First Bass Boat

[Shawn Dompierre]

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

[Fishing Rhino]

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

The problem with that method is that the cured product is hard to sand. You can use that, but I'd suggest filling any pockets or irregularities with bondo. It sands much easier. Keep in mind, fiberglass resins are plastic and when you sand them they will heat and melt plugging your drum. Bondo is a polyester product and thus a plastic but, it is formulated to sand easily without plugging sanding products.

The other thing you can do, using the fumed silica, is to make it like the consistency of peanut butter. Put it in the corner, then apply a layer or two of mat, wetting out with a four inch paint roller, before it cures. That eliminates the need for sanding. It will cure along with the mat/resin composite.

Don't go crazy with it. Go lighter with the catalyst to give you working time. Nail a couple of boards together to form a corner. You can practice on that to get the feel for it before starting on the boat. You can save money by getting a six pack of paint rollers, 3/8 nap if I'm not mistaken, for about eight dollars. Cut them in half and you get two four and a half inch rollers which will work just fine on four inch roller handles. You end up with a dozen rollers for eight dollars. Be sure to get the roller off the handle before the resin cures and the handle will last just about forever.

Let me know if you have any questions. You can ask on this thread, but you're likely to get a quicker answer if you send me a pm. If you send me a pm, I'll reply with a pm, but will copy and paste it on the thread, just in case someone else can use it.

[Shawn Dompierre]

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

[Fishing Rhino]

Are the holes in what is left of the transom? If so, feather the edges on the inside until you get a knife edge. How far out you taper the existing glass depends on its thickness. I'd taper it out to at least an inch from the edge of the hole. That will give you a three inch patch.

Wax paper over the hole on the outside. Then clamp a board over the wax paper. You don't want to push material through the hole, beyond the surface. Tear progressively larger pieces of mat. The first should just extend onto the taper. Then apply a slightly larger piece over that. Continue until you have a thickness at the hole equal to the thickness of the material you are patching. It won't hurt to sand a bit beyond the taper just to clean that area. The last layer or two should extend onto that last area.

When it cures, you can pull the dam and wax paper off. You should be left with a smooth flush surface that will require very little work to finish with gel coat, paint, or whatever you decide to apply to the hull. Use a belt sander or disc sander and dress the inside of the patch until it is flush with the old material. Consider using epoxy for patching the holes. It is much more durable and reliable than standard polyester fiberglass resin. It is not uncommon for new fiberglass work applied to older material to have a weak bond. The repair will be an adhesive, not a chemical bond, and epoxy will provide a much stronger bond.

[Shawn Dompierre]

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

[Fishing Rhino]

It's a two part system. The one I am familiar with is West System epoxy. It's usually a bit thicker than polyester resin and takes a bit more effort to wet out the mat or roving. But, it is waterproof and has a much stronger bond. It is also more expensive, but worth it for certain applications. It used to be Gougeon Brothers West System Epoxy. It was on all their containers. It seems they manufacture the West System products but have taken their name off the product. ??????

When you open the first URL, click on repairing your fiberglass boat. There are several articles, some of which might be helpful for you. It will tell you specifically which product to use for different jobs.

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/

http://gougeon.com/

[Shawn Dompierre]

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

Cheers.

ShawnD

[Fishing Rhino]

The chances are that fiberglass resin would do the job satisfactorily. But, you are doing a lot of work, tedious, messy, somtimes itchy work. You're not talking a lot of epoxy to repair/fill those holes. It would be mighty disappointing to go through all that, and then have a minor repair fail, particularly when you will not be able to get to both sides to effect repairs.

[Shawn Dompierre]

But I will be making repairs on both sides.

[Shawn Dompierre]

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.

[Fishing Rhino]

Great! Do it according to the instructions and you'll never regret it.

I'll give you another tidbit of advice. When you start mounting anything on your boat, and you want to make a slick installation, say a Ram mount for a sonar, put a bead of silicone on the base of the mount about a 1/4" in diameter, barely inside the edge. Then, carefully put the base in place and tighten the fasteners just enough so the silicone starts to bulge. Stop there, and using your finger, run it around the base of the mount. You'll be left with a nice, tidy, small cove of silicone. Let it sit for 24 hours, or more, depending on the temperature. Once it sets up, you can snug it down. It will not ooze out. What you have done is created a silicone spacer which will allow the base to sit nicely on a slightly less than flat surface.

I used white on this install. Had it been a different color I could have used clear, but most likely would have used black because it would match the base.

 

I also used it on the antenna mount for the satellite receiver.

 

[Shawn Dompierre]

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.

[Fishing Rhino]

Keep in mind. The wood is for the purpose of forming a fiberglass beam. A common practice is to use foam in place of the wood. If the wood is rough, consider using bondo to fill irregularities before you encase them in glass. You won't have to worry about air pockets.

For epoxy, you might find it easier to coat the stringer with epoxy. Then apply the material. It's easier to force the resin through to the surface than to apply the material and work the resin into and through it.

I'm assuming you have an assortment of "bubble busters". They are grooved rollers, and do a great job of working out trapped air. In the image below, those at the top right are barrel rollers named that because of their shape. They are best for working concave surfaces. The mid sized is what we use.

We also have the long roller of the three at the top left. The smaller diameter rollers are good for working in corners. Be sure to clean all rollers in acetone before the resin on them starts to cure.

 

[Shawn Dompierre]

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

[Shawn Dompierre]

Hi everyone,

Time for a update.

Before:

 

Half way:

 

As of last night:

 

[Stingray23]

Thanks for the update. Nice job

[Shawn Dompierre]

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!

[Bass Dude]

I'm not trying to put a damper on your project, but in the long run, is the price really worth it when all is said and done. The time, the money for repairs and parts...isn't it cheaper in the long run to buy something in better shape??

I think it's great that you have the knowledge and the capability to take on this project, as I have neither, but it seems to me that it would be easier and possibly safer to buy something in better shape.

Good luck with it, and can't wait to see the finished product.

[Shawn Dompierre]

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.

[Bass Dude]

I hope I didn't offend you on my comments, I had a friend try to do this same thing and he ended up spending so much money that he could have bought something he didn't have to fix up. I respect that you can take this on and do it successfully.

I think it also shows what we crazy bass guys will do to get out on the water!!!

Again, I can't wait to see the finished product!!

[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

[Shawn Dompierre]

 

Seats came in today!

[KansasBASS9948]

This really is a great thread. Heck at this point there is no point in NOT finishing....get that baby out on the water someday! Best of luck and looking forward to more updates!

Cheers!

[MN_SONNEN_ANGLER]

subscribed! looks like quite the process!

[Shawn Dompierre]

Update

The cut out of the transom,

 

The dry mock up 1''1/2 of wood with my ugly template serving a second duty as a sandwich, I used a combination of bolts and sockets to make sure that I had a secure and tight squeeze all around.

I would like to add that there is a lot of sanding required to have any and all parts fit right , there for don't think for a second that ANYTHING gets slapped together...

 

If I had to make videos I would make 1/2 of them about sanding and having that perfect fitment.

Getting that transom together bolted down with a thick peanut butter layer evened out.

I filled up the sides with more peanut butter, I have to note something about peanut butter, 1 always make it thicker then you think it should be and 2nd really work it , you need it to fill any gaps and cracks to eliminate the pockets of air. The west system epoxy work very good!!

more sanding more sanding more sanding...........

24 ounce fiber glass this is some thick stuff!!!!with 1 layer of 6 ounce over that.

The brace, Even though I have peanut butter as a gap filler, I suggest taking the time to really cut straight lines and dont forget to sand , curve and trim .

Makes it easier to lay down glass.

sand sand sand...

I don't have a picture of my holes re-drilled but I will get one up, my transom is DONE.

I'm currently working on some boards to go over my stringers, (where the batteries will sit) then some paint and we'll see the cap go back on before the week is over. (I'm current;y catching a cold so I cant make promises)

"Never give up" - Mike Iaconelli

Shawn.D