Time for another (1979 23' Resto)

[DonV]

Yer Sir a Masters degree in "Advanced Redneck Engineering" is in order!! Plus you get bonus points for using a Harbor Freight low profile jack!

[strick]

Victory on the tank removal. One of the more laborious tasks during a tear down. So do your neighbors think your crazy yet? lol

strick

[Old'sCool]

And the jacks to replace bunks...very good!

[SeaPlusPlus]

Originally Posted by strick

Victory on the tank removal. One of the more laborious tasks during a tear down. So do your neighbors think your crazy yet? lol

strick

Oh they already knew I was crazy haha.

Ok so haven't gotten any work done this week, but plan on spending the entire day Sunday in the boat. What I have been doing is dreaming and planning though, and I would like ya'lls opinion on some things.

I've committed to redoing the stringers into a grid, and purchased the 2" polyisocyanurate foam sheets. I'm doing this because one of the biggest complains I have against my 20' is lack of storage.

Another thing that I'm committed (obligated) to do is provide a space for my wife to comfortably layout on cruising days. This is her biggest complaint about the 20' and part of my justification (and her acceptance) for taking on this project.

Exhibit A, the uncomfortable Mrs. on the 20SF:



My plan is to give her a bunny pad like member dirtwheelsfl did on Squid Lips and shape it like bills106 is doing on his stretched 23' on The Hull Truth.

Here's the console/bunny pad he's making, I plan to copy the shape pretty much exactly:



Luckily she's only 5' tall so a center console coffin won't eat up too much deck and have the benefit of providing some above deck storage.

The decision I'm facing is how much below deck storage do I want vs if I want to re-foam the boat with enough foam to have positive flotation.

Here are some drawings I've been working on, one maximizing storage, and another providing positive flotation.

Flotation:



Storage:



Both layouts give me the required bunny pad, a large (65"+ long and 25"+ wide) forward fishbox, a small stern cooler/fishbox (something similar to shine's restore), a 30 gallon leaning post live well, and a 30 gallon fresh water tank, and a large amount of under deck storage.

The flotation layout obviously having less space under the deck, but at the benefit of positive flotation.

I think I'm leaning towards the flotation one, but I never plan on being offshore without an EPIRB, PLBs, and a life raft.

So, to sum up my questions:

1. What do you think of the overall layout? What would you change? I'm trying to incorporate my likes/dislikes from the 20SF and what I like the best out of all the restores I've seen.

2. Should I re-foam and lose some storage or no foam and have ton's of space under the deck?

[strick]

Exhibit A and flotation should go well together.

I've been watching that thred over on THT as well I've always been partial to the lefty Kreh edition boats and Squid Lips is one of the nice Re do's I've seen. His transom is simple and opens up the deck a lot.

strick

[SeaPlusPlus]

Originally Posted by strick

Exhibit A and flotation should go well together.

I've been watching that thred over on THT as well I've always been partial to the lefty Kreh edition boats and Squid Lips is one of the nice Re do's I've seen. His transom is simple and opens up the deck a lot.

strick

Agreed, always liked the setup of the Lefty Kreh boats as well!

Had a fantastic weekend, I had the kids on Sat because wife was gone all day working (wedding photographer), so the boys and I spent some time enjoying this fantastic weather we are having here in South Carolina.



Spent some time digging into the 23 on Sunday, got some help from the boys as well. My 5 year old had a blast removing Potter Putty. Thank God I'm not paying him by the hour, I think he spend 2 hours removing 5 pieces, but he loved helping with the boat and it kept him out of my wife's hair.

Working on port side:



Found what appears to be some sort of rodent nest in the port cable chase:



Port side done:



More of the same on the starboard side, they did a good job with the putty on this boat, the deck was glued down well.:





Here is how he spent the majority of his time in the boat, popping putty off the top of the stringers.



The front portion of the deck was an absolute bear to get out, I probably spent an hour pulling and prying on it after cutting out the perimeter. I couldn't see anywhere it was glued down but I knew there had to be some putty somewhere holding it.

Finally decided enough is enough and busted out the old trusty HF low profile. I've had this thing for about 8 years now, and it's an absolute beast, now that I've lifted it into the boat several times I really wish I would have bought the aluminum:



Within 2 minutes of getting it position there was a VERY satisfying pop and the whole front deck lifted about 3", this chunk of putty in the bow was holding it in place:



After I heaved the front deck out of the boat the inspector's arrived to make sure the work was completely satisfactorily:



Once I had their approval and they returned back inside to finish their dinner I snapped a few pics before buttoning up. Here is how she sits:





It surprised me that the front of the stringers were just wide open, the foam is dry there (doesn't matter, it's all coming out) but you'd think that they would have enclosed it just to ensure water doesn't get in.

Still got some more demo to do, as I mentioned in the last post, trapezoidal stringers are coming out and grid going in, so more glass cutting and lots of foam digging in my immediate future.

[DonV]

Excellent progress! I'm telling ya a 3000# pressure washer with one of those rotating heads will make very short work of the foam.....oh yeah, and very messy work.

Like this one.....

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Blue-Hawk-3...Nozzle/3117679

[erebus]

Originally Posted by DonV

Excellent progress! I'm telling ya a 3000# pressure washer with one of those rotating heads will make very short work of the foam.....oh yeah, and very messy work.

Like this one.....

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Blue-Hawk-3...Nozzle/3117679

Yep, those nozzles will do the trick for sure.
I just used one yesterday down at my boatyard on our shop pressure washer to strip most of the bottom paint off my '79 23 Sceptre.
They are also know as the "viper". We get them from Northern Tool.
Hold it in place too long and you'll do some serious damage!

[SeaPlusPlus]

Another weekend in the books. Wife had weddings Fri and Sat so only got to spend Sunday working on the boat. Did manage to carve a pumpkin with the boys though on Saturday, Happy Halloween ya'll:



Sunday morning was spent chiseling Potter Putty off of the tops of the stringers so that I can get a saw to them, once again my 5 y/o wanted to lend a hand:



After that I started to dig out the foam on either side of each stringer. Most of this foam was VERY wet and would gush water when pried on. Port foam had about 1.5" of standing water under it that was trapped:





After that I started to cut open the port stringer to remove all the foam. Since I'm going back with my own stringer system I was generous with my cuts so there would be less digging:





The foam near the top of the stringer was pretty dry, but the foam near the bottom was soaked, there was also about 1" of water that was trapped in the stringer at the bottom:



Getting the cavity empty of foam:



Completely empty and ready for trimming/grinding:



Looking back on pictures it doesn't seem like I did much work, but my muscles and especially my back say different. Standing on an uneven surface for 8 hours does a number to your body.

Hoping to knock out the starboard stringer/get some grinding done by next Monday, thanks for looking!

[DonV]

Nice work, no doubt working on a 20 degree or more surface is a PIA!! I'm assuming you are going with a "bulkhead" boxed stringer system?

Like in post #13
http://www.classicseacraft.com/commu...t=29137&page=2