1975 V-Mate II Restore

[Rob B]

BR I've been following your resto from the beginning. You're doing a great job,keep up the good work.

 

[Will30]

x3...he does very nice work and well documented

Yes he is doing a fantastic job isnt he ? Brio like ive said many times before keep up the great work bud

 

[bigredinohio]

Thanks Will! I finally have my stringer glued together and about to cut to size so I can pre-glass. It's been raining here on and off the past couple of days so its been difficult working in the garage with a 12' piece of wood. I'm hoping to get pictures up tonight or tomorrow of the progress.

 

[justincase]

Thanks Will! I finally have my stringer glued together and about to cut to size so I can pre-glass. It's been raining here on and off the past couple of days so its been difficult working in the garage with a 12' piece of wood. I'm hoping to get pictures up tonight or tomorrow of the progress.

Snow next tuesday and wed, Here anyway. dont know exactly where you are at Red.

 

[Will30]

Thanks Will! I finally have my stringer glued together and about to cut to size so I can pre-glass. It's been raining here on and off the past couple of days so its been difficult working in the garage with a 12' piece of wood. I'm hoping to get pictures up tonight or tomorrow of the progress.

Yeah I can see where that would be tricky lol .

 

[bigredinohio]

Snow next tuesday and wed, Here anyway. dont know exactly where you are at Red.

I live in Dayton, Ohio. It was in my profile but I must of took it off while dealing with my best friend.

I'm so glad fall lasted a whole week?

 

[bigredinohio]

Have some pictures to share. The wood I picked up earlier this week was pretty dry so I went ahead and cut my stringers which comprised of (3) 8' foot sections of 1/2 plywood. I overlapped two of them by 4' and glued them and took the other 8' section and cut it in half and glued onto the remaining section. This gave me a total length of 12' which is well more then I needed for my stringer.

 

[bigredinohio]

Then I cut it to rough length then placed where it's going to sit. Then I took a piece of wood and drilled a hole approximately 1/2" up big enough to fit a pencil so I can scribe the bottom so I can replicate the contour of the hull to the stringer. Then I cut to size and refitted which is pretty good. After I finish the core repair and lay a layer of 1708, I'll be able to sand the bottom of the stringer so it fits better then cut the top of the stringer to size.

Wood place in hull

Scribing the contour of the hull


Homemade scribing tool...had to break the pencil in half so I could scribe the bow area since the pencil was too long and used a screw to hold pencil in place.


Fitted stringer look toward the bow


Fitted look toward the stern

 

[bigredinohio]

Update time! I hit the boat first thing this morning and was able to accomplish a lot. I cut some major pieces that include my deck, front bulkhead and gunnel boards. Before I took the grinder to the lip from the previous deck, I made a template with tracing paper. It wasn't the easiest thing to do but it worked. Today, I taped the template to the 1/2" plywood and took my knife and cut a slit into the paper so I could pencil a mark. After making an outline of sorts, I simply connected the dots that were left on the wood.


Tracing paper template of the deck




Using the jig saw to cut out the deck

 

[bigredinohio]

Next, I cut out my forward bulkhead by simply using the existing as a template and using the jig saw to cut out.





Then I moved on to the side gunnel rails. These are the boards that run on the top of the inside of the boat that are usually cushioned. I only had one to work from as the other had rotted years ago and the one I did have was in pretty bad shape. I did manage to trace a template from the original and then I cut the first one by cutting 1/4" away from the line. After that one was made, I flipped it over (using BC grade ply and I want good ply on the outside for both pieces) and clamped it down and cut it by using the first piece. Afterwards, I left them clamped and sanded down to the finish line for both so the matched exactly.


Clamped together during cutting and sanding.


Matching gunnel rails

 

[bigredinohio]

Although I have made great strides today, I did have a major set back. I was in the process of replacing my last little section of core when I hit a landmine of rotted core where the foam in the bow sat. I should be used to feeling of replacing core but it still hits you in the nads, if you know what I mean.

 

[justincase]

Just think how good you will feel when its done! have you decided what to do about the exterior finish?

 

[bigredinohio]

Just think how good you will feel when its done! have you decided what to do about the exterior finish?

With the clear coat shot (as I'm down to the flake) and my colors are really faded, my options are limited. It has quite a few battle wounds with chips, scratches and gouges so trying to repair would be a real PITA.

Ideally, I would want to re-gelcoat the boat but I've heard I'd have a better time sticking needles in my eyes while laying in a ditch. It's just too expensive to have someone else do it. Additionally, if you spray gel too thick or too thin you will will get spider cracking.

With that said, I'm most likely going to prep, sand and paint the boat all white but that's as far as I've made it. I'd like to come up with something simple yet cool so I've been checking out Hotboat Magazine for inspiration but nothing is jumping out at me yet. I'll come up with something when the time comes though.

 

[dogschool]

BR I've been following your resto from the beginning. You're doing a great job,keep up the good work.

X2

 

[karzrus]

X3

 

[Rob B]

Although I have made great strides today, I did have a major set back. I was in the process of replacing my last little section of core when I hit a landmine of rotted core where the foam in the bow sat. I should be used to feeling of replacing core but it still hits you in the nads, if you know what I mean.

I know that feeling all to well. Look on the bright side, you've gotten thru the hard part and just about done w/ the resto.

 

[bigredinohio]

I know that feeling all to well. Look on the bright side, you've gotten thru the hard part and just about done w/ the resto.

Yeah, once the core repair is done it should start coming together quickly.

It's weird, I thought I was near completion since I removed dry foam and I didn't see any black in the fiberglass to indicate rot. That's why I was a little surprised.

Thank you everyone for the nice comments.

 

[SrA Eason]

Hey the week of Nov 2-6 If you'd like i'd like to see your boat and if you want to see mine. I'm free that whole week let me know. It's looking great.

 

[bigredinohio]

Hey the week of Nov 2-6 If you'd like i'd like to see your boat and if you want to see mine. I'm free that whole week let me know. It's looking great.

It's possible but it's still a long way off for me. Just let me know more details as we near that week.

Did you get your motor winterized?

 

[SrA Eason]

It's possible but it's still a long way off for me. Just let me know more details as we near that week.

Did you get your motor winterized?

No not yet. Maybe you could help me with that if its not hard. I'm keeping it in my garage but i'm not sure if it gets too cold in there.