Took off the windshild and all the hard ware off the boat. Getting it striped down and trying to fix any small spots and cracks in the gel coat. Filling any old holes from previous life:

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Getting the bottom paint off has been a challenge on my back so I decided after seeing how some others on here done it on their post I decided to put her over on her side. There is only one coat of bottom paint to get off and then I will sand the gel back with 120 grit then fix any small cracks or blisters with a 2 part epoxy under water filler (light green stuff on the bottom of the hull). Once that is done and I get the bottom faired in I will apply a thick coat of the the interlux 2000e epoxy seal coat to it.

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Spent a lot of time in that garage! Hey Friz, the guys name is Chris Phelps and his cell number is 252-337-4452. Hope he can hook you up. Later, boo.

The bottom paint is gone and all the small blisters and cracks have been repaired with an epoxy filler. I sprayed 3 coats of interlux 2000e barrier primer on the bottom of the hull and got it almost ready for paint inside and out. Once it warms up out side I will spray the whole boat with prime kote primer then wet sand it and them prep for paint.

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Thanks for all the great posts as I will soon be replacing my transom as well. Did you use epoxy just to the outer skin or also between plywood? And what type of resin for the fillets? I'm told that if using epoxy everything has to be epoxy.

You are right some what on the epoxy usage. You can't apply poly over or on top of epoxy and get a good bond. You can do the opposite and go epoxy over poly or ve resin. You can use them together if you are careful on how you apply them. On the transom I used poly to make the core section before it was installed into the boat. There was a 1/4" of glass and resin between the 2 3/4" wood plys and 2 layers of Matt around the core fully sealing the wood 100 percent. Forgot to mention I thinned some of the poly resin and hot coated the wood too. The wood will soak in thinned poly better than the epoxy. I try to always hot coat wood prior to adding glass cloth and resin. The core was scuffed with 80 grit to give it some tooth to bite a bond when I installed it. Scuffed the back of the boat the same then I used the epoxy to bond the sealed wood core to the old 40 year old glass on the transom skin. I only used the epoxy to bond the core in place only. Once that was in place I added several layers of 1708 and tabbing to the front of the core out of ve resin. The filets were made from ve resin thickened with cabosil and fiberglass rice pellets. The epoxy did not get any other resin bonded to it. It is just between the core and boat skin only. All the ve on the opposite side of the core never contacts the epoxy. There may of been some slight contact under the filets were some epoxy squeeze out around the core but bond is not as important there. I usually only use epoxy where I need a good bond to old glass or when I make a thickened puddy for gluing or bonding parts down. Mainly situations that don't require cloth. If I am laminating cloth I mainly use the ve resin. The epoxy will give you a better secondary bond to fully cured glass or old 40 year old potter glass.

Thanks for the great information. How much epoxy was used for the bonding? And roughly how much ve resin for the rest? Will poly resin work also? Prices here are 65/gal for ve compared to 38/gal for poly. Sorry for all the questions as this will be my first time repairing a boat.

I'm don't remember but know it was less than a gallon of epoxy. It did take a lot of cabosil to get it thick enough to apply and hold in place without it running. The rest of the lay up took around 3-5 gallons to do the transom. Sorry on the vague numbers but pulling out of a 55 gal drum it is hard to keep up with it. I think a 5 gal kit would come close to do the transom and I would use a good quality vinyl enter resin. The bonding strength is much stronger and it is much more water resistant. Poly is fine and will work too but the ve is much better. Epoxy will be best but not much better than the ve. If saving money is a must use the poly to build the core, filets and use the ve to do the bonding to the old glass for a better secondary bond.

Is vinyl ester much better than poly resin? I'm probably going with epoxy for core to outer skin and wondering how much better ve is to poly. Cost is somewhat an issue but piece of mind is most important. I don't want to have any doubts or regrets.

The elements of boat strength by David Gerr has a chapter on this. (A great book to own)
Ortho - polyester will elongated about 2% before cracking the tensile strength is 9,400 psi

iso-polyester is about the same but is more resistant to chemical attack

Vinylester will elongate 5% before cracking, the tensile strength is 11,800 psi

Epoxy will elongation is usually more than 5% and a tensile strength of 12,500

Ve and epoxy is water resistant when poly is not. If you use a high strength glass like 1700 biaxel or 1708 you need the strength of the ve or epoxy. The polyester resin will fail well before the fibers will and you will loose the potential strength of the lament due to it is not strong enough to get the full potential strength out of the cloth. There are many poly made boats that are plenty strong but with the ve or epoxy you will get a much stronger, waterproof and durable product. I would use the ve on any situations that requires high strength.

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Sorry but another question. After grinding the inside of the outer skin I didn't grind it down evenly and there is some wavy spots. Will this uneven surface be a problem when bonding the core to it? Thanks again for all your help and I can't wait to see more of your progress.

Most of the time when you do a laminate you always start with csm (matt) and that will help hold more resin to fill in the voided areas. If the voids are real bad you may want to add 2 layers of 10oz matt to give more thickness to fill them in.

There are two ways I usually do a transom to the original skin. The first is if I use Poly or vinyl-ester. I start by adding a layer of 10oz matt then a layer of 1708 over that then 2 layers of matt over that for the inside laminate between the skin and core. That will give you skin-matt-matt(on back of the 1708)-biaxel (top of 1708)-matt -matt. This gives you two layers of matt to fill the voids between the skin and the layer of biaxel. Then the two layers of matt on top of the biaxel will help fill the voids to the core material. This creates a good bond to the hard surfaces that you lay up on or to. This leaves the biaxel in the middle which is for strength mainly. The core gets soaked with thinned resin before it is installed and then I will add several layers of 1708 between the two 3/4" wood plys. Always put the matt side towards the bare wood. At this point I will clamp it inn place and wait for it to set up. Once dried I will add the fillets around the edges and then start laying up the outter layers of glass. Matt should be used always as a first layer up against old glass or wood to gain bond strength by holding more resin and filling voids. Most people like the 1708 because it has the matt glued or (stitched for epoxy) to the back of the biaxel fibers. You can lay it as one layer and it is faster maybe easier to do than two layers separate.

The second way I may install a core into the transom is with epoxy. I then use just a thickened epoxy resin with cabosil then trowel it directly onto the surface of the skin. The trowel I use will be notched with 1/4" teeth and I get it thick enough it will stay in place and not run down the skin. The thick resin should fill most voids and dips. Once this is applied I stick the core to the skin and let it bed down into the thickened resin. I try to get all the air out if possible and clamp it in place to set up. Dont squeeze the resin out from to much pressure. Try to keep as much in as possible but at the same time bed it well enough to get all the air out. The epoxy has a strong enough secondary bonding strength that it can be used with out matt and will bond the core in well. It will not provide much strength as that comes from the cloth. You need to make sure the original skin is plenty thick to do it this way. This is how I did the 74 20' sceptre. The skin was super thick already and I added more bixal to the inner section between the core wood plys and the front side of the core to give it plenty of strength. If I bond it in this way I will also will fully seal the wood core with two layers of matt first so that it will be completely seal from any possible water intrusion. I scuff it real well with 36 grit to give the surface some "tooth" for the epoxy to bite to. The thinned poly or ve will absorb into the wood better than the epoxy. I usually thin with styrene or you can use acetone. (The first method I described to you I just bond the wood in without enclosing the core first. It gets enclosed as it is laid up.) Once the epoxy sets up you can add all the fillets around the edges and then laminate the front side of the core to the boat.

There are many ways to do a transom but that is the two main ways I do them. Hope this helps, Mike

Can I use poly resin and mat on skin to build some thickness? Then do what you did with epoxy for the core.

You could do that, and it might be fine, but that kinda defeats the purpose of using epoxy to get the good secondary bond to the old skin. If I was to fill all the voids and dips with matt and poly or VE I would just continue to work with that same resin and lay the core into the boat while the resin was still green. You get a better bond when you do a green or chemical bond. The peel strength is much higher and you will get less delamination problems. The part of the lay up that will be the weekest is the bond to the older orignal poly glass. The point of using the epoxy is it will give you better secondary bond strength to the old poly skin. If you lay poly on the old skin it wont have the same peel strength. You would be just as good or better off to continue with the poly and do a full wet chemical lay up all the way out vs letting it fully cure then doing a secondary bond on top of the new glass. The window for a lay up is best if it cures all together but you still have hours to a day or two to reapply more resin and glass and still get a good green chemical bond. If it was me I would do one of two things, First- use epoxy to to fill the voids and build it back up with 1708 stitch cloth and then lay the skin in place so it is all epoxy from skin to core. Then you can switch to poly or ve to do the rest on the outer core to save some money if you must. OR secondly- use VE or poly to fill the voids and dips with matt and 1708 and do a full green or chemical bond from the start to finish all the way out. You just need to take more time prepping the surfaces on the old skin before you start. Scuff it up well so it has plenty of tooth for the new resin to bite into and clean it very well and get the best bond you can out of the resin. I think as long as you prep the surface well and use enough biaxel cloth for strength you will be plenty strong and you wont have any problems with delamination or such. Just take your time and make sure you get all the air out of the laminate and leave no air pockets or spots for water to get into the core and it will last for years with out issue. There have been many boats rebuilt with just plain old poly resin that last years. The epoxy and VE are much better products and will give you more strength but at a cost. If you are trying to get the most strength out of a light lay up for performance high end resin systems is a must but just for a pleasure fishing vessel where weight is not a issue you can over build it with poly a little for peace of mind and be fine.

Thanks a lot for the great info. That explains it all. When are you planning on finishing your boat? What color will it be? Keep us posted.

I'm waiting on some warmer weather right now. I don't want to spray it due to the weather. It will get cold at night even if I pick a good warm day to do it. Here in NC were still get a few days above 70 this time of year but it can be 85 today and then a high of 20 tomorrow.

Right now I am working on another 20' (this one a cc) in my heated shop. I hope to have both ready by time it warms up so I can spray both of them once it warms up out side.

I could spray them in my shop but I don't want over spray every where. I do have a friend with a paint booth. I did the electrical wiring on a while back for him when he installed it so I might reach out to him for a favor if the spring doesn't hurry up and get here.

Color? Not sure but probably the popular seafoam green or Carolina blue.
(UNC Tarheel Blue):D

I understand. Do you do any glass work when it's cold out? Here in Hawaii weathers the same almost year round. Also I'd go with Carolina blue. It's a very nice color. And that's my favorite basketball team. Go heels.

I do glass work year around but when it gets much below 60 degrees I do it inside of my heated shop. I will lay the glass then crank the heat up a bit to help it cure out well. I have done small repairs outside on larger boats that wont fit in my shop this time of year. If I do I need to pre-heat the area with a blow drier or heat gun and then do the lay up. I get the glass laid then I hit it lightly with the heat gun till it starts to kick. Once it kicks off it generates enough heat on its own to cure on out. There are plenty of good warm days where I can do work out side and then there are some like last week where it was in the 20's. We have cold to mild weather here in NC mainly for just a few months. It can be 85 degrees on Monday and then have a high of 30 on Wednesday. They have a saying "If you don't like the weather here in NC just wait a day or two and it will be different". Sounds much nicer where you are this time of year.

After glassing ply core to outer skin do you do tabbing first or do you glass entire core first? What is the next step?

I usually cut the glass cloth large enough to cover the whole core with 6" of extra on each side and bottom so it will Tabb to the sides. It is much stronger as a continuous piece. Then I add extra tabbing over top of the wing tabs off of the larger full piece. Make sure you do fillets on the corners first before you add the cloth.

Now that it is finally warmer out I cleaned up the bottom of the sceptre and shot some more primer on it. I already had 3 coats of interlux 2001 epoxy barrier primer and went with a coat of white interlux epoxy prime coat over that. I will fix all the little spots and pin holes with an epoxy glazing putty and then it will be ready for polyurethane paint on hull bottom.

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Sanded down with 320 and done another round of fairing. Removed the brass floor drains and ground around the hole 6" each way. Went fairly deep around the hole and tapered it back good. Cut a plug to back the glass. The wood block tying the deck to the hull on the drain was solid as the deck is. Laid several layers of glass starting small and working my way up till I had it a eighth above the hull. Will grind it flush tomorrow.

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Got the deck drain sanded down and flushed with the hull.

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Sanded the sides down with 320 and then added 2 coats of interlux Epoxy PrimeKote to the sides and one more over the bottom.

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Finally got back on the boat again. Been working on my 71 Camaro instead of the boat but it is time to get her finished. I rolled it over to the opposite side so I could do the same as the other side. Sand sand and sanded. Got all the small blisters, nicks, scratches and bad spots filled then sanded. For some reason the back 2 feet or so of this side had some wave in the original gel coat layup and needed some line sanding to correct. I have a Hutchins hustler 2000 and use it on the course work but for this I bought a Hutchins 3800 orbital line sander for the finer grit paper and it gives me a much better finish product. I really love it, should of got it a long time ago. Similar to the standard line sander or flat board but it works like a DA sander in a orbital motion and leaves not scratches. It will leave a very flat surface and flatten out any high spots, waves ect. Sprayed epoxy primer, then sanded sprayed again then filled with epoxy filler then sanded, then primed again, then sanded then fixed any small spots left then primed once again. I will wet sand with 320 then spray white prime coat next. Nice to finally have the boat hull fully primed.

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After 7 coats of primer and fairing I finally got the hull to smooth enough finish that I felt good about painting over. Started on the bottom side with a very light grey that will be the final finish on the bottom. I don't plan on keeping it in the water no longer than 2 days so no bottom paint. This is the first coat. It came out super smooth with no problems other than one or two nats in it. Turned out slick as glass. I used a 2 part poly urethane called perfection from interlux. The sides will be blue and the inside white with the original floor pattern back in it with non-skid


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I have been trying to get the inside of the boat ready for paint, I am filling all the old holes were the pads were and also the holes from the controls on the dash. I want a nice new hole free hull so that when rigging I can set all the new equipment in fresh new holes in the locations I like. Once the holes are filled I will sand them back and fair them in and start priming the inside with 2 part epoxy primer.

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Finally got some color on the hull over the labor day weekend. The bottom had 3 coats of two part poly urethane in light grey and the sides are painted Carolina blue. I got the inside primed with epoxy primer and faired out smooth after 3-4 rounds of epoxy filler and recoating. Once I get the last coat on the hull sides I will spray the inside white and redo the factory floor stripes with the grey same as the bottom but with awl grip nonskid aditive. Good to see it coming together and I can't wait to finish it so I can put more time in the 25' seafari. Note- the small trees behind the boat grew while the boat has blocked the mower if that tells you how long this has drawn out.

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Got the paint almost complete on the sceptre. I sprayed a little over a gallon of white in the inside including the deck, cap and inner sides. I still need to do the tank cover, rear hatches, front hatch and the stripes in the floor to finish paint. I am planning on redoing the original floor stripes back with the same grey that is on the bottom of the hull. She is a little dirty in the pictures and needs some leafs and crap washed out but hope the grey decking once I get it one will help hide any dirt and usage better than the white will.


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Got thethe swim platform nonskid painted on. Used Algrip nonskid additive into the two part polyurethane grey. The white was applied with a texture but no additive.

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Got the bracket back on the boat and marking where to paint the grey bottom paint. Getting measurements for backing plates and mocking up the motor bolt holes so i can drill them at the right height. Hope to go up 4 plus inches for the setback. I thought it was 24" but more like 23" on the mark so I'm thinking a inch per foot like said then add 2 more due to everyone goes up never down. I'm going to run a rev 4 so it can be high with that being a simi-surface type wheel. I will try to make it so i can go up more than down at that point. WhatWhat do you guys think on the plus 4 inches? Play it safe with 3-3 1/2" or go for 4"?

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Friz, that Sceptre is looking great! If you'll check my recent post, you'll see that I'm currently at 3.75" and need to go up to at least 4" to get AV plate on top of green water with a 30" setback, so that trade factor for AV plate height works out to be about 1.5" to 1.6" per foot of setback. For a 23" (1.91') setback, a height of about 2.865" would be equivalent to where I am now (high confidence setting, 1.5 inch/ft trade factor). The 1.6 inch/ft would put you at 3.056", equivalent to mine at 4". I think I'd set it at about 3" with ability to go down one hole and up a couple of holes. For reference, I'm running a PowerTech ELE4 15X15 4B prop. Blade shape is supposedly similar to the old OMC SST, which worked well on my old motor mounted on transom at with AV plate 1" above bottom of hull. The ELE4 has a fair amount of cup in it and seems to have a pretty decent grip on the water.

I got bracket remounted to the hull and got the hand hole cut into the swim platform. Got the boat back on a trailer and mounted the outboard on her. Ran the motor cables and harness then cut in the control box on the dash. It was the first time in over a year since the boat moved. It was good to see her moving around again.

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Hey I thought u sold the 20 master angler?!?!

Yes, it did sell quite some time ago. The guy paid for most of it by mail and was to pick it up in a few weeks then got up with me and said it would be a few weeks more. Haven heard from him in months now so who knows? Just been moving it around and mowing under it meanwhile. I wish I would have done a "dollar a day" storage fee in the deal and I would be looking at a new outboard, but it aint hurting nothing sitting for now. This hull was thicker lay up by far than all the other seacrafts I have owned or seen. The bottom where the transducer was cut in at was over 1" thick and the threw hulls in the back under the vent area were 1/2" thick. It looks to be twice as thick as the sf models I have. I think because it dose not have a full liner they made it thicker but it seems way thicker than most. We will see what happens.

After mounting the motor it looks like my adjustment will work out to be 3" UP to 6" up past the keel. I think I should be able to get the LU plate out of the water no problem. I mounted the motor high as possible while keeping the swim platform as low to the water as possible. It worked out well thanks to help members here on CSC.

Got most of the rigging done and got the motor fired up this weekend. Still got to add the rule bilge pump and gas tank in the hull. Running off of a 12 gallon tank now. I also need to get the rub rail back on and don't know if I want to put the windshield back on or not. I looks so sleek with out it now and hate to put it back on. I might dunk it in the water this weekend to see how she sits.


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Looking good Friz, although I personally think that model looks even sleeker with the sides of the windshield blending into that raised coaming on the cap. Take a look at Strick's restored Sceptre 20. Those raised sections look a little strange to me without the windshield, but then again, that's just me. Everyone has different tastes!