2001 23V rebuild from the ground up

[SONIC]

I'm thinking I'm going to do a flip up seat in the corner there like Nautique uses to access the storage, as well as enlarge the hatch in the side for access. That fugly black plastic glovebox and the dash has to go as well so lots of glass work to come.

I decided to convert the area under the seat behind the driver seat to a cooler and use this for storage as it's just simpler and it doesn't make that much difference where the cooler is. Plus if needed I can fill the whole surf side of the boat with ballast.

[SONIC]

Thanks!
Sunday was a little less productive, mostly spend enjoying the last day of motorcycle weather for the forseeable future.
I did get the seating started though.

Used a tick stick again to get the layout for the hull then transferred to OSB. a little sanding to fit and then I threw it on the CNC and digitized the layout so I could lay our the holes accurately and have the cuts look factory.
Decided to overlap the existing seating by 2" for strength and to avoid having to add more structure. That will all be sanded back and glassed in smooth.
I got the base finished up and glued but left my phone inside so didn't get any photos of that. I'll post some with the next set.
All in all great progress for a weekend.

Unfortunately it's about to get cold, and the boat won't fit in my shop so I've got to figure out how I'm going to do glass work in the winter. I'm thinking a garage tent thing and a heater are in my future.

[Langwell]

Looking good

[SONIC]

Got the coosa down.
Went in easier than anticipated, no problems.
Replaced the mid floor section with coosa instead of the marine ply from the factory. Cut a recess in the back so I can get to the fuel sending unit if necessary.
Then layed down a layer of Poly-Bond B39, epoxy coated the back of the coosa and laid it down.

Currently curing. Then I'll go in with some thickened epoxy and fill any voids around the edges and create the filets.
Then tons of glass work for clean it all up.

[KoolAid]

Thanks J,
I suspect the decking was a patch to "repair" the floor. The guy said it was fairly recent. With the way this boat was treated it's anyone's guess lol

I had considered a putty like plexus or similar. Do you have a recommendation on a good one to use? It would be easier than mixing mass amounts of epoxy with thickener.

My first thought is spraycore adhesive putty. Made by the same people who me plexus adhesives. My fear for you is they may not sell smaller than 55 gallon pails. If they sell a 5 gallon, you could mix the catalyst into it by hand, just make the ratio light and allow longer to cure. http://www.itwadhesives.com/brands/s...hesive-putties
Let me put some more thought into it.

Be sure you resin or epoxy coat the coosa first. Its porous and dusty lol!

[SONIC]

Only $430 for your boat, with the discount . Anyway, carry on.

Yep I looked.
Not to take away from the product because it looks great and is a fantastic idea, but with my tools and time on my hands it's just a waste of money. I've got the tubing sitting around the shop from other exhaust projects and a couple minutes of tig welding and we'll be good to go!

[SONIC]

Coosa would work well. The floor setup after 2003 was coosa/penske. Be sure you have the plywood as dry as possible. That decking material kept in moisture which caused the fiberglass to delaminate from the treated plywood. You may want to coat the mating side of the coosa first, dry, sand and then epoxy to the floor. I kind of wonder if a putty would be the better choice instead of epoxy.

Thanks J,
I suspect the decking was a patch to "repair" the floor. The guy said it was fairly recent. With the way this boat was treated it's anyone's guess lol

I had considered a putty like plexus or similar. Do you have a recommendation on a good one to use? It would be easier than mixing mass amounts of epoxy with thickener.

[KoolAid]

Coosa would work well. The floor setup after 2003 was coosa/penske. Be sure you have the plywood as dry as possible. That decking material kept in moisture which caused the fiberglass to delaminate from the treated plywood. You may want to coat the mating side of the coosa first, dry, sand and then epoxy to the floor. I kind of wonder if a putty would be the better choice instead of epoxy.

[25cents]

Awesome posts. I love seeing the transformation. Also jealous of the shop and all the fabrication abilities you have. Keep the pics coming!

[SONIC]

This is the first time I've used it at this scale, I've used it for fitting small things into tight spaces a lot.
It worked out better than I expected. Total time under 30 minutes per side.

I'm thinking of laying the Coosa down with some epoxy adhesive, then filling all the small voids in the sides with epoxy, then glass over the whole thing and blend the corners in.
Anyone see any problems with that plan?

The Coosa is really just a time saver, as I do not want to have to sand the whole floor down to perfectly smooth to glass over. If I lay 3/8 Coosa over everything with a good layer of thickened epoxy between it and the floor it should make a level smooth surface in one fell swoop instead of countless sanding hours.

[KoolAid]

All these years and all of the methods I have used (Popsicle sticks, batons, bondo squeeze for examples) I have never seen the tick stick-method. I have to say, I am very impressed and quite let down at myself for never seeing this before.

[SONIC]

Thanks Guys,
FAE is on the list as well, but I'll build one. 500 is pretty steep for 3 feet of stainless tubing and a couple elbows.

Paul, the cooler will be under a new seat that i'm going to fabricate so the ballast won't be going up that far, primary storage will be in the two bulkheads and I'm going to build some basket type things to hang over the ballast int eh rear for more storage.


Yesterday's project was getting the floor layout.
I used a Tick-Stick to do it, if you've never used or seen one it's a pretty cool process.
Basically you sharpen one end of a stick and touch it to the walls every inch or so in varying locations and mark the edge and back of the stick with a pen. Then you remove your template and work backward to mark out the layout on plywood.
IMG_20171002_165353-1619x1214.jpg

IMG_20171002_170202-1619x1214.jpg

IMG_20171002_170205-1619x1214.jpg

IMG_20171002_174345-1619x1214 (1).jpg
After that you play connect the dots, cut it out and it should fit like a glove. A tiny bit of extra trimming in some corners and we're good to go.
This template will now be digitized to make a cad file for the floor layout. That way I can cut my coosa board on the CNC router and I can layout my seadek design and cut it on the router as well.


In case anyone is wondering, NO the two sides are not symmetrical. They are supposed to be, but I suppose with a hand tooled mold they just arent. They should be.
IMG_20171002_175234-1619x1214.jpg
Had to repeat the process all over again for the other side.

[Paul Middlemore]

Might want to hold off on the cooler idea, you are probably going to eat up space with soft tanks and ballast plumbing. Great project and looking forward to the progress.

[jimidemo]

Keep the pics coming. Its way better then a payment! My buddy just did a 2002 Centurion. Good way to go. In the end you will know everything about your boat and it will all be to your design.

[SONIC]

Not that great lol.
I like work