The New Boat (needs a Little Work)

[PiratesPride]

My dad and myself have been throwing around the idea of buying an older boat and rebuilding it to use primarily as a duck hunting boat and something to beat around in.

A few weeks ago we picked up this 1990 20ft sea ox and she needs just a little TLC. Pretty much all we got was the hull. The floor and stringers are gone and the transom looks like it has been rebuilt more then a few times, mostly with material found laying in the scrap pile, so that is going to be completely replaced too.

Its going to be alot of work but nothing we cant tackle and Im not going to stress to much over all the cosmetic fit and finish seeing as how this boat will be painted with all flat colors and camoflage. The main thing is making sure it is strong and solid, and I tend to overbuild anything I make.

I intend to keep this thread going with pictures as we move along documenting the work we are getting done.

The first pictures are of the boat when I picked it up and when we got it home and made a rack for it in the backyard where it will live under a canopy for the next few months.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome along with questions.

[gottaflylee]

Hey Will, give me a call, love to look at her...

[PurpleGold]

Should be a fun thread to follow, good luck with the re-build!

I've been thinking of doing the same type of project for a duck boat so i will be watching with special interest, thanks for letting us watch.

[PiratesPride]

Hey Will, give me a call, love to look at her...

Sure thing Lee, Ill be in town all next week for spring break working on it, got alot of cutting and prep work to do before we start doing any of the real rebuilding work.

If your in town and wana swing by just give me a call at 910-617-6525 or you can give the ole man a call.

Heres a few more pictures I just got uploaded to the computer, these are of the inside of the boat while I was cutting out some of the remaining floor.

The next step is to get the gunnel cap off, it needs a little work to, and start stripping out all the old stringer fiberglass and start on the transom.

[PiratesPride]

Its coming along, Ordered the fiberglass this morning and spent a good couple of hours sanding down the old tabbing and bedding for the original stringers, Im smoothing everything out to the state it was in before they glassed the original stringers in, then before installing the new ones I intend to put a layer of 1708 biaxial fiberglass down throughout the interior of the boat just as a little extra strength and hull thickness.

Heres a couple pictures of the sanding coming along and my weapon of choice, a 7 inch grinder with a 40 grit flap wheel, this thing straight up gets it done.

I am using the big grinder to take off all the old roving that was laid when tabbing the stringers, before glassing I will go back over everything with a DA sander to even out any sharp/jagged spots and make sure every surface is roughed up for a good bond.

[Questsportfishing]

isn't grinding fun???....

door skin template strips
hot glue gun
epoxy
mixing pots
glass
beer
ice
...


have fun...! great block to rebuild...

[Fishovertime]

Don't you just love sanding Old fiberglass....
I would choose the a new lamination any day!

Good luck with your project,she should turn out great.

Andrew
Sunny Barbados.

[cdail28590]

I have that same boat that was redone a few years ago. Its really big on the inside for a 20 footer and rides pretty decent without a lot of spray. Unfortunately, the guy that redid the stringers and floor didn't completely cover the stringers with mat and it looks like I will be ripping it all out over the next winter to redo it and do it right. Mine has a older 120 Evinrude 2 stroke and it runs right at 32mph. Not bad for a $300 motor and controls. You'll be surprised at how much skinny water that boat can get into.

[gottaflylee]

Looking good Will, got to get up with you soon, will be in Oriental this weekend...

[PiratesPride]

Got a good bit done the past few days. Got all the old stringer bedding and roving ground up along with getting a good pass with the sander across the entire bottom of the hull.

Also got the gunnel cap pulled off and started on some glass work.

Before cutting out whats left of the transom I wanted to get some extra strength in the hull so I ran a fillet of epoxy/cabosil down the inside of the keel from the bow to the stern then laid a strip of 1708 Biaxial cloth all the way down and expoxied that in. I will be laying a few more strips down around the chine areas and some other spots just to make sure the hull is strong enough since theres no stringers or other support in it at the moment.

Once we get the transom replaced we will fair down the tape strips Ive added and lay down 1708 across the entire bottom of the hull to replace what was taken away in the sanding and prepping of the hull and to give the new stringers some good glass to tab to.

Heres some pictures of what we got done, sorry for the bad lighting in some, they were taken with my phone..