Spring Project(s) 74 20SF

[MasterBaiter]

With all the work he is doing, he probably doesn't have time to sleep.

[SeaPlusPlus]

With all the work he is doing, he probably doesn't have time to sleep.

Haha Beach is my dad, just giving me a hard time Can see him in the 3rd pic down on my last post.

Speaking of that picture, I just realized where that other hammer went! Wondering where it went off to.

[copout]

Coming along nicely! You're killing me with electronic envy. I think your father was asking about doughnut t-top opinionson another forum? Was that him & if so are you headed that way? Keep up the boat porn...

[SeaPlusPlus]

Haha yeah didn't see that post but it was probably him, headed that way. Getting the top fabricated with a fold-able doughnut on top for cobia spotting. Not running the second set of controls up there just yet, maybe something in the future.

Gonna look something along the lines of this minus the control box.



Got the plate today. Dad found a 3/8" scrap sheet for $1 per lb. Getting it cut tomorrow and closing up the deck this weekend. That top is gonna be rock solid bolted down to the plate.

[SBD]

When you make your stainless plates consider also making the aluminum base plates for your t-top. With both in hand it will be very easy to get your hole alignment perfect. You can also just buy 1/4 or 3/16 stainless and weld nuts on the back instead of threading them. The just overdrill the wood under the nuts so it will drop in flush. If you bed them make sure to put bolts in holes!

[SeaPlusPlus]

Blessed with a beautiful weekend. Temps in the mid 70s and sunny up until Sunday afternoon. Was in work-mode from 8am till 8pm Saturday so the pics are lacking but made sure to snap a few.

Sat morning started out finding the final location for my console in the boat and marking it. I'm moving it forward another 2" from where I had it, making the final resting place 4" in front of where it was factory. Last week I took it to S-S Marine (Top fabricator) and he marked the location of where he is going to install the feet of the top. So using these locations as guides and the location of the top, the plates could be marked, cut, and test fit.





The plates are 3/8" aluminum not stainless. S-S Marine recommended aluminum vs stainless due to cost ($19 for 16" x 35" aluminum scrap, $150 for 12" x 24" stainless plate) and that stainless was unnecessary. Bimetallic corrosion would not be an issue as they coat all their stainless fasteners in sealant before installation. The plates are roughly 8" wide x 35" long, and run along the length and about 2" under the console. The console or leaning post will not be screwed to the deck, but rather screwed to 3/4" tall fiberglassed marine ply strips that will be epoxied to the deck, the only place were the deck will be drilled is the plates for the top, the plywood has solid glass on the bottom its coated in epoxy on both sides and edges, and solid glass on top, only place for water to get to it is screw holes, no holes in the deck = no water in the deck = no rot. The t-top feet are a little smaller than 3" x 5" which will leave about 3" of plate in front and 3" in back (roughly were I mspainted in the red lines). Went with 2 long plates vs 4 shorter to make locating them easier and to spread the load of the top over more area. The holes in the plate were there when I bought it as scrap and have been filled with thickened epoxy. I think its gonna work out great.

After everything was test fit, I cut some 2"x4"s and mocked them up in order to spread the weight after they were glued down.



After thickened epoxy was smoothed all over the floor, and all over the bottoms of the plywood coring. Coring was put down, and then weighted down (anything heavy in sight). Any area that was still sticking up due to high spots in the floor was screwed down.



The next morning I unloaded all the weight and took out the screws. Everything stayed in place and was glued down very well. A square was then used to check for high spots in the plywood by resting it on each lip and sliding it along the coring. High spots were marked and then using the grinder with a 60 sanding pad they were taken out so that the skins could go back on nice and even. The top layer of skins that we cut out were then cleaned up, sanded lightly, and test fit. A little more grinding was required till everything fit well. Everything was then shop-vac'd a few times. Lots of thickened epoxy was mixed and then all the cracks along the seams of the plywood and the few screw holes from the day before were filled. Thickened epoxy was then smoothed all over the plywood and the back of the fiberglass skins and then the skins were weighted down in place.



The seem all along turned out pretty nice and even.



All the seams will be ground out a little bit, filled with thicken epoxy and then 2" 1708 tape will be placed all along groove. Can only buy rolls at my local supply but at $29 for an 8# roll of tape it was cheaper than shipping what I needed, have about 60 yards extra



Raining all day today so before we closed up Sunday night I put the tarp over her to ride out the storm.



Also noticed from the dates on the pictures that today is the 1 monthiversary of this project!!!

[SBD]

That is looking great.

[SeaPlusPlus]

Updates!

The deck was allowed to set for 2 days. Then the weights were removed and the few screws were removed. Everything stayed in place and didn't flex back up when the weights were removed, looks good.

The seam between deck skins was then ground down about 2" wide, shop-vaced a few times, and then wiped with acetone.





Epoxy was then mixed with filler till about a ketchup consistency and then poured into the seams till there was no more crack, just the ground out area. 2" 1708 tape was laid up over this along the seam.







That will set up till Sat (raining tonight) and then I'll start sanding, a lot of sanding.

These is a piece that I haven't focused on yet:



Has been fabricated to plug this hole:



Its 1/2" marine ply that has 2 layers of 1708 on top and 1 layer of 6oz cloth on the bottom to waterproof it. I might replace the hatch I have for it down the road with something a little more classy, but will seal it up for now, and it was the right price. Couple more pictures:





My dad spent some time yesterday while I was at work fitting, sanding, fitting, sanding, fitting, sanding, and then finally installing the piece.







Before the piece was epoxied in place marine plywood supports covered with glass were tabbed in place to hold it in all the places that are red.



The piece was then laid in place and epoxied down. It still needs to be tied in to the existing area better, and made to look like it belongs there, but I think is going to turn out good. Glad to no longer have a HUGE hole there.

Applied the first application of System Three Quick Fair on the hull sides.



Sanding in the forecast this weekend, lots and lots of sanding.

[bj]

Hey Seaplus, Did your Dad sell new Seacrafts in Va Beach in 2003. If so I bought a new 2003 21' from him. Still have the boat and love it.

[SeaPlusPlus]

bj - Yup that was him, got out of the business a few years ago though.

Sorry for the lack of updates. It seems that whenever I have any paid contractor (save my Zuke mechanics, they are a godsend) directly involved with my boat nothing goes to plan, I mean nothing.

Took the boat over to Cobbs Marina on 4/02. My dad's 28' master marine was painted there and is a great facility/crew, owner is there all the time ready to bend over backwards to help you.

Their travel lift really knows how to make a 20' SeaCraft look small.



Got the boat there and up on blocks and started to work on the bottom paint. The jelly-fish consistency fiberglass paint stripper worked like a charm in the upper 80 degree heat. By the end of the day had it ready to sand the next morning.



Also got a coat of epoxy + fairing filler on the sanded fiberglass tape on the deck and the stern repair.





Spend day 2 up underneath sanding off the little remaining bottom paint and sanding the faired deck.



Once the deck was sanded back down we cut and measured the mounts for the leaning post and console. As I said before to prevent water intrusion into my new deck I'm mounting the leaning post and console to wood that is glued to the deck. The console and leaning post were put in place, and feet measured out. Then the deck was sanded down and the pads were glued in place.



The console mount is 2 strips of 1/2" marine ply with a piece of 1708 in between them and painted with resin. The top edges were rounded out and stick out about 1/4" when the console is sitting on it. The leaning post pads are 1-1/4" tall African Mahogany with 1708 between it and the deck to help fill any micro voids. They were also painted with resin.

To prevent them from moving around while curing, a 1" area of 5 min epoxy was used on each end of the leaning post pads, and the ends + middle of the console strips. They pads were held in place weighted till the 5 min set up. Thickened epoxy that oozed out from under the pads was then cleaned up and they were allowed to set up overnight.

The next day a thick bead of West System Six10 ($13 a tube at Paxtons)



was applied and then radius-ed around the edges of the pads to a) give it even more holding strength/fill the edge b) clean up the edge a bit and make it look more factory. These pads will be Awl Gripped white with the rest of the deck. Its almost a shame cause the Mahogany is actually quite pretty but would look off as it would be the only exposed wood on the boat.

Now for what went wrong. My plan all along was to have it painted at Cobbs by one of the many painter that work out of the Marina (Cobbs doesn't actually have any on staff). I was assured before I went over there that they had plenty people capable of doing and not to worry. Second day I was there we had the most recommended painter there come take a look and give us a quote. He seemed fine except he had no idea how to overcome the blocks on the bottom since we are AwlGripping the bottom too (trailered boat, will never sit more than 1 day in the water), said he had never sprayed a bottom or heard of anyone doing that. His quote was a little high in my opinion for just gun time (I'm supplying all materials, cleaners, doing all prep, etc), but he came with high recommendations so I figured you just pay for quality.

We talked to the owner and got it cleared to use the travel lift to hang it from the lifting eyes over the weekend so he could paint without blocks. He agreed that he could work with that. The next day he comes back over and says he doesn't want to do it. Doesn't think he can do a good enough job (there are 3 boats around us that he painted that look great), doesn't want to paint in this yard due too dust (he told us yesterday he works exclusively out of this yard), and is worried about putting AwlGrip on a bottom and if it doesn't turn out it would affect his reputation. So not even 24 hours and I don't have a painter, no worries there has to be another good painter who needs work. Call up 5 different painters who work out of that yard, all say no because they didn't get to do the prep and don't get to buy the paint so there isn't enough money in it for them. So I was almost done with the prep and ready for primer and sitting there racking up a bill at Cobbs and couldn't pay someone to paint my boat.

Finally I found a painter who wants to do it. He has his own shop on the other side of town, indoors, experienced, comes with like 5 recommendations from people over at tidalfish.com. Had him go over my boat with me which he offered tons of advice that I can do a little more prep here and there and get an even better finished product. Offered to use his shop to finish off the prep if I want, just lock up when I'm done.

In the end it definitely worked out, and I am more confident that I'm gonna get a great paint job than I was at Cobbs. Pulled the boat outta there on Friday and its in my driveway until I'm ready to take it to his shop. All in all it wasn't a complete waste of money, storage for a week there was $300 ($100 each time they move it with the lift and $15/day), so basically paid $300 to removed all the bottom paint I couldn't reach with the trailer and get the bottom 95% faired out. More updates soon.