Boat Repair

[Peace Meal Farm]

This has been my project over the last week or so. Lots of work to do before ice out and fishing charter season begins up in the Yukon. I have a deadline of 3 weeks to get her sorted : )

I am rebuilding my boat - a 1982 C-Dory 22 Angler. She is a pilothouse with a forward berth, a stowable kitchen table, a stove and a propane marine heater. Somewhat uniquely, she is also a true displacement hull - meaning that there is no 'vee' shape to the bottom of her hull.

From the factory she had 5 teak keel strips fastened onto her bottom on top of the gel coat. The strips had some sort of 1980s goop and stainless screws holding the on and going directly into her wood core. Last year some of the strips began to come off, leaving holes going into her insides. Not ideal.

So far I have gotten her off of the trailer and flipped onto her side. I removed the old strips and then spent days sanding down the old gelcoat until I hit bare glass. The sanding was horrible.

The new keel strips are now on - made out of red oak. I radiused the edges with a router, drilled, countersunk and finally sanded. The new strips are bedded in thickened epoxy and clamped to the hull with stainless fasteners. The fastener heads have been covered with epoxy and the edges have fillets.

Next is to sand everything down again, degrease, cut cloth and begin covering the entire bottom hull with the cloth and graphite-impregnated epoxy.

Once the bottom is done she will get spot gelcoat repairs to her topside and a full cut, polish and wax. She also getting new fenders, all new lines, a new bow swim ladder, new fuel gauges, a new transducer mount, new rub rails and a new prop for the main (90 Evinrude).

[Dewey Cox]

Nice work!

[Hunter Trav]

Wow, and I thought I had a project boat, yours is a whole 'nother level compared to what I have done! Excellent work, don't forget some pictures of when its finished!!

[roper1]

Will be years of enjoyment when you get that old girl in the water. Enjoy!

[ghfalls]

Wow, what a great restoration project. I can’t believe someone would have just screwed the keel strips through the bottom of the boat in the first place. Did you cut a piece out to see if the wood under the glass is still good? I can’t wait to see the finished product. Good luck.

[Peace Meal Farm]

Originally Posted by ghfalls

Wow, what a great restoration project. I can’t believe someone would have just screwed the keel strips through the bottom of the boat in the first place. Did you cut a piece out to see if the wood under the glass is still good? I can’t wait to see the finished product. Good luck.

Yeah, I'm not a fan with how the factory did this. It seems like an afterthought. Still, 40+ years was a pretty good run.

My water intrusion was in the bow, underneath the berth and forward of the pilothouse bulkhead. I plan to cut access hatches into the 'hollow' area underneath the berth (underneath the sleeping cushions) for some exploratory surgery. I anticipate finding some damp floatation foam in there which I will hog out. A week or two with fans and a dehumidifier should dry things.

I drilled some holes into the core - through the fiberglass - from the bottom of the hull adjacent to where the screws failed. The plywood shavings which came out off my drill bit were dry so I am cautiously optimistic.

Worst case scenario is that the wooden core is saturated. Should that be the case then it will function for this upcoming season - the floor isn't rotten at this point and everything feels solid. I would end up repairing that next winter - cut open the floor on both the deck and the pilothouse from the insude, replace what's bad and then reglass the floor.

[pikergolf]

My hat's off, very nicely done!

[58thecat]

Those old boats are simply awesome.
Keep posting the progress on your restoration.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Drewski Canuck]

If things don't work out as planned and you have to do stringers on the inside, there is carbon fibre composite "plywoods" now that most quality boat manufacturers use on the stern plate.

It can also be cut for stringers, and on the outside stringers instead of wood.

My brother and I are the only other people I know besides yourself who have tore into a boat hull for a rebuild.

I sometimes dream that I might have spent my adult life in casinos and ***** houses, but then I remember that those pursuits cost money.

Needless to say boat ownership took the money out of any other endevours.

Drewski

[Peace Meal Farm]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

If things don't work out as planned and you have to do stringers on the inside, there is carbon fibre composite "plywoods" now that most quality boat manufacturers use on the stern plate.

It can also be cut for stringers, and on the outside stringers instead of wood.

My brother and I are the only other people I know besides yourself who have tore into a boat hull for a rebuild.

I sometimes dream that I might have spent my adult life in casinos and ***** houses, but then I remember that those pursuits cost money.

Needless to say boat ownership took the money out of any other endevours.

Drewski

Are you talking about coosa board? That stuff sounds pretty slick. If I have to redo the core one day down the road I will likely lean in that direction.

No stringers on this thing. It's literally just laminated plywood. When you're standing on the deck you're actually about 4" below the waterline. It's basically a pointy, fiberglass bathtub.

And yeah - boats are giant money pits. But what can you do. To buy the same boat new is about $140 000 to $150 000 CDN. I will take my 40 year old version and put in the elbow grease all day long.

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by Peace Meal Farm

Are you talking about coosa board? That stuff sounds pretty slick. If I have to redo the core one day down the road I will likely lean in that direction.

No stringers on this thing. It's literally just laminated plywood. When you're standing on the deck you're actually about 4" below the waterline. It's basically a pointy, fiberglass bathtub.

And yeah - boats are giant money pits. But what can you do. To buy the same boat new is about $140 000 to $150 000 CDN. I will take my 40 year old version and put in the elbow grease all day long.

Plus there is something about all the work and the end result that when you step back and see here at the dock that will put a huge smile on your face…..priceless!!!
Good luck and keep us posted!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ghfalls]

There’s a great YouTube channel that I spent lots of time watching to learn about fibreglassing. Fish bump tv. The guy is very knowledgeable and explains things clearly and concisely with lots of pro tips thrown in as well. I just finished glassing the exterior of a small truck camper build, and that channel was the most informative channel I found.