Mike's 77 22-2 Rebuild

[Tampa Bay Mike]

I'm trying epoxy with a touch of silica and a handful of chopped glass strands mixed in since I had it on hand. Just poured it tonight so I will see how it turns out tomorrow. If that doesn't work out well I can get some 2 part mold plastic from the same company that got the silicone from. I'll post a picture with the finished result.

[Tampa Bay Mike]

Here are the finished emblems. I made the first one with epoxy and it turned out ok but I over poured it and had to do a lot of trimming. Ended up pouring a few more out of poly so I can gelcoat them if I decide to later on. I'm pretty happy with them overall.

[RickK]

Looks good - make a few more and stash them because they break easily. I made a couple for my 170 and the bait bucket (I don't have a baitwell) banging up against it as we idled along, broke it.

[Tampa Bay Mike]

Good idea. I'll cast up a few more while I have it all out still.

[chris0614]

Those came out great. I have seen replacements for sale once or twice before but it is much cooler to see this recreated using the original from your own boat.

[Tampa Bay Mike]

Thanks Chris. I'm glad I was able to get a decent copy.

[Tampa Bay Mike]

Got a little more done between the rain.

Mulch removed from the center stringer.



Refoamed with some leftover 4lb



And laid a strip of 1700 over the stringer tops, an extra layer over the tabs, and the chines.





I am also going to try the fence post trick to raise the stringer tops. Ripped two 5 inch posts in half for the sole and got 4 inch posts for the casting deck so it's got a little more of a step up.

[RickK]

Looks good!

[Marcel4t]

Looking great man, stringers are next for me.  What is the fence post trick? Is them as forms to put glass on top off?

[Tampa Bay Mike]

Thanks Marcel. Yeah, that's the idea. You glass them down to the stringer tops which raises the deck a little while giving you somewhere to run wires, etc without having to glass in a separate chase tube.

[Tampa Bay Mike]

I ended up with a lot of bubbles in the center stringer. I've heard people say that glass doesn't like to go around bends very well and now I know what they mean. It seemed wrapped well when I left it but it pulled away in a few spots while it dried. I don't want any issues with water getting in there so I ended up cutting the top off again and filled all the voids up with resin. Lesson learned.

Also started to look at the transom tonight. Made a few exploratory cuts and pried back a few places. The sides have a good deal of rot but a lot of it is still pretty solid. I see a lot more grinding and chipping in my future...

[Marcel4t]

This is the bend of the fence post you're talking about?  Maybe they needed to be roughed up really good?

[Tampa Bay Mike]

No, it was the center stringer. I wasn't planning to add pvc there, I just wanted to keep the water out of it so I filled it with foam and wrapped a 6in piece of 1700 around it.

 I am holding off on glassing the pvc down on the main stringers until I finish the transom so I can run it all the way back. In hindsight I should have done the transom first but it is nice to be able to climb in and out of the boat without a stepladder for now.

[mshugg]

You may want to get some 12 oz biax tape.  It’s available as cloth too.  Conforms much better around outside radius.

[Tampa Bay Mike]

Thanks, I'll pick some of that up the next time I'm at FGCI.