73 Skier Restoration

I am unfamiliar with CPES and see it is being used alot by you gentlemen could some one expand on the subject as to when and where it is used.
     Thanks
     Tom

CPES is the ultimate wood sealer. From what I understand it actually penetrates the cellulose and plastifies the wood. I hope so because it sure is expensive!

Great links thanks Frank.

Getting ready to visit an upholsterer for an estimate. There are a lot of local guys around here needing work so I am going local with this instead of Christine's. Ordered a pair of carbon fiber heated seat elements for the front seats on Ebay for $102 delivered. Simple on/off high/low control button that I will mount to the bottom of each seat so that I keep the stock appearance. Yes I will be adding a second battery. They draw 5 amps a piece on high and 4 on low.

The weather has not been cooperating but it is sunny today. If I can get out there for 2 more hours I can finish grinding. I need to start shaping my stringers which are cut and sitting on saw horses in my front room. Wifey loves that, but its been snowing and I was not about to leave that DF outside in the elements. My wood came in clear, dry and beautiful. Between the 2 main stringers one of them has a not about the size of a pencil and the other is 100% clear. The moisture content varied from 8.5% to 9.5%- Not bad for $230! I am very happy with Brooks Brothers Lumber here in Greensboro for hooking that up. They also have a location in Raleigh for all you Eastern Carolinian's.

Tom thanks for the kind words. I have really put it out there for this project. It has been a lot of work, time and money. But as Vince Lombardi said "there is nothing more satisfying than fighting an impossible battle and coming away victorious." I feel I am making great progress and will post some pictures soon. Have been having problems with my main computer and have not been able to get any posted.

I am not sure how to answer your question as I have no experience with gelcoat or the paints used on CCs. Maybe somebody else can help out with that one.

I found a good material at Lowes for $.98 to replace the vinyl wood grain on the steering wheel. I am pretty happy with the result.

After a crazy week of snow and bad weather this is where I am today. Ready to start shaping the stringers to the hull. I did buy the power planer.

Normal yes.   Remember that hammer?    this time use a sharp chisel.

Thanks for the advice. I will put that on the back burner until I read some more on here about replacing the shaft seal. What is the consensus on the PSS and OJ dripless systems? Are they worth the extra money?

Agreed, you need $4 worth of hose, not a new $250 seal.

The weather has turned spring on us here in the Carolinas. If my boat was not in a thousand pieces right now I would be headed to the lake when the gets get out of school! I built and screened in a 12'x16' porch for my wife yesterday after I was informed that the porch was supposed to be done last summer and we ran out of money, and she wants her freakin porch. 2 Helpers, 12 hours, 3 pizzas, and a case of Miller Lites later wa-la! Screened in porch and no more grief from the misses about working on the boat. We have mosquitoes here really bad so I am happy to have the enclosed area away from the bugs.

Now for my question of the day, and I don't even want to air this problem out, but that is what you guys are here for so here goes. I have cut and dry fit the SB side. I used Jdiggs measurements from his cads and they are not exactly the same as my boat. The most notable problem is in the back where the angle takes of upward at a steeper angle and by the transom I have about a full inch of separation between the bottom of the main stringer and the hull. I thought about planing a bit off the bottom in the middle to bring that gap down but then I am lowering the stringer height at the crucial engine mount locations which are within an 1/8" on the low side already of the other side that is still intact. I do have the Waukesha adjustable mounts. How much leeway do they give you on those mounts? From the pictures it looks like a half inch would be no problem, but I have never adjusted them and you guys would know better than me.

I have 2 ideas before I go out and buy $200 more wood and recut my main stringers that I want to run by the group.
1. Build up the hull with a few layers of 2" tape under the gap so that when I bed down in epoxy the gap is reduced to a manageable difference.
2. Plane the middle of the stringer down to increase the amount of flush fit surface area between hull and stringer and make up the extra height with extra layers of cloth or mat on top of the stringer.

I think option 1 will be easier and work fine, I just wanted to know if there are any skeptics about this approach. I guess a picture would help. Will get one up in a little while.

Thanks!

Keegan,
Do you still have the drop off? I'd epoxy it back on and start over! This time don't go by someone elses mesurments. Rough cut and scribe it directly to your hull.

Even if you don't have the drop off, I epoxy some more wood back on to the area.

8122pbrainard wrote: Keegan, Do you still have the drop off? I'd epoxy it back on and start over! This time don't go by someone elses mesurments. Rough cut and scribe it directly to your hull. Even if you don't have the drop off, I epoxy some more wood back on to the area.

I do have all the scraps from the cuts so maybe I can find the right ones and do that. My friend who sold me the boat had that idea as well. My only apprehension about doing that was that the 2 pieces might separate if not screwed together. Good thing fiberglass is a forgiving material, because wood is very finite. Who was it that had the board stretcher?

Here is the area in question. The rest of the stringer fits really well.

WakeSlayer wrote: Keeganino wrote:    My only apprehension about doing that was that the 2 pieces might separate if not screwed together. This is not going to happen. Thickened epoxy is incredibly strong.

Absolutely! Whole boats are put together with epoxy! Don't go putting any screws in there. I don't even like screws to hold the ply floor down. Thickened epoxy and temporary screws if needed to suck the ply down while the epoxy sets up.

If I had it to do over again, I would have removed the best preserved side first so I could use that as a template. The main that I left in has a few soft spots here and there, but will probably come out in one nice piece. The side I removed first came out in about 5 pieces with huge gaps where the wood was rotten into pudding. Unfortunately I cut all the new stringers in one day so the other one is identical, but maybe that is a good thing. They will both be rigged up the same way.

Good information about the thickened epoxy. That makes me feel a lot better. I am like a trained monkey at this point reciting information that I do not fully understand. I know why we use epoxy but have not really read up on the actual products and their capabilities.   

Here is another question - How do I get the floor height back to original using plywood that is thicker than the original glass floor? With the plywood on top of the stringers I am well above the original floor. I have not cut any notches into the tops of the stringers still, because I have been thinking that I may be notching out almost the entire tops to accommodate the thicker than original plywood floor. Just like the removable plywood floor in the back? Do I use a router to make the notches or is there a better tool?

Thanks Mike, Pete, and Tim!

Keeganino wrote: Here is another question - How do I get the floor height back to original using plywood that is thicker than the original glass floor?

Good question. You wont! I cant think of a single thing that makes this a problem though. The 71-72 Skiers had a layer of 1/2" ply put on top of the glass floor, FYI... so your floor height will be closer to that. On a later boat where theres a flange on the pylon or a delux interior thats meant to align with the dash, etc- then yes, floor height is critical. On your boat, not so much. Actually, Im glad to be raising the floor on the BFN, etc... an extra half inch or so of clearance under the motorbox will be nice when adding a taller intake manifold.

For reference, the Skier's floor on top of the floor: