My Speed Boat project from scratch

[Roscouk]

Hi Guys i'm a newbie to this forum and at the moment I consider myself quite a newbie to boating. Just recently I've been out on a friends inflatable 3.0m boat with a small 8hp outboard, I had so much fun that I've decided to get myself something bigger and start a project boat for myself.

After much searching on ebay i found myself what I think is a worthy enough base. Its a 17ft speed boat (if you know the model or make please enlighten me) I got it super cheap and with trailer that is in excellent condition.

A friend has told me that I can have a 90hp engine for this.

At the moment it is literally a hull and thats about it, over the next month I will be:

- Painting a new colour scheme.
- Fitting steering and throttle system.
- Building Interior, I have 2 black leather bucket seats waiting. Rest to match.
- Fitting some sort of soundsystem, CD player, Speakers etc.

I'm live in London england and will be taking this out on the Thames and on weekends down to Bournemouth, Brighton and the coast.


I guess my first question is about painting the old girl. Any advice greatly appreciated. Shall I rub it down first? What paint to use and how much of it to use? How many coats?

Kind Regards
Rosco

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: My Speed Boat project from scratch

that boat should handle a 90hp nicely, but don't you have a lot of speed restrictions on your rivers. yes 90hp would be nice in the ocean, but if you have the restrictions i've heard of, it might be a waste.

there are others here that have far more experience refinishing fiberglass, i will leave that to them.
also check out some of the Chevrolet Corvette forums, the body has a lot of fiberglass, and they do all types of things with it.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: My Speed Boat project from scratch

Rosco, it appears to be a worthy project. The firstest thing to do is to determine if the structural components of the boat are intact. Take an icepick and stick it gently into the transom and floor to see if they are not rotten. Solid fiberglass will not be penetrated by a single blow from the icepick. Inspect the exterior, underside of the hull for cracks and chips. If these are deep, you need to fix them in a structural fashion. If they are cosmetic, then some marine putty will fix them up.

If it is good, you may proceed onto the rebuild.

 

[Roscouk]

Re: My Speed Boat project from scratch

Thanks for the advice guys. I pick the boat up on saturday , I hope it is not too rotten, the owner says it is in pretty good condidtion, and i'm paying just a 3rd of what we originally has asked for, as he would rather see someone get good use out of it than it sat in his garden taking up space.

Chris1956 you say

"Take an icepick and stick it gently into the transom and floor to see if they are not rotten"

Can I ask what a transom is? and where is this located on the boat, does this basically mean that I should look under the floor to see if any of the wood is rotten?

The boat has been sat for the last 2 years, so once I get my hands on it this weekend I'm going to be cleaning alot and inspecting. Will post new pics up soon, and hopefully get the project started.

Thanks
Rosco

 

[Scout Sport Fish]

Re: My Speed Boat project from scratch

Transome is the back part of the boat where the engine would be mounted. The vertical wall in the back. Older boats had (and some newer ones) have wood inbetween the to layers to add thickness and stregnth. If you replace it I suggest using some kind of composite.

 

[Roscouk]

Re: My Speed Boat project from scratch

Thanks for the swift reply.

I now have the boat in my posession and have started to clean it up whenever I get some free time. It had been sitting so long that it needed a long overdue clean. I got the pressure washer out and gave it a good going over, took about an hour of jetwashing but it looks like a new boat now.

I've found out that the boat used to be white, and the yellow is actually a re-spray. It has been done very well as I couldn't tell at first. I was plannning to paint this boat back to white, but I think I might just stick with the yellow now and spend the money on the interior and soundsystem.

The Transome seems to be fine, no signs of rot or weakness which is good, however the floor is very rotten, I think the previous owner had cut the plastic floor to fit seats in and has left the wood underneath open to the elements.

First job for me then before I start building the interior is to get a new floor in. I'm planning on taking that plastic interior floor out and getting rid of it. I think I might create a floor out of wood and then carpet it. Is this advisable?

What wood should I use for the floor?
Does the wood have to be treated?

Thanks
Rosco

 

[WAVENBYE2]

Re: My Speed Boat project from scratch

If you use wood, because its cheaper Paint it with a good quality marine paint/sealer before you carpet it.These guys know better than I do. Just wanted to say "Sleek" looking boat !! Definitly keep us posted on your progress, I also am learning from these guys(pro's) too. Welcome to IBOATS, I will be posting my pics too!! PS: I like the color.>>>Pat

 

[Chris1956]

Re: My Speed Boat project from scratch

Rosco, Most older fiberglass boats have wooden stringers and frames, which have been surrounded with pour in foam to act as floatation. They usually foam up the vee part of the hull until they have a flat surface gunwale to gunwale. This flat surface is then covered with 1/2 plywood and fiberglassed to the sides to make it waterproof and protect the foam from water. The plywood is alos glassed to protect it from water. If this is how the original boat was constructed, I recommend you restore it that way for safety's sake.

 

[Roscouk]

Re: My Speed Boat project from scratch

I was planning on carefully removing the old boat floor, but it wouldn't come out without a good fight. So I took an angle grinder to it. I now plan to put a new wooden floor down and cover this in fiberglass.

 

[WAVENBYE2]

Re: My Speed Boat project from scratch

Make sure you also construct good reinforcements for your seats under the flooring(of your choice) you don't want to just screw them down to just the (plywood?).

 

[Roscouk]

Re: My Speed Boat project from scratch

I have now created a new floor using 18mm good quality plywood. I've cut this to a rough size to follow the shape of the hull and it now fits well.

I've given in 3 coats of tough varnish to protect the wood

I'm thinking of creating some sides to the boat, from the floor to the edge of the hull, just to keep everything enclosed. I'm also going to get some more wood for the front of the boat to extend the legroom a bit.

Should I be screwing this floor down the beams in the boat?
Once this floor is down I will be carpeting the lot in a man made marine carpet. It doesn't really move about at the moment, but should I screw down to make sure?

Thanks
Rosco

 

[Coors]

Re: My Speed Boat project from scratch

Did I miss something? were the stringers checked for rot?

 

[Coors]

Re: My Speed Boat project from scratch

If you use wood, because its cheaper Paint it with a good quality marine paint/sealer before you carpet it.These guys know better than I do. Just wanted to say "Sleek" looking boat !! Definitly keep us posted on your progress, I also am learning from these guys(pro's) too. Welcome to IBOATS, I will be posting my pics too!! PS: I like the color.>>>Pat

epoxy.

 

[Solittle]

Re: My Speed Boat project from scratch

You need to attach the floor to the stringers and side of the hull with fiberglass and put fiberglass over the entire top surface of the floor. Varnish won't cut it. Spend a couple of hours here reading other posts from guys who did or are redoing their floors on what you need to do & how.

 

[bigtom]

Re: My Speed Boat project from scratch

Looks good

 

[Cptkid570]

Re: My Speed Boat project from scratch

The black seats that you want to put into it may get pretty hot once the sun hits them too..

 

[Roscouk]

Re: My Speed Boat project from scratch

I live in England...... Sun....? lol