Shawn Dompierre

Time for a update, I started the day with securing the cap back on the boat, this is a pretty hard task to accomplish by yourself, I got 1/2 way through the boat then my buddy made it over finally to help me finish it off. All the holes where the old rivets were had been filled with fiber glass chopped matt because there were just too many screw and rivet holes. So you can imagine squeezing the hull to fit right while drilling your new hole and then tightening the rivet, in the picture below I'm in a easier spot and the boat was already in its proper place. Now on Sunday I spent the entire day apart for the odd break cleaning the garage, rebuilding the builge area, I had previously sanded down all the hair line cracks and today was time to rebuild my fiberglass. I am very very happy of the end result. I also did some work in the garage, I got some cabinets setup and storage put up on the walls, I'll put up a picture whenever I take one. Here's a picture of the boat, its come a long way and I have ways to go before been painted.. I have another heavy work load this week.. But I'm hoping I can get Thursday, Friday nights + Saturday Sunday. Which would mean I could have the transom completed and maybe start installing some floor pieces. I could be getting some seats this week. I'll put a picture up of the seats and the much needed work I did to the garage. Cheers

It may or may not.. My reasons for continuing with this boat (after looking at the pro's and con's) -Its much more common for you guys to have old boat simply because you've got so many company's making them.. a 500$ boat for you guys is 1000$ to 2000$ here. Not too mention my province still has that mentality of bass not being a species worth catching.>> Therefor bass boats aren't very common for the budget conscious person. Quitting half way isn't an option because you end up cheating someone else by selling it or losing all your money and sending it to the dump.. Ending up with nothing.. At this moment I've put in 1000$ into the boat, I'm fortunate enough to not have to pay for my paint job so basically I have seats and carpet to buy. Believe you me, if it was summer I would've ditched the boat a long time ago. I don't do winter sports and I've got the patience for this. In the future I would see me doing a transom repair or a stringer repair but not a carpet/paint/stringers/transom/glass/seats/seat posts overhaul.. As for the safer comment.. This thing is solid as a rock.. Compared to what it was (even the good parts of the stringers..) Hope that answers your question.

Another Update, this weekend was my birthday, while I had everyone over for a drink I casually made my way to the garage and showed everyone the work I did, then I said "hey, while were here why don't I get you guys to help me put the top back on??" I laughed when the faces changed (every body was in a partying mood not a "lets help shawn out" .. It being my birthday they couldn't say no, it took 6 of us to get it back on and later this week I will be securing it. Any advice on this? I'll be redrilling my holes for the rivets and then inserting a bead of clear silicone inside the crack. pics for clicks and maybe comments?? Cheers!

Hi everyone, Time for a update. Before: Half way: As of last night:

You need to do research, stress cracks usually mean expensive repairs or time consuming repairs. IMO!! If your looking to make your life easier save a little more money and get a boat from someone who ACTUALLY TOOK CARE OF IT. Peace of mind and sometimes you'll get seat posts and extra's.. Believe you me, it starts with a stress crack and then when you start digging you end up like this: I enjoy working on my boat and cars but its VERY time consuming. my .02Cents Shawn.D

Nice boat !, wash your truck hahaha

I'm redoing the stringers. Doing the same job twice really does hurt the ego, but I want to do this right, Epoxy resin will be used this time around, this Wednesday, A marine store is having a sale and I'll be getting my supplies. Ps: I've Moved and removed the cap by hand with a helper of course! But I didn't need a cherry picker. Shawn.D

Tell him to mesure. That's what I did when before I went over to see it.

Thanks for the tip, The Epoxy resin is meant for my stringers, remember how fragile you said they could be? I was talking to a friend and to eliminate air and any play of any kind, what I'll do is create small hole every 12" maybe 16" and get either a pump or using a spout and fill all the gaps (if there are any) with the epoxy resin.

Turns out I will be buying epoxy, I found a dealer of the west system and they're having a 15% off sale next Thursday, I'll pick some up because I'll be fixing other parts of the boat with it as well.

Forget the Jon boat and get a bass raider.

But I will be making repairs on both sides.

Well Thanks for the advice, I'll consider the epoxy route, I'll update whenever I get some work done. Cheers. ShawnD

Thanks, this is great stuff, can you explain the epoxy product? I've heard of it but never played with it.

Right, the peanut butter technique is the one I wanted to do, I'll mix a batch up and like you said add a layer of fiberglass cloth while it cures. Now what about holes? These holes are about the size of a nickle at the very most. Thanks for the advice, ShawnD

Thanks for the hint Tom, I was going you use a batch of resin mixed with 1/2" chopped fiberglass mat mix that with fumed silica. What il do is round off all the corners and .fill any imperfections with that mix then lay a thick cloth of fiberglass, in layers,every layer will be bigger then previously. I have those same drum

Hi guys, thanks for all the replies. Many months ago When I first put the boat in the water I could see water was coming in from the driver side transom but I couldn't find the specific leak, while I was grinding I found some long hair line cracks in the glass and the old "peanut butter" which I exposed and ended up going threw the hull. At first I wasn't happy with the fact I had just went too far, but then I realized that if it was so thin from the get go and it was cracked I'm better off starting from the bottom and build up the glass. So the plan is to lie a smooth layer of thick resin mixed with chopped strands aka "peanut butter" and as soon as I've created the flat areas that I'm comfortable with laying down straight and flat fiberglass cloth I will. Overlapping layers to create a strong bond and once I'm done with the bilge area I'll tackle the outside of the boat, grind that down and rebuild it. Here's a picture of what I've been up to over the weekend. Also a home made foot well for the Vhull casting deck. Just need to add carpet and I'm done. I'll be gathering my cloth and supplies this week and maybe I'll get some work done this week. I've got to A LOT of work next weekend, I'm a warehouse manager at a big storage company and we're receiving a lot of product.. Cheers

Shot in the dark, but they could say your are liying.. " I woke up this morning and found that I have a 150hp evenrude on my boat! I had a 175!!!

Actually I really like doing this, I can see myself doing this in the futur. I just have to get used to mixing resin and buying a good mask because when I put the grinder to the fiberglass that stuff is everywhere! I've got both garage doors open and the dog is inside the house.. -Ripped out the transom last night, it took 15 mins... I'm happy it came out in two pieces! 2 pry bars and a hammer. I then spent an hour or two cleaning up the dust everywhere. Enjoy. I'll keep the transom until I'm done, that's one important rule, never throw anything out before you're done unless its in pieces.. Also I took a picture of my V hull left to me by my grand father, I call it "Plan A" The bass boat is actually the plane B, due to it being unfinished and hard for my Rav-4 to pull.. It can manage but I do 95-98kms/h on a stretch.. Sam, the warrior, he stays in the which ever boat I'm not working on, to stay off of the cold cement floor. I brought my cowl to a sister company of mine and it'll get some quality primer but most important it saves me of having to setup anything to paint, I'll pick it up after work tonight. Work that lies ahead : -Grinding>Cleaning -Grinding>Cleaning -Test fitting of the transom>cut>test>cut>be happy! -Loads of sanding -Applying one layer of fiberglass structural mat to the inside -Sanding the entire end of the boat to rebuild the fiberglass>this will effectively solve any water problems I have in the past -Applying one layer of structural mat then another layer, but this time the strand finishing mat to the outside of the boat. -Treating and glue the 2 transom layers together>install it -Apply 3 layers of structural mat to the inside of the transom. Thanks for the comments ! Cheers! Shawn.D

I've been busy, removed the cap and started stripping the rotten wood. Also ssnded my cowl.

Hi I'm bringing this thread back from the dead! Back injuries, not willing to work in a freezing garage, you name it , I've had to deal with it. The boat as it sits right now has not changed apart from adding fiber glass and resin to the corners and spots where I thought needed more attention. My next step is tackling the rear end of the boat. Right now I'm working on my 2nd boat, aluminum with a platform and a trolling motor. I'll put up some pictures of it later, I finished it last year but I recently bought a trailer for it that needs work and some small upgrades like a home made recessed trolling pedal and adding some storage below deck. Cheers!

What you're saying is making sense.. Being inexperienced I figured I only need 1 layer so I asked my father that has build and fixed boats in the past and he told me 2. Thanks for the advice. Every bit of information is useful. I'll be doing more research on this and I may take it out for a spin. I'll take it all apart to be sure that the job is well done, I just want to be sure before having to go down that road.

I know exactly what you're trying to accomplish, if you're going this route, spent the least amount of money doing it.. add a floor with a couple of 2x4's and call it a day. I just finished doing my v hull boat up,carpet trap doors, it really looks great and works great. Which gave me a even bigger itch! I bought a bass boat 2 months later... Lesson learned if you want a bass boat save up and get one, otherwise you will always have the itch..

I have a floor, I'm not done but its getting there. I'm doing 2 layers of fiberglass everywhere. In the pictures it doesn't seem like the boards line up, but they do.

I didn't see any stress cracks, I "uncapped" the slingers and trimed a lot of the excess fiber glass, I'm currently up to 5 garbage bins full of rot and fiberglass... hahaha New pictures that show the slingers gutted and cleaned I'll look for a smaller vaccume pipe to really give her the dry/clean state I want it in also I'll be picking up the wood tonight. I might have the rest of the week off, which means the boat will surely be done before the weekend. I've worked the past 3 days from 6pm to 1 in the morning on the boat so you get an idea of just how much I want to get it in the water this weekend. Note I removed the second console just to have more room to work in, 5 bolts and its out. I would like to come up with a type of claps or pins I could pull out and remove the console easily.. We'll see , I have to stop day dreaming and get back to the task at hand, the floor.. Here's hoping I can get the floor done by this weekend, also I need to come up with a solution for the decorative panels by the passenger and driver.