Off the Reservation
 

I’ve dusted off the cobwebs and started a new project. You’ll probably notice that it’s not a Seacraft, but it is a classic, and this place is home to me, so here we go. The boat is a ’74 Hewes Bonefisher, a classic Lappy that I picked up for $300 in late ’08 or early ’09 with a marginal trailer and no title.
It had undergone a less than professional restoration at some time in the past, and was due for a complete refit. The guy I bought it from had done most of the demo work, but he found another Hewes in better shape and gave up on the project. What I dragged home was a bare hull with rotten stringers. A little bit of the gunwale cap, made up of waterlogged plywood with some mat and glass over it, was still clinging to the bow. The transom core had been removed, but the outer skin was still there.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...psf138c27c.jpg

I cut the stringers out and removed some of the bottom paint and blistered gelcoat.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps0fe5f609.jpg

I built a cradle to support the stringerless hull, and then ran out of steam because I didn’t want to invest a lot of time into a boat that didn’t have a title.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...psb5d59a9d.jpg
http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps1c07165c.jpg

Before I bought the boat, I went to my local tag agency and asked them to run the FL numbers to make sure the boat hadn’t been stolen. It checked out ok, but it still didn’t have a title. Florida considers title information confidential, so they won’t give you contact info on a title holder. But you can fill out a form asking the last known title holder to contact you and they’ll send it to him on your behalf.

After I brought the boat home, I filled out the form, and a couple weeks later, the guy gave me a call. It went something like, “Listen, I don’t have the title any more, and I don’t want to get into the details, but I’ll be glad to send you a bill of sale.” And that’s what he did. But Florida won’t transfer a title on just a bill of sale; you have to have the title. Dead end, so the boat sat.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...n/IMG_2880.jpg

That was about the time I bought my 25 Seafari . Thinking the Seafari would be an easier project, probably only take about six months to get back on the water, I dove in. And the Hewes sat for two more years while I worked on the Seafari.

By the time I got the Seafari where I wanted it (I won’t say finished, because it’s not), I had had enough boat work for a while. That was two and a half years ago. Earlier this year, I started to get the itch again. I got in touch with NoBones because he knew a title guy that might be able to help. I made contact, provided the bill of sale and some other info, and the boat is now titled in my name. So it was time to get to work.

More to follow as time allows…

Those always were really nice skinny water hulls. This looks to be a great project! Between this and the 25 you won't even need or want to mess with your others...

I always loved those classic lappys, I have been trying to find one for a few years now. Not many here in NC at least older ones. Cant wait to watch this one come together. I enjoy watching a craftsman at work.

Looks great Dave!!! I sold my 1998 Bonefisher about eight months ago, loved that boat!!! Had it for 14 years, was the best boat I ever owned (sorry old clunker SeaCraft). And yes, it hurt to see it going down the road on the back of someone else's truck for the last time!!!

Can't wait to see the project as you get going!

Those are cool boats...I saw this one when visiting Dave's a few years ago...glad you are now making it whole.

I guess Hewes are pretty popular in Texas...

Dave, I have also in the last couple of weeks got back to redoing
my 75' Lappy....:eek:

The middle panels on mine have a fair amount of hook..
How bad is it on your 73' ???

I plan to take them out when it gets flipped over..;)

There is nothing like having a SeaCraft and a Hewes !!! :)
They just naturally go together.....;)

[URL="http://s655.photobucket.com/user/rdavis59/media/Barn/IMG_2880.jpg.html"]http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...n/IMG_2880.jpg[/URL

Dang Dave, What the heck kind of Facilities Engineer are you with no siding on the Pole Barn? You got all the wall girts up (No, Not Grits!). Screw some siding on there before the wintery wind hit Gator country, it blows up yer butt crack and your resin wouldn't kick off along with anything else! Your place would be pretty dang Ship-Shape if you wasn't always gitt'in sidetracked wif them boats.

Thanks for the interest and encouraging words, guys. I'll try to get some more pics up by the end of the weekend.


Ken,
Mine has noticeable hook in it too. I think it was done intentionally to keep the bow down at lower speeds. I suspect you'll improve top end performance if you remove it, but it may hurt low speed performance unless you're going to put trim tabs on it.

I haven't decided if I want to unhook mine yet, but I'll definitely have trim tabs. I'm toying with the idea of putting a pad on the keel to get it up off the vee at speed, but I'm not going to make that decision until I get the stringers and deck in and flip it over.


Terry,
That pic is about 5 years old. The barn is enclosed, insulated, air conditioned, and heated. Unfortunately, it's also filled up with an accumulation of boat stuff, so I should have built it bigger. There are more recent pics in my Seafari thread (link below).

Dave

There is one more thing I did before I put the Hewes in the cradle. Back when I first got the boat, I wanted to be able to model the restoration in CADD. I used a cheap Ryobi laser to establish horizontal and vertical control lines and then took measurements at one foot intervals along the hull.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...psdc9953e1.jpg

The CADD file looks like this:

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps09ebc0c8.jpg

I was able to use the CADD information to lay out the cuts on the plywood that makes up the cradle.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps1fd98cd9.jpg

Fast forward about 5 years, and I’m ready to go back to work on it. The first thing I had to do was set the cradle back on its casters and clean the dirt dauber nests and mold out of the inner hull. Pressure washing was the easiest way to get that done.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps135eeaf5.jpg

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps859ae1c0.jpg


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps477b39d8.jpg

Before I move into progress on the restoration, I want to talk a little about some goals for this project:

• I want the boat to be as light as it can be while still being as strong as it needs to be.
• There will be no structural wood in the boat. The transom core will be Coosa, deck cores will be Divinycell, and stringer cores will be non structural polyurethane foam.
• The layout of the deck, casting platforms, and gunwale cap will be as close to original as is practical.
• Care will be taken to assure the boat's center of gravity is located correctly.
• There will be a focus on fit and finish. I want the boat to be functional, but I want it to look good, too.

In my next post, I'll bring this thread up to date with progress so far.




Dave

After cleanup, the next job was to rebuild the transom. The outer skin, although it had a lot of holes, was in good enough shape to re–use. The previous owner had done a good job removing the wood core and grinding the outer skin flat.

I made a transom template out of craft paper, and used it to layout and cut two pieces of 1” Coosa Bluewater 26 for the core. It’s a very cool material. Of all the core materials I considered, Bluewater 26 has the best compressive strength, almost as good as plywood, and weighs about half as much. And it holds a screw much better than structural foams.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps009184fb.jpg

I decided to try some vacuum bagging, and so far the results are very good. To complete the transom core, I thickened some epoxy resin, glued the two pieces together, and wrapped them in a vacuum bag to keep uniform pressure on them until the epoxy cured. It worked great and was much easier than conventional clamping.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...psebf30906.jpg

I also wanted to vacuum bag the core to the transom skin. I cut two layers of 2415 to go between the core and the outer skin and got my vacuum bag ready.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps7fc91fd7.jpg

2415 wet out:

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps7e1edf12.jpg

Thickened epoxy applied to the transom core:

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...psbb748461.jpg

Vacuum bag in place with some screws and clamps just to make sure:

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...psb6c2ea9b.jpg

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...pseefef758.jpg

And the core in place after debagging:

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps96357330.jpg

Before laying up the inner skin, I cut the engine notch in the transom core.


http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps7c8a0d8f.jpg



http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...psbc5dead8.jpg


That's it for now.
Dave

That is just effing beautiful!

Nice work Dave :cool:

Bagging
 

Very nice work Dave.. I didn't see any bleeder holes.. Did the laminates squeeze the epoxy out the sides much.. Just curious...

Thanks, guys.

Martin,
I didn't drill any bleeder holes in the core material, just applied the thickened epoxy with a notched trowel. The grooves left by the trowel allow air to escape as the parts squeeze together. The bond looks to be very good. I had to trim along the edges of the core, and I cut out the engine notch. All the bits I removed have a continuous line of epoxy a little less than 1/16" thick between the cores.

I got some resin squeeze out through the holes in the transom laminate when I applied vacuum there. The bond with the outer skin looks solid too. I tapped across the whole thing with the butt of my pocket knife and didn't find anything that sounds hollow.

I've laminated the inner transom skin, but didn't vac bag it. I'll post more pics tonight or tomorrow depending on what I get done today.

Dave

The stringers in this boat will have a non-structural foam core, so the laminate will have to carry the entire load. I know I want 1/8” laminate, but the roll of 1808 I bought didn’t have technical info on the label, so I didn’t know how many layers it would take to make 1/8” thickness. I decided to make two test cards with three layers of 1808. I wet them both out with epoxy, put peel ply on both sides, and rolled out the excess resin. Then I put release film and bleeder cloth on one and vacuum bagged it to consolidate it. I was surprised how much excess resin squeezed out of the bagged card. The cured thickness of the bagged and unbagged cards was .10” and .15” respectively. That translates to a much higher glass to resin ratio and a much better strength to weight ratio in the bagged card.

So I started thinking about how to bag my stringer layup to get that high strength to weight ratio. The problem is that by the time I got all the glass wet out and rolled in place, it would already be starting to gel, and vac bagging would have limited benefit. The only way I thought I could pull it off would be to bag it first, and then wet it out. In other words, resin infusion.

Having never done resin infusion before, I decided to experiment with the chine reinforcement I was planning to do. There are lots of Youtube videos on the subject, so I had a general idea about the process. Here’s what I did:

I placed three layers of 1808 in 6”, 9”, and 12” widths.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps4e653361.jpg

I covered the glass with peel ply.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps11450cef.jpg

Added spiral cut polyethylene tubing for vac manifold and resin lines.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps6e884b05.jpg

Added tacky tape.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...psff5ec3ee.jpg

Bagged it and hooked up the vacuum pump.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps0416087e.jpg

And then fed it some resin.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps767f527f.jpg

And the laminate fully wet out.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...psaf215ba3.jpg

Now, I should say that my first attempt was about as close as you can get to a pure fiasco without actually screwing up the end result. I spent about an hour chasing leaks in the vacuum bag before I could feed the resin to it. I wasted about two quarts of resin because I overestimated how fast it would infuse, and it kicked in the bucket. For a while there, I thought it would kick off before it infused all of the glass. In the end, it turned out okay.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...psf3d41520.jpg

That was yesterday. Today, I did the same thing on the other side, but it went much more smoothly.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...psd3e1e429.jpg

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps98e9b756.jpg

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps9baf9a32.jpg

Yesterday, after finishing the infusion, I got started on cutting out the stringer cores:

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps6facc44e.jpg

That brings the progress report up to date. I’ll be doing family Christmas stuff next weekend, so it may be a while before I can post more progress pics.

Dave

Looking good! You made that look ez, and it turned out well and looked very professionally done.

I am planning on doing some infusion laminates on the race boat to keep it light as well. I got plenty of tacky tape (bead mask from metal sheeting), spiral tube (wire guard from electrical control wiring) and some of the peel ply but curious where you got your bagging connectors from. Are you using the aluminum reusable type? I have seen them on flea bay a few times but would like to find a good supplier for bagging materials before I start trying it.

That's beautiful work Dave! Are you using epoxy or vinylester? Did you try chilling the resin in fridge to keep it from kicking off to fast?

Hey, Denny, interesting you should ask. I actually went the other way. I'm using epoxy, which is higher viscosity than vinyl or poly resins to start with. As it cools, it gets even more viscous. Temps in my shop this weekend were in the mid 60s, so I warmed the resin to about 75° so it would flow better. When I started, I wasn't sure whether it would be better to warm the resin, or warm the glass the resin was being infused into. Now I know.

on the second attempt, I left the resin at ambient temperature and used a heat gun to encourage flow as needed. Worked much better.


Thanks for the kind words, Mr. Frizzle.

I would be careful with substitute materials until you try them on a very small infusion. As an example, I bought tacky tape from two sources and there was a noticeable difference in performance. I don't know if a tape that's not formulated for vac bagging will perform like you want. It has to stick well enough to seal, but it needs to peel of easily without leaving residue after you're done.

Your spiral tube shouldn't be a problem if it will hold up to 25" of vacuum without collapsing. You want to make sure your bag will hold every inch of vacuum your pump will pull. If it won't, you have a leak that will infuse air into your laminate as it cures. Did I mention you want to make sure you have the right tacky tape?

I got my materials from US Composites, Merritt Marine Supply (both in Palm Beach) and Lowes. Bagging film, peel ply, and the better quality tacky tape came from US Composites. The polyethylene tube, both spiral and plain, came from Merritt.

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps596ee3cf.jpg

The fittings that seem to work best are simple 3/8" nylon hose barb tees you can pick up from Lowes, Home Depot,or Ace. I wrapped the base of the barb in tacky tape and squeezed the bag down over it to seal. Here's one after debagging the laminate:

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps60612cfb.jpg

The starboard side turned out pretty good and was a lower stress process. Still learning...

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...psf59d2291.jpg

Dave

That's good to know that something that simple will work for a connector, and thanks for the heads up on the tacky tape. I have several different types of masking from metal building construction and don't know if it will work well. It sticks good but might not come up well like you said. The spiral I have is HD stuff, better than most you see used for vacuum bagging and should hold up fine to the 25"hg that my pumps rated at. The connectors I have thought about getting are these pictured. The plastic ones wont stick to the resin (either type resin) and are good for 250 +degrees. They suppose to remove easily too. The second aluminum type look good but not sure how well they will clean up if the resin gets in them and hardens and they are $30 each. The third looks good too, and has a silicon sealing connector for the hose. I am going to try some different things far as the connectors go and see what works best for me.

Curious, How far down dose your pump pull? do you get a full 25"mg of vac? and also how well did it flow with the resin you used and what type of us composite resin did you use? the 635 Thin resin? I have some of that myself and it seems thin but, I bought some VE infusion resin and it is much much thinner than the 635.

Attachment 9113

Attachment 9114

Attachment 9115

I looked at all of those and decided on the $2.39 vinyl tees. I don't want to throw out a $30 part because it's clogged with resin, and the tees work.

My vacuum pump is getting a little long in the tooth. It's an old Gomco medical pump and it's older than I am. It used to make the full 29" Hg, but it will only make about 20" lately. The good news is, Santa's bringing me a new one. :D

I'm using the 635 resin with the medium hardener. It's thicker than I would want, but it will thin out nicely with a heat gun and the heat gun won't make it kick off right away like it would with poly. The VE infusion resin should be just what you want. I considered VE for this build, but I've been happy with the 635, it's less expensive, and that drove my decision. That being said, it would be nice to have the flexibility with working time that you get with a catalyzed resin like VE. I'll probably be doing some polyester infusions later in the build, so I guess I'll see.

Dave

It's been a couple months since I posted an update. I've been working on the Hewes when I can, but there have been other projects and distractions. Here are a few progress pics:

Stringer cores in place

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

Glass in place for the port stringers

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...pszt1dmn2h.jpg

Vacuum bagged ready for resin infusion

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...psmua1mo6t.jpg

Infusion in progress

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...pshtllea46.jpg

Port stringers done, starboard in progress

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...pskkccggu2.jpg

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps5qu1cswl.jpg

I've got the starboard stringers bagged and ready for infusion tomorrow.

Dave

Very sweet Dave!!!!

what took place to get the title turned over to you?

PM sent.

As always.

Dang Dave,
now you got me drinking the Hewes Kool-Aid... Love me dem lapstrakes looks...
Uh, I know she's probably old enough, but i think she's drinking your beer:D
Looks great!

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Gilly, yeah, the lines on the Lappys are classic.

A few more pics:

Starboard side bagged

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

Infused

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...psmpi1flvx.jpg

And stripped

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/u...psdt51lyoh.jpg

This little exercise has taught me a few things about resin infusion. First and foremost, epoxy resin is not ideal for the process, the viscosity is too high. But I was able to make it work. If I vacuum bag another epoxy layup, it probably won't be infused.

Dave

Try Raka 127; its really low in viscosity - flows about like water under vacuum

I use the AOC resins, I got a drum of VE infusion resin just to get the lower viscosity. They actually make resins for many other companys just relabeled with a different name on it.

This is what I bought, a 55 gallon drum of infusion resin:

http://www.aoc-resins.com/web/site/p.../500/C145/C18/

http://www.aoc-resins.com/images/upl...Marine2013.pdf

It works great for just about anything. All I use is thin Viscosity resins. I really like the AOC Hydropel high performance Vinyl ester. They make tons of different types and can custom batch if you buy enough. Even when I use epoxy, I use the US composites "635 Thin resin". It is just so much easier wetting out cloth with thin resin. I can cut my lay up time down quite a bit with the thinner resins which makes it easier to lay up larger areas with extra time before it starts to kick off. It is just better to work with for me anyhow. I can even hand lay with it and like it better than most standard thicker viscosity resins designed for that. Only exception is when hand laying vertical and overhead applications. Even then long as you pre heat the area and warm the resin it will kick before it starts to run off of the cloth.

It was a good product, I wish I had more Dave, I would send you some just to try so you could see how you like it. I only have 2 gallons left out of the 55, so I cant right now but if I get another drum I will send you some to try.

Flyingfrizzle,
I'm using the US Composites 635 resin with the medium hardener. I think temperature is much of the problem. My shop has been in the high 60s to low 70s and the epoxy wets out and flows much better at 80°+. The Vinylester you're talking about should have a viscosity about 1/3 of what the 635 epoxy has. I really need to get some and experiment with it.

Flexpat,
I've used the Raka 127 as well. Its viscosity is very similar to the US Composites 635. Combined with the 350 non-blushing hardener, it's the cat's pajamas for UV resistance. I was impressed with Raka's results here:

http://www.oneoceankayaks.com/Epoxtest.htm

Both the Raka 127 and the USC 635 are good. They both wet out the glass nicely when the temperature is right. At cooler temps, though, wet out can be a little sluggish. Part of my process has been to use a heat gun to encourage flow in the infusion when it slows down. The heat doesn't seem to accelerate the "kick" as quickly as it does with polyester resin, but it greatly improves flow.

On my first try at infusion, I warmed the resin before mixing to reduce viscosity. But once it hit the cooler reinforcements, the flow slowed, and I had a batch kick in the bucket. I think we call that an "exotherm event". I didn't want any more "events" so I just accepted the fact that it would be slow going.

The resulting laminate is very tight with a high glass to resin ratio. I just don't know if the lighter weight is worth the extra time and cost of the infusion process. I'll probably play with it a little more once the weather warms up.

Dave

It is at least a 1/3 if not more, I will send you some if I get another drum and you can give it a try.