Plastic transoms !!!!!!

[phillnjack]

Well the boat has come a long way since the last pics.
I have not only repaired the stringersystem but re-joined it all to the hull with the epoxy stuff, then filled the
large voids with foam then put the one piece fibreglass floor back down.
The space between the two inner and out sheels that make up the boat have been filled with closed cell foam
so the bouyancy should not be too much of a worry and the strength and ridigity will be better anywa
The fender rubber is now on but still needs around 10 screws to finnish that off properly.
The steering consol is bolted back on and also the engine is back where it belongs,on the transom ha ha
all the controls are back on and i even remembered to make two new battens for the controls board
(the original old one rotted away and looked crap).

The boat just last week looked like it was not going to ever be looking right,i was getting a bit dispondant about
the whole thing ever looking or being right.
Once the floor was back in everything changed big time, i could now see a boat again and not a heap of fibreglass.
here is a few follow up pics that i took of the boat comming back to life.

Floor back in


Its all down and sealed and screwed down

consol and seats placed in

new remote controld wood battens screwed on.(there is wood behind fibreglass to take the screws)
.

[phillnjack]

Then it was time to bolt the seats down and then put the engine back on.
For this i even made a crane effort to attach to the engine stand i made for the engine to sit on anytime i want to work on it.
i made the stand from heavy duty 2x2 steel square tube and made it so it can come apart or fold away.
The poor engine sat on this for a few weeks being totaly ignored but covered up.

This shows the stand i made

its 30 inch wide and 50 inch long at the base
the uprights can be unbolted and the plate the engine fits on is adjustable to abe able to take
a 30 inch transom engine if i ever needed it to. it can also take a huge amount of weight.



the crane effort i built for the job was just very simple attachment to the stand and dont look pretty but does the job.
i used a spare winch of 1,500 lb capacity and attached that to an upright.

[phillnjack]

now it was time to see if i had drilled the Bolt holes in the right place and see if the engine lined up in the
right place.

all went perfect, the engine stand/crane done its job perfect as well and made life much easier than trying
to lift and manouver it around by hand or have someone at the front moving the trailer etc, i should of
built myself this stand years ago.
anyway now the boat has the engine on the back and raised up as much as possible to go testing with.


It all seems to fit nice and easy

.
Now for wiring it all back up and fit the remotes etc.


Put the lid back on and think about whats next


Stand back,admire my work and try to think of anything ive forgot to do ?????


I am happy so far with how its all gone, this was one very big project for me as going in blind
and not knowing what to realy expect.
It didnt help matters with the two shells being stuck together with the foam.

If it had just been a case of taking the cap off a speedboat and doing the transom it would of
been a bit easier but obviously still a lot of work.
From looking at it with old dodgy eyesight it dont look like any of the hull has warped or changed
shape etc while the two halves were apart for a month.

I cannot think of anything ive missed out putting it back together and im sure ill get to the
river and then rememeber something vital !!!!
i have had to fill in the space where the drain plug is going as i have to order one on the net
and with it being a bank holiday ill wait till tuesday for that.
but for now its been filled back in with epoxy and ill use a small bilge pump if i have to.

The engine is raised up and the cavitaion pate is around 2.5 to 3 inches above the very bottom
of the boat.
This is a huge difference as the original mounting was around 1 inch below bottom due to wrongly
placed and drilled holes by an idiot for the bia pattern .
(the idiot was me in too much of a hurry when mounting the engine for the first time)

it now just needs to be started up for an engine check and then its off to the water to see if it still floats or if its gonna sink.!!!!!!!!

the project is not an easy one and i wouldnt reccomend it to someone who wants to do it on a weekend.
this takes a lot of time and patience to get the two halves apart and lots of messy clearing up and
the dust from the grinding is unbelievable with fibreglass and foam mix.

But it can be done and can give you back a nice strong transom to hopefully go on boating for another
couple of decades.

i do still have to clean the boat and give it a polish, but thats just normal routine.

I could not of done this job without many suggestions and see what others have done on forums like
this one.
This forum gives many people hopes and dreams of getting their boats fixed up and back on the water.
Some just want to see how fast they can get their rig to go, others want to have the finnish and
beauty of some of the top race boats on this site.
Either way its all inspirational to us folk who have attempted a few things we would not have done without the forums.

All the questions and answers is brilliant,we all learn so much from here.

Now i have just have to test it



phill..

[zul8tr]

Good show, great job. Get back to us with the testing.

Good luck.

[Fastjeff57]

After having recently replaced stringers, bulkheads and decking on our 19 foot CG Aux patrol boat , I compliment you on a fine piece of work!

Jeff

[phillnjack]

Well testing went a bit strange to honest.
The boat was great and stayed true when running, but i was expecting a little bit more from certain props.
The stainless 13x 19 sst (original 1972 race prop) gave me 38.3 mph at 5800rpms with 11% slip and was very
good on the pull away as well, it gave good midrange acceleration and the boat handles very nice with that
one and a smallish rooster tail left behind me ha ha .
i then tried a brand new (old stock) omc 12 3/4x23 alloy prop and that was a disaster, it just would not grip on pull away and once it did sort of grip it was crap at handling and only got the boat upto 36mph @5800rpms slip
is a disasterous 31% !!!!!!!! ,this prop just realy was nothing like what i expected it to be and looks doomed to the
back of the boat cupboard forever,it was just cavitating like mad all the time, obviously the engine needs to be
very low down for that one to work.
Then i tried 13 3/4 x 23 stainless and this was not brilliant on pull away but gave me 39.8 mph.
with this prop i was getting 5500rpms and i think the prop needs to be a touch higher to get it to let the engine spin a bit more.
this prop is a omc silver streak,it been used successfully in a speed record on a e-tec 90, the fellow i got it from did say the prop likes to run high !!!!
it certainly kicks up a bit of a rooster tail once it gets going, and definitely raises the back end of the boat up
compared to the sst prop.
from about 30mph the acceleration is instant, infact from 20 its very quick to get to top end, the engine dont
seem to struggle with it at all,just need a bit more on the top end to be realy happy.
Im not sure if i will get much more revs with a jack plate though as ive never used one.

so speed wise i have not gained anything realy, but i do think the boat handles a lot better on the straights.
there is no sign of any wobble and no listing to either side etc.It feels a good bit different as in morerigid than before
but this might just be because i know its more rigid due to more layers of glass and new transom etc.

The transom is as solid as a rock and all went good, i think i was hoping for too much with the prop testing.

i will be using the boat for recreational stuff like kneeboarding and towing toys with a 15 pitch prop and a
few odd bits of fishing and now and again a blast out with a few other boats.
i know its not a racer, but was hoping for mid to high 40's from the outfit.
today ive noticed the bottom carb was not getting the carb opening up like the other 2 so ive now sorted that out.
maybe a jackplate would be the answer to a bit more top end ?
i dont know nwhat the idel revs would be with the semi-cleaver, i know the limiter comes in at
between 6500 and 7000 but if i get upto these revs am i going to be producing the power ???

ive heard lots of bragging with similar outfits and people talk of stupid speeds,those that are totaly out of the question but like i say mid to high 40,s would be very good for me, so ill probably get a jackplate.
But is a jackplate going to be any good when i want kneeboard behind the boat or use my ski-seat ?
if i get a jack plate then im restricted to about 5 inches of setback because of boat fitting in a garage, so im
thinking 4 inch of setback with 5 inch lift to give me a propshaft centre inline with hull bottom to run the
semi-cleaver that bit higher, but need it down low for the alloy props that dont like any air at all.
would i get a better/lower slip score with th prop higher as the slip works out about 18% and i think that is too much slip.


phill