Maritime 1480 Rebuild

[wingnut]

Alright, time for a new project! True, it's not an Aquasport but 1) I like you guys better than THT and 2) as far as I can tell, there are exactly ZERO photos on the internet showing what a Maritime 1480 looks like belowdeck. Posting all of this in hopes that someone will find the information useful at some point! For those not familiar with Maritime, they're built in New England and are similar to Whalers but ride better and are (in my opinion) built better.



Anyway, I picked up this one up for $500 (with trailer and garmin plotter, but no motor). I'm looking to make it a tiller skiff for island hopping and hauling my lobster traps... got tired of filling my 170 up with mud and seaweed from the traps! I sold the console for $300 so I'll call it a bargain, as these 1480s go for upwards of $8k in fair shape, and more like $15k in good shape with good motor. The gunwale got crunched riding on a dock in a storm, so I knew I had some glassing in my future.





Below deck was a bit of a mystery. Maritimes used to not have any drainage, no garboard plug, nothing. They were filled with foam, but they used a below deck rigging channel inside the stringer that was not sealed at all. Basically, the plywood deck and foam below were completely saturated.



Scooped out all of the wet foam. Did some exploring inside the stringers, and it was only wet where the cutouts are shown. Added PVC drainage tubes between stringer cells, poured new foam, and reglassed.





I had planned to do a Coosa deck, but it was backordered several months. Didn't really want to go with ply, so I used Divinycell H80. I figure with the foam deck and wet ply/foam removed, it's about 400 pounds lighter.





Glassed bottom of the Divinycell with 1 layer of 1.5oz CSM, and top with two layers 1708 (all epoxy).

[wingnut]

Did a bunch of grinding on the gunwale and formed up the hull shape with XPS foam.





Four layers of 1708 on the inside, lapped over the top to match the current gunwale shape. I ground out a 4" wide scarf joint which I think will be sufficient.





I have the outside ground down and ready for one last layer of 1708, then I will probably have to put it to bed for the winter... tough to get epoxy to kick when its -8 degrees outside! Planning to finish it off with gelcoat and nonskid this spring. Will post a couple more photos next week once I get the last of the glass down and fared.

[RickK]

That came out great. 
I don't know how many layers of 1708 you have on the lamination but I would want to make it stout for the next dock encounter.

[wingnut]

Thanks Rick! I agree on making it stout. It will end up having 5 total layers (4 currently). I’m looking to match hull thickness which is just over 1/4”. I have one more layer to do on the outside, and it’s just shy of 1/4” so I think I’ll be ok. Also, I’m not quite as hard on my boats as the guys I bought it from!

It will have a standard Taco vinyl rubrail next spring after gelcoat, unless I think of something more innovative in the meantime.

[Tampa Bay Mike]

Cool little skiff, and nice work so far. 👍

[wingnut]

Thanks Mike!

Here's the hull with last layer of glass, sanded but no faring. Shape is not perfect but I'm going to call it good enough for my purposes. I'm hoping I can get a couple rounds of faring in before it gets too cold. One of these years I really need to just build a heated barn, but until then I'm working in an unheated garage in Maine... heat lamps can only do so much!

[RickK]

That foam really made a difficult repair much easier.  Looks great.

[wingnut]

Work progressing slowly, had a surprise roofing project on the house that I'm finally wrapping up.

Anyway, got the hull mostly fared, still some sanding to do and probably one more coat of Alexseal faring compound. Hung the motor, mainly to get it out of the way. Pleasantly surprised that Suzuki mounting holes match up with the previous Yamaha holes perfectly. The motor is a 2003 Suzuki 25, which I picked up for $500 needing "significant carb work" (i.e. needed fresh fuel and plugs). Hull is rated 25 to 40hp tiller, but I think I'll be fine... She went on a diet when she shed all the soggy foam and plywood, and it's not intended to be a speed demon. Dry fit the rear bench seat so I can drill, fill, and drill again. If I can get a couple more things done, I will probably try to launch and see how she goes, and get my finish work done in the spring. The casting deck needs a little glasswork, as the edge got crunched where it met the gunwale damage, but I can do that in the basement this winter.

[wingnut]

Photo dump to pretty much close out the rebuild, been chipping away at things over the winter.

Fared and gelcoated the repaired area:


Reglassed, fared and gelcoated the casting deck where it got crunched too:


Put down Grip Tide nonskid, and I like the product a LOT. It's a two part, roll on system and it is a lot more durable and grippy than Kiwigrip (more of a rubbery grip). I paid $100 for the gallon kit but I think it's up to $150 or so now.



Decided to paint the hull above the strake with 1 part paint, for ease of touchup/repair, since I'm going to be hauling lobster traps, etc. and it's going to take some dings. Paint color is Brightsides flag blue plus 10% off white.


New rubrail, cleats, etc.


Hoping to splash this weekend and see if she floats!

[RickK]

 

[Capt. Bob]

 

[wingnut]

It floats!



Actually floats over 3" higher than the previous waterline, so that soggy foam and deck were definitely bogging her down.

Pleasantly surprised at the performance on the Suzi 25. Jumps right out and does 20 kts, plotter speed, which is perfectly fine for me, considering what it is.

Last order of business: I have an old broken aluminum T-top frame that I'm going to repurpose into a poling platform, but that can wait. Got fish to catch.

Happy summer to all!

[dbiscayne]

turned out really nice, great rebuild looks like a tough little boat.

[RickK]

   Nice job!

[wingnut]

Thanks guys! Now I need a new project...