1974 20' sceptre transom replacement and i/o to outboard bracket conversion
 

Finally got base ball season behind me, with 2 kids playing and one making all-stars it has been hectic trying to make all the practices, games and the boats have became a standby. Tried to get back on pace and started getting the transom ready for replacement. Removed the old wood and cleaned up the rear of the boat to prep it for the new wood. Cut back the stringers a bit and removed the old battery mount block. Cut out the ply and bonded two 3/4 pieces together with two layers of thick matted roven between them. Fitted the section in and tapered the edges back for a good fit and got everything ready to install.

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Those giant C-channel clamps are awesome!

I had to modify my clamps to fit the smaller back of the 20, but I finally got the transom bonded in with epoxy and clamped down setting up. I normally use polyester but believe epoxy has its place and a transom replacement is one of them. I feel like I will give me a better bond to the old glass. I hate the slow dry time but once it is done I will get a few layers on the inside and tab it in then try to get the cap back on.

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Yes they are.

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They are called "Deep Throat" clamps....:eek::eek::cool:

Got the InsIde glased today 3 layers overall and 3 layers of tabbing.

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Nice work...Love those "big daddy" clamps!!!

very cool... Watching closely !!! I have to do this to my master angler and the clamps are fantasic !!!! i will be building a set of these !!!! I have a question though. Hind site being 20 / 20 and someone looking on from the outside... Would adding 2x4 on the outside and inside spread the clamping effect ? I think my transom is flat on my Master Angler and this would spread the clamping effect. Or do the clamps provide for good adhesion ? Also would it matter that i will be using composite ?

Yea, I had a pair of 2x6's that I was going to put behind the clamps to spread the load out a bit more but it is difficult to do this with out some extra hands or help. I wasn't able to get them behind all four clamps at the same time while holding them up off the top lip of the skin. If I would of had some one there to help me I probably would of added them to the back side of the skin but I don't think it really needed it anyway. The core was two 3/4" plys and had almost a 1/4" of woven glass between them and I also soaked the wood well with thinned resin plus added a layer of thick mat around the core. It was so stiff prier to installing I don't think the inside needed boards for more support at all. On the outside it might of helped some but the skin was very thick as well and looking down it I did not see where the 4" square blocks I used bowed it in any. I took a straight edge down the back side once it sat up and it looked even all the way down the back. I try not to put too much pressure on the core due to it will squeeze all the epoxy out of the joint. But the more even you can add pressure to it the better off you are that is for sure.

I will add two layers of of 1808 over the 3 layers of mat to add a good bit more of strength. After getting this far and hot coating the matted layers in the 95 degree heat in direct sunlight. I had to work faster than I like to do due to the cure time. I mix in smaller batches and stuck with the 1% hardener (normally use more to speed up cure time) and decided to let it cure out after the first few layers. I will ruff it up with some 36 grit sand paper, clean it well then add the 1808 and some more tabbing. This time I will do it a bit earlier and beat the heat.

She got her butt plug tonight!


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Don't forget the butt paste....:eek::D

Worked on closing off the old I/O compartment on the rear of the boat. I was going to do a live well similar to strick but after getting a 465lbs motor I decided to not add the weight of the water in the well. The bracket should have enough air space to float the motor and I will be moving the gas tank forward and with the forward weight of the sceptre model I think I am fine but don't want to push the issue no more than I have to. I decided to just make a bench area between the rear seats that I could use as a cutting board for bait or a step up for sight casting.

This is the fiber board that I used to back the areas I glassed to get a smother finish:

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This is the rear section getting glassed in:

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Adding foam core material to the under side so that it will be strong enough to stand on:

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Glassed in place with first layer of matt:

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Using the vinyl ester resin that turns white when it cures. You can see it starting to cure in this photo:

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Fully cured in this photo:

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The front side of the bench step. I still need to grind out the front edge of the seem and glass it in:

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In the Boat:
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Next is to grind out all the seems around the piece I removed to do the transom and glass it back in place. I am also going to get the bilge vents removed from the top section and make this area solid for the rod holders.

Started fitting up the bracket to the boat to get the height for the mount with the 25" mercury:

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Started sanding down the sides of the hull and fixing a few bad spots below the water line that was hiding under the bottom coat:

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Hope to soon get the hull ready for a new color just need to figure out what one to pick!

What will you be doing with the lip around the deck for the old engine hatch? Cutting it out and filling it in? I left the vents in place and was still able to get two rod holders on each side. In your case you could put one in the middle as well and then you would have three back there. With the ventilation my bilge stays clean and dry. There will be mildew unless you provide some sort of ventilation....and it spreads fast. If you are going to put some pop up cleats back there now is the time to do the cut outs for them while you have the back tore off. I had a hard time getting my arm up under there installing mine. What kind of paint are you going with? Dark colors look great but are a pain to apply and make look good. Looking great so far and your moving right along.

strick

Far as the lip I am undecided on whether or not to cut it out or to just enclose the top of it and use it as a mounting platform for a reverse fishing chair. I got one piece of foam left large enough to core a blank for the top of it. Far as the vents goes, to late on that one. If I read this first I might of left them in there but now that thier gone I might add them back on the sides of the same section. I was planning on adding 4-5 rod holders like you have on yours but plan on running them all the way across the top. I was going to make this area in to a storage box but then I am adding weight back there again so I scratched that Idea and decided to do the rod holders instead. Thanks for the heads up on the cleats! I will do that, It should save me the trouble mounting them after the fact. Far as the paint I have been using all inturlux products so far and plan on using the 2 part polyurethane perfection line for my final coat. Color? I was fighting lady yellow then seafoam green then light blue but after I saw the pictures of the one you posted the other day I think I am back to the Yellow but want a bright sporty yellow like the one in your pic. Not really sure but need to decide soon. Thanks for the intell, you and your post have been a big help!!!

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Last night I made a knee to support the transom and bracket. I want to get the bilge area finished out so I can get my top cap back on and seemed together. Left a small area open at the center of the rear for a low point for bilge pump and I also like my drain holes centered not to the side like original. Skimmed some short strand fiber puddy on the knee to smooth it out for the glass wrap. I used 1708 for some of the smaller areas then the roven backed with matt over the main part of the knee. Would of used all 1708 but still got some free roven to use so it has to go somewhere. I also applyed some more tabbing on the stringers just for over kill. They should be 3/8 thick where they meet the transom or more now. Tonight I will go around and tab the knee in better and make sure it is 100 percent covered.

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Got the bilge coated with 2000e this weekend and set some poles to make a building to do the work to the race boat under.

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Filled in the bottom side of the rear cap so that it will be solid for the rod holder's. Cored it with ply and beaded it in thicken resin and scrap fibers to add strength. Then layed 3 layers of Matt over that. Should have a nice even bed for a strong mount.

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Set the bracket last night. Got it as low as possible for maximum flotation. The tub ended up 3" above the boat keel and the motor mount was about 29" from the boat bottom. I think I should Be able to get the motor up 4"-5" no problem. The swim platform is not as low as I would like it but it had to be higher like this to allow for the lower motor mount bolts to hit below the platform to get the required height. Looks good on the boat. I will be using flat bar to back the bolts on the inside and also changing the current bolts to ss carriage bolts to give a nice rounded head that will be seen on the lower flange due to the reverse direction of it. The flange will need a half circle cut out in the bottom to allow the drain hole to be accessed as well. Now that the dry fit is done I will make some small changes and get it prepped for a final install.

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Look good frizz never seen a dusky drive look so good

Photo Bucket has my account pictures froze due to the 10k band with rule and hopefully the pictures will be back soon. But here is some progress till then.....

I got the section I built to fill in the old i/o hole for the floor installed. I used thickened resin on top of the stringers and sat it in place. Once that set up I came back and sanded off the sides of the new section and around the old deck at a 45 degree angle both ways to make a pocket 2" wide and 1" deep in the center to lay new glass in. It took about 12 layers or so to build it up past the deck height by starting with thin strips and getting a little wider each time. Once that was done I sanded it back flush and then hit it with some resin and 407 west additive I had laying around to smooth it out then shot it with white epoxy primer. I will go back and add the deck stripes during final paint process to match the rest of the deck.


The rear top cap has been sanded, faired, and primed with epoxy primer and now is being installed back on the boat.

Made a bit of progress this weekend. It rained every day last week so it has been slow going. I dont like kicking resin when it is so humid. Anyway, I managed to get the rear cap back on the boat and started glassing it back together. I ground a one inch taper on each piece and then used 2" strips of cloth the join it back together. I also glassed the rear of the seem on the back side of the liner as well (what a pain). Once the glass was cured I sanded it down and trued it up with the line sander then faired it out with some fairing compound. Slicked it down and feathered it in so you could not feel any of the seem. Once I got it close I primed it with the interlux white prime coat. I will do a final fair over the whole boat once the glass work is done before the final prime coat and paint.

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Here is the way I filled in the hole in the floor where the old I/o was located. This is the before and the after:
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First off I took my fiber prep panel and waxed it well then primed it with a roller. Then I laid down several layers of matt. You can see it as it is still wet in the pic and then cured white in the next. Once that cured I cut wood blocks to fit the panel:
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Then I mixed a thickend resin to glue the blocks down with. Note- I used the red hardener so I could see that the cabosil and resin had a even mixture of hardener in it. Once they were down, while still wet I mixed some resin even thicker to go between the blocks. Then once the blocks were filled I placed several layers of mat over it and got out any air. The vinyl ester with the red hardener turns almost a light pink.:
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Once the core was dry I added my final layers of glass, a combination of 1708 and matt. Around the edges I added several layers of glass to make the edges one inch thick so I would have some meat to cut a vee in when I glass it in the boat. Here is the hole that it will be filled by this blank. It will be epoxied in place onto the stringers and then a vee ground on the edges and glassed to the original deck:
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Friz,

Nice work - should be a sharp looking rig! Ever thought about putting hinges on that board and making a hatch out of it where the old engine box was? Seems like that might make a handy storage space under the deck?

Quote"Nice work - should be a sharp looking rig! Ever thought about putting hinges on that board and making a hatch out of it where the old engine box was? Seems like that might make a handy storage space under the deck?"

It is fully glassed in now at this point but I made it beefy so that I can cut an access hole in the floor panel and it will be plenty strong even with a hatch cut into it. I more than likely will make a hatch for it, but not sure yet. I have a nice new abs plastic o-ring sealed factory made add on hatch that came with the master angler that was never used but think I rather make a custom fiberglass one.

Here are a few pic's of the rear liner/cap coming back together:
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Here is a few Pics of the fuel cover getting a new coring:

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I know pictures can be deceiving but how wide is the area you ground down in the photos? It appears only an inch or two at most? If so you may run the risk of it cracking down the road due to insufficient glass holding the two parts together. Better to go 4-6 inches...just saying :)

strick

What he said^

Thanks for the info, I better make the joint wider. I would hate to have it crack. It is hard to tell in the Pics but the areas I glassed are mainly 1" on each side. I ground them down so that there was a 1/4" gap between them so that the matt on the back side would bond to the glass and matt on the front. The edges of the pieces are ground so that they are tapered to sharp edge and when filled they don't have any air between them. I used two layers of 17oz matt 4" wide on the back side then a 1708 strip over that. Most of the beef is on the back side. Oh yea it was hell getting it on the back side. I had resin all the way to my elbow. I was hoping that all the strength would come from where the back side had the wider, thicker, glass and since it is bonded threw the center gap and filled solid. Now that you guys say this I will go back and grind out a 6" wide area over the seem and lay another 2 layers of matt on the front to help bond it together better. I'm learning still every day so thanks again for the help. I will try to fix what has been done an then move forward with that in mind as I go.

Here is a Picture on how I originally filled the gap an then added the layers on the back side. I plan on grinding back the surface more down an 1/8" or so 6" wide on the front side then adding two layers of matt. Then I will fair it back in again.

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Yeah alittle wider is a good thing. Biggest thing is romove the gelcoat from the glass.
Maybe even try putting some 1.5oz matt over top of the 1708 for your final layer. Gives you something to sand so you are not sanding the threads of the 1708.

I think the rule of thumb is a 1:12 taper when you grind it back. So if the laminate you're splicing is 1/4" thick, you would grind it back 12/4" i.e. 3" on each side.

I just reinstalled my caps that where cut roughly the same as yours. Found a neat trick for glassing the inside face. Wet out the strips on a piece of wax paper, the pull the strips off and apply. Obviously use gloves, but it was much easier then trying to wet out the glass upside down laying on your back.

That`s the kind of tip that makes this place home.

Cling film or visqueeene and Poutine sauce works as well.

Blue,parrott,strick,gfs- Thanks for all the good information, I will put it into service as I carry on. Got 5 more to do after this one! The more I can learn the better. So much knowledge up here on this site. Thanks guys!

beastley- That is how I applied the strips on the back side. That is about the only way I could do it. Used a roller with some west 4" rollers inserts and rolled the resin on the fiber before I placed it behind the back side. Still even with gloves got resin from my wrist to my elbow. Fun stuff!

Good thing you're not using epoxy! Some folks become very sensitive to it!

I have a neighbor in the yacht building business that grew up on "Thunderboat Row" in Miami in the 60's, and he is so allergic to epoxy that he can't get anywhere near it! He said the problem is the nasty chemicals in the catalyst, and cautioned me to ALWAYS use a carbon filter respirator when working with it even though it has very little odor, and to be very careful to keep it off the skin. Even though poly/vinylester smells a lot more, he said it's not nearly toxic as epoxy!

BTW, I notice you're using a lot of mat. It's good for building thickness and the random fiber orientation helps carry off-axis stresses, which is why it's used between layers of woven cloth or roving, but the fibers are very short, so that stuff has very little strength. Even light weight cloth is MUCH stronger because of the long continuous fibers!

Anytime man. Yeah I wet my 1708 out on a piece of plywood. Course w mat side up. Cant do huge piece. Brush some resin where u are sticking cloth too.

Went back and ground down the seems around the rear cap about 3"-4" each side and will add a piece of 1708 then a layer of matt over that and them fair back in. Hopefully this will make it much stronger. Thanks to all who helped with the seem grind back info...

Here is part of it that was ground back ready for the wider cloth. You can see the 2" wide area in white where I seemed it together the first time and where I ground it down to make the next layer much wider:

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