lookin good jon.. I remember the 3 months of glassin i did on my previous boat.. Talk about being high as a kite for 3 months :D

But in the long run its all worth it. :cool:

Now i don't check this thread to often but man John are you sure your going forward here?
:D:D

Jon you have my upmost respect. It looks great. It also makes my outdrive problem seem small in comparison. Now, I just hope I never have to take on a project like yours.

I went up to Jon's shop a few weeks back and WOW!!! These pics don't do justice to what he is actually doing. I have never done any fiberglass work before so Just being there a short time I learned about things I'd never new. It was even more impressive after he explained everything he had done and what he still had left to do. It is really amazing to see it in person. It also makes me realize that you have a lot more patience than I do, I would have said f#$k it along time ago and ripped that chain saw thru the hull:) Looks good Jon!! I think you got Too Old beat!!:D

T/O claims the motors are being built. Do you need us to send in the SWAT Team to help you out Jon??

I do not think so. He found his drives. Now the preasure is on!!!!!!

DAMN JON! you are an animal my freind. Did I hear you mention the word sell it a few posts back? :D

rag's

Ok little set back today. I was test fitting the floors and was real happy to find that they are going to fit very nice. Little trim hear and there and they are going to go in perfect. Then the bummer..... The coreing on the floors is wet. So they have to be cut apart and re-cored :( :( :( So I played hookie today and cut the old wood out. They need a quick sand and then I need to pick up the new wood and glass them in. I did not however come this far to cut any corners so this is going to set me back a little bit of time. I hope however to have them totally redone by mid to end of next week....

Jon

Sounds your distiguished competitor from the south just got a break!

Cuda yes he did but I am fordging forward :D:D It aint over tell one of these ladies sings :D:D

Ok time for a update. I got the stringers all glassed in. Took a ton of grinding to get this far but it is really coming out well.

Then I had to tackle the floor. The floors I never really looked at when I took them out of the boat. When I looked at them to put them in I decided that I would be insane to put them back in with out re-coreing them. First thing that I did was cut out the old Coring and Sand out all the old wood.

The old floor was made up of what looked like sections of wood that they had laying around the shop. They were made up of 4 pieces of plywood. I decided to make them out of one piece.

When I was done cutting out the floor material I drilled a LOT of 1/32 holes in the wood about ever 4 inches apart. This was to allow the air to escape from btwn the wood and the glass. I also made a flat board to make sure that the new floor was flat. I then put a good coating of resin and glass down then put the new wood down and then the piled every heavy thing I could get on top to act as a vice.

I then used Epoxy to glass the underside of the deck. I did this because the small amount of area that I had to tab. I figured with the superior strength of the Epoxy that it was a good idea. I personally find Epoxy VERY hard to work with but in this case I thought it was worth the effort.

This was kind of the fun part. I put in 2 pound pour foam into the cavities under the floor. This is coast guard aproved foam. I think that the foam that I got was defective as it did not expand any wear near what they quoted me and I ran out :(. The company did say however that they would send me more foam to make up for the short fall. :D

Once the cavities are filled up then I took a saw and cut out the foam. I cut down tell I hit the stringers. I then cut sideways from back to front. Then I used a file to get it down tell the saw marks were gone. This way I knew that I had the foam below the floor.

I then needed to put in the bulkhead that extends up past the floor to the deck. Originally this was just screwed in place. It was also not glassed!! It was just plain wood with carpet on top. This was were the water got in last time. So I decided to glass it into place this time. This picture is the top part glassed in. I can not believe hos much stronger the deck feels now. It no longer flexes when I jump up on it.

In goes the floor and the project is VERY close to completion. I have to glass in the front of the floors still and then do some flat work but not much as it will all be hiden when the side pannels get made and installed. Today was a big one as this basically is the finish of the nasty part of the job. From hear on out it is just a little bit of sanding hear and there but no major grinding.

Great job Jon. I'm guessing that your bolster bases mount to center part of the floor that is removable and is over the fuel cell. Before you mount this it might be good idea to measure up and mount some stainless backing plates to receive your bolster mounting hardware.You have come this far why stop now. Again great work.

Rick G.

Did you install any type of drainage system?

RickG: I am waiting for the new legs to show up so that I can do just that. They should be arriving any day now so that I can fit the bolsters. That is kind of the last mystery piece of the puzle. I am going to take a piece of stainless stock and glass it under the floor and weld some nuts right to it.

US1. I did not install any drainage in the outer sections. They are now going to be TOTALLY water tight aso there is no place for water to get in any more. In the gas tank area I will be adding some drainage on the off chance that water or even gas gets in there it will have a way to get out.

Jon

wow good job , now get this damn thing finished :D

DUDE I am trying!!!!

TooOld you getting worried yet :D:D

Next weekend I will not be able to work on it much as I hope to go up and start installing my dock stairs in Maine. That takes priority as it was a PITA to get the permit and I am not sure if I can get another so I want to make sure that I have the stairs in place before the permit runs out.

Jon

Jon I did same thing when I rebuilt my motor mounts. I will post some pictures this week . I think you will like what I did . It is my version of offshore mounting using the stock isolated motor mount. These peices are through bolted to the stringers and centre pod and the mounts are then bolted to these plates( stainless).
One VERY IMPORTANT word of caution when you bolt the boltsers to these plates you will be using stainless on stainless hardware ,be sure to put lots of antisieze because the smallest amount of dirt or material in the threads will cause the hardware to lock up and may ruin the backing plate nuts. I found this out the hard way mounts the stainless mounts I fabricated.
I have enjoyed watching your rebuild and figure this will probably in the future of my 302. So I will used what I've learned then . Keep up the good work.

Rick G.

Rick thanks. I know that when I repower the motor mounts will have to be redone as well. At this point I think it will not be such a big deal as I am getting kind of good at glass work :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I hope to put the finishing touches on it this weekend.

Jon

Re: Stringer Replacement Formula 302
 

Jon - Haven't seen anything for a while. Did I just miss the finish? Or, have you been taking a break?

Re: Stringer Replacement Formula 302
 

Any new news? Hey Jon also I was curious what you think it would have cost to have someone else do that work for you?

Re: Stringer Replacement Formula 302
 

He was in chat last night breifly. It seems he's busy making money or some other foolish $hit like that! :)

Re: Stringer Replacement Formula 302
 

any news on the project???

Re: Stringer Replacement Formula 302
 

Okay it has been how long now? Any new news? How's the project soming along Audiofn?

Re: Stringer Replacement Formula 302
 

I have been to bussy with work, building a house in Maine and work...... Boat had to go on hold. I have the Donzi so it is really not that big of a deal.

Jon

Re: Stringer Replacement Formula 302
 

I saw this thread and I thought.

"oh no, not again." :D

Re: Stringer Replacement Formula 302
 

Hey jon how about some pics of the house project???

Re: Stringer Replacement Formula 302
 

This was an incredible thread.
Thanks

Re: Stringer Replacement Formula 302
 

Read the entire thread and am IMPRESSED.

Questions--what was the verdict on the fuel tank? Was the tank aluminum?

Thanks,

Poorsche

Re: Stringer Replacement Formula 302
 

I found it jon :D :D :D

Re: Stringer Replacement Formula 302
 

How did you support the bottom of the boat while doing the work? I am just getting started on my 255 Formula.

Re: Stringer Replacement Formula 302
 

Yes it is aluminum. The company that made it is still in business and is going to make me another one.

Jon

Re: Stringer Replacement Formula 302
 

We decided on two things. One is I only pulled one of the larger stringers at a time. The boat is also on a bunk trailer so that was we felt enough support. Once the larger inner stringers were replaced the outers we felt we could do at the same time. I checked the bottom before and after and it did not change at all so I guess we did ok.

Jon

Re: Stringer Replacement Formula 302
 

Lucky you, i am out in the open with no trailer. I will have to make sure the bottom keeps its shape. I planned to blueprint it afterwards anyways.