Formula 23 - shine

[Shine]

Picked up my next project boat today.  Its a 1970 forumla 23.  Classic hull that has been the grandmother of many popular 23'-25' center console hulls, a few of the more famous include whitewater 25, first seavee 25, contender, avanti, and half a dozen others. 

This one will be completely gutted and made into a center console.  I will probably bolt a bracket onto the transom, but I have not ruled out making an integrated euro-style transom and stretching it by 2'.

Rough start..... 

[RickK]

It'll be nice to see this one resurrected and brought into the 21st century.

[Callyb]

Joel, Have you parted ways with the other site?

[Shine]

Joel, Have you parted ways with the other site?

Yes, I am no longer part of the other business.  Fresh start     lts been a very good start though !

[Shine]

got in another couple hours of demo today.  These 37 year old stringers are completely dry and solid.  A little bit of a shame to cut them, but when you look at the time and money it takes to put together a nice 25' CC it make sense to go ahead and have new stringers.





Starting to think about stringer grid.  Had planned on making a pair of fiberglass trapezoid stringers (foam filled), but now Im leaning towards 4 composite sandwich (coosa/penske type), mainly so I can get use of the beam to make fish boxes in the stern between stringers.  Would also open option of using saddle fuel tanks.

[Shine]

getting back to the formula....  have most of the demo work done, still have to grind out the rest of the foam from around the tank, then remove the core from the i/o transom bump-out.  Braced the sides of the hull before I cut the last couple feet of the cap off. 

For stringers, I have decided to make fiberglass trapezoids.  I will still have 4 of them, but the spacing will be different.  I am making the forms for these on a mold, then will trim to fit into hull, then covered in glass to get the total thickness.  Will use same mold to make transverse framing (grid system).  The tops of the grid pieces will be 5" wide, so I have room to run chases inside them.  They will be filled with expanding foam after they are glassed into place.







Here is the mold going together.  Its MDF with a plastic "cap".  The plastic cap is just a short cut to getting the shape I want.  The MDF will be epoxy coated. 







I have the first inventory of transom core and foam core being shipped next week.  Will be stocking the transom core in 3/4" (26 lb fiberglass reinforced foam) and the lighter version in 1/2" (for decks/caps/etc), also getting 25mm thick pre-glassed honeycomb panels.  I will be using the honeycomb for the formula sole.

[Capt. Bob]

Starting to get interesting.

[RickK]

Ditto

[Shine]

making mold for stringer/frame parts

Capped the uprights with another piece of MDF, then rounded over and epoxy coated.  Faired the joints a little before first resin coat.  Will get another epoxy coat, then a sand, and then one last epoxy coat before its ready,

[Callyb]

Joel, are you going to pva that before you start laminating on it?

[RickK]

That's a tall stringer    Nice craftsmanship

[Shine]

Joel, are you going to pva that before you start laminating on it?

Hey Carl,

Yes, it will get a wax first - the PVA before each part.  Its far from perfect, so I need plenty of release help.

That's a tall stringer

haha, yeah I made the mold 24" tall.  You never know what boat might be next 

[Callyb]

Yes, it will get a wax first - the PVA before each part.  Its far from perfect, so I need plenty of release help.

That is why I was curious, I thought I had my livewell mold good enough and I wound up having to destroy it to get my livewell out of it... Not one of my great successes. I know you are much more experienced than I am on this, so I was hoping you had some Jedi secrets to share. LOL!

haha, yeah I made the mold 24" tall.  You never know what boat might be next 

That Sir, is a brilliant and awesome foresight. I really wish I would have thought of that... I did give some thought to producing a drop in stringer set for these flatbacks, but decided against it because shipping would be incredible (if I even ever sold one). However universal structural components??? I don't know what kind of liability would be involved in that though?

[RickK]

That's a tall stringer

haha, yeah I made the mold 24" tall.  You never know what boat might be next 

I suppose you could make a 12" tall stringer on that mold - good thinking.

[Shine]

That Sir, is a brilliant and awesome foresight. I really wish I would have thought of that... I did give some thought to producing a drop in stringer set for these flatbacks, but decided against it because shipping would be incredible (if I even ever sold one). However universal structural components??? I don't know what kind of liability would be involved in that though?

Yes, liability would not be worth the risk to sell "stringers".  Im fairly certain shipping a finished stringer grid would cost more than the part. These will only be a thin layer of glass (probably one layer 1708) when they come off the mold, they will be "forms".  Each stringer on each boat will need a different thickness.  The thickness will come from overlapping layers of glass that will cover the stringers and go up the hull.  So with the form, you could make anything from a 3" tall stringer for  a skiff, or a 24" tall stringer for a 30' CC.   

I suppose you could make a 12" tall stringer on that mold - good thinking.

Yes sir, any size up to 24". 

The forms will be 12' long, and they should be easy to stack inside one another for shipping