works fine for dual station, single engine setups.  It's what most use, been around forever...

Hard to tell from the tiny pic but I'm with Bob, look like morse S controls.

Agreed, $50 well spent!

[seabob4]

Oh, BTW Craig, Fernando uses them...

[wingtime]

Just swap the knobs instead of the whole handles!

[CLM65]

Just swap the knobs instead of the whole handles!

Ha, that is even easier!

Thanks for the feedback guys!  I hope the controls look as good in person as they do in the pics.  There appears to be only minor pitting, much better looking than some used controls I've seen on eBay.