1975 23' Sceptre i/o to outboard bracket
 

So I bought a 1975 23' Sceptre from a CSC member last year around this time. It was an I/O and came with a spare engine and fairly new trailer. The plan was to put the newer spare engine in and run it until it died and then convert it to a bracket. Well after pulling the old engine I found out the transom was totally junk. It looks like both ice box drains leaked considering there was no sealant around them. This looked to be factory. So the water just wicked its way from the holes to the bottom of the transom and it was just mush. So I decided to just do the bracket conversion while replacing the transom. This has already been done over last winter, spring and summer and I finally got the boat finished enough to use for the last few weeks of the season. I have a bunch on pictures I'll post and show what I did. Including building the bracket. I'll try to keep them in order as best as possible. I got a lot of good advice from some guys on here. Here are some pics of when I picked up the boat.

Here are some pics of taking the old transom out and putting the new one in.

Then I fiberglassed in the new transom with 5 layers of 1708 and vinyl ester resin. I bonded the core which is 2 layers of 3/4" marine plywood with a layer of mat in between. I used epoxy putty to bond the core in. I also had to make some stringer extension to connect them to the new transom.

After I got done fiberglassing the transom in it pretty much got too cold to do anymore until spring. So I started figuring out the bracket. I pretty much read every post I could find on brackets and figured out what size I wanted to build. The tub of the bracket is 50" wide, the platform is around 62" and a 30" set back. I made a mold out of MDF that has melamine on both sides.

more of the bracket mold

Nice work!

Thanks . After the mold was built I put a clay radius in all the corners. I made my own fillet tool with a couple different size aluminum balls off of ebay and a piece of threaded rod. Cost less then $10 to make. It worked great. I would use a torch to heat it up a little and it smoothed the clay out perfect. Next I waxed I put like 4 or 5 coats of Partall paste wax in the mold then a few layers of PVA.

After the PVA dried I rolled a couple thick coats of gel coat. Then a couple layers of mat with vinyl ester resin. Then a lot of layers of 1708. I think I did 10 layers with overlaps on every corner. All the sides were around 5/8" thick and the corners over an inch. It might have been a little over kill but I figured I'd rather have it a little thick then it be to think and worry about it not being strong enough.

Looking good!! Keep the pics coming.

Nice Job.

For the transom of the bracket I used 2 layers of 3/4" Coosa with a layer of mat in between. I bedded it to the bracket with thickened epoxy and put 2 layers of 1708 over it. I also made the 3 stringers out of 3/4" Coosa and covered it with 1708 also.

I'm missing some pictures but around the top inside of the bracket I adder 2" strips of Coosa that I glassed in to provide more gluing surface for when I put the swim platform on. I gel coated the inside leaving areas where the platform would later be glassed from the inside. For the drain I used fiberglass tube I bought and epoxied in. So I won't have to worry about it corroding down the road. Here are some pics of when it came out of the mold. It literally fell out of the mold.

Next I started on the platform mold. I used MDF that I sprayed a some lacquer first followed by a few layer of partall paste wax and PVA. Then I used clay in all the corners, a couple layers of gel coat and a couple layer of mat. Then 2 or 3 layers of 1708. For the core of the platform I used 3/8" corecell. I couldn't make the platform too think because I planned to use Armstrong hatches. After I bedded the core with epoxy I put 2 more layer of 1708. It came out really stiff. There's no movement when I stand on it.

Here's some pic of the platform core and what it looked like when it came out of the mold.

Beautiful workmanship.I admire your neatness in the transom replacement,and it shows in your pictures.
Very much unlike my.My transom replacement photos that showed all kinds of stuff like tools,vacs,etc.all laying around in the way.

Congrats on such nice work,keep the pics coming

Bigeasy1 thanks. There might not be a ton of crap and tools in the boat but my garage isn't so neat. I was doing this outside so I didn't leave anything in the boat.

Looking good, nice clean work!

Have you done a lot of glass-work before? Or do it professionally?!
Because that is some incredibly high-quality craftmanship.
Very impressed/jealous.
How are you wetting and rolling out the glass to get it to conform so nicely with no air pockets or bubbles on the corners?

Also, how the hell do you guys get away with doing all this glass-work at home?!
When I get home from the boatyard after work, I'm stopped in the driveway by the wife and am forced to disrobe if I smell even the faintest bit like styrene.
:D

Erebus, I taught myself how to do it. A lot of research and reading online. I have done quite a bit of it over the last 4-5 years. I couldn't afford to pay someone. I do work on other peoples boats also on the side. It just takes time to work all the air out and small rollers to get into the corners. Keeping the layers neat and working wet on wet helps with no getting air bubbles. I try to think things out and take my time to get it right the first time so I don't have to redo it. When I was first starting out I had to do a lot of things over.

As far as doing it at home. Being divorced makes it a lot easier. I wasn't working on boats when I was married so it wasn't an issue. I usually change outside anyways so I don't stink up the house.

Nice neat glass work. Well done!
Dave

That looks great! Do make sure that you glass the seam real good were the platform meets the tub inside and out :)

strick

I glass both inside and out where the platform meets the tub. The inside was a pain but it came out pretty good for doing it all by touch. I think it should be good. I've ran the boat a few times and no crack or movement.

After the platform was glued to the tub with thickened vinyl ester resin I glassed the inside where the two meet and around the outside. I then faired it all in and shot some gel on the bracket. I'm missing a bunch of pictures of some of the steps.

Then I needed to get the transom patched up, faired and gel coated so I could mount the bracket. For the I/O hole I laid up 5 layers of 1708 on a waxed panel and cut that to fit the hole then glassed the seam. All the holes and spider cracks of the transom were ground out and got at least 2 layers of mat. If they were deep enough I used a layer of 1708 then mat. For the ice box drains instead of going back with the brass drain tubes that leaked and ruined the transom I used fiberglass tubes and faired them in.

For the gel coat I used patch aid which I really liked. It made the gel really hard and leveled out pretty good. Once it dried I sanded with 400 to 1500 then compounded it. It came out like glass. Then it was time to figure out where the bracket was getting mounted. I made a template of the bracket with some 1/4" luan and transferred the holes from the bracket to the transom. All the holes got 3 coats of epoxy to seal up the core.

Then it was time to mount the bracket which I hung from a tree. I used 1/2" stainless bolts and 1/4" stainless washers. On the inside of the transom I used a 4' piece of 4" aluminum c channel as a backing plate. I used 5200 around all the bolts and washers. Where the bracket meets the transom I ran a bead of 4000 because it won't yellow like the 5200 will.

Nice build man!

Dude. You are my new hero.

Oh my gosh, that is beautiful! :eek: ;)

Thats something special !!!

Sweet...Definitely second the hero work comment!

Thanks guys. The cap needed a ton of work. Someone in the past had repaired a lot of holes but only filled them with resin. They didn't put any glass over the top of the repairs so all of them were showing thru the paint. The paint was a pain to get off. I don't know what it was but there was primer and paint and it seemed like it never really cured fully. It was really hard on top but underneath would gum up the paper. So I sanding the entire cap and patched every hole with at least 2 layers of mat. The big holes and rod holder holes got a couple layers of 1708. I also had to attached the back half of the cap where I cut it off to do the transom.

Inside the bilge I removed all the old tabbing from the engine beds which just pried out. Then I ground down the whole bilge which sucked. I replaced the engine beds with some strings made of coosa and then center string with a couple layers of marine ply. All of then were covered with a few layers of 1708 and 1700. I also installed a pad for the livewell/washdown thru hull. I covered the transom and bilge with a couple coats of gel coat.

Damn fine work Corey!

I applaud you!

I was gonna do the same to my bracketed tsunami...are you gonna keep the lip that protrudes on the deck in the cockpit where old engine box was? It seems to hold a lot of structural integrity...Boat looks awesome!!

I want to make the deck flat eventually. It does add a lot of rigidity to the deck in that area. For now I'm going to cut the engine box down to just above the lip. I have to decide how I'm going to support the floor on in that area once I cut the lip out. A couple guys have done it on here so I'll probably do something similar. I figure once I cut the box down it will give me more room back there. I like having all the access to the bilge and transom. So once I'm down in there I'll figure out a hatch. Probably next winter.

You need to teach a class in moldmaking and glasswork.
I need to take it.

Flexpat thanks, that's actually my first try at a mold. I just followed what other had done on here. I would do a few things different next time. I put the mold for the bracket tub together with screws so I could take it apart easily and save the mold. Next time all I'll have to build it a mold for the platform.

The gel coat is in really good shape on the hull just oxidized. I wet sanded the sides quick and hit it with compound just to see if it would come back. It looks pretty good. In the spring I will really wet sand and compound the hull. I got some new decals made and put on.

I gel coated the whole cap including both dashes. I still need to wet sand and polish everywhere there will be no non skid. I will be shooting gel with grit for the non skid. This I'll do over the winter and spring. The fuel tank is the original that I sanded and coal tar epoxied. It was in really good shape.