The Long Road Home

[Evil_Fish]

Well tomorrow is finally the day I get to pick up my boat! The car is packed and only 6 hours and 50 min till I can leave. It has been a long few weeks waiting…. If all goes well I will be back in three days with some pictures to post.

[welder]

We are waiting , have a SAFE trip, don't get in a hurry.

[IN2DEEP]

Have a safe trip
I was just looking at your post with pictures of the skiff
Nice!

[Evil_Fish]

Made it home late Monday night. I will get some pictures up as soon as I re-size them. Overall the boat was in better condition than I was expecting. The trailer needed new tires and still needs some work but I guess if it made the 1200 mile trip It can sit in my drive way till I get it fixed up.

I was getting gas in Needles and some guy came up to me asking about the boat. Apparently he had just blown up his engine and did not want to end his vacation so I sold him the 70 that was on mine. It more than paid for the the boat and most of the gas. So now i am ahead a few bucks and got a boat and trailer out of it.

[Evil_Fish]

Scratch about 1/32-1/16 deep

Some surface corrosion in both corners of the stern. Not pitted yet.

Should these be fully welded to keep the water out?




Not the best looking welds...

[Chaps]

Nice skiff!. I'd drill a 3/8" hole at the back end of those bottom stiffeners/strakes so they can drain out. Don't bother welding them up 100%

[mojomizer]

Glad to see you made it home safe and paid for her selling the motor

The first thing I would do:
Pressure wash her down. Plug her and do a leak test. Fill her up with water add some dye for coloring contrast and see if she holds.

Why was there a hole drilled into her bow??? No worries though, she's aluminum holes and gouges, can be fixed.

[pjay9]

Nice skiff!. I'd drill a 3/8" hole at the back end of those bottom stiffeners/strakes so they can drain out. Don't bother welding them up 100%

I was going to say the same thing...must be great minds thing!

She sure looks tough...how long and wide? You are going to have fun with this boat! PJ

[pjay9]

the hole in the bow was for a mini bow thruster!!! RIGHT! In the long shot of the boat inside it looks like there is a tube welded in...now that is either a really good tie down hole...or you can put a whole bunch of these boats together and form a circle with a line holding them all.

I am curios!

Maybe it isn't a hole thru but a tie off point for the inside that is really strong by going thru the skin! HUMM! OR both!

[Evil_Fish]

Why was there a hole drilled into her bow??? No worries though, she's aluminum holes and gouges, can be fixed.

I am assuming it is to use in-place of a bow eye. I'm guessing here but I would think it would be stronger. It has two 90^ bends welded to the inside sealing it and allowing you to run a rope threw it. If you look at the inside picture close, the yellow anchor line is tied of to it. I will get a close up of it when I get home from work.

[Evil_Fish]

Nice skiff!. I'd drill a 3/8" hole at the back end of those bottom stiffeners/strakes so they can drain out. Don't bother welding them up 100%

I was going to say the same thing...must be great minds thing!

She sure looks tough...how long and wide? You are going to have fun with this boat! PJ

Thanks guys. I will get the drill out tonight and open those up.
It's 22' x 8'.

[mojomizer]

I see said the blind man......... I should be more observant.

Used in set net boats. In one of KMorin's posts (learn something every day.

http://metalboatbuilding.org/phpBB3/vie ... f=30&t=364

Great post from Kevin and great design ideas too..... For converting a set net boat

[JETTYWOLF]

Made it home late Monday night. I will get some pictures up as soon as I re-size them. Overall the boat was in better condition than I was expecting. The trailer needed new tires and still needs some work but I guess if it made the 1200 mile trip It can sit in my drive way till I get it fixed up.

I was getting gas in Needles and some guy came up to me asking about the boat. Apparently he had just blown up his engine and did not want to end his vacation so I sold him the 70 that was on mine. It more than paid for the the boat and most of the gas. So now i am ahead a few bucks and got a boat and trailer out of it.

W-O-W.
Now that's a story

I have a house, a garage, a boat-port, and lots of stuff...."Jus need to find someone on vacation myself", so I can move from here to Trout-land USA. Any one need a place to stay with boat in FLORIDA?

[Evil_Fish]

I have finally had some time to start working on this project. So far I sanded about 80% of the boat with 220 grit to remove all the burs caused by the nicks and scratches, acid etched most of the outside and a portion of the inside. It’s looking so much better than it did but I still have a ways to go. I did find 2 cracks in the one 1/4" cross brace that it has. It looks like a weld cracked from a previous repair. Other than that the welds look good. We had some rain and there was quite a bit of water in it, nothing leaking out so I guess that is a good thing.

The drain that is in the back is made from 2" pipe. Does any one have any suggestions of what could safely be used as a drain plug? I found these online http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/CHERNE ... vc=IDPRRZ1. I was also thinking of plumbing it up to use as a bait tank drain or just removing it. I will post some pictures of the progress when I get home.

[pjay9]

having been a public works construction inspector/manager, I can tell you from experience that the pipe plug will hold just fine and get the one with the wing nut. In your case change out he hardware to SS if possible, what you are really buying is the rubber bit...so modify it for the salt water...blue lithium grease will help keep the rust off the bolt and flanges, just don't get any on the plug insert part..like I had to tell you that! But out there in the field, decades ago, I did have to tell some laborers just that.

Maybe you could make a 2' alum disc weld it on the outside and install a regular boat drain plug or install a plug in the transom and use the 2' for as you say, bait tank drain/ intake set up.

It is going to be interesting seeing how this all comes together. Waiting for those pics you promised. PJ

[Sabs28]

Looks like a good project, Keep the pics coming.

[welder]

Wounder if you could mount a Ball Valve on it so you could open it when your on step to drain the water out?

[Sabs28]

Isn't there a spring loaded "one way" ball valve out there?? Has a light tension spring below a pingpong type ball to use as a "back flow" type valve. Water pressure will push the ball down & as soon as the flow of water tries coming back into the valve the spring helps push the ball back so water can go out but can't come back in. I have seen them used in sump pumps.

[Evil_Fish]

I have been throwing around a few ideas for adding a deck, I think I am just going to go with a budget build. My neighbor had some leftover redwood 2x6's from his deck that will sit just about right on the stringers without to much trouble (similar to the scrap 2x6's in the picture). Its all really clear wood not to many knots in them. I will just make a console from plywood and glass it. A few years down the road I will weld something in and do it right.

Any one have any recommendations of a good height to build a console? I'm 6'6" and my wife is 5'2" so what would be comfortable for me may not be the best for other people driving the boat.

How could i find out the recommended hp rating on this thing. The guy I bought it from said he used a 50hp 2stroke. It had the 70hp on it when i bought it, but a neighbor has a 2010 Honda 90hp 4 stroke that he is going to sell in the next few months.

A question for the Orange County guys. Are there any shops around that could weld up 2 cracks about 3 inches long in the cross beam? I just can justify buying a welder right now if most of my mods will be with wood.

[welder]

Call Kenny at Tradewind Inflatables & Marine
949-574-8667
Tell him Lester sent ya, ask him what you need too and tell him what you have.

[JETTYWOLF]

How did ya clean her up.......Jus' soap and water, and elbow greeze ?

Looking good.

Are you in Aircraft country????

A ole buddy of mine (R.I.P) used to work at an aircraft galley manufacture. They used lots of honeycombed 1/2" panels that were reinforced glass, with a tough outer skin of some kind. (more glass, I don't know) But MY GAWD were those panels strong and not all that heavy.

This same material would make perfect decks for a boat builder "rigger" on a budget and that isn't a welder/cutter/fabricator. Just Cut with a regular saw, maybe a really good blade though.

Maybe since Goatram is in the "rivet" biz on aircraft he could turn you to the right folks. Wood is wood. Wood sucks up water, stays dirty and covering wood......well that's just as not great.

Wood decking, than keep a look out for this glass honeycombed panel for later???

Jus and FYI

[wickedlester]

I used a material call coraplast commonly used for signs and sheeting etc. 1/4 thick very rigid very light and i bought blem sheets cheap. U will need to add bracing looks like but it will never rot. Thin aluminum sandwiched over solid plastic. Worked for me. Anything but wood! Nice project

[JETTYWOLF]

Yeah.....anything but, W-O-O-D.

Another Good "idear".

[Evil_Fish]

To clean it I sanded the whole thing with some 220 and 400 grit just to get rid of the burs. Then I sprayed it down with Phosphoric acid, which seemed to work pretty well to etch it. I have some Scotch Bright pads on order to go over it one final time to try to even out a few of the blotchy spots.

Thanks for the Ideas guys. I thought about using similar products before, just did not think they would be strong enough to use for a deck. I will have to look into them. The way I was going to do the wood, it would be fully removable anyway, Kind of like having a pallet lying in there. So if something better comes along I could remove it in a few minutes and add it to the firewood pile

[JETTYWOLF]

She cleans up well.

Yeah do the wood decking and then toss it when ya find a "real" deck material.

Are ya gonna add a Nyalic or sharkhide protectant afterwards?

My boat needs a makeover outside too. Just kinda beat and not all that pretty. But hell, I consider it a tool. I just keep my tools very clean.

You can eat wet scrabbled eggs off my deck before and after fishing. But not during, unless ya like sushi and shrimp flavored eggs