1974 TRV-17 Project

[TRsCheckmate]

In August i bought a 1974 TRV-17. I am working on restoring/refurbisihg it. I have some before pics and some floor teardown pics. I will post them as soon as I learn how. I also have pics posted here:TRV-17 (http://www.shareaproject.com/pages/projectTut,p,125,00.html)

[175checkmate]

Good luck with the project. Got questions? Just ask away,we will help if we can.

[wickedrister]

http://checkmate-boats.com/graemlins/welcome.gif TR ,Good luck with the re-do !!

[TRsCheckmate]

Thanks guys!

[TRsCheckmate]

sorry I'll try again

[TRsCheckmate]

www2.propichosting.com/Images/450009809/2.JPG
Trying again...
http://beta.propichosting.com/ThumbHandler.ashx?pa=450009809&sub=2&width=180&ext=JPG&key=632743695237031250

[TRsCheckmate]

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e40/trv17/Dscf0211.jpg

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http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e40/trv17/Dscf0130.jpg

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http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e40/trv17/DSCF1505.jpg

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http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e40/trv17/DSCF1509.jpg

[175checkmate]

Oh yea, your digging now. I am having flash backs. Remeber, to get fiberglass out of your skin.....cold water and a scrub brush.

[TRsCheckmate]

Floor comes out this weekend! The hole in the floor behind the seat boxes is where my foot went through when I was ripping out the carpet.

[wickedrister]

Cool boat, Have fun take your time and build it to last. All the hard work will be worth it in the end http://www.checkmate-boats.com/graemlins/thumb.gif

[wickedrister]

TR,you need to hang my 90 merc tower on your boat! What are you going to power it with?

[wickedrister]

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d117/wickedrister/ff13ede1.jpg

[TRsCheckmate]

Is the 90 merc a 90hp? I don't know much about mercs. It has a 1970 115hp Evinrude hanging on it currently. The compression numbers on it are an even 120psi on all 4 cylinders and it purrs like a kitten. I haven't had the boat in the water yet so I don't know how well the engine runs with a load on it.

My current plan is to finish redoing the interior and test the engine this spring. If the engine runs good I may hang on to it until I have enough money saved up to buy a 1990 or newer 150hp. Until then the boat has plenty of interior and exterior work to be done.

If the engine does not run well in the spring then I will be in the market for a new motor.

-TR

[TRsCheckmate]

Here is the best pic I have of the 115 'rude.http://photobucket.com/albums/e40/trv17/th_Dscf0144.jpg

[TRsCheckmate]

I tore out the floor in the bow this afternoon. Plywood smells foul when it is wet and moldy. http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Underneath the bow floor was floatation foam only. No stringers!? Is this normal? I expected to see both. There was only foam.
No biggie, just wondering. I plan to rip out the old foam. Put some stringers in for floor support and then add foam inbetween the stringers.

-TR

[wickedrister]

http://checkmate-boats.com/graemlins/Eyecrazy.gif Don't know what I was thinking TR. My 90 isn't nearly enough power for your 17' classic. 150 is what you need to have some fun http://www.checkmate-boats.com/graemlins/thumb.gif

[wickedrister]

Had no stringer under my small bow section as well just wet foam. Now foam or not to foam that is the question. I went with back with no foam. I wanted to be sure that any water getting under the floor can run back to the bilge well with no problems. Now I know that if I get swamped that I could sink to the bottom of the lake really fast but I won't have any saturated foam on the way down http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[TRsCheckmate]

I am still undecided on the foam issue. I ran into some time conflicts and have not had much time to work on the boat. Here are some pics of the wet foam and rotten stringers.

[TRsCheckmate]

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e40/trv17/DSCF1600.jpg

It took me a few minutes, but I finally fiqured out why I couldn't post pictures or smilies. Just a matter of learning the new board. :bigthumpu

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http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e40/trv17/DSCF1602.jpg

[TRsCheckmate]

Woo Hoo! 50 posts. I'm a playmate now!:D

[TRsCheckmate]

Here is where I ran into a snag. In the bottom of the photo from where the foam stops up to where the stringer stops the core feels like it is soft/rotten. My plan is to cut it open this weekend and check it out. If I am lucky it is just delaminated and the core is not wet. I know it wishfull thinking but what the heck.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e40/trv17/DSCF1605.jpg

[175checkmate]

Looking good so far. Once you get all the rotten stringer and foam out. Clean out all the old stuff and wipe it done with some thinner. This will allow you to get a good look at the core.

[TRsCheckmate]

Thanks. The foam and stringers are out now. I removed the remainder of the seat boxes this morning. I drilled a hole in the top layer of glass in the area where the core felt soft. I stuck my finger in there and there is no balsa left. Just rotten fibers that used to be balsa at one time. It is not too bad though, the section that needs to be repaired is only 12" wide by 24" inches long. I lucked out too. I found a local lumber yard that had some balsa core left over from a special order. I have never replaced a core before so this will be a good learning experience. I found a procedure for replacing balsa core that Coop posted:

originally posted by Cooperider:

Ok, here is how you fix bad balsa.

1. Figure out how big of an area needs repaired, and draw a mark a few inches beyond that.

2. Use some sort of cut of wheel that you can set how deep you are cutting. I have used a circular saw for this, till I found better tools. It works great. Set your depth at about 1/4inch or less, and cut around the area you have marked.

3. Use something to pry up under the edge of the glass. The only thing holding the glass down would be the good balsa that is still there. The rotten basla should give way quite nicely.

4. Set the piece you cut out aside to use as a pattern for new glass. Make your new pieces, make at least one piece the same size and the rest a few inches bigger. Use either heavy roving or biaxial cloth.

5. Use a wide wood chisel and a hammer to chip away all the balsa that is exposed. Try to get as much out as you can before you break out the grinders. Its rotten, it should come out easy.
Go to someplace like www.fiberglast.com (http://www.fiberglast.com/) and order some new balsa. If you cant find any locally.

6. Use a sander or a grinder to clean up the inner skin.

7. Cut 2 pieces of 1-1/2 ounce fiberglass mat. The same size as your repair area.

8. Have your glass and balsa precut, then use your brush and wet out the repair area with resin. Then lay one of the pieces of 1-1/2 ounce mat on some cardboard and wet it down with resin, then take it and place it down in your repair area, and bruch out an LARGE air bubbles. Don't worry about any small ones they don't matter for what you are doing.

9. Take your precut balsa and brush resin on the side that does not have the fabric holding it together, then quickly place it in the repair area over the still wet glass mat that you just placed in there. Use your hands to press it in as best as you can. After you get it inplace. Take some wax paper and cover the entire repair, then cover that with cardboard. Place any kind of weight you can find on top of the card board. Books, magazines, newspapers, anything.

10. Now walk away for at least 2 hours. Have lunch, drink a wobblypop, whatever, just leave it alone for at least 2 hours.

11. Now remove the weights, the cardboard, and the wax paper should have kept the cardboard from sticking, you are ready to continue.

12. Use a filler like duraglass to fill in around the repair area, there will be some gaps between the old area and the new area. Fill these areas flush with the level of the new balsa, don't fill them to the level of the old glass layer. Let this set up. Then sand smooth if needed.

13. Brush a layer of resin onto the new balsa over lapping onto the old glass. Wet the other piece of 1-1/2 ounce mat on the cardboard again, then place the mat onto the repaired area. Brush out the LARGE air bubbles ONLY right now. Take the piece of biaxial glass or roving, that is the same size as the repair and wet it out on the cardboard. Then place it on top of the still very wet mat. Use a plastic or rubber squeege to work all the air bubbles to the sides and out. Do this as good as you can.

14. Take the last piece of biaxial or roving and wet it out on the cardboard, the place it over the still wet glass you just laid down.
Use a squeege to work all the air bubbles to the sides and out. Keep working at it until all the air is gone or the resin starts to set up.

15. Drink another wobblypop, cause you just fixed your boat. http://checkmate-boats.com/graemlins/surf.gif http://checkmate-boats.com/graemlins/surf.gif http://checkmate-boats.com/graemlins/surf.gif

Thanks to Coop for posting that. Also thanks to all who share there knowledge and experiences with those of us who are doing this for the first time. It is a great help and is greatly appreciated!!!:thumb:

I will post more pictures as soon as I take them.

-TR

[cooperider]

One thing I should mention is to not touch the wobblypops until AFTER you are done with the POWER TOOLS.:thumb:

You welcome, glad I could help.

[wickedrister]

TR just what in the heck have you gotten your self into now !! Only kidding man, no problem it's looking good. Looks kind of the same as they all do under the old floor from what I can see. You are doing a fine job, keep up the good work but keep a close eye on your circular saw's blade depth lol lol. That could be big lol lol.

[TRsCheckmate]

Thanks guys!

[TRsCheckmate]

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e40/trv17/DSCF1746a.jpghttp://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e40/trv17/DSCF1748a.jpg

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http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e40/trv17/DSCF1832a.jpg
Balsa core patch prior to completion. I added three more layers of Fiberglass woven roving(after taking this photo) to blend it with the hull.

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I added more floor supports than were really needed, but I am 235lbs and wanted a floor that did not budge under me.:D Also, I cut out the bottom corners of the supports for water drainage.

If all goes well I should be able to finish the floor in the next few days.

[wickedrister]

Looks plenty strong TR. You are doing a fine job. Keep posting pics as you go:thumb:



PS-Don't lean on the dash with the supports out of it because it may crack on the sides. I found it hard not to lean on or pull on my dash when I had my boat all apart. One other thing if you were thinking about a rewire job NOW IS THE TIME. I rewired my boat one year after reworking all the wood and floor. Wish I had done it when the boat was all apart. This is also the time to think about any other the up grades you may want to do. Keep up the good work TR.

[Chris]

It's looking good! :thumb:

Thanks for sharing. :)

[TRsCheckmate]

Thanks guys!

Wicked, I know about the dash... it has been real hard retraining myself not to lean on the dash. Thanks for the tip on rewiring. Currently it is a ball of spaghetti under the dash. I bought a fuse panel already, now comes the hard part, figuring out how I want to rewire it.

The rear floor is completely in and the bow stringers are complete. The bow floor will go in hopefully before this weekend(as long as work does not get in the way). I'll post more pics in a few days when I get a chance to load them on photobucket.

-TR

[wickedrister]

TR, One wire at a time man, one wire at a time LOL LOL. I don't know if this will be of any help but I will tell you a few things I did with my rewire job. I installed 2 ground blocks or buss bars. One in the back under the splashwell and one in the front under the dash. That saved me from running wires all over the place. I also used the acc. switch on the panel to power up the dash rather than use the the key. I also I tied the dash lights in with the running lights. I didn't see any reason for the dash lights to burn all the time. Now they only come on when the running lights are on. Good luck and keep up he good work. Fred

[TRsCheckmate]

Thanks, Thats a great idea with the buss bars. I don't have any interior dash lights.......yet. :D

[wickedrister]

I installed blue neons when I reworked all the wood in the boat the winter before last. The neons looked cool but I never used them one time last season. When I rewired the boat this past winter I took the neons back out.