X2

Looking great Senor!

Bravo!

I bet you will be fine, epoxy is some BA "stuff". Looking good too. Curious, why not epoxy the sides and rear?

I had planned originally to do the back but the gallon of epoxy was just enough for the bottom, and the sides are above the water line so I'm not too worried about them. My main goal for the epoxy was for sealant, it was a bonus that it came in white and added some strength but mostly I didn't want leaking rivets ever.

The transom was rebuilt a couple years ago but I may pull it all apart again and redo it and that would be a good time to epoxy it but for now it will likely get paint.

Got ya.

Thought I would throw up a couple pics while I'm waiting on primer to dry, I really should be stripping the old metal gas tank but I'm lazy today.

My neighbor is looking for her news paper, I needed it worse she can watch tv for news I got painting to do.

I got it primed and ready for paint. I'm not doing anything to the back just yet I'm still debating tearing the transom out again.
I really want it to have a cedar plank floor and I've been told all the ways it's great and all the ways it's not but I like the look and it will be covered when not in use so I think if I treat it like any other deck I can get a lot of years from it. I built a mock up in the Home Depot floor lastnight.

I'm 190 pounds and these boards on 18" center held with no give and the ribs in the boat are closer so I think I'm gonna do it. It's just money right, if I don't like it I'll try again in a few years.

I hate painting, spend 4 hours prepping and still got a little over spray but nothing noticeable except to me. The pic isn't the best but you get the idea.
I'm not sure about this paint, I told the guy what I was doing and he claimed that this would be the best for what I needed. Once I seen the name I figured that matched my painting ability and figured what the hell.
It went on nice and seems to be pretty tough right now but we will see.
I can't just let paint dry and not do something so I thought I would check the transom and I'm glad and mad that I did. I had forgotten we used a 2x12 years ago which you shouldn't do so it was split and needed to be replaced. I pulled it out and traced it then sandwiched two pieces of 3/4" plywood and made a new one but there was one problem. The old board didn't go all the way down in the channel and I didn't notice it so when I dry fit the new one guess what?
1.5" too short.
So I pulled it and started over. This time I used one piece to test fit and traced it and then made the other and glued and screwed them together.

It basically took a whole sheet of not very cheap plywood to make the transom after my mistake. After I glued and clamped the pieces and screwed them together with deck screws that say they are guaranteed for life, not sure who's life, but that should be long enough. Before my mistake I had planned on having two coats of spar urethane on it but I only got one. I should be able to get a couple more on it tomorrow and have it back in with any luck. The only part that shows is a couple small pieces on the ends but it still looks good with the urethane on it.

If anybody is considering doing this to an old boat just to give you an idea to this point I have just under $400 in it and about 5 good working days. $100 of that was epoxy alone and $100 was new tires for the trailer I'm not gonna use so you could get out cheaper but that's an idea.

Brudda, I hope that paint works for you, but I am "skeered", I use Low VOC traffic paint for a living and it doesn't like stainless and aluminum without a specific primer. Even then it can be tuff to not peel. It is designed to attach to cured asphalt and cured cement.

Hope the surface is scratched enough to hold for you, usually you use an acid etch type primer (some say a vinegar will work) for AL and SS

Well I was worried too so I roughed it up good and used and self etching primer, if the worst thing I have to redo is paint that blue stripe I'll be fine with it.

Looks great...and I appreciate your humor...thanks for sharing....can't wait to see what happens next....

Etching primer is good, hopefully should make the difference. Sure not trying to be negative about your project.

Absolutely not sir. I need all the help I can get. I'm really just winging this thing, I've never done any of this kind of work so there's some trial and error. I know the bottom coating is there forever that stuff looks like it's gonna take a beating and if the paint needs to be redone in a year or so I'll know what not to do.

That is why I had asked why you didn't epoxy the sides and rear, I new it may be prohibitively expensive. Then You could paint with an epoxy colored/proof paint, almost be like having Kevlar on the outside.

If I have to redo paint I will call the epoxy company and see if they can mix me a color close to that blue and just do the whole boat but I wasn't really ready to be dropping hundreds on a boat right now, I got hunting to do later and need some extra cash

I hear you, paint could cost you more than the boat! Since you are probably not going to enter it into a show, as long as it floats and keeps your feet dry

Western my friend I think this paint is gonna be temporary. It still seems "wet" to me but it's what I got for now and I got other work to do.

I was up before the sun going at it and when the sun broke I realized my shop and surrounding area is trashed. Time to slow down gather tools, clean up, think of what to do next and how and get things right.

Just got things squared away and the wife says come eat, she's trying to keep my energy up, not for that reason either but because she wants to fish and she knows I'm married to the boat until done.

Alright now I'm ready. I finished cleaning out the area where the wood would go for the transom and primed it. I had put three or four good layers of spar urethane on the plywood by now and it was drying so I started recarpeting the bunks on the "new" trailer.

They weren't terrible but I had new carpet so I figured I'd put it on. For some reason and I don't know why I walked over to the motor and tried to turn that broken mounting bolt that I broke the second I got the boat home. It was bent or cross threaded or both but either way I had to cut it off and put a pipe wrench on it. These are not steel so they are pretty soft. They have threads inside and out, a little bolt holds that big washer at the end in place and as Ive learned today the threads are not something that everyone has a tap and die set for. Long story short the threads on the motor bracket are ruined I gotta rethink it.
Back to transom now that I'm pissed. I brushed all the pieces and hammered back anything that was bent and hammered in the new wood, it fit like a glove. I used all sorts of clamps to line the holes back up and then drilled the holes through.


I needed something that would help stiffen the worn metal but not rot for a while and still be soft enough for the brackets on the boat motor to bite, cutting board. Don't tell my wife but I have this figured out. She cooked ginger chicken last night and used all the fresh vegetables which means she won't need it for a few days so I figure I can have it replaced before she goes back to the store, that's my plan anyway, if this plan don't work one of you boys finish this boat for me after I'm gone.

I gotta adjust some rollers on the trailer because this new one was for a flat bottom and there's no center roller in back and then put the boat on it and get ready for some flooring work. I'm glad today and that transom are both done.

What cutting board

That is how you play that..

Mounting bolt may be a problem, bet the hole it came from doesn't look much better? Would a helicoil and a new bolt work?

The hole is not good. A helicoil might work, I was gonna buy a replacement but at this point it may be an "engineered" operation I'm still looking around.

Helicoil's are cheap if you can get one to grab in there, worst case, drill the hole one size bigger if you have enough plate room.

Those little sausage patties are great!

Looks like its coming along great

This looks like an awesome project for you guys..
One thing to keep in mind: Foaming inside the boat gains you ZERO stability or flotation during normal use.
You will NEVER see any benefit from foam until the boat is swamped or capsized..
Regardless of the flotation you put inside a boat, you're just adding weight and reducing its floating height in the water.
Lots of guys believe that they can add some foam to a boat, then add 500 pounds of accessories; and somehow the foam will "offset" the weight of the add-ons..
That's not how it works.

The seat I took out was foam, I feel I at least need to add that amount back in. I sank this boat once on Thanksgiving day and it scared the crap out of me so I'm hoping by adding foam that don't happen again.

Just wear "floaties"

Or, just take a female along that has big floaties.