Audiofn

Not yet

Audiofn

Working on it again today. Had about an hour before I had to head over to a customers place to do some work over there. I have cut out as much as I plan to cut out between the stringers. At the end of the day I am a little more then grossed out at how things are done. I was able to reach up under the forward grid area and feel a block of wood inside it. It is loose! This is probably not a huge deal in reality but certainly not what I would expect to be finding on a boat that cost as much as these boats do! I used my fiber scope from work to take a look at the piece of wood is not treated at all.

The good news. Plexus WORKS. Were ever the Plexus made contact with two pieces when I pull things apart it is certainly ripping at the glass! I am very confident that maybe my plan is a valid one. I will know more when I perform my stress tests later this week on my samples. I have one more area to remove at this time on the Port side. It is over the step. That area is also totally hollow! I saw some cracking on the other side so I assumed it was hollow and it is. I am planning to cut about a 6X8" hole there later today to make it so I can inject the Plexus under that area as well as down the front of it. Pictures to fallow later today. Happy happy joy joy.

Audiofn

Oh ya I am guessing the other side is not going to come apart as easily as this side. Just my guess but it seems like it is mostly bonded. I am trying to figure out if I am going to go in there and have at it or not. If I knew that they got Plexus under the stringers I would leave it alone. Unfortunately I just can't assume that so I am going to have to dig at it. Again should know more later today.

Audiofn

This is what I believe is the last of the cuts on the Port side. This is over the notch in the transom.

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This is the gap that runs between the top of the notch and the bottom of the boat.

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Last is getting rolling on the other side. This side so far has more bond then the other side but still a LOT of gaps in the plexus. This side at least seems to still be bonded but there are still voids so it has to come apart...[ATTACH=CONFIG]554944[/ATTACH]

Audiofn

Seems like it has been raining for two weeks and I had to pull the boat out of my shop. I had hoped that getting it home was going to be a blessing in disguise as I could do work on it when I got home from each day. No such luck with all the rain. This evening I tried to use my Makita polisher with a diamond concrete wheel on it and it was slow going but works. My hope is that I can use the Power planer like Dave did and then use this in the tighter areas. If no rain tomorrow I will mess around with it some more. It was dark when I was trying this...

Paisan

Hi guys. Found a Fastech 353 considering putting an offer in on. Took pics of the engine bay and wanted to get some opinions from the group.

Thanks in advance.

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-mike

Audiofn

Very hard to tell from the photos. i would get a survey and ask the surveyor to pay very close attention to that area and ask him to see if he can find any hollow sounding areas or any evidence of flexing or cracking around the area of the last step and the transom. My cracking was behind the motor mount and you could see spider cracking in the bottom of the boat in a few places. Hope that helps.

Jon

Paisan

Thanks, really appreciate it.

-mike

Audiofn

Ok got a short amount of time to work on this thing today. I hit it with a power planer today and had great results.

This first picture is the modification I made to my power planer. I removed the front plate. I would not do this unless you are VERY comfortable with the planer. It is more then a little sketchy! What it does allow for is to be able to take off a lot in one pass as well as get in a lot closer to the edges. What it can also do is make you take off way more then you want and go through the bottom of the boat! Or you can easily hurt yourself.
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Huge pile of Plexus shavings
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Close up of the thin amount of plexus left in the bottom of the boat.
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Audiofn

Like Dave said I will probably have enough shavings to fill a trash barrel with I am done with all this...