1978 222 Cuddy Rehab

[Double D]

Bought a 1978 222 Cuddy back in Sept 2008. I've been working on her over the past 19 months and have not had time to post my project on here. Got some time so I thought I would share my experience. She was in rough shape. It had the original 150hp motor as well as the original fuel tank. Fuel tank was full of water not fuel, we ripped it out and the open cell foam. Luckily there is a deck pan for the fuel tank so replacing is going to relatively easy. Sold the Motor, it still ran strong.  The transom was in good shape and the stringers, from what we could access, were fine too. There was only one large soft spot in the main deck. See the pics below we ended up fixed that quite easily.  I removed all of the original teak. The covering boards, cuddy doors, and companion way rails. Removed the helm pod. Basically stripped the whole boat.



Cut out the soft wood down to the lower layer of glass.

Chiseled out the old rotten wood. Cut and fit a new piece of Marine Ply

Glassed and Gelcoated the new marine ply in place and faired it in

[RickK]

Welcome aboard Double D  :!:  :!:
Looks like you've been bringing her back to life - good job She looks to be in Great shape for her age.
Are these "before" and you're waiting to show us the "afters" ?

[Double D]

Thanks!  Yes these are all before pics I have now.  Will be getting to the "after" ones soon, as time allows.

[RickK]

Is the boat finished or is it in the state where your pics end?  It's looking good at that stage.

[Double D]

Wanted to keep the as much of the original look as possible, but me and portholes do not get along. They had to go.  First took off the rub rail.

Then we had to get the old portholes out.  Not as easy as you think.  Ended up cutting them out. They were in there pretty good after 30 years.


Then we made a outside contour guide. And constructed a melamine piece out of a mold taked from the contour.



Here's a pic from inside

Next I ground down all of the old non-skid from the cuddy deck and the main deck. 36 grit did the trick.  I don;t have a pic, but after I ground it down I faired it out with gelcoat instead of epoxy fairing compound. Gelcoat fills better and I did not have to worry about it shrinking up.

The rest of the boat looked like swiss cheese with all of the holes in the boat. Took us 3 weeks of off and on time to grindout, countersink and fill all of the holes. Faired them all in with Gelcoat. Here are some samples

[Double D]

I then moved on to the inside of the cabin.  The Cuddy deck was kind of weak so I bought some composite panels from prisma to make the deck stronger. Contact them at http://www.preforms.com/  They are really nice people and make great stuff. Very easy to use.  Expoxied them in with MAS.

[RickK]

Nice work - keep'em coming  

[fitz73222]

Nice looking 22-2 Family Fisherman? We had a new 76 with a 200 Johnson. Ours didnt have the splashwell and it "self bailed" through the conventional transom drains. Ours also had a slider hatch to gain access to the bow which worked pretty well. looks like your 78 didnt have the slider or did you glass it in solid?

[Double D]

This one has a slider hatch too.  I thought about glassing it in, but I wanted to redo the boat to as clost to original as possible so I kept it.  I really like the look of the teak slide rails.  I have some good pics of it, I'll post them soon.  Thanks for all the nice comments.

[fitz73222]

Those teak rails were a really nice touch, and really pretty when cleaned up and oiled. Snappy Teak New cleaner and oil would blonde those rails up nicely. Nice addition to the boat that looks like they borrowed from the old Robalo 23`s of the day...

[fitz73222]

Hey Double D,

A little advice from my book of stupid teenager tricks from long ago. DON`T STAND ON THE SLIDER HATCH!!! I spider cracked the crap out of ours and thought about just jumping out of the boat and swimming home when the old man let loose!! Thank goodness my stepmother was in the boat and chilled him out before he turned me into chum that day!!

[bondobill]

Hey Double D Nice to see a 22-2 FF on here. I have owned a 1979 since 1990. Thought maybe I was the only one on here that had one. Yours looks like a twin to mine as far as the engine well and sliding hatch. I have since changed the engine well design. Anyway nice to see you here and it looks like your doing a great job.

[wingtime]

Looking good!  keep the updates coming!

[Double D]

Hey Double D Nice to see a 22-2 FF on here. I have owned a 1979 since 1990. Thought maybe I was the only one on here that had one. Yours looks like a twin to mine as far as the engine well and sliding hatch. I have since changed the engine well design. Anyway nice to see you here and it looks like your doing a great job.

I bought a 1983 222 Cuddy in College some 17 years ago and had more fun on that boat than any other before that one or since. That boat was an exact mirror of this one. I've got to admit I'm a really cuddy guy. I absolutely love the way this boat rides.  I've got a 3 year old son now and am redoing this to keep for him. I figured I'd do it nice so he can still be using it when he's in college.  The pics I posted don't really show how bad a shape this one was in. This boat has tested my ability with Epoxy, fiberglass and fairing. Luckily I've had some great help along the way. I've got some more pics coming. Thanks to everyone for the kind compliments.
Alex

[Rhojo]

Nice boat Alex! I can't wait to see the finished product!  :bounce: