1972 Keel Up Restoration

Got a bit done this weekend - pictured is the port side of the motorwell with fill strip installed. I used jelly as a bonding agent. The starboard side got the same treatment. Rather than wait until a major spring/summer holiday when everyone comes to the cabin I decided to tow the boat the 260 miles South to my home so I could get some bodies to help me flip it. That will happen tomorrow morning and I have a carport to keep it in. I also brought enough supplies to keep me busy for awhile. The nice thing about Southern AL is that I can work outside most of the winter without bothering the wife with fiberglass fumes.

 

TJ,
Can I send flowers to your wife thanking her for supporting your hobby? Perhaps she could get my wife to understand that cooperative behavior and willingness to have a solid transom and lightweight under floor floatation foam are paramount to fully enjoying the summer weather and not having to worry about the transom flexing too much. I'm going to look into getting a few salvage bags to keep close by when I hear the sound of wood and fiberglass shattering. One of the automatic tethered blinking floats will be mandatory to make locating the submarine elementary. I could keep a 244 cubic foot tank of breathing air on board. With a scuba mask and long hose regulator attached. Then I will be able to inflate the float bags once the Dyne settles to the bottom. My wife would be able to help paddle it back to the dock.

 

HaHa. She probably won't even get into it when it's done. She will not get into my Venom. She's happy with the pontoon boat. I may have overbuilt on the transom but better too much than too little.

 

You can't ever have enough Hydrodyne.

 

I have made 2 intermediate mistakes but think I have mitigated them, but would like 2nd and 3rd opinions. #1 - when I made the area to hold the fin mounting block of plywood I filled it with resin. Pure resin is like window glass in that it is easily breakable. I did however cover the whole thing with 2 layers of thick cloth and even built an access hole to get to it in the event of a problem. The bottom of that mounting block is the shell of the hull so at least that block is surrounded by strength. #2 - Same deal on the transom. When I installed the 1/2" coosa X 3 into the back of the boat there were some voids on the edges after I glassed it in. Roughly 1.5" x varying amounts not more than 5/8" . I poured pure resin into the 2 holes. Hopefully I have enough stringers etc to provide sufficient transom stiffness. I am adding additional structural stiffness by replacing my old thin plywood motorwell with a coosa sheet thorougly glassed on both sides to tie it in with the rest of the box structure. That bottom motorwell coosa piece is also intended to hold a ski pole vertical. I think this should do it.

 

This is the hull with the extra knees or kickers in it, correct? Initially I would have been concerned about flexing and the pooled resin cracking, but your transom should not flex. Those solid sections are well supported by the extra knees tying the transom to the floor.

The fin, the solid resin is more like a high density core material at this point. The glass on either side is what is going to carry the loads.

 

Yes this the 5 knee hull except knees 2 and 4 are also splashwell sides all the way down to the core and form a 5 sided box. I can't think of a stronger way to build this. As far as the fin goes I did leave a 6" access hole and maybe I will lay down some more glass in there just to be sure.

 

TJ-
Is this project still alive? Curious how it ended up, if you have a finished product and if you do, how you like it.

Aaron

 

No I haven't worked on it for awhile. Too many other irons in the fire. I will finish it hopefully soon.

 

Best of luck in the future. Hope your schedule allows you back to the project.