1978 20ft Proline rebuild

[elite51203]

I've been searching for a good project boat for a while now and I finally found this Proline that is in pretty good condition.  I love the lines of the old classic AS flatbacks and Prolines.  This will be a "budget friendly" project (if there is such a thing, haha) that I will work on for the next several months, I'm in no hurry.  I've read a lot of the rebuild posts and I've soaked up a lot of useful information!  I've seen many rebuilds of these old hulls, and it has gotten me very interested in the project.   I picked up this hull and the trailer for $800.  For its age, the boat is in great condition, considering some that ive seen that are MUCH worse.  The transom has some wet spots and needs to be rebuilt. The stringers are still solid.  It has no bottom paint.  The bottom of the hull is in great condition. The floor is very solid, with the exception of under the front deck compartment.  I plan on enclosing the transom, install bracket, and 115-150 outboard.  Tower eventually, but for now just a nice center console.  Looking forward to the project and everyones advice and input.

[elite51203]

[RickK]

Geez, over all it doesn't look too bad.  It is amazing the stringers are still there and in that (apparent) good shape after all these years - must have been kept dry.
Welcome aboard.

[elite51203]

The stringers are in pretty good condition for its age, and I m very surprised.  Its amazing what they used for stringers 35 years ago.  The outboard stringers appear to be 1x10?, and the inboard stringers look like 1/2" plywood! The rebuilds of today are built ALOT stronger  :!:

[elite51203]

Got some more done on the transom.  All  of the wet original wood is removed.  More sanding/grinding to be done.



What is this stuff?  Its between the deck and liner.  Seems like a bonding putty or glue of some kind?

[seabob4]

The stringers are in pretty good condition for its age, and I m very surprised.  Its amazing what they used for stringers 35 years ago.  The outboard stringers appear to be 1x10?, and the inboard stringers look like 1/2" plywood! The rebuilds of today are built ALOT stronger  :!:

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Elite, old PL stringers don't even come close to Aquasport stringers of the same vintage.  I was amazed when I was at PL and they brought in an old flatback to be rebuilt (somebody paid the factory).  Boat was back in lamination having the floor cut out, took a peek over the gunnel, saw the "stringers", and thought...WTF are those?  Exactly as you described, little puny a$$ things!!  And is that plywood??

Old PLs were built cheap, plain and simple.  But since their customer base at the outset were guides on the west coast, who couldn't afford a well built boat, that would explain it...

[elite51203]

More demo progress:



How smooth does this area need to be?  This is where the original transom core met the bottom and sides of the hull.  Can I fill in the area with new glass or putty?  Does the original old thick woven material need to be completely ground out?

[elite51203]

Ordered some material from US Composites, should be here on Monday.  I'm looking forward to getting the transom in next week  

[RickK]

Sorry that no one (including me) answered your grinding question.  
So what did you end up doing?  I would have ground it all down to glass so everything there was smooth and the new had something to grab onto.
Did you go with epoxy?  It's the best way to go but mannn they are proud of that stuff.  I just ordered another gallon kit from them this week.  Epoxy also commits you to paint unless you do some fancy finagling (like I will be doing soon) to get back to poly so you can gelcoat.

What are your plans for the transom? Wood?  3/4" Marine plywood from Lowes or a vendor?
There are plenty of examples here of the layup you can do.

I'll try to keep an eye on this thread to help you along if you need it.  I'm sure other will too.

[elite51203]

Well I've got the transom area ground down to bare glass.  Man that original woven material that is around the stringers and old transom is THICK!  I ground down the transom skin and out into the bottom and sides about 18 inches or so.  I've got it fairly smooth (at least I think it is).  A little more grinding and I'll be happy.  There are some thin and uneven spots that I will fill in before I get the core in.

I bought 3 sheets of 1/2" Marine Tech (marine grade, A/C fir kiln dried) pressure treated plywood.  Same stuff LilRichard used.   I got it from LLT Building Supplies in Tampa.  

I did go with epoxy resin.  And I agree, its not cheap!  I ordered two of the 2 gallon kits to get me started- the 635 thin epoxy system 3:1 ratio.

[gran398]

Sweet job!!

[RickK]

The grinding looks great.
The 3:1 is the medium speed epoxy so plan accordingly.  Get it out of the bucket as soon as you can.  The 2:1 I use takes forever to kick (as long as you get it out of the bucket) in the cool weather, like do the job and maybe tomorrow it'll kick.

[seabob4]

Rick (and others), I don't know if it would work with epoxies, but with poly and vinylester resins, you can speed up the curing process with judicious use of the heat gun.  Not too hot as you'll see the liquid resin in the layup start to "boil" (bubble), just waving the heat gun over the area, back and forth.

[RickK]

I've gotten kinda used to it and try to lam several areas at a time and walk away - that way I feel like I got a lot done.
Like this morning I lam'd the casting deck hatch lid with multiple layers of cloth and then wrapped it in plastic, laid a bunch of blocks on it and moved on to lamming a couple other spots and then walked away.  It'll be somewhat set tomorrow.
I used a little of the 3:1 medium stuff this morning to fill some holes and it kicked within 45 minutes.  The temps here are starting to warm up which makes the epoxies kick faster.

[seabob4]

Not a day here for lamming anything!  Kinda like the couple days you guys had this past week... :(