1978 SF restoration, my first one.....

[billythekid]

I need atleast 4 more pics tomorrow of some more progress! everything looks good, I like how you channeled the water out for around the hatch. the deck is going to be really strong, and really light. you have to weigh it to see what it weighs. keep up the good work.

[wtenglish]

Thanks guys!

Billy, hopefully will have some more pics by the end of the weekend. Day job keeps distracting me....

Lonesurfer, I used an idea of off your post for recessing my hinges but didn't get any pics. It was one of those things I remembered at the last minute.

[wtenglish]

Actually I meant to give the credit for the recessed hinges to Seaplusplus. Lonesurfer has had some good stuff though.

[billythekid]

will where are the updates!

[wtenglish]

OK OK... I was hoping to get a little farther along before I posted but I'll bring you up to speed.

First I would like to mention to never try this outside. In Florida leaves fall in the spring as opposed to the "fall" as in most parts of the country. It's been a real pain to keep everything clean to get anything done.

I was hoping to get the entire deck cored before I popped it from the mold but when I was inspecting it I notice that the warping of the hardi board I mentioned earlier had gotten much worse and had to go ahead and break it free and let it rest of the plywood underneath. Breaking it free went fairly well and only had a few places where it appears some of the resin wasn't properly catalyzed during the layup. Most likely due to one of my helpers who couldn't understand why we couldn't just dump all the resin and hardener into a five gallon bucket to speed things up. It appears to have only affected the matt layer and should be easy to repair once I can flip it over.





I had to use a regular screw driver to get the wood from the hatch recess. Came out without too much trouble though.





After serving as the best man in a fellow SeaCraft owners wedding I was able to get started with the bedding of the coring this afternoon.





An allergy attack sidelined me after about an hour so I hope to finish the coring up this week and get the deck ready for a trial fit.......

[wtenglish]

Have had a little time the last couple of weekends to try and get the deck finished up. The coring was finished. I would suggest marking the pieces because when I got to the point of installing the pieces around the holes for the rigging tubes I couldn't remember what went where and wound up making a hockey puck in the process. I was bedding the pieces in Dura Bond but wetting the divinycell out per the manufaturer before placing each piece.



Looks like art to me..... maybe someone in the government will think it's worth buying for their modern art collection.



My friend Jesse aka "the mayor" was in town from Charleston and we were able to glass the coring in with a layer of 1708. The temps are approaching 90 today so it should be ready to flip over pretty soon.

[wtenglish]

After grinding off the excess glass around the flange we flipped the deck over this morning. There were some areas in front of the holes for the rigging tubes where the resin hadn't properly catalzed during the layup but it seemed to only affect the layers of matt. I've cut those areas out and will be repairing in the next couple of days. This is going to take a lot of sanding but overall am pretty happy with it.

[billythekid]

where are the updates

[wtenglish]

Billy,

the long hours from my regular job have been killing my restoration. I have been doing a lot of sanding in the evenings but nothing worth posting. I bought a small amount of Signature Paint for my fishbox and hope to paint that and the console this weekend. I have been waiting for three weeks on a fuel line that was backordered that is preventing me from installing the deck. Thanks for checking in!

[SeaPlusPlus]

Need...mo...updates...