1972 St. Maurice Project

[BoatMonkey]

Hi - I thought a good way to introduce myself is to explain how I initially found these forums.

I've been wanting a boat for as long as I've been fishing and I had the opportunity to pick one up from a friend of the family at a price too good to pass up (if I had to, I could sell the motor for over twice what I bought the motor/trailer/boat for). Besides, it's a '72 - my birth year so it has to be a good year .

When I looked at the boat I could see it was in rough shape but the engine was good and it just had a tune up). I thought I could drop in some better seats and be all set to go... ha! After getting the boat home and checking things out (and reading and reading and reading) I discovered the floor was spongy and upon reading many threads determined that I would have to replace part of the floor to get in the fishing seats I wanted....Why stop there? If I am going through the effort of putting in a new floor and seats I might as well make it look pretty in the process... so my weekend fishing boat has become a project and sadly, an obsession.

These forums have been very informative and I hope to rely on them further if I find myself in a bind....

14' St. Maurice / Sears Fiberglass
50 HP Evinrude Motor

 

[glnbnz]

Re: 1972 St. Maurice Project

Welcome to iBoats...

Yes indeed it all starts with the motor and it looks like you can make a pretty fine fishing rig with this boat. Good luck!!

 

[BoatMonkey]

Re: 1972 St. Maurice Project

Thanks.

I managed to get it apart, needless to say it wasn't easy. I am expecting to be replacing the floor pretty quick and suspected with the age that the stern would be needing some work. However, it's not what I was expecting... Does anyone know - if I replace the wood, would I cut through the fibreglass? Or could I slide in a new piece if I can clean out the old debris?

 

[BoatMonkey]

Re: 1972 St. Maurice Project

So I'm finally starting to make some head way with this project. The floor is out, the stringers are cut and coated in epoxy. I have the new transom made and just about to coat that to get it ready to install... and I think I've hit a glitch.

So from what I have been reading, I mix up some silica, chopped mat fibers and some epoxy to make a paste to fit into my gaps - but, I don't know if it's a product of living in the prairies and not many water sources around, but when visiting the shop supply places, no ones ever heard of silica or chopped mat for mixing. Silica appears to just be like those salt packets and only increases drying time by absorbing the moisture but the real mixture is the chopped fibers and epoxy.

Is there another product I can use? Would bondo work just as well? I have considered ordering some of the 'proper' ingredients, but at this point I don't want to wait 2-3 weeks for it to arrive.

 

[Gator1996]

Re: 1972 St. Maurice Project

It looks like you aren't getting a lot of answers so I'll throw a try out there. You might try at your shops by the brand name Cabosil for the fumed silica. I have never had any fiberglass person not know what that is when using the cabosil name. As far as the chopped mat, it really is strands of CSM. It goes by the name chopped strand. So the name may also help here.

I found Cabosil at west marine and both of my local fiberglass shops. I also have bought it from the fiberglass shop at a local marina. I took a bucket up there and they had a 55 gallon drum full. Charged me 4 or 5 bucks a quart.

I will tell you that it is worth getting the right products for the job so if it takes a couple of days to ship, do something else in the meantime. US Composites has the best prices but higher/slower shipping. I also like Jamestown Distributors, their stuff is a bit more expensive but shipping is faster and often free on their mobile site or with a coupon code often found on their website. Probably a wash but you may save a day or two's wait.

Good luck

 

[BoatMonkey]

Re: 1972 St. Maurice Project

Thank you for the reply.
The board had gone down after I posted my question and I was beginning to think either I broke it or got black listed for mentioning bondo heh heh...

I had found a place in town that would sell fibreglass by the foot off the roll and I was going to see if they had a lot of scraps that I would be able to manually shred myself. All the other places just had fibreglass in prepackaged bags. I'm headed back over there tonight or tomorrow so I will ask them about 'Cabosil' and as 'chopped strand'. Maybe that will get me a little further with them.

I am a little anxious to get this in the water before winter. We've already had a frost warnings so I know I only have a little amount of time before the snow starts - plus, I told the wife we would have it in before winter and I have to keep face