Picked this up a few months ago and hope to have it back on the water by spring time. 16’ with a 72 Johnson 100 V4. Kicked the 41 out of the garage so my neighbor doesn’t have to hear me working on this day in and day out. The seller gave it a crap paint job and the hull paint nearly peeled of from just being on the water. Used a couple of scrapers and a power washer to remove 95% of the paint and the rest with a 5” sander. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Nice boat! I have no clue about boats , so I have to ask a silly question: How are you going to replace the foam inside the body?
Thanks, this is my first boat so all new to me but lots of info online how to re foam the hull. The plan is to run a few stringers across the area I removed and glass them in. Then core a few holes into the plywood deck and insert 2 part liquid expanding foam, re glass the cored holes with the piece's removed put back in the hole and glass the whole deck. I'm either going to paint with a non skid paint or carpet the area with 20 0z boat carpet
I restored a boat that my dad won in a sales contest in 1961... Feel free to ask any questions. Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Great restoration! Did you gel coat or paint it? Did you save the old windshield or purchase a new one? Do you have foam under the deck? Thanks for posting!
The hull was flipped over, sanded and gel coated, the topside was painted with a custom mix of "Brightside Polyurethane". My boat had the foam up under the fore deck. I rebuilt the transom to accommodate a long shaft outboard instead of a short shaft. It helps that I was a yacht carpenter for 35 years...
Oh, and the windshield was a replacement, as the original one was broken. Got an estimate from a Maritime plastic shop for $250-$300, which was doable. When I arrived to pick it up, they told me that the cost was $895! Needless to say, I was not happy... they said "we didn't think you would mind if it was a little more ", I replied "a little more??? That's three times the high estimate!!" Ended up agreeing to $500 about 6 months later...
Damn, 3x the amount of the quote is crazy! I'm looking at different options for replacing my windshield and most places are $500 just for the glass.
Just finishing removing the old soaked foam. The original owner put a band aid on the floor by just adding another layer of plywood. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Just found some pics of the interior. I installed the seat mounting bolts through the plywood before installing it. After installation, covered in with marine carpet... Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The floor is 5/8" marine plywood with several coats of epoxy on both sides and edges. The stainless seat bolts and fender washers were threaded up through the ply from underneath, acting like studs for mounting the seats. Then the ply was installed with copious amounts of 3m 5200 marine adhesive and stainless screws into the sub floor. All in all, very strong... you can see the studs coming up through the ply, in one of the earlier pics I sent. I installed the carpet with indoor/outdoor carpet adhesive, and a notched trowel.
Spent most of my working life building boats for a living and doing jobs like this during the Winter's. Trust me, you don't need the foam in the floor. It only acts like a sponge as it holds the water that seeps in and accelerates the rotting of the floor above it. You can never keep all the moisture from getting below the floor no matter what you do. when the job is finished and everything is nice and new, maybe for a while but water always finds it's way in. Always run your stringers length way, never across the hull and use 3/4 ply for the floor. There's really no such thing as marine plywood any longer, they advertise it as such but the standards changed years ago and most of its now 'Mariners grade ply'. Exterior 3/4 ply with an A side will work just as well, it'll out last you done properly. Good luck, cool little project.
Main difference between marine grade ply and exterior ply, (besides better adhesive) is the lack of voids in the marine grade. This is where the exterior ply will begin to fail. True marine ply is available from "Harbor Ply " in Baltimore, and "Exotic Lumber " in Annapolis MD. I rebuilt the transom on my Grady White last summer with a layer of 3/4" and a layer of 5/8" marine ply. Lots of thickened epoxy in between the layers...
I agree 100%, and if LBCD were doing a transom, marine grade is the way to go. On the floor of this little hull exterior will be fine. Combined with layer of mat and cloth on top, and a few nice coatings of resin on the bottom and more importantly the end grain, it'll last a life time. At one time Marine grade was zero voids, that's not true any longer. In '05 my son built a 11 foot all wood hull (glen L plans) for his senior class project. We went through several sheets of 1/4 marine grade ply on the sides of the hull because even with soaking with wet rags, the 1/4 kept snapping where the voids were as we tried to bend the sheets into place. Voids are now allowed in the manufacturing process. If you buy Mahogany skinned marine grade, or any other exotic top layer, that's a different story, it will have no voids. But like everything else, you gotta pay for it. That'll run $160-180 for a sheet 1/4 thick. Nothing nicer than ribbon stripe Mahogany ply. Our first boat, 1961. Built locally here in LB. and my favorite boat. Deck and hull side were all ribbon stripe ply. .
This past 15th of Sept was the one year anniversary of buying this boat, been a lot work but it’s finally on the home stretch.
That looks gorgeous! Definitely done right. My next project is a '76 Rhodes 22. It's getting 8 new "port lights" (windows for the uninitiated), cushions reupholstered, and painting the hull "flag blue". Hoping to have this done by spring... (also want to paint the T Bird this winter).
Thanks! Wow...you have a nice original Biscayne! I see you launch at Davies, when pulling up to the dock I see your fender is centered on the boat. You think adding a cleat would help for the center fender? I thought about it but if using fore and aft fenders do you need the center one? I guess it depends on the size of the fenders. Have you been out in the harbor and how did she handle if so? Thats the plan with this boat, cruising Naples, the harbor and open waters when doable.
Yeah, center cleat could help there... I just slung a fender on the bimini attachment there in the center. I haven't taken it out of the harbor yet. I would say that the boat's a bit "tippy"... like if passengers move from one side to the other. Steers great and really fun to drive but I haven't had it out in any real waves yet. The only real work I've done on it so far was removing the original cable and pulley steering system and replacing it with a teleflex one. I'm a little nervous to take it out of the harbor with this old johnson motor... it runs pretty well for the most part but can be a little quirky and stall out and not want to start again for a bit. Hopefully just a loose ground wire that was getting "looser" when it's heated up and running... haven't been out lately to test if this was indeed the issue.
The Jalopy Journal
