Re: 18SF rebuild
 

Does anyone use the built in recessed tackle storage made out of starboard. I have found lots of them on ebay and at a local marine surplus store. I was just wondering if these boxes would be a good idea to put in my transom box. They look pretty good, and I could use them for plain storage also if I took out the plastic tackle trays. Thanks, Adam

Re: 18SF rebuild
 

Here are the pics of the stern with it glassed in.

Stern with putty.

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/y...2/DSC02101.jpg

Stern after being glassed.

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/y...2/DSC02167.jpg
http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/y...2/DSC02168.jpg

Fresh Water Tank

http://i777.photobucket.com/albums/y...2/DSC02103.jpg

Sorry it took so long to get the pics up. Busy week with the holiday and everything. I think this week I am going to test the gas tank and get it mounted back in the boat as well as the water storage tank. We are going to tab in the box in the stern and try to pop the whole liner(including the front dry box out and turn it over out of the boat so we can glass everything from the bottom. Hopefully we can do this so that the finish work on the inside of the liner won't be so bad. Does anyone know if the dry box in the bow is the only thing (besides the screws in the gunwales) holding the liner to the boat. I am sure there is a healthy heep of potter putty under that front box holding it to the hull.

Re: 18SF rebuild
 

AWESOME PICTURES!Keep up the great work.I considered the tackle storage idea and thought it would work great in the rear corners.the only thing is that someone previously put doors there so the cutout was a little bigger than what is needed for the storage system.I need to read further into your post,I am curious what the fresh water tank is for.I too have a SF18 and really appreciate seeing this work done first hand.My transom is solid as a rock yet there are a couple soft spots on the deck that may need to be addressed in the next year or two.will follow up again later!

Re: 18SF rebuild
 

Adam,

I have same boat and am doing similar job except I will not add the motor bracket. It has taken me alot longer then expected due to work commitments but progress is being made. The tops of my stringers near stern were cut so deck insert would fit. That probably caused the foam to get wet. I cut tops off stringers to remove all the foam and extended the stringer back to tramsom. I have drains tube in bottom of channel so water will go to bilge.

The rear live well is not going back in and I am debating if it is necessary to keep the fuel tank coffin and reusing the 10" x 24" x 60" aluminum fuel tank.

Moeller makes a replacement plastic under deck tank about same size and I think it makes more sense to not ever have to worry about an aluminum tank.

ed

Re: 18SF rebuild
 

When I cut out the front of my tank coffin to install a 60 gallon tank, the only place I saw the putty was on the stringers and where the drain is.

Re: 18SF rebuild
 

Good luck with your rebuild. My progress has also been slow going but I am going to get rolling on it now. Thanks for the reply and send me some pics of your progress.
Thanks

Re: 18SF rebuild
 

I am putting a fresh water tank in so I can have it as a shower. I have a 2 year old and he gets irritated by sand and salt water if it stays on him too long. My wife also likes to rinse off after getting out of the salt water. I am kinda back and forth on the tackle storage. I'm not sure if I could get more use out of just putting two hatches on either side and just have storage behind the rear bulkhead. Thanks for the post. I will keep posting pics of the progress. Thanks again.

Re: 18SF rebuild
 

If that is the only place then that would be good. Is the drain you are talking about the one that goes thru the hull in the back of the box? We are going to try and pop the remaining top deck, casting platform, and forward storage box out in one piece. We were thinking if we can do the structural glassing on the bottom side of the liner the finish work on the top side might be easier. Im not sure how big of a job that will be though. If anyone has popped the liner out of their boat before let me know because I could use all the input I can get on that. Thanks for the post.

Re: 18SF rebuild
 

Hope it goes well. Please take lots of pics when you pull it. Maybe I can get you to email them to me if you don't post them all. I would appreciate it.

Re: 18SF rebuild
 

Well tonight we got the pilot holes drilled in the bracket and thru the transom for the bracket bolts. We wanted to go ahead and drill thru the transom so we can fiberglass some 1/4" solid fiberglass panel on the inside of the transom where the bolts will be. I am hoping this will help spread the compression out from the head of the bolts when we mount it permanently. It will act like a backer plate. It probably doesnt need it but I want to make sure the transom is plenty strong where the bolts go thru. I was a little worried that there wouldnt be enough clearance between the bottom of the bracket and the bottom of the boat for the trim tabs to mount. After we marked where the bracket would be I held the tabs up to the boat and they fit just fine. That was a big relief. I will post more as we make progress. Thanks, Adam