Project 'Elbow Grease'

[Thebuffalo]

Well, Here I go again. I am starting my next project boat officially. First things though, I downloaded Infanview to edit my pictures to get them down to size, I can't drive this program, can someone give me a couple of pointers on the magic number 100kb for pictures. I can tell you all about the project but I know you mob like pictures.

Project.

20 Foot Bertram
Fiberglass
Half cabin.
Manufactured around 1972.
Engine 302 Ford (comming out in the morning)

I am intending to put a pod onto this old girl and power it with an EFI 200 Merc that I have on The Buffalo. Am intending to place most of the gear out of the old girl into the older girl. I will be fitting a toilet, electric anchor and plotter as extra items.

I am intending to stip it down totally and respray in two pack (international paint, I have decided). I will strip out the floor and replace stringers etc as required (not to many I hope). I will put in a new floor raised near the helm with a drain in the middle of the deck to filter fish guts etc.

Why, because I am a glutton for punishment.

I am expecting about six weeks, I am an optimist. With frieght delays 1 week after ordering minimum you can expect some delays.

Do you mob ever get board with this? Beware I am totally unreliable when it comes to posting updates.

Pictures tomorrow. Q. Am I better of taking the pictures with a low resoulution to make file compression easier?

Stay safe

Thebuffalo.

PS I hope I haven't taken someone's boat name. I figured it would be well suited considering whats ahead.

[Angla]

Buffy

After you open the file, select image, select resize,change the width to 640 andthen enter, select save as, type in the new name and location. You should find this to be under 100kb.

Angla

[Thebuffalo]

Angla, Thanks for that. Lets try one.

[Thebuffalo]

Now for some more pictures

[Angla]

She's a bit of a mess of wiring in there. I would be concerned with the fact that any water from washing down would go down the rod holders and directly onto electrics may cause future problems.

Can't wait to see more.

Angla

[nigelr]

Good luck, Buffalo, hope it all falls together easily.
Enjoying your post, thanks for taking the time!
NR.

[fishn-ads]

Buffalo,
Firstly Goodluck or Better Planning.
New to this forum but if you intend on keeping us posted should very interesting.
6 weeks?

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[catchy_fishy]

Buffalo - now there's a name.

Big, Strong and bloody scary when faced head on. If I were the boat that's about to be rebuilt I'd be terrified.

I am very keen to see two things and appreciate your efforts in k meeping us Rebuild addicts hooked.

Areas of keen interest: New Floor & Wiring the finished product.

I await your commencement in anticipation

Mike

[Thebuffalo]

Sorry for the delay feller's, but I did tell you that I am a slack bugger when it comes to this side of things.

Good news, I have been working my arse of and yes I have been making progress. I have striiped out the motor etc and have cleaned out just about every fitting etc. I have pictures of the work to date, but won't post, today is the wife's birthday and she will get the shits with the time it takes me.

Yes the wiring was a bloody mess. I think there was nearly 15KG of old wiring. It is amazing how much there is over the years.

The hull is a solid as a a brick s / house. I started on the floor, using a crowbar, as you do.... crowbar went through the old board and bounced back out. Thought I may have been over zealous. The comment made about this baot being manufactered before they knew they could get away with less fiberglass was right. didn't even dent it.

I am very happy with the progress that I have made and will get the pictures up. All my fiberglass arrives on tuesday's barge so it should be interesting. For info Moby marine are the guys who make the bolt on pods, can I say that?

Anyway, must go, any questions let me know. By the way I have never fiberglassed before so take that on board when looking at the pictures later.

Cheers

Thebuffalo

[Thebuffalo]

Angla, the rod holders had firehose which was directed straight into the builge?

Good idea, would have done the job.

Cheers

[Thebuffalo]

I don't know what I am doing but these pictures don't seem to be working. Progress report anyway.

Was very excited when I pulled up the floor, the boat has fiberglass stringers, now I thought that a boat of this age was down with wood stringers and a fiberglass overlay. the other feller here with the Carribean has wood in his stringers and that boat is an 82 model. Maybe they ran out of wood? The glass work in this baot is very impressive. I have had a fella over to look at it and he is amazed at the strength of the thing.

Now for the bad stuff, yes there is some rot. The transom has a patch of about 300 x300mm of rot. so soft you can pull it apart with your hand. I have spoken with the local expert and he believes that a patch will suffice, ie, cut out thew bad wood and ten glue in some new stuff with a backing board once it is in place. Other option, fill it with filler / resin and then board over. This transom only has wood where the leg used to bolt on so the rest is sound.

Otherwise all is looking very good, other than the fact that I missed out on getting my gear on the Barge so everything wil be here next week. It amazes me that these people don't understand the importance of a boat restoration.

Sorry about the pictures, I know how annoying it is to read a post and not be able to visualise what is going on. I will be making my own pod I have decided. It is not cost effective to do it any other way.

Cheers

Thebuffalo

[Thebuffalo]

Stuffed if I know what I am doing wrong, the files thatr I have tried to attach have been under 100kb but don't seem to be working. Do thwey go into a cache for the modorators to look at prior to being posted?

I could have the floor done by the time it has taken me to sort this. :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[I think I am going to cry.

[Fishin_Dan]

You can email them to me at fishin_dan@ausfish.com.au if you like, and I'll see if I can't get em up for ya

[Jeremy]

Buffalo, there are certain characters which aren't allowed in the file name when you post pictures. Try changing the name to something simple with just letters and see what happens?

Jeremy

[MulletMan]

What a job eh?
Just a thought, will you be fitting a pee and poo holding tank to the toilet? I think it is mandatory now as you can't pump the brew over the side as berley any more!
Grand_Marlin is the resident Guru on fibreglassing and even though I have done a fair bit of it myself, reckon he is the guy to ask for help!
I know when to shut my mouth on advice!
Best of luck ................... sorry Mate, but I am going for nine weeks and three days......... :-/

On the pic side of things, when you do include them in a post, you almost always get a black bolded message saying that "for security reasons" you have to reattach the pic again via the "browse" prompt. But maybe that is just the way I do it .........!

I would be really twitchy about the transom rot because it is very difficult to find out just how much rot there is inside. A patch sounds bad to me but again Grand_Marlin would be the guy to ask.

I replaced a transom in a Caribbean skiboat once and was amazed at just how much damage there was (compared to what I thought). I have seen a professional fibreglasser drill half inch holes down through the good timber then glue and insert stainless steel rods for some support. As parts of the rods would be "sticking out" where the rotted timber has been removed, it does give you enormous strength to rebuild the missing bit.

Be interesting to see how you go on this project ..................................

[Thebuffalo]

Pink Panther, glad you told me that, I was intending to use a macerator and use it as burley :o, maybe I won't.

The transome is mostly fiberglass on this rig with timber in the centre where the leg was mounted. Rot will be easy to find, I have a nine inch grinder that is good for delicate work :)

The idea about the rods is a good idea. I will have to do some more exploring to see how far it spreads. When I say patch I mean 18mm ply from both sides that is glassed with a piece glued and jigsawed into the gap where the rotten wood has come out. Advices is good and if the Old Marlin has any tips I would greatly appreciate them, Blaze I have seen your efforts to.

Dan the pictures are on thier way, I will send a few, may take a while to get them through, we don't have broadband on the island so uploading is a b--ch.

Jeremy I will try what you said. dan if it works thats why the email never came.

Cheers

[Thebuffalo]

Organised caos

[Thebuffalo]

The guts of the matter - patience is a virtue

[Thebuffalo]

Can't really see this. If there are any particular pictures you want (now that I am an expert) let me know and I will post them. If you don't ask I won't post em. Well maybe one or two, I won't be able to help myself.

[Fishin_Dan]

Good to see you got them sorted mate! Will be watching this one too.... Another for us all to get hooked on!

[MulletMan]

Buffalo, you don't think yer 9" grinder is a bit small for the job do you? ;) ;) ;)

Although the purists would hammer me for the idea, I also bolted a quarter inch thick piece of angle iron along inside the transom - not all that pretty but by hell it kept the transom straight as a die for many years with lots of heavy water skiing being done.

I helped another guy do the same and we pulled the transom back a good inch and a half - lots of cracking/squeaking noises - but it never let go after that.

It think it helps to spread the load across the width of the transom ........................ :-X :-X

Re the SS rod inserts, he used fibreglass glue (2 pot mix) filled the holes with it first and then jammed the rods down. Lots of it came back out but they stuck like s*it to a sheeps tail!

[Thebuffalo]

Funny you should mention the bit about the S/S rod. I found a source for some today.

The 9 inch should do it. I don't have anything bigger.

I thought you would have caught on eariler. Remember the bit where I said about the crowbar? Now the angle grinder. You know I am a tradesman.... well maybe not.

I will certainly make sure I sort this out, I will over construct it. Was loking at a pod made out of S/S bar (my source) and angle. The right (starboard) side was bent from the tourque of the motor. This boat was an old Pride and had a 200 merc on it. I will try and post a picture later as it is a good example of what not to do.

Cheers, thanks for your input, hope to have some more pictures frome this weekends efforts. I'll get some of the engine lift one's up as well. Now that was an easy job considering I had never done it before, don't ask me to put it back in though :)

Later

Thebuffalo

[Thebuffalo]

Funny you should mention the bit about the S/S rod. I found a source for some today.

The 9 inch should do it. I don't have anything bigger.

I thought you would have caught on eariler. Remember the bit where I said about the crowbar? Now the angle grinder. You know I am a tradesman.... well maybe not.

I will certainly make sure I sort this out, I will over construct it. Was loking at a pod made out of S/S bar (my source) and angle. The right (starboard) side was bent from the tourque of the motor. This boat was an old Pride and had a 200 merc on it. I will try and post a picture later as it is a good example of what not to do.

Cheers, thanks for your input, hope to have some more pictures frome this weekends efforts. I'll get some of the engine lift one's up as well. Now that was an easy job considering I had never done it before, don't ask me to put it back in though :)

Later

Thebuffalo

[fishn-ads]

Buffalo looks like your still having fun? 4 weeks to go i'm watching.

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