Made a little progress over the last couple of trips – finally getting around to posting pics.
The transom is completely glassed in now – on the edges I used 5 layers of 1708 wrapped progressively 3-5 inches into hull (each layer farther in). Made forms for the stringers with scrap 1808 over a piece of 2x8 wrapped in plastic and used a piece of Coosa for the keel. Used cabosil w glass fiber added to hold them in place for final glassing. Also put the vent boxes back in with cabosil and glass fiber. Covered everything in peelply to make the final glassing easier but I am not vac bagging this stuff – I don’t know how to get a good enough seal. I am using fiber in the cabosil since the port vent box had broken loose where the potter putty had cracked completely through.
Since I tapered the top edge of the transom core and the vent boxes were matched to the original untapered core, they were not long enough to reach the core on top but did fit on the bottom. I used a piece of a plastic ‘For Sale’ sign as a form taped inside each vent boxes when I glassed them in (after the cabosil). It worked very well and released from the epoxy nicely. 3 layers of 1708 got me the thickness I wanted there. A piece of 6 mil poly plastic taped to a 2’x3’ piece of thin plywood works pretty well as a small wetout table.
Glassed the stringers and keel in with 4 more layers of 1708 and covered w peelply. I put a ¾” drain tube through the stringers – aft of the original – to eliminate the water that would stand there. The original drains would plug with leaves (still don’t know how those got in there) and were not far enough aft.
Made new engine beds out of 2 layers of ¾” Coosa. The top layer of Coosa is 3 inches wider than the original and has a 15 degree bevel on the bottom to match the middle hull panel deadrise.
I did this to eliminate the problem where the old beds trapped standing bilge water on the outside of the beds because they formed a low area over the middle hull panel. Vac bagged the ¾” pieces together with a layer of 10oz between them and 1708 on the bottom.
I used some 1 ½” Coosa strips with a 20 degree bevel as the vertical part from the hull to the bed horizontal surfaces and a strip of 1708 on the inner bond line (inside the hollow base). The forward edge is also closed with coosa to keep water out of the hollow base.
Fit checked the rough trimmed engine beds after the stringers and keel were done. The beds will get glassed in with a couple of layers of 1808 and 1708 on the next trip. I will try to vac bag them in if I can get a good seal. I still haven’t figured out if I’m going to foam the void inside them but it sure seems like a pain for not much value.
