1969 Mustang Stringer Rebuild

TRBenj wrote: I think even a rough looking floorpan is better than ditching it altogether. I think we bought some extra 2x doug fir for the ribs.

It's beyond rough, two sections are already gone.

Now that I am thinking about it, I'll still need to do some notching around the pylon area.

David,
I, like Tim am sorry to hear about the glass floor pan. They were very unique to the stangs. How much of it is actually left? Restoring it takes lots of work but it can be done by someone that is advanced in glass repair. DO NOT throw it out!!!

Yes, I feel your choice of doing the Nautilux floor is a good choice - still original!! Go for it!    

Bruce,
That boat is nothing but I think you should get out of the appraiser business and let your sons (and yourself) do boats!!!

The grinding has begun. Wow, let me tell you how much fun that is... living the dream

The starboard secondary is out. I actually feel bad taking it out because it was in there so good. No rot either, other than where the screw holes were for the cross bracing. It wasn't bonded to the hull quite as well at the stern but the rest was stuck like new.







Now that I have the feel for grinding I want to make sure I'm going deep enough, and not too deep. I've been stopping when I get down to the cloth area, removing the thickened mat.



I'm assuming the thick gray area should go as well.


I thought about bedding the stringers one at a time, using the adjoining one as a guide and clamping block. It will prolong my grinding time but make the installation easier I guess. Thoughts?

No more grinding for the day, off to a wedding.

Keegan,   you mean a 5 gallon kit, I assume. Even so, I have a good dent in my second 5 gallon kit on the 18ft SN, and still have the floor and little stuff to do.

IMO, you can remove both Secondarys with no issues as long as you have
the boat supported well at the front chine area and stern.
I think that I remember removing both secondarys at the same time.

Keeganino wrote: I think I read Tim saying that he would probably not get the fast cure epoxy again.

No, I would do it again- we did a good amount of glassing in cooler temperatures (winter/spring in New England) so the Fast Cure sped up the process somewhat.

If youre going to be working in more moderate temps, the Medium cure (3:1) works great.

Hoping to get US Composites and my CPES ordered today. Not sure about several things. Looking for some advice.

1. How much Cabosil? Seems like those who have ordered the 10lb bags don’t use very much of it. Should I go for less? http://www.uscomposites.com/fillers.html

2. Do I need any other filler/thickener besides the Cabosil? I see others use milled fiber.

3. Here’s what I am understanding as far as the layup goes.

a. CPES the stringers/wood.

b. ???Do I wrap with fiberglass before embedding or embed straight CPES coated stringers to hull???

c. Bed stringers down in thickened epoxy.

d. Filet with thickened epoxy.

e. Down the length of the stringers from the stringer to the hull, glass 2 inch tape followed by 4 inch then 8 inch. Then 12 inch biax followed by capping with 12 inch biax. ???One layer each???

f. Same with ribs. Maybe no biax?

g. CPES floor. Do I glass as well?
h. Bed floor to stringers with thickened epoxy.

i. Glass floor to sides of hull. In layers?
j. Glue down vinyl floor.

4. On the plywood floor, if I am to glass it, do I use cloth and how much and what thickness?

5. Are most people getting their CPES from Jamestown? Smiths Warm CPES Epoxy
2 gal kit enough?

Sorry for the bombardment of questions. This whole thing is mind boggling the first time around.

I know I’ll also need brushes, etc.

If you see anything I need to add, change, remove, please let me know.

As always, many thanks!

1. I would say 2-3 lbs of cabosil is plenty. That is the only filler I used and it works great.

3. Bed the stringers first and glass them in place so you are getting adhesion to the hull.
Double up the 2/4/8 layers. Probably going to have to get 2 rolls of each. I only doubled the biax on the tops of the stringers from the engine to the tranny mounts. I used the 8.9 0z cloth and 1.5 oz mat on the floor after taping it to the hull with the 2/4/8. Mat first and then cloth for a nice surface was plenty thick enough for me.

I would get a small paint mixer for your drill for mixing epoxy and especially when you use the filler. Worth its weight in gold. You will use a ton of mixing cups and paint brushes. I found walmart has a box of plastic drop cloths for cheap. It is easiest to wet out the material on a dropcloth before putting it in place.

Remember the rollers for rolling air out of the layup and you will probably go through a few gallons of acetone.

Keep track of your hours!

Don't keep track of your hours! It'll make you think too much about the value of your time, and being one who just finished a boat, it's worth it... but for the first one, it takes a lot more hours than it should. Worth it though!
Bed the cpes and epoxyed stringers in cabosil. A layer of glass between them is just another bond that could fail. And filet the edges with it too.

No problem! I have to do something with all this useful knowledge in my head.

You got it. The cabosil thickens the epoxy to desired viscosity. You can get it to the point of peanut butter so it stays where you put it. It gets thinner as it starts to kick so on the bilge side of the stringers make sure you make it extra thick for the fillet so it does not run. Any gaps you have after bedding can be filled when you make your fillets. Use the radius on the top of a bondo spreader to make a nice smooth fillet and squeeze epoxy into any voids. You dont use any filler when wetting out the material. Definitely use it to bond the floor to the stringers. Think I made fillets from the floor to hull as well to get a good transition. On the floor I did one layer of cloth on the bottom, then 1 layer each of the mat and cloth on the top. I did beef up the pylon area with a layer of biaxial. I love that stuff. Super strong!

For the rollers I would get one that is narrow like 3" for tight spots. The wider one for the majority of the work and definitely get a corner roller. I would say the bigger diameter barrel on the roller is probably better. Make sure you get them in acetone as soon as your finished or they are done.

I know you are excited. Gonna be worth every bit of the labor. I am really glad I have not kept up with my hours! Like Charger was talking about I could do another on in half the time! Plus now I have all the tools.

Just realized that the epoxy mat sheets from USC has been discontinued. They say their 1.5 oz chopped strand mat could be considered a substitute. Any thoughts on that?

I found that the mat is more difficult to work with to get a smooth finish but I am sure it will work. I would just get the 8.9 and use that instead of getting the lighter stuff but would be interested to hear what others have to say. 2 layers of 8.9 will take a ton of resin. Its way thicker than the 8.9 cloth tape. If you use it and put 1 layer on the bottom and 2 on top you can probably get away using thinner plywood on the floor.

I got my CPES from rotdoctor and had no complaints. It came with these paper pour spouts that are crucial. I heard somebody else say they did not get them and wasted about as much as they used. As expensive as that stuff is I would be POed sloshing that stuff around. The containers it comes in are not pour friendly without the spouts.

Chip brushes go on sale at HF all the time. They also have the small paintmixer I was talking about. The shaft was too long so I cut it down to the size that worked best. Their mixing cups are not the best. HD or LOwes had something better and the wide mouth 1.5 gallon plastic paint buckets are good for mixing in cabosil. Good trick for reusing the mixing cups is to leave the brush in the cup and let it harden. Then pull the brush out along with all the kicked resin and you have a clean cup.

Pumps... Cant remember if I used 2 or 3 sets. They are great for small batches but when you bed your stringers and make fillets you will be mixing up a quart or more at a time so your better off using the graduations on the mixing bucket at that point.

The other thing you are going to go through like air is gloves. At the end I was buying the blue nitrile gloves. way more durable and comfortable. HF has those too.

Man I get excited talking about this stuff. Way more fun than polishing aluminum which is what I have been doing for the last couple of weeks. Gonna have awesome rub rails when I am done though!

vondy wrote: Got plenty of gloves.

Tell the wife to make sure she picks up AT LEAST 4 cases of beer on her next Costco run!





And be sure to buy a couple replacements in the event your case starts to get a little lighter!

Not sure if Tim is ever going to drink those or not...maybe if he ever finishes his boat