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28' Brave "bottoms up" background info.

Hello to everyone, I am the one who bought the 28' Apache "Bottoms Up" that was severely burned due to??? I am more than halfway through with the glass repairs on it, and will start posting some pics as I progress, if there is interest. I could not let this little gem be disposed of in the bottom of a landfill somewhere. So, being this is what I do for my living, I will try to build this as no other has been done. I am looking forward to the input of anyone familiar with this boats history. Thanks, Jason Roberts

cool, start postin pics. i love to see a resin bucket brought back from an early demise.

Welcome to the tribe!!!

I saw that boat on ebay it looked like a nice boat anyone no how it caught fire

Jason, Love a good build thread!! You will definitely have some fun restoring that one! I have been working on a 21 for the past 2+ years... It will become part of the family........ :)
Jr.

That is a major project you got there. Hats off to you.

So you restore damaged boats for a living? What all is involved in restoring just the hull of a boat like this one? How do you go about replacing all the burnt core? Or does it need replacing? Looks like you replaced some spots on the port side around the fairing. Anyway to see the photos of that repair spot and the rest of the fairing from the cabin? Do you just inspect the entire core and determine which areas need to be rebuilt?

Thanks for posting those pics, really informative to see the naked structure of these boat, especially since there were only 70 or so made. They really are great boats.

This boat wasn't actually as bad as it looked on Ebay. (If you're nutty enough to start from scratch) The upholstery saved most of the cockpit and all of the cabin. The most of the repairs (large panels) were due to delamination. The port side was caused by the fire. The port one third of the deck from the fairing forward was mfg. defect, with a lot of large voids from dry lamination. I will try and post pics of that section today.
The way I determine repair needs varies by a lot of factors. The only place coring was compromised was on both sides of the engine room at the air intakes. In this case I will probably make some temporary molds from waxed Mdf and make a new panel that I can splice in place. Once you remove the plywood coring from the skin on either side, there isn't a lot left to maintain a shape. Some of the other parts were just raw glass from the resin burning out (I.E. the drain rail around the engine room) these places I clean them of contamination, try to realign the shape, and re-wet them out. This usually gives a good base to repair off of.
This boat makes a great candidate for an advertising platform for my business, plus I've been around a lot of Apache crew for a long time. Just makes sense. We do major restoration from beginning to end as well as simple repairs, add-ons, and service. We have everything in house from an upholstery shop, metal fabrication/ tower shop, Custom paint, glass (obviously), electrical, panel mfg, trailers....... Every part of this boat including building of the 850's that will be its new heart will be done at my shop and posted here.
I always try to be available for questions, and I welcome them. I hope you all enjoy this as we go!
Ultimate Offshore Clermont, Fl. (407) 654-8219

Thanks for the reply, very informative. Did you run into any problems with the center bulkhead (dash/cabin entry bulkhead) by fire or manufacturing defect? Any seperation from the hull? From your pics it looks like there is really not much to the engine bay bulkhead.....like its almost there just to shield the cockpit.

Do you anticipate or are you planning any structural upgrades to the original design?

I didn't realize the captains and co-pilots helm are really seperate pieces, which it appears you have removed already. What kind of work will you be doing there? Are you going to completely remanufactur those pieces or repair the old ones? I know the original dash didn't have a dash panel per se, but was just holes cut out of the helm. If you decide to make an instrument panel I would be very interested in purchasing an extra one.

I haven't yet seen any defect between the bulkhead joint area. The only thing structural we're doing so far is scuffing and laminating the inside of the above the rubrail sides where ever it sounds thin, with some 24-08 stitched biax. We will be filling in the transom with Coosa 26lb infused transom core so we can re-drill the engine centers and x-dim. All coring that we do replace is Divinicel or 1/4 core mat depending on application.

The forward engine room bulkhead is only 3/4" plywood with a little bonding tape around the perimeter and then gelcoated. This was fairly trashed so I cut it out and will be putting in 1/2" coosa 24lb composite. Once the engine room upper sides are re-constructed, we will then overlay most of the sidewalls of the engine room with a layer of 24-08 to tie it all in and smooth it out before recoating.

As for the dash hoods, they are intact and repairable. However, I will not be re-using the helm side. We will be making a different layout all together. I want to make a panel that is pre loaded with Livorsi's Deutch plug gauges, so it is easier serviced, as well as adding room for a Gps screen. I will probably relocate the throttle/shift quadrant into an armrest of a dropout key bolster. The boat is going to go over 100 so it needs to be as solid and safe as possible. I'm a long way from that, so it is still up in the air. I will be making a plug then mold for the new bolt-on hood assy. and offering it as an upgrade to others along with a panel set.

I took a couple more pics of the fairing and the side for you too. I'm also going to put some pics of an '84 38 Cig. flatdeck we restored in '08 you might find interesting. I saw someone who responded has one as well.