'82 38 KAAMA Scarab
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05-07-2018, 07:07 PM
#142
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Heath, did you ever take a straight edge to your hull? I took a 4' long straight edge to mine yesterday, and I have 1/8" of rocker at the back of the hull, "last 4 feet". Before I glass in the back stringers, I want to make sure the hull didn't change, while I had the stringer out. If you haven't, would you mind checking yours and letting me know if yours is the same?
05-07-2018, 09:25 PM
#143
i like the idea of the firewall bulkhead not going all the way down into the V,
did you use 3/4 ?
once you get X located i would transfer it to the bulkhead and locate the camshaft centerline
so you can put in a nice access panel or hole for cam changes later on. this way when you rig it
you can avoid those areas.
it'll look nice in the engine room and the back seat will cover it.
to do it again, i would have run the belly board (that my gas tank rests on) past both the front and rear bulkheads
and cut those bulkheads to rest on top of it. that way the battery trays and belly tank board are all one piece.
zero obstruction under the board, cleaner install, less pieces and seams, slightly less glass.
looking real good and it looks like a nice fit. the big stuff is well on it's way, looking forward to the next update.
did you use 3/4 ?
once you get X located i would transfer it to the bulkhead and locate the camshaft centerline
so you can put in a nice access panel or hole for cam changes later on. this way when you rig it
you can avoid those areas.
it'll look nice in the engine room and the back seat will cover it.
to do it again, i would have run the belly board (that my gas tank rests on) past both the front and rear bulkheads
and cut those bulkheads to rest on top of it. that way the battery trays and belly tank board are all one piece.
zero obstruction under the board, cleaner install, less pieces and seams, slightly less glass.
looking real good and it looks like a nice fit. the big stuff is well on it's way, looking forward to the next update.
05-08-2018, 12:41 AM
#144
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Heath, did you ever take a straight edge to your hull? I took a 4' long straight edge to mine yesterday, and I have 1/8" of rocker at the back of the hull, "last 4 feet". Before I glass in the back stringers, I want to make sure the hull didn't change, while I had the stringer out. If you haven't, would you mind checking yours and letting me know if yours is the same?
05-08-2018, 07:10 AM
#145
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iTrader: (4)
i like the idea of the firewall bulkhead not going all the way down into the V,
did you use 3/4 ?
once you get X located i would transfer it to the bulkhead and locate the camshaft centerline
so you can put in a nice access panel or hole for cam changes later on. this way when you rig it
you can avoid those areas.
it'll look nice in the engine room and the back seat will cover it.
to do it again, i would have run the belly board (that my gas tank rests on) past both the front and rear bulkheads
and cut those bulkheads to rest on top of it. that way the battery trays and belly tank board are all one piece.
zero obstruction under the board, cleaner install, less pieces and seams, slightly less glass.
looking real good and it looks like a nice fit. the big stuff is well on it's way, looking forward to the next update.
did you use 3/4 ?
once you get X located i would transfer it to the bulkhead and locate the camshaft centerline
so you can put in a nice access panel or hole for cam changes later on. this way when you rig it
you can avoid those areas.
it'll look nice in the engine room and the back seat will cover it.
to do it again, i would have run the belly board (that my gas tank rests on) past both the front and rear bulkheads
and cut those bulkheads to rest on top of it. that way the battery trays and belly tank board are all one piece.
zero obstruction under the board, cleaner install, less pieces and seams, slightly less glass.
looking real good and it looks like a nice fit. the big stuff is well on it's way, looking forward to the next update.
I don't think I'll ever change the cams in my engines let alone do it in the boat. However, for guys that want to test different combo's that would be a good idea. I do like the idea of a belly board, vs PVC tubing. The tubing in the Scarab was cracked, the belly board would be much stronger and not crack.
I main reason I went with the one piece bulkhead, is just about all of the custom, high end boats used a one piece design. I am trying to implement as may structural elements as i can from Apache, and put them in the Scarab. I was going to use Coosa for the firewall Bulkhead, cockpit floor, and the side panels, but it seems that you need to use more glass for the same strength. At that point, how much weight are you saving? I'm not at all concerned about rot, as everything will be sealed up, so I just stayed with marine ply. To be honest, I'm not sure WellCraft even used marine plywood!
05-08-2018, 07:35 AM
#146
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That is interesting that your has a hook and mine has rocker. I wonder how long Wellcraft let these boats cure before pulling them from the mold?
Last edited by endeavour32; 05-08-2018 at 11:26 PM.
05-10-2018, 07:49 PM
#147
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Bulkhead is tabbed in, this weekend I'll start glassing in the engine stringers. It sure feels good to finally start seeing some progress. I have more glass work to do here, but this gets the ball rolling toward the finish line! 
05-10-2018, 08:41 PM
#148
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Location: St-Hyacinthe, quebec, canada
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05-10-2018, 08:48 PM
#149
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Your better boats are allowed to cure longer in the mold before they are pulled from it. This allows the boat to be straighter. Next time you are at a boat show, look at a low end boat, and look down the hull side. It will be wavy. Then walk over and look at a Cobalt or a Formula, and they will be very straight and true. I can point out several flaws above the water line on my hull, and I'm positive all of them are from pulling the boat prior to being fully cured. I'm sure that is why my boat has some rocker in the hull and phughs has a hook. I would be curious to see how a LS hull is. My boat is sitting on a Myco trailer, so I kind of doubt any issues came from the trailer.
Four Winns boats are made close to where I grew up. I know when OMC bought them back in the 90's they were making and pulling boats out of the molds quick so they could mass produces them. Quality sucked. It was a long time ago, but I want to say they were pulling runabouts out of the mold in the same shift. At some point they changed that, and now I would say Four Winns makes a very nice boat for what they are.
Last edited by endeavour32; 05-10-2018 at 08:51 PM.
05-13-2018, 10:34 PM
#150
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So hear is this weeks update! The center stringer is made and core bonded to the hull and glassed in. I took two sheets of 3/4" marine ply and glassed them together with woven roving, the same as I did with the transom. I then bonded it to the hull with core bond. Wellcraft just glassed in the stringer and there was a large gap between it and the hull. Of course over the years, water got into that gap and started rotting out that stringer. Then I glassed the whole thing in with 1708.
Here is a question for you guys. How many layers of glass are you using on stringers? I'm thinking I should do 3 layers of 1708.
