'82 Bomber backyard rebuild

[laurentide]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

More minor progress today. I got the transom out, and it was definitely in need of replacement (sorry, no pics today...but I swear it happened!). The inner 3/4" ply was garbage, and the port side of the outer one was trashed. I have one good half of one of the laminates, so I figure a straight edge down the center line and a mirror image transferred to the other half should give me a good starting point.

Has anyone ever used a grinder on glass in light rain? My weekend starts on Tuesday and both days look to be a 50% chance of showers...and I need to get all the demo done before putting it to bed for the winter. Thanks guys.

I hope those to the south of here get through the storm OK.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

Get a cheap HF tarp and stay dry.

 

[laurentide]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

Get a cheap HF tarp and stay dry.

OK, will do, Wood. I've got my pvc "tunnel" frame from last winter to put under it. Thanks.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

In this photo, you can see an interesting feature that my boat shares: that recessed lip at the edge of the bow "seating" ring, which pretty much begs to have a deck extension tabbed in with a pedestal seat attached. Then, underneath, a battery for a 12 volt trolling motor on the bow.

.

I think that same thing every time I see one of those "bowrider" setups!

It makes me wat to go out and buy a sheet of 3/4" decking, cut it to fit and screw it down... slap a pedestal seat on it and say "This is the way it's supposed to be!"

It'll give me great pleasure to see you do the right thing to your boat!

 

[laurentide]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

I think that same thing every time I see one of those "bowrider" setups!

It makes me wat to go out and buy a sheet of 3/4" decking, cut it to fit and screw it down... slap a pedestal seat on it and say "This is the way it's supposed to be!"

It'll give me great pleasure to see you do the right thing to your boat!

Yeah, especially since "bowrider" is kind of a misnomer unless you disregard common sense and safety. I'm glad you feel the same way...consider it part of the plan!

 

[laurentide]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

No real progress, just cleaning up my mess:

...and creating my cozy little dust cave:

Just a shot of the transom with wood removed:

Transom template:

I had to get a bunch of yard work done this week now that the big trees have shed their leaves, so not much boat progress. I hope to be suiting up and grinding tomorrow. Cheers all.

 

[sphelps]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

Cool dust cave ! looks like it will work just fine !

 

[saginawbayboater]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

No real progress, just cleaning up my mess:

...and creating my cozy little dust cave:

Just a shot of the transom with wood removed:

Transom template:

I had to get a bunch of yard work done this week now that the big trees have shed their leaves, so not much boat progress. I hope to be suiting up and grinding tomorrow. Cheers all.

Wow the transom wasn't bonded! I bet it came out easy? Good for demo purposes. Looking good!!!!

 

[laurentide]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

Wow the transom wasn't bonded! I bet it came out easy? Good for demo purposes. Looking good!!!!

Yeah, it popped out with some leverage. Most of the wood I pulled out of the boat was wet, but not rotted through.

Man, grinding isn't fun or anything, but it's nice to see fresh glass and to be getting closer to the actual rebuild stage.

I'm not sure if it's a rite of passage or anything, but I had my first through-hull grinding incident. It's on the corner edge of one of the chines by the transom, right where there will be lots of "PB" for the transom installation, so hopefully no biggie.

I'll post some pics this weekend when I'm done with this phase. Cheers.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

If you don't grind a hole in the hull....You're NOT working hard and or fast enuf Don't worry it's an easy fix.

 

[laurentide]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

If you don't grind a hole in the hull....You're NOT working hard and or fast enuf Don't worry it's an easy fix.

Haha...yeah, that's what I figured. Good to hear. It probably won't be the last one, either.

 

[laurentide]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

Just out of curiosity, I decided to call the only local resin/glass supplier I could find to get some prices. Well, I won't be buying from him. $225/5 gallons of standard layup resin (plus sales tax, of course), $6+/yard for 38" 1.5 oz CSM, and I didn't even bother to ask about 1708. The local guy's CSM is more than US Composite's 1708. To be fair, he's just a small shop doing repair work, and not a distributor, and I wanted to give him my business, but......no.

So now I'm just trying to figure out the shipping costs at US Composites. So let's say I need 8 gallons of standard resin, which is just under 67 lbs, plus the weight of 15 yards of csm/biaxial/etc...should bring my order to about 80 lbs. So that's $80 in shipping, but will I have to pay more than the standard $25 hazmat fee? It says "$25 per 5 gallon pail," but what about the other 3 gallons? Should I just get 10 gallons and make up the shipping/hazmat in lower material cost?

Either way, it's still way cheaper than my local guy. I'm obviously doing the whole job to a 15' boat, so I guess I'm just wondering how much resin others have used on similar projects. Thanks gents.

 

[saginawbayboater]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

Just out of curiosity, I decided to call the only local resin/glass supplier I could find to get some prices. Well, I won't be buying from him. $225/5 gallons of standard layup resin (plus sales tax, of course), $6+/yard for 38" 1.5 oz CSM, and I didn't even bother to ask about 1708. The local guy's CSM is more than US Composite's 1708. To be fair, he's just a small shop doing repair work, and not a distributor, and I wanted to give him my business, but......no.

So now I'm just trying to figure out the shipping costs at US Composites. So let's say I need 8 gallons of standard resin, which is just under 67 lbs, plus the weight of 15 yards of csm/biaxial/etc...should bring my order to about 80 lbs. So that's $80 in shipping, but will I have to pay more than the standard $25 hazmat fee? It says "$25 per 5 gallon pail," but what about the other 3 gallons? Should I just get 10 gallons and make up the shipping/hazmat in lower material cost?

Either way, it's still way cheaper than my local guy. I'm obviously doing the whole job to a 15' boat, so I guess I'm just wondering how much resin others have used on similar projects. Thanks gents.

The 5 gal of 435 poly shipped to my door was 200.00 give or take. That is a separate box. If you buy individual gallons there is no hazmat fee because of the smaller quantity but it costs more for the smaller amount. If you bought 5, 1 gallon cans it would be more than 5 gallon bucket with hazmat fee. I couldn't even come close to those prices around my place. The boat joints around here have never heard of poly before, no joke. I live in the West System motherland. The Gougeon Brothers plant is on the Saginaw river in Bay city Michigan. So It's funny I have poly shipped in from Florida. The rest of US composites products are priced great and normal shipping charges.

 

[laurentide]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

Saginaw, thanks. That makes sense now.

Yeah, I've got a West Marine here, but I'm attempting to avoid walking in there at all reasonable costs. It's literally the only retail shop for any glass materials...except for the guy who's willing to sell some of his stock to me.

I think I'll buy 5 gals from USC, plus all my fiberglass, and then get the rest of the resin that I need from the local dude. I think it may be cost effective, as he charges the same price for each gallon.

This is all still a ways off for me, but I'm trying to avoid future sticker shock come springtime. I'm still grinding...a little at a time. Have a good evening.

 

[saginawbayboater]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

Also along the same lines is the stuff to mix up peanut butter. I didn't antisipate needing so much peanut butter. I bought the 2lb 1/4" chopped strand and it has lasted through the transom and the stringers and I still have a good bit left. One thing I was short all the time was cabosil. I recommend the 4 gallon bucket to start. I bought the 2.5 quart to start and I was out after the transom. Then I bought the 5 quart and I ran out half way through bedding in the stringers. Then I bought the 4 gallon bucket and I should have enough for a while. You will use it doing the transom, strings, and deck! The cabosil doesn't go very far you mix about a quart and a half to one quart resin plus about a 1/4 cup chop strand or so. Just my 2 cent observation!

Take Care!

 

[laurentide]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

^^^Thanks man, I'll keep this in mind when I order. I tried to reply last night, but the forum links were going to strange places.

 

[laurentide]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

NM...

 

[laurentide]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

Greetings, it's been a while. Winter in northern New England is not very accommodating for fiberglass work, so here I sit looking out the window at my disassembled fiberglass boat, browsing craigslist and watching the snow fall.

While I'm certainly not at the point of abandoning my project, this CL ad caught my attention in a big way. The guy is asking $850 for this rig, and I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with "Blue Fin" boats. It's obviously an aluminum hull, has a 60 hp Johnson, and I'm assuming transom, deck, and foam replacement are given necessities. But not messing with fiberglass sounds pretty attractive (well, I did finish all the grinding, but whatever).

I'm thinking I could either sell my Johnson 70, or swap it with this 60 and sell that one, plus the old trailer for a few hundred.

What do y'all think of this rig?

I haven't even emailed the guy yet, so it could be gone already, but what would be a fair offer here?

Thanks for looking!

 

[laurentide]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

Oh, yeah, another question: would I be getting into even more work than I have ahead of me with the glass boat? Grinding is done on that hull. Thanks.

EDIT: yeah, I realize that some fiberglassing would be required on this alternate project, but the metal stringers and bulkheads should all be there to start. Really torn here...but the "admiral" will likely shoot it down before my wheels get spinning too fast.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: '82 Bomber backyard rebuild

Oh, yeah, another question: would I be getting into even more work than I have ahead of me with the glass boat? Grinding is done on that hull. Thanks.

EDIT: yeah, I realize that some fiberglassing would be required on this alternate project, but the metal stringers and bulkheads should all be there to start. Really torn here...but the "admiral" will likely shoot it down before my wheels get spinning too fast.

Dude!!! No fiberglassing in an aluminum boat!!! ... epoxy resin is all you need.

Blue Fins are good boats and there's a few restos of them on here.

You can probably figure deck, foam, transom replacement, maybe replacing a few rivets to stop leaks (which is easy), and Gluvit on the inside seams and rivets for future leak prevention.... and this will actually be cheaper and quicker than finishing that f'glass thing sitting in your yard.

Tinnies are a much easier and quicker fix than the itchy stuff.

Here's a link to the Blue Fin forum here on iboats:
http://forums.iboats.com/blue-fin-boats-142/?boatid=35

There's a few restorations in there.