1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

[jones01m]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

Check out the transome rot. You can see a clear transition between rot and good material - there aint much good left.

Finally got the big glass sheets up. I used a hammer and chisel one layer at a time.

Question: Have you experts ever seen anything like what is shown in the last picture. I looks like the sides of the boat are made of a foam CSM laminate. Any special precautions here?

 

[MountaineerMiner]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

Sorry I cant reply on the foam/CSM issue, but congrates on the grinding; thats the worst part. Are you going to use plywood or water resistant hardwood for the stringers?

 

[jones01m]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

Thanks MM. I wish I could say I was done with the sanding! I am thinking glass coated ply for the stringers.

This foam on the side is messing me up. It is easy to remove, however, it increases the wall stiffness a lot. I am having a really difficult time removing the carpet adhesive out of the original coarse fibered CSM. Suggestions for adhesive removal???

 

[jones01m]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

I read a bunch of posts last night about adhesive removal. I decided not to mess with the foam core material - I am glassing back over the top after I have finished prep.

I tried MEK for several hour last night. It did a good job in breaking down the carpet backing, but made a gooey mess out of the adhesive. I can darn near stick new carpet back down in the state that it is in now. There were several post about using paint strpper for adhesive removal.

Will paint stripper mess up my foam or make a surface that is no adequate for proper glass bonding?

 

[boatnut74]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

That's quite the cradle you constructed! That boat shouldn't move a muscle. As for the foam, I think they put that there for flotation and then glassed it in to hold it in place. I have seen this on a few parts boats I've had.

 

[jones01m]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

Thanks Boatnut.

---------------

On the topic of that foam core in the side of the hull in the last picture. On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is this for the structure of the boat? Gobs of adhesive is keyed into the fibers of the sheet of CSM coating the inboard side. If I cannot get the adhesive out (I'm losing hope), I would prefer to just take out this foam. I asked a general adhesive removal question in another thread (does not need to be re-visited here).

Again, thank you in advance for the help. I need to make a decision soon.

 

[MountaineerMiner]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

I was cruising some antique boat sites and came across this beauty. It not an Arabian, but is definitely one of the cleanest classics I?ve seen; it also led me to the following link. If you haven?t heard of them yet they specialize in Century restoration parts. I was really impressed with their upholstery kits; I wish I could find something like this for the Mustang.

http://www.antiqueboat.com/boatdetails/10064- C16.aspx

http://www.classicboating.com/

Keep up the good work!

 

[jones01m]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

MM, you got me thinking. Thanks for the links. That upholstery gave me an idea... although I am sure it has been done before.
About this stiffness thing with removing the foam core material... What if I ran a couple of ribs down the length of the side of the hull and stiffened them with fiberglass. Then ran a couple of glass gussets in my engine compartment and up near the bow to tie the whole membrane together.

I could upholster a thin glassed pannel and then attach to the longitudinal ribs.

---

 

[jones01m]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

SANDED!!!!!!!!

12 full hours of sanding Saturday! I have a whole new appreciation for this project!

Now I need to start heading the other direction and actually start to build. I am really excited.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

Nice work. Sure will be nice putting stuff back in!

 

[jones01m]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

EZ - Yes it will!!! thanks

Ordered the resin tonight. This project is just as much about making decisions as it is doing the work.

 

[jones01m]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

Sometimes you got to stop and smell the roses... or in this case... sunflowers.
the kids humbled me this morning with the simple pleasure of picking sunflower seeds. How cool.

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

Sweet boat man. You are lucky you can do the restore in your garage. It makes it much easier.

 

[jones01m]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

Thanks friscoboater. I have learned a great deal from your Sea Ray thread.
The boat in the garage is a bit of a double edged sword. I made a mess in there with the fiberglass dust, however, it is convenient have it out of the elements. The best advantage thus far is prabably being able to hoist everything on the boat from a beam supporting the upstairs room - it runs right down the center of the garage. I've been thinking heavily about an enclosure like Archbuilder made for use when I do more sanding, and eventually, painting.

No real updates on the boat this weekend. I am waiting for some supplies I ordered from USComposits last week. I took the time, however, to vaccuum fiberglass out of the garage.

I can't wait to get down my first glass!!!

 

[jones01m]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

I received my materials last night from USComposites. I have to put a plug in for them here as everything was packaged very nice and the fiberglass came on rolls.

I ended up chosing the 3:1 epoxy system primarily because of the VOCs. I have a family and the restoration is being performed in the attached garage, so I don't want them to have to be inhaling my projoct all the time. The other primary reason is my son is helping with this project and I don't want the vapors to be an obsticle to prevent him from doing so.

I ran a test on the epoxy last night - you (I) can hardly smell it!

Please don't tell me how I made a mistake by not choosing poly. I chose the epoxy system for a good reason (family's health and comforrt) and came to this conclusion after reading countless threads and literature on the topic.

So... I would love to get suggestions for good layup schedules to best take advantage of the epoxy resin I chose. I appreciate the help!!!

 

[Hydra-sport_Road-kill]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

I'm a day or two from starting the grinding phase and am working in my garage as well. The only hold up is our triple digit heat index and the idea of wearing tyveck in it. My question is about weather or not to drape the boat's area off in one of those giant plastic sheets. So my request is for your thoughts on how bad the clean up is. Did the dust coat about everything in the garage??? It seems better to find out about this from the recently experienced.

 

[jones01m]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

Hydra-sport_Road-kill... diggin' the name!!!

I wish I would have been wise enough to ask the question. If you don't want it coated in glass dust, cover it. It gets EVERYWHERE!!!
If it gets on your clothes blow them off then wash them in a separate load... twice. I am still being poked by some of my clothes. Wear the Tyvek suit and grind until your done. That cheap 7" grinder I have pictured in one of the posts worked perfect. I used one of those sanding disks with a bunch of little sandpaper pieces stacked on the edge at an angle (Lowes) - never had to change the disk.

Use the plastic you mentioned to cover things up.

 

[jones01m]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

The plan this weekend is to start reinforcing some thin areas in the hull and make a transome pattern.

Let's dream a little here guys!! If I were to take full advantage of the mechanical properties of the epoxy, what materials would you use (and where) for the lightest and stiff structure during my rebuild? Right now all I have is the hull, so the dream is open. I can make the cost judgements. I have read kpiazzisi's thread with his use of composites and I am thinking something like this. Erikgreen also seems to think out of the box here after reading some of his posts. I would like the dream to be big, then I can make the judgement where to reign it in.

 

[MountaineerMiner]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

jones,
What is it you wish to accomplish through weight reduction and increased stiffness? Im not being critical, only adding to your question.

I?m quite unfamiliar with naval architecture and just want to better understand the relationship between stiffness, weight, length of water line, displacement, metacentric height, center of buoyancy, ect?

 

[jones01m]

Re: 1976 Century Arabian - Mercruiser 888 - Boat Restoration

MM, with respect to the comment on being critical... this is precise what I am looking for: being critical. I want to gain some insight from people thinking critical.

Sorry, have to finish my thought later, as I am at work and just got called into a meeting... I'm on lunch of course.