WET vs ROT- the documentary

Foam was sealed, and faired then a couple of coats of cloth before bonding the plywood to the stringer tops and hull sides.

One layer of biax has been applied to the plywood for a little impact resistance.

I cant believe that I am saying this, but I am starting to wish I bought the US Composites Epoxy. No offense to my Michigan brothers Meade and Ian Gougeon, but that West System is expensive!

I have the stringers all glassed in and I have changed my mind to include both plywood and foam on this rebuild.

I have used two part pour in foam. The top of the foam is no longer closed cell due to cutting off the areas of over- expansion. I have been contemplating sealing the top of the foam with some light fiberglass cloth soaked with epoxy before I install the plywood floor.

Should I do it or is it overkill?

Do you know if the PO did it or a "pro"?

Seats look Great!!!

Those seats look really nice Mike.

Pete - According to Ralph in 'Parting the Waters', the pylon was invented (by CC) to prevent strong skiers from pulling the towboat off course.

Maybe that is what you were referring to, just had to look it up!

I have towed off of my rear lifting ring with no problems since the rebuild. I think I posted a picture of my new reinforcement on page 2 of this thread. 2 Layers of 3/4" ply laminated together and the original hardware. There is also ply laminated to the underside of your transom above the gas tank. Mine was rotten so I replaced that too. PITA! Some of the 60's boats came without pylons so you had to tow off of it.

That was a real question but I am happy you found it humorous.

Any suggestions?

I have all of the stringers bedded, filleted and taped.

While I am here, I would like to reinforce the rear lifting point so that I may use it to pull a tube and still have passengers in the rear seat.

I assume the strength will need to be in the area in the underside of the deck. Any suggestions on dimensions or material?

Hay Woftam! hang in there, im feeling your pain. Jeff

I decided to jump this afternoon. After leveling the boat, measuring, re-leveling and re measuring, I decided I had it right and started bedding the stringers. I had 2 tubes of West Six-10 thickened epoxy, more than enough to bed one main, right? Wrong.

I have one stringer bedded at about 75% with the two tubes completely gone...It seems that although the tubes are regular size, their contents are empty when the plunger reaches half- way up the tube. See the black line on the side of the tubes? That tells you when you are out of sauce. I wish I had seen that before I started.



Soooo, I have $40 worth of epoxy in one of the mains. As much as I hate to do so, I am going to buy 4 more and finish the mains and then switch to another mix for the secondaries.

Here is how she sits now.




EDIT:

I got on the phone with West Systems tech support and explained my experience with the six-10. Bruce, the tech adviser said that I could use their 404 additive to their 105 resin and 205 hardener and it would be just fine and more cost effective. Needless to say, I mixed up a batch and filled some empty caulk tubes and the stringers are bedded as I am writing this.

I hope to fillet this weekend.

What did you use to attach the secondaries togetherk? Straight epoxy or did you use some mechanical fasteners as well?

Mike it looks as though the engine cradle is hard up against those stringers. You may want to put a bit of packing between them to allow for the layers of glass and cloth that will build the thickness of the stringer

Riley wrote: Keegan, that is beautiful work. Did you wrap the stringers with cloth as well?

Thank you. The next steps were to 2 layers each of 2", 4", and 8" 8.9 oz e-cloth tape. Then 12" biaxial up both sides and 1 over the top. 2 cap layers of biax from pylon to tranny mounts.

I had a few gaps that were substantial and just rolled with it. I bedded my stringers in a nice bed of thickened epoxy and then did a nice fat fillet. After all of that you are rock solid. You could lay some cloth or mat in the areas with large gaps but I did not. Epoxy is a pretty forgiving media to work with and is super strong. You will be fine. I was freaking out too at this phase but my favorite new saying became "its within tolerance"!

I had at least a 3/4" gap at the end of the stringer here and you would never know after it is bedded and filleted.



Fillets