Aquasport 222 identification and rebuild

[h20ryder]

I haven't cut the side hull supports yet but popped the other 2 off the molds last night.
Hopefully going to pull the cap off this weekend.
Thanks for the info on outward curve love2fish.

Does anyone know what is inside the molded in splash rail on the top cap? Is it a wood core, foam core, or just created by the original mold?

I want to replace all of the core in the top cap so planning on laying it upside down and cutting out all the material with a die grinder. Current glass under the cap is paper thin and has tons of holes and exposed wood.

[dirtwheelsfl]

The lip should just be an all glass channel. I filled one side of mine with foam strips and glassed over, and put a conduit for nav lights in the other side and glassed over. Id just fill yours with foam for the glass to lay on and put a layer of biax on it, then continue replacing the cores.

Get a cheap masonry blade for your 4.5" grinder.  Will be much faster and cleaner than a die grinder..

[gran398]

Rather than core it, we made a long triangular glass reinforcement underneath. Not solid glass...just a bridge if you will




Good and stiff...lightweight....easy....cheaper than core.....and much less time.


One other thing, everyone says it, but worth repeating over and over. Make sure when you lay it upside down you note the hull curvature. We laid ours out flat...big mistake. Had to take a skilsaw to it, score it, and re-glass.

[h20ryder]

Good to hear I don't have to dig a bunch of material out of the rail mold. It looks so much like a 1x1 covered in glass I thought for sure I would be digging worm wood with a chisel for an entire day.

I like the idea of conduit as a core so I can run some wire through it. Probably can just bed it in there with PL Premium then glass over? Dirtwheels do you have any pics of the conduit in yours?

Gran thanks for the heads up on hull curvature. I would have blown that for sure! Will a 2x4 frame running width wise and length wise like a grid hold it to the correct shape? Or what other methods do you recommend?

Wasted 2 hours trying to drill out a few of the old rivets holding the cap to hull. They just spin and get hot and melt the hole. I searched and saw cutting a line through the head then hammering off with a chisel? Previous owner put a ton of machine screws with nuts through the cap and none of them are stainless so there are probably over 200 completely rusted fasteners to remove.

[gran398]

Re the cap curvature:

While it is on the boat, run a string (plumb line)  a measured position down from the point of the bow...then run the string to the stern. Take height measurements at various points from the string  to the fiberglass. This will give the curvature.

When you flip it upside down....you'll need to add the specified height in reverse when you place it on the sawhorses. That is, the center sawhorse will be higher. It doesn't have to be exact....the cap is pretty flexible. But you sure don't want to do it flat like we did.

Re the screw removal:

 If you can get them all out that would be best. At some point, even the best stainless will sometimes leech color (rust) and potentially stain your hull sides.

Thanks and keep us posted!

[dirtwheelsfl]

Dont have any pics of it, but anything to tack it in will work. The lip on your cap stops about the middle of the boat right? Meaning youd probably end it in those side boxes you just made and run wires thru those. The lip on mine ran all the way to the transom so i ended the conduit back there. Thats an option, but it just wont be flush inside of the back half of your lip. All im running thru there is nav light wires, I just hate leaving wires dangling under a cap and relying on whatever adhesive to keep em up.

Scotts right about the cap. Just manipulate whatever youre setting the cap on to get the sheer curve pretty close. Itll still move a decent amout depending on how much structure you put into the underside.

I buttered up that whole outside hull side of that joint with epoxy and then set the cap on and sucked it all together with temporary screws. Then went to the inside and tabbed it to the hullsides. Super strong, watertight, and no damn screws or rivets to mess with...

[CLM65]

What are you using to core the underside of the cap?  I will be doing that too eventually, and would appreciate knowing what material and thickness is recommended to give it a very solid feel.

[h20ryder]

Underside of the cap will be ACX plywood. Factory looks like 3/8" but I will probably bump that up to 1/2" just to get some additional stiffness out of it. Covered in 1-2 layers of 1708.

[h20ryder]

Finished glassing the new bow section. Turned out pretty good and the rounded corners that I kerf cut look pretty smooth.
1/2" ACX plywood with 20oz of glass on bottom and 1708 on top. All edges and fillets double taped with 6oz glass.
Hopefully tabbed and done this weekend then finally done with the floor!

[gran398]

That is one FINE job

[h20ryder]

Sanded off all of the gelcoat from the transom skin to bare glass so I can see every hole and fill it. Previous owner filled holes with black flexible caulking then MarineTex over the top. Spent hours digging out every single hole in the transom, beveling the edges then filling with thickened epoxy.

After drooling over so many other boats on here with the outboard brackets I pulled the trigger on building a custom one. 22" of setback with a 70" wide platform for a single engine and built in kicker mount. Should be done in 3 weeks and shipped from Miami to CA. I will be keeping the notched transom shape and adding a "wave gate" that will fold down to allow easy pass through onto the platform.

I know most of the transom brackets are used on enclosed transoms which are probably much stronger than a notched transom so I really want to make sure my transom can handle the extra torque. I rebuilt my transom from the inside but now want to put an extra 2 layers of 1708 on the outside skin to add some strength. Will there be any problem adding 2 layers just on the face of the transom and not wrapping around the sides of the hull?

[Capt. Bob]

I know most of the transom brackets are used on enclosed transoms which are probably much stronger than a notched transom so I really want to make sure my transom can handle the extra torque.

I wouldn't get too crazy worrying over using the bracket in a non fully enclosed hull. I had one on my CCP (it still is I believe) factory built transom with no real indication of over stressing. Of course you want to do a good job of attaching the stringers to the transom and the transom rebuild also. That's where your ability to resist a moment (god I love engineer speak) needs to be the greatest.
They do look nice enclosed but hey......
They look good with a bracket too

Good luck.

[h20ryder]

Decided to wait to pull my top cap until the interior is all done and painted.
Side hull supports glassed in to liner and spent 2 days with a dremel doing some final touch-ups before applying fairing compound.
Little bit of a learning curve with fairing compound but once I started using a smaller putty knife for the detail work I kind of got the hang of it.

Transom bracket should be done soon and I am really excited to see what that will do to the boat with the walk through transom. Taking a 22' to 24' makes me feel like I will keep the boat longer. But I really want a 26'!

[RickK]

Sure looks good  
What are your plans to seal the access plates that you won't be opening a lot?

[dburr]

Outstanding progress   !!! What is the plan for passing the rigging through the transom to the outboard?