Wish me Luck

[basstech]

I started my boat refurbishing project that I started last year a week before I had my heart attack. Found a website called "BBC" bass boat chat or something. There is some really Impressive stuff some of those guys have done in repairing their boats. I highly recommend to all of you to check it out. I had neglected my boat so much that I was worried I would have to try and do some "impressive" stuff too... but hopefully I won't. Pulling my gas tanks tomorrow as well as everything in the bilge so I can get a good look at my stringers. I know what the stringers look like, would like to find out if any of you can tell me what to look for as far as damage is concerned so I can figure out how much work I'm going to have to do to refurbish my boat? How do I go about "testing" the structural integrity of the hull and transom? I've already done the "lift on the lower unit" test, is there anything else I can do to make sure it's all good? Thank you all for any input.

[1FASTLASER]

Well ole buddy got a rubber mallet laying around. I have done several several transom and stringer replacements and before you do this IF NEEDED get ready for ALOT of work. Anyway take a rubber mallet and start thumping around the transom with the mallet and you can tell the difference in the sound. Solid sounding where there is good transom and hollow sound where there isnt.Look VERY well at all the corners on the outside of the boat in the transom area and inspect for cracks. They could be just gel coat cracks or they could be deeper. If you suspect that they are deeper and have some hollow sounds get you a chunk of wood 2x4 or anything of the sort. Lay it on the ground where the skeg will touch it. Unbuckle the rear of the boat and trim down just to where the skeg will touch the wood. Now be careful here. Get someone to just bump the trim down and watch the suspected areas for movement. Dont try and pick the boat up just slight bumps on the trim will make them move if they are weak. As far as stringer replacement while looking under the tanks etc in the bilge area look for degraded glass and start poking around with a sharp tool such as a scratch awl. Not hard to tell if they are rotten or had exposure to water and begining to rott. Hopefully all the tests will be negative because I am gonna tell ya this aint no job for the inexperienced and it is a LARGE job. Stringer replacement involves removing the cap off of the boat. All the wiring etc has to be diconnected etc etc. To be honest with you unless this boat is dangerous to operate or has sentmenal value I would consider a nwer hull before trying to replace a transom and stringers. Lots of money involved with the tools needed and the cost of materials gets higher each day. The last 4'x4' cabon fiber board I bought for my laser cost me (now this was dealer cost) $286. And that was just the board. If I can be anymore help you can email me at wareagle50@hotmail.

[zooker]

tech i agree with laser i too have tore down several boats and rebuilt them from the shell up.. it took me alost a year to do the last one. when finished the amount of money spent was ungodly. almost 5 times what the boat was worth..

zooker

[basstech]

Can you actually buy just the hull...or are you saying I should maybe junk the boat and get a new one in the worst case scenario. I understand it will take a long time to get it done if I need to replace the stringers/transom but it would take even longer for me to be able to afford a new boat. Especially since a new boat in the same class as what I have cost $24 g. I know I'm already going to have to spend as much if not more than the blue book value of my rig anyway, but when I'm done it should be nearly like new.
laser you said to look for degraded glass can you tell me more specifically what that will look like, like will it be flaky and peeling off the stringers. I am absolutely inexperienced but I am fairly bright and industrious. If I do need to replace the stringers and/or transom and I do it my self how much money are we looking at? Thank you for your response. I can't imagine it would cost $15,000 to do all of that. I could see maybe $5,000, am I way off on this?

[Kickin Bass]

If you can, take lots of pictures and post them ... from start to finish.

[basstech]

I'm taking pictures but don't have a digital camera. Don't have a scanner either. I will find a way to post them when everything is done.
Just got in from "tearing down" my boat. I was wrong. They were right. have to pull the cap to get the tanks out. well actually just got to get a stubby phillips head that will fit under the cap where the on the port side. I got one screw out from an angle but the other one is too far in. . removed the bilge switch and got the broken aerator cable out. removed one of the flow controls. but couldn't get the aerators up or uncapped. couldn't budge them at all. No cracks in the corners of the boat along the transom seem and I poked, prodded, scratched all over in the bilge area and couldn't find any soft spots are weak spots. Does look as though it could use some re-sealing but the wood all appears to be solid. What little wood there is exposed. No flaking of the glass either. I take it that's a good sign. I just wish I had someone that could come over and inspect this who has dealt with it before. I don't want to spend a couple of hundred bucks on my trailer to find out I'm hosed. But I think that is going to be the next step. Oh yeah...and all my wiring and hoses look to be in good shape too, except the fuel hose that goes from the well into the engine. That's easily replaced.
At this point I'm thinking the two aerators and the bilge pump, get my tanks cleaned out, re-seal the inside of the hull (precautionary), new carpet, get the cap painted and one small gouge repaired underneath the bow where it curves up and a new trolling motor,get my seats redone, new fuel, water and oil pump for the engine, an impeller, spark plugs, and get the lower unit cleaned out and re-greased, and a new SS prop, I'll be set. Think I can get that all done for $5,000 or less?

[bassintom]

what made you think you needed all this work done on your hull?..my glass boat is 16yrs old and i wouldn't expect it to need all that work yet.what year is your boat?

[1FASTLASER]

irst off I forgot to ask what hull your working on. Would give me a better mental picture to work with . Anyway I assume it passed the malett test. Good. Degraded glass will have become to start to seperate not only from the wood but itself. The resin starts to degraded and become weak. Also this means that the underlying surface has now been exposed to the elements. If none of this has occured, as the saying goes "if the roof aint leaking dont fix it. Another sign that shows up is a effect on performance such as slower speeds at WOT, slower holeshots, with the same loads you been carrying over a long period. This may, NOT ALWAYS, tell you to start to look for water logged wood. I in this instance from your post would not expect you to find this. If you did the mallet test and found no hollow sounding areas I would proceed as follows. CLEAN, CLEAN, and did I mention CLEAN with soapy water and take one more look. Unless you are just deadset on resealing the area go ahead and do the airator, and bige pump upgrades,nice and neat wire harness tied up with zip ties andreimstall tank ,fuel line WITH FILTER and go fishing. If gonna do the reseal 80grit on a orbital sander and one on a small drill to get the places you cant get with the DA, Vacum out till your blue in the face. Then lay one layer of resin on the area you are resealing,then one layer of woven roving.soak the matt and work out ALL and I do mean ALL air bubbles,let dry and reinstall the items you removed. As far as the cap is concerned the base coat clear coat system with the flex additive will do fine for you for several years. If you need more expanantion on this procedure give me a holler and I will walk you through it.

[zooker]

laser
spoke to him about it in the sunday chat..there is no stress cracks just some wood exposed in the upper transome area-can't figure out why a procraft would have exposed wood in it..

zooker

[1FASTLASER]

Thats good to hear. Man I gotta remember to get in here on the sunday night chat. This sunday was impossible. 12 hrs of working in a down pour and welding. Man what a hassle. Everytime I turned around I was getting hit with about 160amps. Felt REAL good ....pun intended. Anyway I owned a 1990 Procraft V180 and for a production boat it was an exceptional boat. Got a HELLUVA deal on it. 24,000 was sticker. I rapped the fella and bought it out the door for 19,500 with several options. Anyway all boats at that time had alot of wood in it particularly on the lower end boats. Thats when the composits where just getting a good foothold in the boat industry. The main down fall of procraft's at that time when shutting down to fast the backsplash wasnt designed to channel the water away from the bottom of the splashwell which as you know is the top portion of the transom. To make a long story short from what he has told me and now knowing what hull he has all he has to do is clean the chit outta the bilge area and approx $50 dollars woth of glass and a couple hrs of work and he will be good to go for aslong as he owns the boat, as long as he follows a few guidelines that I will give him. Shoot I even have the glass matting he needs and would help him out with that if he shoots me a email and pays for the shipping. Sent him an email on how to do the cap. What I have outlined for him, if he has the tools and the shop to work he would only have about three days work and he can be fishin again. By the way I gotta brag on my ole Procraft. There was a fellow in the bass club that bought 3 boats trying to be the "Top Gun" in the club. LMAO!! Never made it. Tried it first with a stratos, then a Nitro, then a Champion. LMAO What he failed to realize was the time I took on the setup, the engine work I had done, and the fact that I had blueprinted the hull. Spent $500 on the motor, $400 something on the prop and about 1 weekend on the hull and had here running 72 on GPS tournament loaded.