68 flatback 222 rebuild

[IRBflatback68]

After lurking here and searching online we found a 68 flatback and joined the club. This is going to be a family project that everyone is excited about and the inspiration came from this site. We will definitely be asking a lot questions seeing as I wouldn't have made the purchase or taken the leap to attempt a rebuild without this website and the information you all provide or the help and support that my family provides. So thank you in advance. Here she is in all her glory:





Here is after a couple days of tear down:















Now we have all the foam out of the side stringer and have some questions.

How important is a cradle? I want to keep it on the trailer if possible. The hull hasn't tweaked as far as I can tell. (I got nervous after emptying the foam out of the stringers in the trailer and did some research and thoroughly inspected it) I was imagining at this point putting crossmembers across the hull sides at both the lip of the floor we left in it and up near the cap before removing the transom. The bottom seams to be supported well on the trailer so I was thinking if I go in smaller steps I should be good. Does this sound adequate enough?

As far as the transom, someone obviously closed it already but it is wood and it has been sitting for years so I plan to remove and go back with coosa. Whenever they did this it looks like they removed the liner so that is out of the way. It came with a set back motor bracket that I will get a picture of and ask about later but the more I think about it I imagine a jack plate being the way to go.

Definitely more to come and I am sure I am missing some things but I just want some opinions on what I should move forward on next. Hoping to get a couple days in in early July then get some material and hit it hard towards the end of the month. As far as goals I am not putting any time frame on anything just 1 goal. Get her on the water no matter what it takes and document it on here so others have information.

Now lets hope I posted the pictures correctly.

Look forward to feedback and thanks again.

Jeff

[RickK]

Nice!.  The outside skin of the transom seems to be in good shape so I would just leave that intact and cut the wood out from the inside. No racking will happen because the skin is still holding it's shape. The stringers look to be in great shape, like new.
As for using a jack plate - you won't get enough lift to allow tilting the engine out of the water without hitting the transom. Start a search for a used porta-bracket and get it rebuilt and powder coated, as a lot of guys have done here during their rebuild.  The Porta has a lot more articulation to allow tilting the engine out of the water without hitting the transom.

[Tampa Bay Mike]

That looks like a great candidate for a rebuild! You should be okay without a cradle unless you remove the entire transom or cut the stringers out. Like Rick said you'll probably enjoy the porta bracket more but you may be able to get away with a bigger jackplate. Look up Hanson boats. They have a similar transom and use a jackplate.

[Ulysses485]

Great find! Looks to be a great start to a rebuild. I agree with what's already been said. Because the exterior transom skin is in tact and it looks like you left some of the stringer tops i would say working off the trailer would be just fine.  However, i would run some 1x2 or whatever you might have laying around about every 4ft or so to keep from the hull side shape and from loosing its "memory". Without the floor it might want to start bowing out in the center section. You definitely want to do this if and when you remove the cap to re-core etc. and would go closer together at that time.

Looking forward to following along with your build. What is your intended use when finished?

[RickK]

That looks like a great candidate for a rebuild! You should be okay without a cradle unless you remove the entire transom or cut the stringers out. Like Rick said you'll probably enjoy the porta bracket more but you may be able to get away with a bigger jackplate. Look up Hanson boats. They have a similar transom and use a jackplate.

I looked at the Hanson FB site - their FB knockoff has a 14" jackplate on it - holy moly, can't imagine what that weighs - my 6" electric JP weighs 40 lbs, which wouldn't faze a 222 but is a lot for a 170.

[Tampa Bay Mike]

Yeah it's pretty stout. Bob's website has it listed at 99 pounds!

[Ulysses485]

I was curious as a cat myself and found this might be useful….

[RickK]

The 14" jacks still only have 7" lift total. I guess that is enough lift and setback to tilt the motor out of the water. Maybe not the new Merc 600 hp

[IRBflatback68]

Nice!.  The outside skin of the transom seems to be in good shape so I would just leave that intact and cut the wood out from the inside. No racking will happen because the skin is still holding it's shape. The stringers look to be in great shape, like new.
As for using a jack plate - you won't get enough lift to allow tilting the engine out of the water without hitting the transom. Start a search for a used porta-bracket and get it rebuilt and powder coated, as a lot of guys have done here during their rebuild.  The Porta has a lot more articulation to allow tilting the engine out of the water without hitting the transom.

I think porta bracket is definitely the way to go after looking at other rebuilds, thanks!

Great find! Looks to be a great start to a rebuild. I agree with what's already been said. Because the exterior transom skin is in tact and it looks like you left some of the stringer tops i would say working off the trailer would be just fine.  However, i would run some 1x2 or whatever you might have laying around about every 4ft or so to keep from the hull side shape and from loosing its "memory". Without the floor it might want to start bowing out in the center section. You definitely want to do this if and when you remove the cap to re-core etc. and would go closer together at that time.

Looking forward to following along with your build. What is your intended use when finished?

Intended use is an all around boat for Tampa Bay. When done it will be getting used out of Bradenton,St pete and indian rocks beach to start so being able to fish near shore, skinny and then just island hope with a boat full of people when not being fished.

We made a little progress taking out the transom





As you can see below the wood must have been original as it is all rotted. Can't tell by the picture but it looked like 3 layers of 1/2 inch ply wood with a layer of glass in between each. The previously done transom enclosure pulled right off when we took the transom cap off. Here it is now:



Plan on grinding and buying material when I get back towards the end of the month. Hopefully will be able to install and glass the new transom since I have a little time off at the end of the month.

Here is the motor bracket that came with it:



It is powder coated stainless steel. Not sure if it is a good fit(I think it was on the boat before telling by the bolt pattern) but as mentioned above I am now leaning towards biting the bullet and looking into a porta bracket.

Thanks for the feedback and I hope to post some progress later this month.

[dirtylawnchair]

Fantastic boat!  I am pretty sure I drive by this project every school day with my son on the way to King.. We are in process of fixing/rebuilding our 1971 Flatback 222.. Mine is currently at Cortez Cove to take a look at the damage.  If I ever see you out.. I'll honk twice!

[Ulysses485]

Fantastic boat!  I am pretty sure I drive by this project every school day with my son on the way to King.. We are in process of fixing/rebuilding our 1971 Flatback 222.. Mine is currently at Cortez Cove to take a look at the damage.  If I ever see you out.. I'll honk twice!

So what your saying is your volunteering to keep us all updated on progress with photo updates, right? hahaha. Lets see a build thread for your build! Welcome to the site!

[IRBflatback68]

Well finally got some progress. Transom is in so that is a nice milestone down.











The epoxy mixture was a little soupy but it got a good bond. Used some mat to keep it up in the corners and it squeezed out of the top  and all sides as well as all the holes on the back once the melamine came off.







Did this while we had the heat to be able to glass. Have been grinding and prepping the hull for the stringers when I can with the temperatures down here lately. Found out there was a very questionable repair on the diver windows so those came out.







Now the question I have is it necessary to grind all the blue off in the picture below:



To the right is where I ground it all the way down for where we did the transom install. In the circle is where it bonded to the blue which seems like a strong bond. I went through a ton of threads and it's hard to tell how much everyone ground down in the pictures. In Aarons build it looks like the same year model and looks like he didn't grind all the blue down and got a good bond. In others there is no blue material. The blue bonding putty or whatever it is it's 1/4" thick on both sides down past the chines. Not the end of the world if it makes sense to grind it all but a huge time saver if it's not necessary. Any way down to just the 2 stringers we are going to save.



Hopefully back at it next week and the temperatures rise enough to glass.

[RickK]

  That's some progress 
The blue fairing/bonding compound doesn't have to be completely gone. Of course if you want the absolute best bond between poly and epoxy, you should grind down to bare glass. I would consider this in structural situations - you have to decide if the area is structural or not. Anything you do will make this hull better than it was,

[Ulysses485]

Nice progress!! Coming along. Looks like you have pulled some good reference builds on this site. I think another good build thread would be capt. Matt’s 222 flatback

Regarding the putty, I would remove as much as you can down to raw glass when going structural like Rickk mentioned. When attaching to old material, your bond is only as good as their bond sort of speak. Are you using polyester resin or epoxy?

Are you aware of moving your drain hole slightly forward to pickup the moved located with the added glass at the transom? There is picture references that Rickk might be able to help with if you are sure what I am referring to.

Keep up the good work and keep posting. I’m always happy to help and surely I’ve been to just about every 222(flatback AND Mod. V)  and 240 build thread on this site haha