1974 Aquasport 222 Rebuild Captain Joe

[RickK]

I agree, I would start on the transom. Make sure to lock the hull shape with a 2x4 or 1x2 or something secured to the top of the hull sides at the aft, maybe a foot to 18" forward of the transom, so it's not in your way. Then follow the plan you posted earlier.

[mshugg]

Definitely do the the transom first.  Don’t want all that nice clean glass getting dirty.

[Capt.Joe]

Thank you for the advice everyone. This is the best forum!

[Capt.Joe]

Im slowly gathering materials to build the transom back up. So far I have a 1.5" piece of Coosa and today I bought some 1708 glass. A local captain had some lying around and I picked it up for $40. I have no idea what's left on it. My next purchase will be epoxy resin and hardener, maybe from Raka. More transom updates soon to come!

[RickK]

Hopefully that roll of glass was protected, inside.  I've been told that the glass will draw in moisture if unprotected. Not sure if true or not.

[Capt.Joe]

Hopefully that roll of glass was protected, inside.  I've been told that the glass will draw in moisture if unprotected. Not sure if true or not.

It was left in his shed, but the Florida humidity can be brutal. I will look it over and maybe cut a piece to test out. Thank you for the heads up!

[Tampa Bay Mike]

Hard to go wrong for $40. I've heard about the moisture issue too but I'm not sure how to tell the difference. What are those stains on the side? If its mildew I may be concerned, but if it's just a mark from something you should be able to get some use out of it.

[Capt.Joe]

I took a good look at the material and there's no mold or moisture. For the most part it's just dust and dirt. As I unrolled it, the inside was clean. I'm so excited to get things underway!

[Capt.Joe]

Finally back at it again. Charters have tapered off, moved into a new house, and switched from midnights to the afternoon shift. Long story short I bought all of the necessary supplies for the transom project and cut out the old skin. If the weather holds up, next weekend I will begin building the transom back up!

[RickK]

A lot of change! Looks like you're ready except for the port side - what is behind that section of the transom skin?

[Capt.Joe]

Here's another angle of the transom. If there’s anything you think I may be missing, please don’t hesitate to critique my work!

[Tampa Bay Mike]

Good to see you still at it. I think Rick saw the same thing I did on the port side at first. The angle of the pic made it look like you left a bigger lip than you did on the other side. I think as long as you keep it square you should be ok when you glass it all back up.

[mshugg]

Are you planning to use a sheet of melamine as a form for the outer transom skin before you install your core?

[Capt.Joe]

Are you planning to use a sheet of melamine as a form for the outer transom skin before you install your core?

Yes, I’m either going to clamp it or drill it on through the skin. I’m still deciding on how I want to glue the coosa board to the new skin. Either 4x4 posts or drill through everything. This has been an exciting process!

[RickK]

I asked that question earlier and have been thinking about this - if you're going to clamp melamine or formica covered plywood as the "form" against the rear of the transom, I might suggest cutting the sides out leaving 2" like you did at the bottom. Reason being is you will be hanging full width cloth across the transom and those "wings" don't do anything for you, you'll be laying the cloth there anyway. Have you really decided on full transom vs notched?

I want to advise you that, if you're like me, you can overthink this very easily and waste a lot of your time doing so - I spent days and days staring at what I was going to do, like in a chess match, out to the nth move.  It's ok to think through what you are going to do but my advice is to break it into small manageable chunks. Like in this case, get the dam on the back of the transom and get 3 layers of 1708 in to make your new flat transom. Once you've done that, scruff that up with a 80 grit flap sanding wheel on a small grinder. Then plan your next step, i.e getting the core cut, laminated if more than one layer, and then how to clamp it in.
One step at a time or you'll get overwhelmed and lose precious time.