St. Augustine 1974 19-6 Rebuild

[Jeff904]

My son just graduated from high school and we decided we were going to tackle rebuilding a 1974 AS 196. This will be his first boat and he plans to fish the flats of the east and west coast of Florida, while also taking a few select trips into the ocean. We both are newbies at boat rebuilding, but we have jumped in with both feet. Hopefully we can use this site and all of the experience out there to help shorten our learning curves.

We decided to replace the transom and we still are contemplating the wood v coosa v pouring while we are removing the old wood from the area. He wants to use a synthetic replacement, but I have told him the wood worked for the first 46 years for this boat, so we are still undecided. Any recommendations, pro's con's of each on what we should put back would be appreciated??? Also, removed most of the foam from the stringers. Any idea how much of the 2 part foam we will need to refill the stringers of the 19-6? Would you recap the stringer before re foaming or after?

I will post a picture or two soon, thanks...

[RickK]

  aboard  Jeff.
Having a partner in the rebuild is great, especially that it is your son.
Wood is ok for transom (that's what I used), 2 pieces of 3/4" marine plywood (I found them readily at Lowes), resin coated with a layer of 3 oz CSM glass (https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=csm+fiberglass) in between. CSM works well with polyester resin, it melts the binder in the glass. Do a wet on wet sandwich - resin coat the wood on the inside and then apply the CSM and lay the other sheet on top. This should be done on a flat surface and drill a hole for a dowel in each corner so it doesn't slide around until it cures. If you plan on using epoxy, put a layer of 12oz cloth in between (epoxy doesn't melt the binder in CSM).

[dbiscayne]

nothing wrong with using wood, & in a small boat the weight savings argument wood vs. coosa for just the transom is negligible. what kills wood in a boat is not sealing up drilled holes properly. With the transom you can easily over size drill the holes, then completely fill with thickened resin,  then drill again to the size hole needed. At that point it should last forever.

[McAllgeyver]

I've rebuilt my transom with marine wood too. Just like you said, If the original lasted that long then replacing it with wood will be fine and last a long, long time. And of course seal up any holes much better than previous owners.

When i poured my 19-6 stringers about two years ago, if I remember correctly is used 4 gallonsish.  two gallons part A and two gallons part B. I found out the hard way that the foam expands much better if is not mixed right out of my a/c room.  Let the gallons sit out in a warm area for an hour or so before mixing.  But with the warmer partA and partB, you will have less time with once mixed!  Ask me how I know!   i recapped after because i wanted to ensure i got the entire stringer filled.  Seemed pretty easy that way.

[Tampa Bay Mike]

Welcome! Looking forward to following along. I went with Coosa but I did find some at a surplus place that had a few dings and was about half price. You just need to think about the bigger picture. A little more $ here and a little more $ there adds up to $$$ by the end. I found a lot of great deals throughout the process and still ended up dropping a pretty penny by the time I was done.

For the foam, I went through 9 gallons of 4 lb on my 22. A lot more than I first guessed. You'll get away with less on a 19-6 but that should at least give you an idea.

[Jeff904]

Thanks for all of this input, it definitely shows that this site has some great experience with these rebuilds. I will keep you posted
on the progress...

[timberline]

Any updates on the progress?