How do I restore my livewell

[Paul56]

I have a 1981 or 82 16ft Ozark fiberglass bass boat with a 60 hp Johnson outborad on it.
The seats behind the walk thru conslo also work as the two live wells they are made of wood and need to be replaced.
I have worked with wood and fiberglass for over 30years but never togather this is my first boat. I am trying to find out what I am going to be getting into when I start the job of replaceing the bench seat box that has the live well in it. How is the box mounted to the hull or deck flooring. Any help would be nice I haven,t pulled the carpet back yet I was wanting to do this as winter comes so I could get some fishing in this year.
Thank you for any help on this matter.

 

[BigLee324]

Re: How do I restore my livewell

i hope i can help.
you will get help now that you have a response , the thread will be moved back to page 1

 

[BigLee324]

Re: How do I restore my livewell

been tring to respond, i think i got my posting issue fixed.
First be sure the boxes is the only rot you have , you will want to check all the deck and stringers if possible as well as the bottom of the transom on the inside of the boat.

The bench seats/boxes, livewells are most likely glassed to the deck and may have been glued prior to glassing.
You would need to cut them off even with the deck using a grinder with a cutoff wheel or a sawzall, but the sawzall would not leave you with a good template for the rebuild.

You will want to construct the bench seats/livewells out of a 1/2 to 3/4 plywood with no voids in the wood, such as marine grade , arauco, exterior grade or underlayment.
These will work as they are constructed with very little to no voids and are assembled with waterproof glue and each layer is turned opposite direction to the previous layer.

Construct the benches/live wells to the desired size and glass the box portion along with the bottom half of the bench. also glass the inside of the livewell but after it dries you will also gel coat the inside of the live well wich will give you the smooth white surface as is seen inside live wells.

You will need to grind the area of the deck around where the bench will go back in, and you then glue it down with PL construction adhesive and glass over it where the bech and deck meet.Use what is refered to as fiber glass tape wich is biaxl cloth in strips of about 12' wide.
it will look something like thisView attachment 155934
it is put down using poly resin and is not realy tape , just refer'd to tape due to the size

When glassing the box/bench you would want to do it in layers, Resin,chop strand mat(CSM), resin,CSM,resin and 1708 biaxl mat/cloth ,resin
LAY ALL OF THIS ONE AFTER ANOTHER BEFORE IT DRIES

 

[Paul56]

Re: How do I restore my livewell

been tring to respond, i think i got my posting issue fixed.
First be sure the boxes is the only rot you have , you will want to check all the deck and stringers if possible as well as the bottom of the transom on the inside of the boat.

The bench seats/boxes, livewells are most likely glassed to the deck and may have been glued prior to glassing.
You would need to cut them off even with the deck using a grinder with a cutoff wheel or a sawzall, but the sawzall would not leave you with a good template for the rebuild.

You will want to construct the bench seats/livewells out of a 1/2 to 3/4 plywood with no voids in the wood, such as marine grade , arauco, exterior grade or underlayment.
These will work as they are constructed with very little to no voids and are assembled with waterproof glue and each layer is turned opposite direction to the previous layer.

Construct the benches/live wells to the desired size and glass the box portion along with the bottom half of the bench. also glass the inside of the livewell but after it dries you will also gel coat the inside of the live well wich will give you the smooth white surface as is seen inside live wells.

You will need to grind the area of the deck around where the bench will go back in, and you then glue it down with PL construction adhesive and glass over it where the bech and deck meet.Use what is refered to as fiber glass tape wich is biaxl cloth in strips of about 12' wide.
it will look something like thisView attachment 155934
it is put down using poly resin and is not realy tape , just refer'd to tape due to the size

When glassing the box/bench you would want to do it in layers, Resin,chop strand mat(CSM), resin,CSM,resin and 1708 biaxl mat/cloth ,resin
LAY ALL OF THIS ONE AFTER ANOTHER BEFORE IT DRIES

Thank you for the photo it has helped I am taking that it is showing me the stringer and the deck where they are bonded to each other. You are right I will need to replace all the rot that I can find. I have been working with fiberglass gor the last 30 years on aircraft and as you know we really don't get much water damage the patteren are no big deal the was the first job I had years ago in tooling a plaster plastic pattern maker I found it is a lot of fun making them sometimes we have to think outside the box . I will also be replacing the box behind the bench seats which is where my fuel and batts are stored I think I will put a wall between the two just for safety reasons with a blower in each box in order to vent out any fumes that may come from the fuel tanks. Well of to work. Thank if you have any more photos of how they mount the wood decking and other thing to fiberglass boat I would like to see them too Thank you again.

 

[BigLee324]

Re: How do I restore my livewell

the pic above is of a stringer, you are correct, but this is the same method you would use to mount the bench to the deck, i'll see if i can get some pics.


notice how the bottom edge of this box is tabbed to the deck,you would do it this way just to start and hold it in place.You would then do the entire seam so that it is all tabbed.

 

[Paul56]

Re: How do I restore my livewell

the pic above is of a stringer, you are correct, but this is the same method you would use to mount the bench to the deck, i'll see if i can get some pics.

View attachment 155992
notice how the bottom edge of this box is tabbed to the deck,you would do it this way just to start and hold it in place.You would then do the entire seam so that it is all tabbed.

Hey thanks again I think I have some pre made tabs in the shop if I can just find them my live well is is going to be my ice cooler for I would say 3 to 4 gals of Tea got to have it LOL just in case the fish are not biting have to stay cool.
The photos help out a lot I have been reading some here on this site I was thinking that is what everyone ment when they would tell someone to tab it . I want to thank you again for all your help I'm heading to the lake in the morning for some fishing been working on lights shorts in the lights some I need to try every thing out have a safe 4th this year.
God bless