1988 seacraft rebuild

[No grave but the Seacraft]

I've not built a bracket before but I do have some experience with fiberglass. I built three fiberglass over plywood boats before starting this project. I don't know that I would try building a bracket and glassing it on which is why I extended the stringers through the transom. This way the stresses are spread out from the hull through the transom and to the motor mount. That being said fiberglass is stronger than you think it would be especially epoxy. Either way I added more than I think I needed. As far as cost it took 4 sheets of 3/4" coosa with some to spare. Maybe 5-6 yards of 50" 1700 cloth and 20 yards of 12" 1700 tape and roughly 6 gallons of resin. All total its been about 35 hours of labor and $1800 in materials. Ordering an aluminum bracket might be cheaper and definitely easier but i prefer to do things myself.

[FishStretcher]

I hope that you have a lot of glass connecting that pair of sawn through stringers/ through transom knees? I couldn't tell from pictures. Those box stringers are some of the primary load carrying members in the hull, and I didn't see that reconnected. I think I saw foam there.


Maybe I missed it? I saw a picture of the tank installation and it looks like the through-transom knees aren't connected to the box longitudinal stringers?


Without this connection the bending load exits the knees near the transom, goes through the hull and back to the stringers forward, peel failing the tabbing and bending the hull from slamming loads. If the glass is there, but isn't thick enough, it will progressively fail.



Apologies if this has already been addressed.


I do like the all composite bracket, in that it should never rot.

Originally Posted by No grave but the Seacraft

I've not built a bracket before but I do have some experience with fiberglass. I built three fiberglass over plywood boats before starting this project. I don't know that I would try building a bracket and glassing it on which is why I extended the stringers through the transom. This way the stresses are spread out from the hull through the transom and to the motor mount. That being said fiberglass is stronger than you think it would be especially epoxy. Either way I added more than I think I needed. As far as cost it took 4 sheets of 3/4" coosa with some to spare. Maybe 5-6 yards of 50" 1700 cloth and 20 yards of 12" 1700 tape and roughly 6 gallons of resin. All total its been about 35 hours of labor and $1800 in materials. Ordering an aluminum bracket might be cheaper and definitely easier but i prefer to do things myself.

[No grave but the Seacraft]

Hey FishStretcher. I appreciate all the feedback and questions/concerns. I think you can see it in some of the earlier pics and the one of the livewell looking aft. The box stringers that were cut were refilled with foam and glassed to the coosa Stringer/transom knees/outboard bracket. The last three feet of stringer where it meets the new coosa stringer received a third layer of 17OZ glass over the two the rest of the stringer got and the four layers that are holding the coosa stringers. Now that the livewell is in I plan to add one final layer to really sure things up and smooth everything out. This boat was already missing the in deck baitwell but I plan on keeping the hatch and gutter for bilge access and wet storage so I want it to be as clean and smooth as possible

[No grave but the Seacraft]

I took a break from sanding and started to build the molds for my transom livewell and seachest. The livewell is roughly 17 gallons and the seachest will hold 2 rule 1100 pumps. one for the livewell and one for raw water washdown. I also plan to raise the deck and the transom scuppers along with shifting the fuel tank, console and batteries to compensate for the extra weight.

[No grave but the Seacraft]

I've been bouncing around working on different things here and there as I have time. I have also been putting off finishing the outboard bracket because I couldn't decide on the style of drain plug I wanted to use but I did get the inside of the tub painted. I went with white only because I couldn't find a black bilge paint. The livewell and seachest molds are faired, painted and ready to be waxed, gelcoated and glassed when I can find a full day to get it knocked out. I also, was able to plumb and pour the stringers. I used cheap luan subfloor screwed to the sides of the original stringers and poured 2lb foam right on top of the old ones. They were dry so I didn't bother removing the old foam. I extended them to the bow and raised them roughly 2 inches. They just need a bit more sanding and they'll be ready for 2 layers of 1700.

[No grave but the Seacraft]

So I picked up my new custom fuel tank today. It was built by RDS Aluminum out of Perry, FL. It measures 70"Lx22"Wx8"H and has a 50 gallon capacity. the original tank was 93"Lx22"Wx8"H and had a capacity of 70 gallons. I plan on mounting the front of the tank in the original location or slightly farther forward which means the weight is shifted forward roughly 2 feet. I am hoping this will help with the weight of the transom livewell. Also, the extra space gained will make room for the seachest and below deck storage. The floor livewell was already missing when I bought the boat so I'm not losing anything there. Plus, more bilge space! Now I just need to glass the starboard stringer and get it mounted permanently.

[No grave but the Seacraft]

I popped my first mold today. I say pop but really it was soak and pry and peel. Luckily it turned out well because that mold/plug is ruined. I tried spraying PVA but for the life of me I couldn't get it to spray evenly and without beading up so I just waxed it. That's probably why it was difficult to remove. What I'm left with is a ~17 gallon livewell. I don't like the idea of a standpipe so the recessed area at the bottom will just have a plug to drain the tank at the end of the day and I will have the strainer/drain mounted to the side while in use.

[DonV]

Looking good Jon!!!

[strick]

Nice job...

Strick

[No grave but the Seacraft]

Thank you Strick and Don! I really appreciate the feed back. Also, I was surprised and a little excited to see that RDS put my name on the fuel tank tag. Thank you for noticing. This is my first build of this size and complexity. As you can tell by the pics, my work space and resources are limited but I'm hoping the end result will make up for it.