89 18sf Project/rebuild/restore started

[alexh]

Ive been fishing the past two weekends instead of working on the boat. Ive made a "schedule" so to speak with a tentative completion date of April 22. IF I stay at it and get materials in on time, it is possible. Gave myself plenty of time for the tasks I hate (fill sand fair) I'm really, really shooting to be on the water by first week in May.

Still on the lookout for Suzuki DF140. If anyone has a lead they would like to pass along it would be appreciated. Ill buy an ETEC 130 also if the right deal comes along.

[Blue_Heron]

Good luck meeting your "schedule". After I passed the second completion date I set for myself, I quit working on a schedule and focused on working on the boat.

My advise would be to enjoy the process. Take your time on the stuff that will make the difference between "that will do" and "that looks great". You'll be spending a lot more time using the boat than you will working on it, and pride is a lot more fun than regrets over what you could have done if you'd spent another month on it.

When you said April 22, My first thought was that you meant April 2022. Sometimes I feel like that's when I'll be done with mine.
Dave

[gofastsandman]

Originally Posted by Blue_Heron

Good luck meeting your "schedule". After I passed the second completion date I set for myself, I quit working on a schedule and focused on working on the boat.

My advise would be to enjoy the process. Take your time on the stuff that will make the difference between "that will do" and "that looks great". You'll be spending a lot more time using the boat than you will working on it, and pride is a lot more fun than regrets over what you could have done if you'd spent another month on it.

When you said April 22, My first thought was that you meant April 2022. Sometimes I feel like that's when I'll be done with mine.
Dave

Sometimes taking a step back and thinking can save lots of time. Ask questions and enjoy.

Hey Dave,
A friend is looking for an old Hewes 18 project. Any leads?

[Blue_Heron]

Originally Posted by gofastsandman

Hey Dave,
A friend is looking for an old Hewes 18 project. Any leads?

I found mine on the vintage hewes forum, here:

http://www.mbcforum.com/showgallery.php?fid/58/

Dave

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Blue_Heron

Good luck meeting your "schedule". After I passed the second completion date I set for myself, I quit working on a schedule and focused on working on the boat.

My advise would be to enjoy the process. Take your time on the stuff that will make the difference between "that will do" and "that looks great". You'll be spending a lot more time using the boat than you will working on it, and pride is a lot more fun than regrets over what you could have done if you'd spent another month on it.

When you said April 22, My first thought was that you meant April 2022. Sometimes I feel like that's when I'll be done with mine.
Dave

While I do enjoy the rebuild process to a certain degree, and I REALLY enjoy seeing/using the final product, it is still work, and with that said I think it requires a realistic schedule. I made sure to order materials/plumbing/hardware throughout the balance of the project to make sure Ill have what I need in front of me, as well as staying motivated. I always become more motivated when new stuff comes in. I'll have more progress pics by the end of this weekend.

Anyone want to share some possible paint colors? Pretty sure I'm going to keep it simple. Snow white base with light blue/grey nonskid. I'm fanatical about maintenance, but not so much on keeping the inside of the boat in pristine condition all of the time, so I want something that can hide some dirt which is why I'm steering towards a color with a little grey in it. I'm also open to ideas of the strongest, most durable nonskid people have come across. Gaffs/nets/lead dropped as well as buckets and coolers dragged across the deck will all be part of the boats use.

[DonV]

Dave, did you see that rebuilt '85 Bonefisher with the wood deck and floor?? Jeeeez......too pretty to fish out of. Makes my '98 look rather "plain Jane".

[alexh]

Got back to work on the boat friday and today. The starboard stinger top was cut off, and the old foam was dug out. As a whole, the foam was wet, but it was only fully saturated at most, the bottom inch or so a few feet from the stern. Its very misleading when you open up the stringers and start to dig because the top portion is very dry. I would estimate total amount of weight removed was 50-80lbs. I used a sharpened putty knife to cut out the foam located where the stringer meets the hull. Then I drilled some drain holes as close as I could to the bottom of the stringers and lifted the trailer hitch 40" or so off the ground and washed the stringers out. Let it dry overnight and cleaned the inside with acetone before pouring the foam. Side note:the tank cleaned up great.










My plan to compensate for a raised deck (1/2" -5/8") goes as follows. The foam poured in was 3/4" less than the top of the existing deck height. Glass 1708 over the foam, place 3/4" mg ply on top and glass 1708 on top of that. The final height should be right at the existing deck height. The foam was poured in once I created a "shell" for the foam to form to. The shell was made out of 3/4" melamine and screwed into the sides of the stringer. Once the foam was poured in, I screwed the cap of the shell on. NOTE: all of the melamine had PVA release film rolled onto it so it popped off easily. MAKE SURE TO GRIND THE FOAM TO REMOVE THE PVA WHEN FINISHED. Seems like a no brainer, but NOTHING will stick to the PVA, so it needs to be removed. The neon colored string was used as a template for the 3/4" melamine shell. Once the foam was all set, I popped the shell off and ground the foam where it needed it.

I only did one stringer at a time, because I was concerned with excess hull flex. As the picture shows, I poured the foam, not leaving any area for a pipe chase. Im going to cut the pipe chase in and it will be at a 45* instead of running the length of the stringer. Seems like a lot of lost support area for the deck having the chase run down the length of the stringer. I plan on having the other stringer done by this week so I can get started on tank bulkheads/supports next weekend.

[uncleboo]

Nice work. I'm following this closely as I, too will be going through this process one day. Hopefully, not too soon, though.

[alexh]

Still working the stringers. Poured the port side stringer Friday and ran out of foam so I had to make an hour plus drive to go pick up more before I could continue. Picked up more poly resin so it wasn't a total waste of time. The port side stringer was VERY dry, and probably didn't need new foam but I'm not going to chance anything. Once the foam was set I sanded/shaped the foam to give the edges a radius so the 1708 could form to it. I cut in the 45* channels for the pipe chase as well. A wire wheel with a 3"+ diameter makes good inside corners for the pipe chase channel. Tracker used a heavy weave glass so sanding with a pad sander/DA only hit the high spots on the weave. Using sandpaper by hand allowed for the entire surface to be roughed up, which ate up a lot of time.
The 3/4" ply thats going to lay on top has been cut to size, has the top edge rounded and is hotcoated already. I'm going to mix up some cabosil and resin and bed the ply to the stringer top this week. Bulkheads and glassing in a 3" pvc pipe cut in half are also on the agenda.

stringer cap cut/pulled off

Glass cut to fit/corners cut to fold properly

Glassed.

[alexh]

I have attached a PDF of my proposed plan to reinstall the fuel tank. (not to scale/estimated measurements) I have extra bullet proof material (1/2" and 1 1/2") laying around from previous jobs, which is just layers of fiberglass/kevlar with poly resin. My plan is to create a perimeter "base" for the tank to be bonded to via 4200 and use the existing tabs to screw into the stingers as before.

Questions:
-The goal is to leave as much tank as possible exposed to air, but do you think there is enough support with the tank being supported by the perimeter?
-I have some 1/2"x2" neoprene material. Should that be used on the bottom of the tank to mount to the perimeter? I do not understand the benefit of neoprene if the tank will be bonded to the cleat material, which will be glassed to the stringers.

I really feel like this will be enough support. If a full tank plus tank weight is at max 350lbs. and there is roughly, at a minimum, 1" of coverage on the tank/cleat perimeter then...48"+48"+24"+24"=144 in^2. 350lbs spread over 144in^2= 2.43lbs/in^2 Doesn't seem like much of an issue as long as the tank DOESN'T MOVE. I think the beating and banging of a loose tank will destroy any sort of mounting system. Open to any and all criticisms.

I've currently got the front tank bulkhead installed, and another bulkhead just forward of the stern bait well. I purposely left the rear tank bulkhead out because I had yet to get my head around reinstalling the tank, which I plan to do this weekend. Ill have pictures up this weekend of current progress.