Deck has been installed. Sure is nice having a flat surface to walk on.

Gutters look nice... what did you use to bond the deck to stringers?

strick

Side boxes to store guns in are really slick. I’m super impressed with how you’re rebuilding your 20. First class.

I know this is Classicseacraft but let’s see another picture of that mid handle.

It's epoxy with a mix of chopped glass strands, millled glass and cab.

Here is the weekend update. Got a bunch of little things done. I mounted the steering wheel to get a final position of the cuddy, the remaining side of the cuddy is now tabbed in. I did a rough mock-up of the seating box. The hatch gutter for the cockpit floor is epoxied in. This week I hope to get the cockpit floor in, then remove the cap.

Here's some speargun porn for you.

And how much would one of those bad boys set you back?

I just make them for myself. I've wanted to start a side biz making them however living in CA I'm too scared of litigation to sell spearguns.

Such nice looking guns!!!! Is that teak and ebony? I like little side stocks towards the rear on guns for weight and manuverability. Built in looks sweet.

I can’t wait to see how your boat is going to turn out. I’ve thought about a Hawaiian/Santa Barbara style cuddly on my 18. Seems like it would make it way more seaworthy.

The big gun is Padauk and Ebony.

Pulled the cap last night. I'm planning to core the entire cap and widen the last 4-5 feet by splitting it down the center. Looking through lots of other builds it appears that getting the newly cored cap to follow the existing sheer line isn't a problem? The cap was much more flexible than I was expecting. Should I measure the sheer and block the cap to match before coring? Or will 1/2" of coring not make it rigid enough to worry?

When people say they glassed there cap back on what exactly did they do? I'd like to permanently attach the cap but don't want to glass the exterior of the hull sides. Would a bead of thickened epoxy along the cap to hull joint be enough?

I had the same thought when I set my liner back for the last time. I cleaned and rough sanded the top of hull sides and inside of liner. Screwed it off when I bedded to stringers then pulled the screws and wedged the joint with 3/8” shims. I shot System Three Gelmagic in the joint, pulled the shims and screwed it off again. Seems pretty solid to me when I have pulled screws and leaned into it.

Temporary screws and epoxy glue, take screws out next day. Radius and tab underneath. On there forever!

The boat progress has been slow the last month or so. I've been working on splitting the gunnel cap and putting coring in. One side is cored and hopefully by next week I'll have the other side split and cored as well. I've been using all of my scraps coosa to patch together the coring which takes longer but is nice having less waste.

More pics

That old coring is a bitch to take out when its in good shape :) ... I like how your widening the gunnel cap thats going to work out well I have a feeling...and good on you for using up all those scraps...that stuff aint cheap!

strick

The resin in the balsa coring was still gummy after all those years. It would plug up the sandpaper almost instantly. For a 50 year old boat there was surprisingly little rot. The top of the cap had lots of spider cracking which I assumed was from rotted coring, must have been from something else. I'm hoping to finish coring and flip the cap right side up this weekend and start dry fitting the cuddy.

Wow - Great workmanship and design.

Not the most exciting stage. Some update photos. I'll flip the cap and glass the underside this week.

Looks awesome. What coosa are you using on the deck?

I used 1/2" 26lbs. Over the fuel tank where the span is the largest there is a second layer on the underside. If I did it again I would do everything except the transom in Divinycell, would have been cheaper. When I was planning out the project I didn't want to mess with doing Coosa inserts where I would be bolting components so I did everything in coosa.

I'm planning on the same coosa but in 3/4 for the deck. I've been told by a couple of builders that the 1/2" flexes a bit on the deck. Are you seeing this at all? Impressive build for sure!

I was planning on using 14lb airex on my deck.... .Now im second guessing myself.
What weight divinycell would you have gone with?

I was worried about flexing so I ran strips on the under side down the center where the span was ~24" so in those areas it is 1" thick. I haven't glass the top side yet and already there is no flex.

I'll be the first to say I only know what I've read on forums, this is my first time doing all of this so take what as say for what it's worth.

Reasons I would do it differently.

Divinycell is significantly cheaper than Coosa.

Since doing the Coosa I've read about using the allen key to remove foam and fill with thickened epoxy for areas that will be bolted.

I would have used 5lbs divinycell which would have saved some weight over the 26lbs of Coosa. (total deck coring weight ~Coosa 68lbs;Divinycell 13lbs)

Divinycell is easier to work with, cut it with a box cutter, light and easy to handle solo.

Good to know! Thank you!

First side of the cap is glassed. Hopefully will get the front and other side Friday evening.

How much did you add to the width of the gunwale cap at the stern? I'm going to do the same thing to my new 20.

I'd have to measure but it's around 8-9" wide. I split the cap 8' from the transom and it's the same width from that point to transom.

Thanks! That will be plenty enough for me.

The first big storm came through last week and ended the summer/fall dive season for the Northern Channel Islands so it's now full boat building season. I was hoping to be done with the boat two months ago... now I'm hoping to have the major glass work done by christmas... It was however one of my best years of diving here are a couple pics.

I love that last pic! awesome.

Yep thats one for the scrap book for sure...WTG


strick

Future Seacraft restorers.

great kid pic's.

hamachi and lobster too oh my

I can see my Wife's eye roll now.

update
 

Things are progressing. I've been trying to get one or two things done each evening after the kids go to bed. I'll be coring the hull sides next. I had trouble finding the scored Divinycell so I did a table saw scored test piece which worked so I'm going to continue. The biggest disadvantage I see is it'll take more filler to smooth out the Kerfs.

Something like this might make thinner cuts
https://www.amazon.com/Bullet-Tools-.../dp/B00KM0RLUU

Will the bulkhead on the casting platform be glassed to the cap or just tabbed to the hull sides?

Nice looking work.