1987 222 project (She is beat up)

[MikeHall]

Well there are not too many of these boats for sale in project form so this was the best one for the price and sorta kind of local. I had been talking to the guy who had this one for sale and talked him down a bit but, I am not sure I talked him down enough. The boat was 5 hours away so I made the trip today to find it far more beat up than I would have liked it to be. The boat is a South Carolina boat and I know oyster beds are all over but goodness, it looks like they stayed in the oysters. The keel has some fairly extensive damage as well as the chines but nothing I would be able to fix. The floors are solid other than one little area beside the console. The transom seems to be solid but further inspection will come later. The floors have a very nice molded in texture that I would sure like to figure out how to keep somehow when the major rebuild starts. Plans would be for a complete rebuild like all these other rebuilds. I have on hand a case 1" nidacore ,a pile of coosa board and a full roll of 1708 already. I also have about 10 gallons of epoxy but I think for this project I am going just to use poly or maybe vinyl ester so I can work faster. Anyhow, first things I need to address is fixing the horrible repair work done to the bottom of the hull. I assume to do it correctly I would need to remove the floors and glass from the top and bottom?  I really think the boat is solid enough to fish in the spring and I may re-power it with a good running 200 black max and start the major overhaul next winter.

Sorry for the horrible pictures but I just got it home right before dark.

Mike

[hudsport]

Welcome Mike, nice boat like you said these old AS are getting hard to find consider yourself lucky. Your looks like it will be a nice platform to rebuild and not much different than ive seen for its age, good luck and keep us in the loop on your rebuild.

David

[MikeHall]

I pressure washed the boat out today, I think with some actual cleaner it may clean up decent. I have so many ideas of how I want to build this boat but I think I need to get it repowered and a few fiberglass and gelcoat issues fixed and go do some fishing in it this spring. Once I get the motors removed I will know more about the transom but it seems it is rock solid.

[MikeHall]

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[RickK]

I think a little bleach and a p-washer will show you her real colors and shape.

[MikeHall]

Yep, I will make a trip to the dollar store and buy up a bunch of "The Works" toilet bowl cleaner which will removed almost all the stains even lighten up bad rust stains. I may also spend some time removing all the vinyl graphics and stripping the bottom paint this weekend. I assume the best way to strip the bottom paint is with paint stripper correct?

[MikeHall]

I worked on removing all those cracked vinyl graphics today. I finished one side and sure not looking forward to the other side. I also stripped some of the bottom paint which was fairly easy with Citristrip and a stiff brush. Just brushed a light coat of Citristrip on, leave it about 15 minutes, then scrub is down with the stiff brush. I think the Gelcoat on this boat could be brought back out but with the damage on the chines I am going to just paint everything after the repairs are done. In the picture you can see the two large damaged areas which I am going to completly grind out and repair correctly. Someone just crammed some fiberglass in the damaged areas and called it a day.

I have been looking around for a Bracket and I am kind of shocked at how much they go for, even well used ones sell for over $1000.

Mike

[RickK]

Yep, I will make a trip to the dollar store and buy up a bunch of "The Works" toilet bowl cleaner which will removed almost all the stains even lighten up bad rust stains. I may also spend some time removing all the vinyl graphics and stripping the bottom paint this weekend. I assume the best way to strip the bottom paint is with paint stripper correct?

Make sure you really do a good job of rinsing the bleach off everything - it's corrosive.
As for the bottom paint - it's not easy even with paint remover.  I tried it with my 230 and gave up because of the stain embedded in the gelcoat - I ended up recoating the hull with a color of bottom paint that worked for me (white - it lives on a trailer).

[Tampa Bay Mike]

Welcome aboard, looks like a good platform to work on. I'm guessing since you have a bunch of nicacore and coosa laying around that you have some idea of what you're in for?

Looking forward to seeing your progress. Oh, and if you're using the gallery here for your pics, try clicking on the "linked image" instead of "linked thumb" and they will post full size.

[MikeHall]

I haven't put any bleach on anything as of yet but thank you for the trip. The bottom paint on this boat comes off so easy maybe its not even bottom paint.  It is thick almost like a latex house house paint and it comes off with Citristrip very easy. I want to get all the bottom pain off and start working on all the damaged areas to the bottom of the hull. I really wish I could flip the over for this work and I may try that after getting those motors removed. I am going to pull the center console as well and check out the fuel tank to see if its in good enough shape for a season or two of fishing before I tear this thing apart.

I have a 1991 black max 200 that I could put on this boat but I would really like to get a Yamaha Saltwater series or something. I have had a number of Yamaha powered boats and those motors were always rock solid. I was thinking about finding a nice clean 200hp but may settle on a 150hp.

[MikeHall]

Welcome aboard, looks like a good platform to work on. I'm guessing since you have a bunch of nicacore and coosa laying around that you have some idea of what you're in for?

Looking forward to seeing your progress. Oh, and if you're using the gallery here for your pics, try clicking on the "linked image" instead of "linked thumb" and they will post full size.

You have no idea, I have had this nidacore and coosa for years and I have jumped from project to project until now I have found myself with this Aquasport. I started out wanting a go fast flats tunnel hull like a talon or one of those SBC boats and my idea was to take a Liberator 21 hull and fabricate my own flats boat. I then jumped to the idea that maybe I should just design and completely build my own tunnel hull flats boat so I purchased the Tunnel hull design software and the book and started my research and design. I worked up a nice looking design and started planning that project but shortly after I bought a house. Of course my house sucks in a lot of time and funds so that huge project has been stalled. I later still wanting to build some kind of flats boat bounced around with the idea of using some popular bass boat hulls to my last prospect was as 226 hurricane deck boat which I still have. I was going to fabricate a complete top cap for that hurricane and even that project was going to turn into a huge time hog. So i found this aquasport and after talking the guy down to $700 I made the trip to get it. I was ready to start tearing it down to do the rebuild but, I am positive it is solid enough for a season or two of fishing. One reason I really want to rebuild something is not ony because that is just what I like to do but also because I have all these thousands of dollars in supplies and even piles of new hardware such as flush hinges, pup up cleats, controls, Seastar steering and the list goes on. I need to use all this stuff or sell it. This 222 is going to fit the bill for what I want. I have outgrown the go fast idea and now I just want something that can fish the bays and flats with ease and have plenty or room for my kids and dog to enjoy our fishing trips.

[RickK]

Yeah, before flipping that baby over with a fuel tank in her (you drained it?) and maybe hydraulics, this should drive serious thinking. Also, how are you going to support it once flipped? Something to think about. You need support on the inside (think floor/stringers) and cap.  I built inside frames that the boat was lowered onto (upside down) to support the hull/stringers for the bottom finish.

[MikeHall]

Yeah, before flipping that baby over with a fuel tank in her (you drained it?) and maybe hydraulics, this should drive serious thinking. Also, how are you going to support it once flipped? Something to think about. You need support on the inside (think floor/stringers) and cap.  I built inside frames that the boat was lowered onto (upside down) to support the hull/stringers for the bottom finish.

I would build a wooden buck that rested on the floors and any other sturdy spot such as the transom. I would for sure remove the console, tank and the hydraulic system is already not hooked up so it would be removed with the console. I have flipped a few boats before but nothing quite this big.

[Tampa Bay Mike]

Sounds like you've got the boat building bug! You definitely have a good hull for doing what you want to do and it sounds like you have a lot of what you need already to make it great.

[MikeHall]

Sounds like you've got the boat building bug! You definitely have a good hull for doing what you want to do and it sounds like you have a lot of what you need already to make it great.

I have had this bug ever sense I sold my Backcountry 201 many years ago. I am so glad I found a boat I am confident that will be what I want. I was not exactly sure how well that hurricane would do in some of the rougher water which you encounter when fishing in passes or what not but I bet this boat will do just fine. The last boat I had a 23ft V2380 Carolina skiff I purchase from an estate sale. It was huge which I liked but in anything other than light chop it would beat you to death while trying to drown you and there was no break from it no matter how you turned into the waves or wind. Although I hated the ride and how wet it was, I did like all the room and 5 guys could be fishing and not be anywhere close to getting in one another way.