Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Well sorta.

As strick’s 25 Seafari restoration is finishing up, mine is just beginning. I hope I can progress as quickly as he has. The first thing I worked on was the fuel tanks.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...9/IMG_2527.jpg


I posted last September asking for suggestions to get the heavy varnish out of them. The consensus was to use carburetor cleaner in the gallon size. I couldn’t find it for less than $30 per gallon, and being the tightwad I am, resorted to a mix of lacquer thinner and acetone. Hell, it smelled like carb cleaner. And it dissolved a fair amount of the crud. But it left behind quite a bit of flakey brown residue that I couldn’t rinse out. So I poured in some more lacquer thinner, a bag of marbles, and put both tanks in the bed of my truck for a few weeks. The marbles rolled around and knocked loose more crud and the fresh lacquer thinner dissolved most of the heavy residue. I siphoned out the lacquer thinner and rinsed the tank with soapy water. What I poured out looked like this:


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_2932.jpg


What was left behind was a light flakey material that I couldn’t rinse out and couldn’t reach to scrub out. In a moment of desperation, I even considered cutting one end out of each tank to clean them and then get them welded back. Fortunately, I came up with a better alternative. I had an old gear motor that we used years ago to turn a rotisserie with a whole hog on it. I knew it was still lying around somewhere, but I looked high and low and couldn’t find it. While I was finishing up my shop, I was searching fruitlessly for something else and stumbled across the gear motor. I made up a frame to hold the tank, attached the gear motor to one side and a flanged pipe to the other side for an axle and the Tank TumblerTM was born.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_MVI_2977.jpg

I let it tumble for about four hours and the remaining varnish crumbled into powder that I was able to suck out with my shop vac. The BBs that didn't vacuum out, I removed with a magnet on a string. Rinsed with soapy water, then clean water, then dried, and the inside is clean as a whistle.

This past weekend I pulled the outdrive and motor and lifted the beast off the trailer. Will post more tomorrow or over the weekend.

Dave

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

mr heron

u can't cook no hog wit dat moter. try dis one. click on build yer own. i ferget to tell u to not use marbles cuz they chip yer tooth

sam


how to rig yer pig

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Thats a damn good idea!

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Dave-

What a way to start out your thread! when you get spidercrabs attention you know your doing something right! Looking forward to your rebuild. What is your plan for this boat?

strick

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Sam,
I didn't have no bicycle wheels like they got on their fancy hog spinnin contraption, but I think you'da been proud if you seen it. I made a couple pulleys outa wood and wrapped a v belt around em. Had that pig turnin real slow, about once every two minute.
Dave

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Hey strick,
The primary use for the boat will be fishing, mainly grouper fishing (and sometimes spear fishing) off the Florida Big Bend but also occasional trips to the Keys or east coast to troll for dolphin, tuna, or wahoo. I'll also want to use it for boat camping every once in a while. I really like the idea of repeating Bushwacker's trip around the southern part of the state.

The restoration plan is for a cosmetic face lift, repower, and a complete re-rigging. The hull is structurally sound. The transom was redone around '95 and is still solid. But there are spider cracks on the exterior that I need to investigate and repair. Since the paint will be coming off the transom, I may repaint the whole thing. The cap, the cockpit, and the bottom below the chine will get paint at a minimum.

Power will be a 300HP Mercruiser Seacore closed cooled 350 Mag MPI bolted up to the existing Bravo 1 drive. Eventually, I would like to find a good used Bravo 3. Plumbing will be redundant bilge pumps, Live well, fresh water and raw water washdown. Electronics will be VHF, Fish Finder, GPS, and Stereo.

Other stuff it needs; windshield, bimini top, fish box and live well (gonna copy you on those if you don't mind), helm and passenger seats, and maybe a radar arch. I'm sure other stuff will come along as I work through it. I'm excited to finally get started on it. Hopefully that won't wear off before I get her done. I'm headed out to the shop this morning to clean out the bilge and finish de-rigging. I'll probably be able to post progress pics tonight.
Dave

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

I started working on the boat last Friday night after work. I started the de-rigging by removing the swim platform, platform brackets, and the outdrive. Unfortunately, the power trim, which was working when I bought the boat, wouldn't trim down. The pump ran, but the outdrive wouldn't budge. I looked in the fluid reservoir and the fluid looked like milk. Not good. I managed to work it loose and got it trimmed down so I could pull the outdrive. By the time I got all that done it was definitely time for a beer.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3243.jpg


With the outdrive off, I was ready to pull the motor on Saturday morning.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3250.jpg


The previous owner said she threw a rod. He wasn't quite correct. There was a hole in the side of the block with the remains of a piston showing through.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3251.jpg


I pulled the accessories off and tore the motor down to see If I could determine the cause of failure. There wasn't much left of that cylinder and the others didn't look so good either.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3253.jpg


The exhaust valve for the damaged cylinder was nowhere to be found. I'm guessing it stuck open, the piston hit it and snapped it off, and the piston got destroyed trying to chew on the valve.


Before I tore the engine down, I flushed out the power trim pump and rams with clean transmission fluid. Then I flushed them again. And Again. Both Rams were functioning freely by the time I was done.

I knew I wouldn't be able to put the boat inside the shop with the roll-up door closed while it was on the trailer. I bought some heavy duty casters and made a dolly to set her on so I could move her inside or outside depending on what I was doing. I want to do the sanding outside, but whenever I'm doing stuff that doesn't create dust, I want to be able to work in the A/C. Here's the dolly ready to go, and the transom supported on blocks.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3258.jpg


Then I lifted the bow and pulled the trailer out from under it.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3262.jpg


Next was to put block supports under the forward keel, stick braces under the sides so it wouldn't roll over, move the gantry back to the transom, lift it up, slide the dolly under, and set her down. I cleated some supports to the dolly, and here she is.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3264.jpg


With all that weight on it, the dolly didn't like to roll on the broom finished concrete outside the shop. I had to hook a come along to the back wall of the shop to get it rolling. Once it got to the trowel finished concrete inside, I could move it myself. She fits in the shop with about 20" in the back and less than a foot at the bow. The shop looks and feels a lot smaller with this beast in there.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3268.jpg


Yesterday I hauled the old mota to the scrap yard. Got $28 for it. Beer money. Yesterday afternoon and today, I've been de-rigging the bilge and cleaning up the mess. More pics later.

Dave

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Nice pics, good job.

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Dave, you're off to a great start! That was a pretty violent failure for the rod end to punch through both the cylinder wall AND the outside of the block! Maybe the piston disintegrated from detonation, allowing the unsupported small end of the rod to flop around and punch that hole.

Clever idea for cleaning the gas tank! It's amazing what a little vibration and some rocks can do! We used to deburr superalloy turbine blades by putting them in a washtub full of silicon carbide rocks sitting on a shaker table! That material is so hard (machinability index of 5; pure aluminum is 100 on same scale!) that a file will barely scratch it!

I like your dolly set-up too! Will make it a lot easier climbing in and out of that thing! Keep up the great work!
Denny

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Neat shop!

These Seafari's are growing on me...really cool looking boats.

Looks like you are off to a SOLID start.

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

And I thought I was doing good when I put the boat back on the trailer by myself...show off :D

Your shop came out really nice. I wish California was as green as Florida. I hear Florida is a good place to retire?

I have a question. What did your swim platform brackets look like? mine are quite small and I'm wondering if they provide enough support? My boat came with two ss turn buckle cables that attached to the swim platform and then to the rear towing eye on the transom and I don't really want to put that back on the boat.

strick

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

They're cast aluminum. I'll shoot a picture and post it tonight with dimensions. They don't quite match the transom angle so they were shimmed to make the platform level.
Dave

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

strick,
Here are the swim platform brackets:


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3276.jpg


As you can see, they weren't painted and are pretty heavily corroded. If I decide to re-use them, I'll need to sandblast and powder coat them. The length of the top flange is about 18 1/2". The transom flange is about 8" long. The flange width is 3 1/4". There were four brackets supporting the platform and it was very solid.
Dave

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Thanks Dave

Mine are ss and they are 14"x7" I'm waiting on my trim tabs so I can mount the swim platform

strick

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

If y'all are gonna do much diving off those 25 Seafari's, you might want to mount the swim platform closer to the water than where the one on Dave's boat was mounted. The ideal location is right AT the waterline, like this one on the old Seacraft 21 "Unohu", which had a simple fold-up platform supported by cables connected to the towing eyes!

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...LunchBreak.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...edGuanaKey.jpg

Owner Bob, seen climbing over the transom in first shot, was a GUNG HO diver who did all his fishing with a speargun or pole spear! That platform was heavy but was like his "back porch" and worked great! Those platforms of yours could be mounted on hinges the same way. We'd troll along the reefs in the Bahamas hanging off that platform with mask, snorkle, and pole spear, and drop off whenever we saw a desirable fish! Nothing like just picking out what you want for dinner! Just had to be careful to keep the spear away from the prop! :D

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Done that in the Islands many, many times. Fastest way to catch your fish dinner I know of. And you don't have to throw anything back! Just shoot what you're gonna eat!

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Good point, Denny. I notice Bob's had a cutout for the outdrive. I'll look at dropping mine as low as it will go without interfering with the outdrive, but I don't want to get it much lower than the cockpit deck. The coaming and transom on the 25 Seafari are high and would be difficult to climb over if the swim platform is at the waterline. I'll have to ask Connor how he likes his. He does a lot of diving and his appears to be mounted higher than mine was.
Dave

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Nice Dave!

I`ll be following this one closely...shop is looking good!

You know...when I became a member here almost 2 years ago, there were no 25s. I mean, the were, but no members frequenting the board and none in the picture section of the home page. Now they`re popping up all over and there`s now a wealth of info on the board about them. It`s seafari 25 heaven in here :D I`m looking forward to your progress, as it too will be added to the wealth of info, I am learning about my boat.

Here is a link to my photobucket for your reference. Let me know if there`s anything I can do.

Brandon

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Thanks for the kind words, Brandon, and everyone else who's posted. I've been trudging away and it's update time. First, I had to stock the fridge in the shop. As I've gotten older, my priority in beer has gone from quantity to quality. Based on their recent posts, I'm betting strick and grgrmouse will appreciate my selection.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3271.jpg


Now, back to work. The transom on my boat was redone in '95. There were areas with serious spider cracks that I needed to investigate. After chipping at it a little, it looks like they used gelcoat to do the fairing on the outside. It's more than 1/8" thick where the spider cracks occur. I'll grind it out and fair it back, hopefully this weekend. Anyway, I knew I would have to strip the paint off the transom to repair the spider cracks. I bought some high dollar eco-friendly paint stripper to get the paint off. I put some on a 6" x 6" test patch and let it sit for about thirty six hours. It barely touched the paint. I got out the scraper and managed to peel it off. So Tuesday after work, I went out to the shop to slather the whole transom with paint remover. To prep for the paint remover, I took the scraper to the aluminum oxide and 5200 left behind when I pulled the swim platform brackets. Well, some paint came off with it. So I kept going. It looks like when they did the paint job, they may have used gray automotive sanding primer. The finish paint film was tough, but once I got the scraper under it, the primer separated easily. Too easily. I had the whole transom stripped in about 15 minutes. Here's the area with the worst spider cracks:


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3278.jpg


So I thought to myself, I don't really like this black paint job. All the nicks and scrapes show the original gelcoat. It was peeling and chipping at the chine, and I guess I figured out why. The primer wasn't what it should be. So last night I stripped the starboard side. In less than an hour. It was like peeling a cucumber. Tonight I did the port side. Here's the "before" pic:


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3268.jpg



Here's the after:


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3284.jpg


And the pile of paint strips:


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3283.jpg

Now, I know I've opened a can of worms, and most of the prep work is still ahead of me, but this is the way I wanted to go with it anyway. I'm glad the paint removal turned out to be way easier than I had hoped.

Dave

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Nice work and good job on your dolly. Your shop is awesome!

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

WOW...It is hard for me to believe that the paint came off like vinyl. Good thing for your pictures. Amazing :o

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Thanks, Will, but it seems a lot smaller than I planned with that behemoth in there. My first boat project was supposed to be the Hewes Bonefisher. I guess I got sidetracked. But, damn, I'm havin' fun.
Dave

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Nice selection Dave. I did see the Sierra planted on the transom in one of your earlier photos. we go through a lot of Sierra at our place. The Sierra brewery is in Chico about 2 hours north of us. Great food and GREAT BEER!
Nice work on the paint removal...sure beats sanding it off :D

strick

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

I took a break from working on the Seafari last weekend to go shrimping on the St. Johns River. This weekend I've started grinding in the bilge in preparation for some glass work there. Started sanding off the primer on the hull sides, too. It's safe to say the paint came off easier. I'll post some before and after pics when I get to "after".

In typical Seacraft zealot fashion, I bought a mota way before I was ready for it. But I got a sweet deal and, hopefully, having it around the shop will keep me focused on the project. If I start to lose motivation, I'll drag it out and fire it up. Hopefully, Sam will approve.
Dave

Click on the image to see it run.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_MVI_3267.jpg

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Nice work Dave. She purrs like a Tiger. Never thought of firing up the motor to keep me fired up about the project :D I have a feeling that boat will see water very soon!

Nice talking to you today.

strick

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Thanks, Chuck. I enjoyed our conversation too. Nice to compare restoration notes with another 25 Seafari owner. I'm headed out to the shop for another day in the tyvek suit, respirator, and goggles. It gets better after the sanding and grinding is done, right?
Dave

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

What engine is that? Chevy/mercruiser 7.4L?

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Not really...there is fairing and more sanding [img]/forum/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI Seacore set up for Bravo drive. It's built on the Chevy 5.7 vortec long block. The Seacore is the Horizon with more corrosion resistance built in. Most of the real upgrades in the Seacore line are in the outdrives, though, so I'm not sure what this has that a Horizon doesn't.
Dave

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

I spent the weekend suited up and grinding in the engine compartment and fuel tank compartment. Whoo hoo! The deck under the fuel tanks was made of a piece of half inch plywood laminated only on the top and tabbed to the stringers on both sides. I tore it out with a crowbar when I first started on the boat, and this weekend I ground the remains of the tabbing off the top of the stringers to clean them up for a new tank deck.

Before:


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3293.jpg


After:


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3298.jpg


There was a damp spot in the transom plywood on the port side under the exhaust hole. The exhaust tube was sealed well, so I suspected there might be exposed plywood concealed behind the stringers. I cut them back a couple inches and both stringers on the port side had exposed plywood showing. The inner laminate on the transom is not very thick, probably a single layer of 1708 biaxial. I ground it off the area of damp plywood to give it some exposure to air that should allow it to dry. The plywood is sound, so if I can get a good moisture meter reading on it I'll leave it in place and laminate a new skin over it. After that, I'm going to build up the whole inner transom to at least 3/16" of laminate and rebuild the aft end of the stringers and tab them in. Here's the port side:


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3295.jpg


In the picture, It's kind of hard to see where the plywood is exposed. There was a gap where the step was cut in the plywood that left the bottom edge exposed. You can see in the following picture that they filled this gap on the starboard side.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3296.jpg



And the starboard side was dry. The engine compartment, cleaned up and ready for a little glass work:


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3297.jpg



That's all I got done over the weekend, but I went to work sanding the primer off the hull sides the past two evenings:


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3300.jpg
http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3303.jpg


The gelcoat is in better shape than I expected. I am entertaining the delusion that if I can wet sand it to a uniform color, I may just hit it with some Poly Glow and postpone painting it until my kids (one starting college, the other getting married) aren't causing serious leaks in my cash flow. Regardless, I'll at least need to paint the top cap and cockpit.

Yeah, I kinda expected that, Terry. Hopefully the worst of the fairing will be the transom. I need to grind out some spider cracked gelcoat and fair it back. Sanding the top cap will probably be the toughest prep work. There's lots of square footage, but mostly in long narrow strips that won't allow use of the RO sander.
Dave

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Go or order one of these from Harbor Freight. Around $40.00 works like a charm in tight places....get a lot of sand paper it eats it up fast.

Tool on right...

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...CIMG0012-2.jpg

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

I just finished prepping mine and I would confirm your hunch!

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Well, well, how did I miss this??

Off and running! Nice work on the tank tumbler. We have used a nice tree and rig the tank on ropes and do it the HARDWAY with a 3' chunk of galv chain in there. American ingenuity at it's best. Nice start!

Nice beverage selection too :D

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Man, you got that right, Sean. Progress is slow.

Dave

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Nice work Dave!

I just found this thread. You and Strick are so far ahead of me it ain't funny. Since I've started using mine hard, the inevitable minor problems with rot, etc are beginning to show themselves. I'll be busy this winter, just not nearly so busy as you.

On dive platforms: Close to the water line is great for getting on and off, but has a problem with waves. Either make the platform fixed and of something like aluminum round tubing to allow the water to flow through or make it hinged like Ohulu. I've had both ways and prefer it higher and fixed. Figure its a personal preference sort of thing, as long as its done right. Mine should have more slots in the platform to allow high waves through. That's coming. I still get more slam under the storage compartment than I like, but so be it, the storage is critical to my diving lifestyle. Getting on the high platform is the trick. I stand on the drive. That's a bit dangerous because of the possibility of slipping and cutting something on the prop, especially with tanks on, but we are freedivers and live with it. If I did any tank diving, I'd have one of those center post ladders mounted off the platform.

When you think about future trips, think gear storage and how you will handle it, one of the very few shortcomings of this boat.

What kind of diver are you, tank, freediver, gun, sling? Ever done the rock piles off Bayport, 30-60 ft?

Connor

Re: Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife
 

Hey Connor,
Any diving I do off the Seafari will be tank diving. The only snorkeling we do is during scallop season, and the Seafari ain't suited for the grass flats. I can't equalize fast enough to free dive deeper than about 15' anyway. Just getting too old for that stuff, I guess.

We dive the keys during mini season every year, and that has been my main diving focus for the last 15 years. I'm not familiar with the Bayport area, but I started spear fishing for grouper out of Cedar Key a couple years ago, and I'd like to do more of that. There are quite a few artificial reefs off Levy and Suwannee County, and some of them hold grouper if the Jewfish haven't crouded them out.

I expect to use the Seafari mainly for fishing; grouper at home, and offshore trolling in the keys, but I do want to have adequate storage for gear regardless of the mission. I'm planning a fish box like strick's, but with a bigger lid, and it should double for gear storage when diving or cruising.

Thanks for sharing your experience with the swim platform. I've always run outboards, so I've never had a full beam swim platform. It didn't occur to me that waves astern would cause slamming, but it makes sense. I may build a replacement swim platform that "breathes", but I'll probably go with the one I've got for now.

Dave

Update
 

I’m working my way gradually up to the fabrication of large parts. I plan to do a fish box and live well similar to strick’s, but I want to be familiar with the materials and how to work them before I get there. It’s been 15 years since I’ve worked with polyester resin and fiberglass. I’ve worked with epoxy resin more recently, but not in any volume.

So I’ve started with small patches and worked my way up to a mold and resulting fabricated part; one of four swim platform brackets. My rule of thumb for this restoration is to use epoxy resin if it’s below the waterline, or if bond strength is critical, or if I’m using styrofoam as an insulation, and use polyester resin if it’s a new part. The fish box, for instance, will be fabricated using polyester resin, but I will use thickened epoxy to bond styrofoam insulation and then epoxy/glass to encapsulate the styrofoam.

I’m also experimenting with a patching technique that I hope will reduce the amount of time and effort required for fairing but maintaining a good bond. Instead of grinding out a patch area, I’m using a router to cut to a uniform depth, but reducing depth incrementally in concentric rings. So the inner patch may have four layers of 1808, the next will have two layers, and the outer patch will have a single layer of 1808. I pulled the through-hulls for the original head, and used this method to patch the holes. Here’s what it looks like:

Routed and ready for patch

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3316.jpg

Patch in progress

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3317.jpg

Peel Ply over patch to keep thickness uniform.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3318.jpg

And the completed patch ready for sanding and then fairing.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3319.jpg

Although I haven't sanded it down yet, it's very flat and it looks like the plan is coming together. More on progress as I have time to post.

Dave

Re: Update
 

I wanted to start small with part fabrication so if I screwed up, it wouldn’t be an expensive mistake. My patching got me comfortable enough with the glass and resin to move up to the next step.

The swim platform brackets that came with the boat were heavily corroded and the wrong angle for the transom. The P.O. had shimmed the platform so it would sit level. I made a template of the correct angle before stripping the platform and brackets off the boat. I thought a platform bracket would be a good small lay-up project, and a good break from sanding.

Step one: I made a plug out of wood. I sprayed it with lacquer sanding sealer and sanded it to a smooth finish. Then I waxed it and used sign board to create a flange around the plug that would act as a form for the two part mold.

The plug:

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3323.jpg

The plug and sign board sprayed with lacquer:

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3324.jpg

The sign board in place around the plug and the contact surface waxed and sprayed with PVA:

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3329.jpg

I layed up glass/polyester in both sides of the assembly. When it had cured, I trimmed off the excess on the table saw.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3332.jpg

And then removed the sign board strips and popped the two parts of the mold off the plug. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. The reason the two sides are different colors is that I sprayed gelcoat in one side and not the other to see what the difference would be.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3333.jpg

The side with the gelcoat had a smoother finish without surface voids. Should have done both sides. Did a little sanding, filling, sanding and was ready to make the first bracket. The layup involved using a layer of mat and two layers of 1808 on each half of the mold before clamping the two halves together. I didn’t think the 1808 would be too happy about making the almost 90 degree angle from the web to the flange of the bracket so I decided to vacuum bag the two sides until the resin kicked and then put them together. This is a dry run without resin to see how it would work.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3335.jpg

It’s a lot prettier than the mess I made with resin involved, but in the end it worked out. After I pulled the two halves out of the vacuum, I layed a piece of saturated 1.5 oz mat between them and clamped them together. Then I layed up the flanges all the way around. I used alternating layers of 1.5 oz mat and 18 oz roving, I think it ended up with six layers of each. I wasn’t able to take any pics of the layup, but here’s the mold assembly after it was all clamped together:

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3337.jpg

And here’s the first part popped from the mold:

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3338.jpg

And after trimming along with the plug for comparison.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3339.jpg

I have no idea how to engineer the scantlings for a part like this, so I took a wag and went with a ¼” web and flanges tapered from 3/8” down to 5/16”. I wanted each bracket to be able to support 350 lbs at the aft end. The only way to see if it would hold up was to do a load test.

I didn’t have enough weight to load it to 350 lbs, so I used a 2x4 bolted to the top of the bracket to extend the moment arm farther out so I could use less weight to apply the same load. The bracket is 24” long. I placed 60 lbs of fertilizer, plus about 20lbs of lead 72” out along the 2x4 to simulate a 240 lb load at the end of the bracket. That was about all the weight the 2x4 looked like it would handle, so I stood on the bracket to get over the 350 lb mark. I couldn’t get the picture I wanted while standing on the bracket, so here’s the partial load test:

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...t/IMG_3342.jpg

I couldn’t see any deflection in the bracket, so I must have made it stiff enough. The fiberglass bracket weighs 3 lb 11 oz, the aluminum bracket is just a hair over 5 lbs. All in all, I’m pleased with how it turned out. Now I need to make three more.

Dave

Re: Update
 

wow cool stuff. Keep it coming.

Re: Update
 

Nice work Dave! You're right to keep an eye on deflection . . . stuff usually starts to look pretty wimbley long before it breaks! Looks like it passed the deflection test with flying colors!
Denny