Let the fun begin!
 

Spent the weekend cleaning the 4 inches of leaves out of the boat, stripped almost everything of off it. Pulled the fuel tank hatch up. The last photo is inside the fuel tank.

Ah memories. Looks like quite the project. Good luck!

How deep into it are you planning to dig?

Fuel tank Pic's
 

Dang, Wavewalker on the last picture - I couldn't grow a culture that good in my petri dish in Biology class. Viva la Maiz.

Terry, haha I thought the same when I pulled the cap off it. Thought Swamp Thing was going to crawl out of it.

Potter, All the way baby!

Snookered, can you financially advise me on how to proceed with this project and not get divorced while doing it? LOL

Not too impressed with the original deck core on my boat, looked like a jigsaw puzzle and it was saturated with water all the way through. Will add pics tomorrow when I finish getting the rest up.

I believe I can help with this.

I got mine hooked on a project as well. Whenever she spent money on hers, I felt justified spending money on mine.

Pros: you'll have your project funded and finished in no time

Cons: two project instead of just yours = $$$$$$$$$$$

I like the sound of that, now if only I can find her a project.

Cut out the port side of the deck and the live well. Were anyone else's stringer left open like mine? The hole in the tops of them where they poured the foam in were not sealed with glass. It seems to me they put the potter putty over those hole when they put the liner in.

How much Vinylester resin will I need to do my transom, deck and hatches?

Kinda depends on what your layup is and how you are doing it and how well it is done. Not trying to be a smart ass but it all affects how much you need. ROM for me started about 1.25-1.5 oz resin per oz of glass - now I'm better at it and don't waste as much so its getting closer to 1. Remember that VE and MEKP have a shelf life so don't get more than you can use before it times out.

Hey Wave, we are at the same point. Where are you doing the work Tampa or the Keys? I am in Ft Lauderdale - it might be good to compare notes.

Im doing it in Tampa. Going to try to keep it as simple as I can for now and just redo the deck and transom. I'm going to raise the deck 2" and replace the transom form the outside.

Looks like your road is shorter than mine! Good luck with everything. I was hoping to watch what you do as I go along but I don't know how much will be the same.

In the future I plan on enclosing the transom and adding a bracket but for now due to time, money and an itch to get it back on the water I'm taking the short road.

Went down to my local Fiberglass supply store to price out materials, asked about different cores and was shown PVC. The owner highly recommended it and says he supplies professional boat builders that use the stuff exclusively. It's way cheaper than Coosa or Divynicell. Has any one ever used or had experience with it. He also said that polyester will work fine for the transom. I've read about poly's permeability, but he said that using it with the PVC there wouldn't be a problem.

Check out Bruce Pfund's articles regarding cores.
www.bpspecialprojects.com/PDF%20FILES/COREBOND%20PROBLEMS.PDF"

I just realized he is a CSC member here and is an AWESOME resource.
There are some articles by others out there too.

To the best of my knowledge, Divinycel (H80) is a "crosslinked PVC". (So says Jamestown Distributors) I am curious what the non Divinycel PVC is?

From what I found it is made by VYCOM, they call it CELTEC. It's an expanded PVC. Merritt Supply sells it.

I've heard of people using celtec for various things. What's the pricing like on it? I started with poly on my boat but started using vinyl about mid way through

New (to me) 5 hp 80 gallon compressor to aid me in my endeavour. Just need to install breaker install switch and run conductor.

Going to cut the last 10" of the stringers out to replace the transom. Has anyone done this if so where should I make my cuts as I don't want to cut into the hull.

My suggestion would be to cut the top of the stringer back from transom 8 - 10" (parallel with the transom). Then cut both sides of the stringer towards the transom along the top. Remove that glass, then remove the foam. Now you can see where stringer and hull meet. Angle grinder with a cut off wheel is your new BFF. This assumes you have the large box stringers.

I used an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel to cut it about 1/2" from the hull because I was also worried about slipping and cutting into the hull. Then I used a multitool like this to cut it almost flush to the hull so I could finish smooth it with a 80 grit flapdisc on the angle grinder.

Attachment 10414

The multitool blades that come with it (shown in pic) get destroyed by fiberglass; I ended up getting the the abrasive bit for tile and that worked much better.