Starting the rebuild on a 1972 19' 1" Aquasport

[Tim/GA]

Great site!  I do a search from time to time on Aquasports and was pleased to see this one come up yesterday.  I will be working my way through the posts but encourage anyone with tips or suggestions for my rebuild to please post them.

I am hoping to finally get some work done on my project Aquasport, a 1972  19' 1" model.  I picked it up about a year ago, after a pretty long search, for $400 as it had developed a crack along one chine and was taking small amounts of water.  The guy I bought it from did not want to deal with it and I was looking for a cheap hull to rebuild.  Unfortunately I have not had time to do much work for quite awhile and have only pulled the fuel tank and much of the floor.  Enough to see that I have more work than planned ahead of me!  I found that the metal fuel tank that had been installed by a previous owner was not only leaking but solidly foamed directly to the hull.  Getting it free and out was a serious chore and then all of the foam was fuel soaked.  I also found that the job done to install it was horrible!  Turns out they cut into each stringer, about half way through, to make room for a larger (and most likely cheaper) tank.  No wonder a crack formed!  At this point I am looking at a full strip down to the bare hull and will most likely end up redoing the transom while I am at it.  Of course, what did I expect for the price.  Still happy with the buy and look forward to setting her up as I want her to be.  I am attaching a couple of pics her as she was before I began work with a saw  and will report more as I go.

[Wilson]

Welcome aboard.  That's a good lookin' hull.

I think you are going to have to go in to the inside and build up with glass to strengthen the weak portion that is allowing the chine to crack.  Not, necessarily, a small job.

[JimCt]

Tim/GA, Welcome aboard!

You've come to the right place.  Lots of pictures & prose about the rebuilding process which hopefully can save you time and $.  We also provide a few shoulders for crying on when needed.

Did the $400 bring a motor with the deal?

If you haven't already, you might want to set up a photo gallery in the Member's Gallery section.  That way your progress pictures can be readily accessed and become part of the permanent archive.

Oddly enough, there's another 19'AS up on ebay with a hull crack which sounds similar to yours.  Maybe another botched fuel tank job...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... eName=WDVW

Good luck with the boat!

[Tim/GA]

Thanks for the quick responses.  I was looking over the photo sections with some of the boats and projects and will be setting up to do that soon.  That is a great feature here at this site, already have some new ideas from looking at other buildups.  My current boat (a 1990 17ft Bonito with 90hp Johnson) developed a rotted floor and needed to have 2 stringers replaced.  That was my first fiberglass job so I have a little experience but not much.  Has never stopped me before though, whether it is dealing with cars, trucks, outboards or homes- I will give it a shot.  And so far it has worked out!

Wilson, I am definitely going to be working the crack from both inside and out.  That is part of why I did not try to save that part of the stringer as it is inside of that area.  I am planning on cutting/grinding out the stringers, patching the cracked area from inside and out and strengthening the hull along the lengths of both chines.  I am looking at laying another layer of glass across the whole hull on the inside but am not sure if it is needed or even a good idea to add the weight and expense.  Any thoughts?

Jim, it did not come with a motor- he kept that.  It did come with the hydraulic steering and a pretty nice leaning post.  I also got the trailer, not the best but it will work for now.  All in all, I figured the steering trailer and leaning post would cover me even if I did not end up using the hull, or at least close to it.  I really love the shape of this hull though.  Will be a great inshore and nearshore boat for Georgia and NE Florida.

[Wilson]

If you haven't already, I wouldn't get rid of the stringers unless you have to.  Just more work.

[Seadog]

Nice lookin boat! Welcome aboard!

It's kind of hard to tell from the pix but it looks like your console is pushed forwrd a lot.  Do you have to step on the forward casting deck to get around the front of the console?

I added a layer of 1.5 oz mat to the inside of my 222 hull - I was worried about the extra weight it would add too. I'm hoping that weight will be off set some by useing 1/4' Klegecell in the floor to replace the 1/4" plywood that was there. I have no idea how that extra mat will effect the draft or performance. Time will tell!

Wilson's right - leave the stringers in if you can. Tons of extra work to grind out and then replace those suckers.

[Tim/GA]

Unfortunately the way someone cut out half of each stinger to fit the fuel tank (and did not reglass or anything) and the fact that the crack is running lengthwise under the starboard stringer means that I pretty much have no choice but to redo the back 2/3rds of each stringer.  Oh well, I knew it was going to be work!  The plan right now is not use molds to form the stringers, at least 1 layer, install the stringers and fill with foam and then lay more glass on the stringers.  While I am at it I plan to raise the deck about 1".  

The other stringers that I have done (other boats) were wood so this is a first for me.  The current stringers have an sides that flair at an angle, while this will make it harder to mold the stringer, am I right in assuming this added strength and should be duplicated?  Also, anyone have some tips on a layout schedule (types and thickness of the layers of glass) for the stringers?

Seadog, yes a previous owner did a chop job on the console.  They raised it a bit and cut off what I assume was a front seat.  They then notched it so that the front few inches actually rest on the casting deck.  While not done very cleanly I really like the outcome.  The amount of rear deck space is huge this way.  I am going to have to do some work on the console anyway, but I think I am going to like this set up.  The only downsides are that I lose seating in front of the console (at least while running) but I plan to have it set up for a removable cooler in front of the console so a seat will be available when not under way.  The other downside is that I am putting weight further forward.  Will not be able to tell if this is a problem until later, especially with the under deck fuel tank that will be built.  What I really want to do is keep the leaning post and design and build a removable, swing-back seat for use behind the leaning post.  Removable so I can clear that huge rear deck space when needed but have it for those times that I want more seating or those leisurely fishing days when I want to be seated (like a nice, relaxing day of fishing for whiting).

[Seadog]

Tim - layup schedule I'm using for the stringers: layer of 1.5oz mat, layer of 17 oz double bias then a final layer of 1.5 oz mat.  I'm using FGCI 2:1 epoxy resin.

I'm not sure if this was the exact original lay-up schedule but the final stringer wall thickness is pretty close to the original.

My stringers are the same shape you described.

I'd stick with the same stringer design.

[Deck Daddy]

Tim,
Nice looking boat at a great price to boot! I also like the console mounted forward to open the deck space. I wanted to do the same thing with my 17', but that will have to wait. I would not worry about how she will sit in the water. Friend of mine is a cast netter in the Ft Pierce and has a 19' with the console mounted forward on the cast deck so he cand drive, watch the fish finder and cast net. His set up is with a 115 and a 40 gal belly tank. The boat does not sit any different in the water. My current project on a 18' Romarine will have the center console mounted forward. Many boats in the RI area have the cosole with a dog house mounted forward to give them more deck space and their boats do not sit bow down. When I get a chance to go to RI I will take some pics of some interesting rigs. Good luck!

[Wilson]

Here is how I did mine on my Mako

http://www.classicmako.com/projects/ayala/ayala10.htm

http://www.classicmako.com/projects/ayala/ayala11.htm

They are made of 3 layers of 1808.

[Seadog]

Holy Jumpin' Jack Mackeral Wilson! You've done some nice work there man! Those came out great.

What did you use on the form to pop the glass off the mold for the stringers?

[Tim/GA]

I agree, nice work.  I also wanted to know what you used to make sure it would pop free.  I assume you trimmed the resulting glass stringer to size according to where it was in the hull after it cured.  That is what I am planning rather than try to make a form that is perfect for the boat.  How fun was it to take the measurements to trim the stringers?  I am not close yet, but am thinking that running some strings for measurement might be the route to go.

[Wilson]

I would just staple a layer of visqueen to the form before each layup.  I would just stretch it tight.  Then once the resin had cured, I would pull the plasic away from the staples and then pop the glass off.  The plastic would just peel right off.  That was the eay part.  Dont try to screw with wax.  No need.  doesn't have to look beautiful on the inside.

As for lay out. I ran strings at the height that I wanted (1/2" below floor height) and then measured at one foot intervals from string to hull, all the way.  I then trimmed the end of the stringer as flat as I could and transferred the measurements.  Every foot I made the mark so it matched.  I then bent some thing flexible (I can't remember what) around screws put in those marks to get the proper curvature.  

I had run 4 string lines, one for each side of each stringer.  I let the out side of each stringer slope toward the side of the boat, so as to create a slight camber in the floor, allowing water to move to the sides of the boat and out.

Glued them in with epoxy superbond putty from FGCI and a couple layers of 1808

[Anonymous]

The description of your mail sounds extremely familliar. I also started what would become a total rebuild on a 19.6 osprey some months ago. Everytime you think you are nearly there something new pops up. Will post some pictures soon. I also came on this site the same way. Strange it didn't show uo on any previous yahoo searches. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Replied a bit too quick, then I saw all the replies below the pictures. When I started replacing a soggy spot in my floor, i ended up ripping the whole thing out,then discovered there was a crack in the fiber fuel tank, so ended up taking that out. Then I saw somebody had replaced it and had cut a hole in the side of the box that holds the tank, so I cut the box out. After that I saw that he had also cut a hole through the stringer, and that large parts of the foam were gone. The hole was about 3 ft long, and 6 inch wide. Also there were several cracks where the stringer meets the hull, we ended up grinding everything down and then glassing it all again. The weight will be more then it was, but at least I have peace of mind that nothing will crack that hull again. We also ended up filling the entire under floor area with 4 lbs (2part) foam, including the stringers. I used a 5 gallon kit to fill and it came up all the way to my insulated fishbox in the front. We are actually finishing the rear of the hull right now (rain water in my transom from when the floor was out) as soon as that is done I will fill the sides of the hull as well with 2 lbs foam. All of this should still be lighter than water in the hull. And I know that it will be hard to find more problems since everything has been either fixed or replaced.