1975 18' rebuild

[small45]

i'm in western north carolina around lake lure/chimney rock. you can reach me at 828 429 4850. it's kinda hit or miss on the reception here but if you don't get me leave a voicemail i'll call back.


i made some progress on the striger caps and bulkheads holding the tanks in. also got one of the cap pieces de-cored and ready to rebuild. i'll get some pics on tonight showing this as the design seemed kinda strange and i need some opinions.

[wtenglish]

Looking good. Keep up the good work!

[small45]

Not much progress this week but almost ready to start making some progress on the floor. i just need to finish mounting my fuel tanks a make accomadations for the rigging tubes.

i started digging into the gunnel caps(pretty sure these are unique to the 18') as they seemed overly heavy, i figured the core material must be wet. upon cutting into them, i was surprised to find the plywood cores were actually dripping water. i would say they were probably wetter than even the transom core was. this suprised me because the boat sat in covered storage for two years since i bought. i guess its a good example of trapped moisture.

some pics of the caps





i realize it's hard to see it in the last picture but the caps have 2" or so of camber in their 13' of lenght. that explains why the plywood coring had dozens of dato cuts in it that go thru all but the bottom layer...just make it more easily conform to the camber. so this leaves me with some questions.

should i replace the coring with similar plywood methods or maybe consider adding exrta layers of glass instead (similar to Strick's 20)?

also, my gas tanks came with big yellow warning labels about bonding them. i assume this is similar to grounding?

here is one of the console i'm hoping to use

yeah, my flame suit is on...but it is a nice console!

[Captainkass]

Was just wondering your console looks a bit low are you planning an raising it or are you going to be sitting down when you run.

[Islandtrader]

should i replace the coring with similar plywood methods or maybe consider adding exrta layers of glass instead (similar to Strick's 20)?

I would replace the cap coring with a scrim and scored composite (etc. Coosa or Tuff stuff). It is easy to work with and provides high strength at half the weight. Plus the cap will never have to be redone again. I used it on my 21 redo. Cost about double of wood.

[billythekid]

dont put plywood back in the cap. for 200 to 300 bucks you can core it. and NEVER have to worry about water penetrating it agian. also you will lighten the boat by close to 80 pounds. email me if you have any questions on coring it.

[small45]

thanks for the response on the caps. i got my glass and epoxy from us composites but they don't seem to carry coosa or tuff stuff...where did you guys get it?

CAPTIANKASS - the mako console is actually about five inches taller than the factory set up which had a factory cooler seat. it looks short due to the position of the helm, but i'm thinking i'll repostion the helm and throttle to the top. i'm using this console for two reasons. 1. it has a 23 gallon baitwell already in it(which saves me a ton of work) and the dimensions will work with the top i'm running on my other 18'. oh, and i picked it up for $225 with the helm,guages,switches,blah,blah

thanks for the suggestions, as this is my first major project and i can use all the insight i can get.

[wtenglish]

These guys should be able to give you a distributor in your area.

http://www.coosacomposites.com/

[billythekid]

http://www.nacomposites.com/products...#corematerials


they are good remember with coring you need the proper bedding putty.

[small45]

made some progress over the last month. finised glassing the stingers, installing tanks and bulkheads, blah blah. no digital pictures of these items 'cause the camera was non-funtional. it's working again now, so here are some of the more recent work.



[