• Welcome to the Checkmate Community Forums forums.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions, articles and access to our other FREE features.
    By joining our free community you will be able to:

    » Interact with over 10,000 Checkmate Fanatics from around the world!
    » Post topics and messages
    » Post and view photos
    » Communicate privately with other members
    » Access our extensive gallery of old Checkmate brochures located in our Media Gallery
    » Browse the various pictures in our Checkmate photo gallery

    Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact support by clicking here or by using the"contact us" link at the bottom of the page.

1975 V-Mate II Restore

That is one funny looking boat you got that motor mounted on:poke: Glad to see it fired up. Now get to work on the boat before summer is over with!!

It's a homemade Beckmate...what can I say? :rof:

Work on the boat starts this weekend, if everything goes as plannned. I'm shooting to do some water testing by July or sooner before doing the interior or painting the hull.
 
Today, I got to pull the boat out and get some work done on it. The first thing I did was to pop the cap back off so I could do some trimming and sanding. I stribed a line where the spashwell was hanging up on the transom to allow for a better fit.

IMG_3545.jpg

IMG_3546.jpg

IMG_3547.jpg
Finished cutting using my dremel tool w/ reinforced cutting wheel

Afterwards, I sanded the gelcoat and metal flake off down to actual fiberglass. When I start to rebuild the splashwell, I'll need this so I can adhere the new layup to.

IMG_3548.jpg
Bottom of spashwell sanded

IMG_3549.jpg

IMG_3550.jpg
When I bought this boat, they had the steering coming from the hole in the right. I didn't pay any attention if I could use the factory hole but I'm thinking of going ahead and patching that hole and if I need it, I'll simply drill a new one.

Lastly, I removed the last of my bad core...FINALLY! It was a real pain even with the cap slid forward for easier access. I hope either tonight or tomorrow that I can go ahead and epoxy the new core in and hopefully lay some glass over the repair area. If I ever have to do core repair in my lifetime, it will be too soon.

IMG_3553.jpg
No more black rotted core

All in all, it's been a pretty good week! :cheers:
 
Did some more work today. I cranked on all the heaters this morning until my garage was about 90 degrees. With all the bad core now removed, I set the new in and now my core repair is finally complete.

IMG_3555.jpg

Since I had time to kill today, I finally got around to scraping the adhesive/sealer off of the hall that seals the cap to the hall. I ended up using some carb cleaner with a kitchen scratch pad to get the remaining bits off. After that, I decided that I'm most likely going to redo my dash completely so I made some plugs to fill in some holes using some 3/4" plywood. I still need to do some work with the big hole but I didn't want to mess with cutting into the dash and making a mess on my core repair. They aren't the prettiest but after they are glued in and glassed over, you'll never know there were any holes.

IMG_3556.jpg

This evening I mixed up some pb and filled in all the gaps around the core.

IMG_3557.jpg

Tomorrow with weather permitting, I will sand and lay a layer of cloth glass over the two upper sections.
 
Today, I glassed over the repair forward repair area.

IMG_3560.jpg
Not to worry, there was excess glass that didn't need wetted out. It will get sanded off.

Then I took 1708 and covered the entire back section stopping short of the new glassing in the front. I will let everything set up and cure then I will sand the front and just enough of the 1708 that I laid today to overlap when I blanket the front section with 1708. Then I'll be ready to install the stringer. :bounce:

IMG_3558.jpg
Rollling out 1708. I really wanted to flip it and have the csm up and the biax cloth down but I was afraid that the stitching might cause a bonding issue.

IMG_3559.jpg
Trimming around the tabs with an exacto knife

IMG_3565.jpg
1708 drinking up the resin

IMG_3566.jpg
Working with this stuff is a job to wet out

IMG_3567.jpg
I used a 2x4 to help reach them hard to reach places
 
Last edited:
Yeah, and I told the wife if I ever to do something stupid again like rebuilding an old boat to stop me. Hopefully this will be worth it. At least she's cool with it...while we were glassing, I was griping about how much this was costing me in resin and she said she didn't want to know how much it cost.
 
I finished glassing the forward core repair with 1708 yesterday. My core repair is officially over, unless there is an issue down the road.

IMG_3578.jpg

Today, I trimmed my stringer (or floor support if you like) and it's finally in the boat. The process I used was simple to get the original height. First, I scribed the bottom where it seemed a little high then I cut a line down where the tabs of the original floor are. This allowed me to pull a string from one tab acoss through the line I cut to the other tab to get my height. I did this for the front, middle and rear section of the stringer then ran a chalk line across all three marks then used a circular saw to cut a nice straight line.

IMG_3580.jpg

IMG_3579.jpg

Afterwards, I bedded it in place using PL Premium.

IMG_3581.jpg

Once in place, I used 2x4's weighted down with some concrete block to hold in place so I could make sure it was centered as best as it could be then ran a bead of PL down the edge to do fillets.

IMG_3584.jpg

IMG_3582.jpg
 
You've got the hardest part behind you now, the floor will go in fast. The transom/splashwell might take a little time but at least you'll be standing up.;) Great Job!!! :thumb:
 
Back
Top