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Hey guys, just starting a full rebuild/restoration of my 1988 16ft stratos bass boat. So far have almost finished gutting it. Gonna be replacing the stringers and transom over the corse of next week. Found a ton of really good information on this page so far.
Finally got the old transom removed. I am assuming it had been redone in the past because the old transom was about 2-3" longer on one side then the other. After searching far and wide was finally able to get marine grade plywood. Have a 2" gap so picked up a sheet of 3/4" and 1/2" and will sandwich one piece of half between the two 3/4 pieces. Plan is to laminate with a thick layer of PL and gonna make sure to evenly spread it then glass it with 1700 biax and west systems. Then on to the stringers...
It will be a lot of work but a soild result when finished,
Keep us posted. :popcorn:
Finally almost finished glassing the transom in. Gonna be a couple more small pieces of glass here and they're for support but a majority of the glass is on. Plan is for tomorrow to be able to get all of the supports cut for the transom and in place along with finishing removing the stringers. Just ordered 4g of 2lb pour foam which should cover 16ft^2 giving me 600lbs of reserved buoyancy. with the motor, battery, and gas the boat will most likely come up negative but not by much at all. Mostly just using the pour foam for some added structural integrity between the stringers. Right now I can easily lift up the boat pivoting it on the trailer so I know it is fairly light. A big plan with this build is to keep the weight to a minimum. Once I get the sub floor in the plan is to frame out the upper and rear decks out of aluminum angle iron which will cut a TON of weight. Oh and I forgot to mention the top deck was 1 1/2 of plywood! Then line the top of the deck with plywood and glass that plywood into the cap. Originally (or at least when I got the boat) it had a very strange lay out with all of the weight of the console, driver, and batteries all in the bow of the boat. Additionally I found about 10g of water trapped in the hull and a couple 100lbs of water logged pour foam which caused the boat, even on a plane, to want to keep the bow planted at all costs but non the less I was able to hit 39mph consistently... but I guzzled gas. Which I always contributed to the 1988 115 mercy just running WOT. But after my findings I'm starting to hope that some pretty crazy performance gains can be made. Non the less moving the consoles back will leave much more fishing room on the bow and allow me to run a massive rod locker (something I have really wanted/needed). In addition to the weight reduction Im hopping the aluminum gives a good bit of added longevity to the build as its one less thing to rot. And will frame out the custom hatch lids with aluminum square tube and affix plywood either right on top or reassessed into it somehow but I'm quite a bit aways from having to figure that out. ps. a handful of the hatch contents on the original drawing has been changed since but only in my head so far not on paper.
Here is a link to some pictures. I have been trying my best to document the steps so I can possibly make some sort of informational video at the end but here is a couple quick pictures and videos so you guys can get a quick overview...
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Fpw5Ps1rqsqNgNBt7
Another highly productive day today. Finished a overwhelming majority of the transom fiberglass or at least all of the structural stuff, some slight cosmetic work may need to be done on the outside in addition to the fearing. And got all the old stringers removed, also got the transom supports cut. There is only 2 showing in the picture but also big pieces that fit in the corners along with a cross in the middle of the transom. Gonna hit the lumber yard in the morning to get one more sheet of marine plywood and then get all of the stringers cut to size tomorrow along with the transom supports all glued into place. Friday is the last crazy warm day here in NY so the plan is to then get everything that has to do with the transom glassed in.
Well the order of operations may have changed slightly but all of the main stringers are in place, and the back transom supports are all cut. Tomorrow some serious grinding and sanding needs to happen first but gonna get everything permanently in place with PL and ready for glass once that drys, super excited to be so close to the sub floor going in! I'm also running some tests on possible ways to treat a subfloor with epoxy and sub floor material but will post results tomorrow.
Ps, I will be adding another small vertical support in the center of the transom and the piece that runs across it closer to the bow is temporary just to help keep everything square.
Got the main stringers set into place today, started by laying the stringers in place and framing them together, then flipped the frame up used a bed of PL premium and then flipped the stringers down in and calmed some supports to hold everything level. Gonna be making some peanut butter tomorrow out of some west systems 406 and filleting the stringers in as well as using it to glue in those rear transom supports.
Now onto the test results...
so my dad has been working on some contracting work and has been putting in a floor and had lots of this 1/2" flooring plywood left over that was on its way to be scrap so I scooped it up, seemed to be really well made and much cheaper then marine grade, so I started wondering how it would hold up as a sub floor being it had a lot of appealing characteristics such as being smooth across the top. So yesterday I cut up one piece into strips, coated one in epoxy and left the other bare and soaked them in a glass of water overnight, then this morning I cut both in half and was very happy with the results, the one to the left was just soaked in water, the middle was a dry sample out of the same material and the far right is the epoxy covered one after being soaked overnight. Being that my sub floor should never be fully submerged this wood should be perfect.
Also below I attached a plywood weight table I found which definitely encouraged me to use 1/2 for the sub floor being it will shave about 50lbs
I'm really enjoying your rebuild and look forward to seeing every step of this project.
Thanks for sharing your journey!
Well today I continued with what seems like a never ending amount of grinding being the fiberglass to the old stringers had delaminated. The whole hull needs ALOT of grinding. But after hours upon hours of grinding I'm finally nearing an end. Tomorrow will be the last day of grinding to prep the stringers for glass. Finished up some new supports today too and will get those all set in with PL to have me glassing by the weekend. I have definitely dragged out the stringer project being I keep trying to make it perfect (even though it will all just be covered in foam). Some plans have been modified after spending hours thinking about and working through the placement of every drain, hatch, wall, etc... So I will be running some PVC under the subfloor that runs to the bilge to give me two drains near your feet at the console when driving and a place for all of the water that hits the deck to drain into and then to the bilge. The plan is for the subfloor to have great drainage so it never has standing water and everything under the subfloor to be fully sealed so hopefully the pour foam should never see water. The general idea is to have a small bilge (behind the back support) were every drain leads to and then the bilge pump can pump it out as it fills. It will be fiberglassed and coated with A epoxy paint so it should have no issue holding water and the back support it raised past the subfloor to prevent water from splashing up and out onto the subfloor. Also have finally figured out my hatch plans and will post a diagram bellow, as long as there is under a 1/2" of water on the deck the hatch's will stay dry and being each hatch will have 4 drains I think I should be good, their will also be a slight seal too when they are closed and the hatch's will have drains in them too incase all else fails.
Wanted to give the pl a little more time to dry today, so decided to start working on the subfloor today and working through weight distribution ideas. Got the whole sub floor cut and about a half gallon of west system so am gonna glass as much as possible tomorrow on the stringers (more west systems in coming on Sunday). My main draw backs are how far back the seats will sit, because mabye I'm getting greedy with my rod locker but I want to be able to hold 8ft rods if possible, so that pushes the deck pretty far back leaving about 2ft of deck behind the seats but would mean putting the gas tank and batteries in the back corners of the boat and my concern is that it could be too much weight 115hp outboard 120lbs of gas and 180lbs of batteries, now it would probably make the boat plane nicely but I don't want to sink when sitting still. Oh yea and the livewell is back there!
Started to glass the stringers, isn't perfect but I'm content with how it has been going. Quickly ran out of west systems but have one coat of glass on a stringer and one support. Also got my new riveter and some rivets and its awesome! Started playing around with it today. Still waiting on my resin (coming tomorrow night) so am gonna toss my sub floor back on and start planning and framing for the day tomorrow. Gonna start with my massive rod locker since the boat will be built around that being that's the one thing that's a must and will decide the length of the front deck. Then go from their, really want a step up to the front deck but might have to get rid of it to fit a 7'6 rod but hopefully not, we will find out soon though.
Got my front deck laid out(ish), and decided on a deck hight, 3.5" higher then the original front deck. Started to frame it out too but quickly ran out of inch and a half inch angle. The middle rod tube will be able to hold rods up to 7'10 which is perfect so I can bring big swimbait and A-rig rods and fit them in the locker without a problem. Gonna have 18 slots for rods! But probably could fit only 12 spinning rods at a time. Also got to feel the stringer that got glassed yesterday and its like a rock. And will be able to keep my step up after all and still have plenty of room on the rear deck for a co-angler.
You're on a roll Bud! It's a big PITA, these restorations but very satisfying when complete.
Finally finished up glassing the stringers, not completely thrilled with how it went (a lot of small air bubbles) but did my best with what I was working with and if the boat didn't fall apart with the old rotted out stringers, it definitely won't now. Then drilled out holes for my drain tubes for my 4 sub floor drains. The idea is the sub floor will be perfectly sealed, so went with this bullet proof marine hose I've used a lot in the past. Gonna pour foam it all in place tomorrow and get my sub floor all set and screwed down so I can start epoxying and fiberglassing it in place. Then back to the fun stuff... framing the new decks.
Also through in that quote below because I have had some people outside this forum tell me they are worried about the rivets in the aluminum frame not being able to hold a persons body weight, and well lets just say I'm not to worried about a rivet shearing.
Another successful day working on the boat. Got all the pour foam in for now and the drains for the subfloor ran, sub floor cut, routed, and epoxyed (on the bottom side). Gonna start glassing it all in place over the next two days and then onto the deck. And will be drilling holes in the sub floor to add even more foam.
So... I got the boat being told it was a 4 seat bass boat but converted into a two seater, which I always thought was strange. Having a small front deck and huge rear deck. And that was the first thing on the list of stuff to change with this rebuilding project. And I always thought the hull was strangely deep but once again it seemed like a weird boat to begin with so I didn't question it but after doing some research I found out it was originally a Stratos 266FS, which for those of you that don't know the FS stands for "Fish and Ski"... So not really good news I guess but were way to far into this now so I guess its gonna have to do. The good news is most of the spots I fish are fairly deep 10-50ft and normally quite choppy so it may benefit me in the chop, and maybe give me some extra weight capacity? But non the less now back to continuing the build... the transformation of the fish and ski to bass fishing machine.
If anything it should make the end product even cooler knowing how the hull started off...
Below are some pictures. The one red and white boat was mine before I started the rebuild and the other one is what the boat looked like from the factory...
Man…and I thought rewiring my boat for the second time in two years was a lot of work lol. Unreal commitment.
Got the main portion of the sub floor in place and man running those drains was such a PITA but got everything set now and a first coat of epoxy onto the 2 main pieces that are screwed down with ss #12 screws. Still need to get the bow piece in but that is super quick, then make the rear pieces and add a strip of wood along the edges of the center square in the back of the boat so the sub floor can sit on that. Then sealing everything up to the sides of the hull so the stringers will not ever see water.
For the drains that are in they were siliconed in but I left a gap around them which I will pour a watery epoxy/silica mix into the gap around them to give one extra seal on top of the silicone and so they sit perfectly flush with the deck.
Oh and the holes in the subfloor for anyone wondering are were I'm gonna pour in a little more pour foam to really lock the drains in place and then seal up the hole after.
Great work I like to see the progress keep the pics coming and what is your estimated final day before hitting the water???
Don't have a exact date, but really want it done by early march so ill have some time to take it upstate before I get much busier with work in April. If I had to guess it should be all wrapped up around late February, only issues I could see is temperature when it comes to painting it. The frame will go quick just all the little details that add time.Quote:
Originally Posted by twitch
Got all of the sub floor in place now and screwed down minus the one small piece near the bilge were I'm still waiting on some hose fittings. Still need to go around and peanut butter over the screw heads and some more epoxy sanding fiberglass etc, but its not moving anywhere. I'm so glad I went with 1/2" plywood too because its insanely stable, 3/4 would have been overkill. Also pulled all the random pieces off the boat, gas fill necks, trolling motor, etc. Got a bunch of patching to do now to which I'm not thrilled about but its part of the process. Also decided for the aluminum frame Ill run angle iron around the side of the boat and frame into that. Gonna have to make some custom wedges so it sits flat but then will glass the wedges to the cap and screw and epoxy angle iron to that including plenty of vertical supports.
Decided to end up removing the hull vents along with all of the other random hardware and start glassing up the holes. Made plugs for all of the circular holes and peanut buttered them in and will glass both sides too. And don't worry I will be adding new clam shell vents just smaller, and more water resistant oh and much less obnoxious looking...
Been a couple days since the last update so figured I would post one. Drilled a bunch of holes in the sub floor and poured in ALOT of pour foam. 6 gallons to be exact or 900lbs of positive flotation. Poured all along the edges too and leveled it flat with the deck. Then fiberglassed everything around the edges and the holes I cut in the deck. Also put some cloth in any low spots on the deck. Gonna sand everything flat and put another coat of epoxy on the wood and another layer of glass on all the seams then cover everything in epoxy paint just for a extra layer of protection.
So I was planning on finishing the sub floor but got a little carried away. Ended up framing the front deck, or starting to at least. Started with a laser level but after the first part of the frame went in I found out the deck was actually not level because the back of the boat was level so didn't think to check the bow... Not sure how its off if the boats sitting on the trailer funny or if the boat is twisted but managed to remove everything and get it re installed and within a 1/16 inch level to the cap. Also gonna frame in a tray for the trolling motor pedal and make a kinda bow plate which the cardboard is a temporary template for.
Continued framing today...
Keep it going my friend great work
Another Bass Boat saved from the Land Fill! Only if we had or could view a boat's past, I think it would be super cool. Keep hammering away Bud, you got Her going in the right direction.
Have continued to keep working away. Got the sub floor glassed too the hull. Then got it all painted with epoxy paint just for extra sealing even though all the wood was sealed with epoxy. Got the vertical supports in and siliconed and screwed down little pieces of angle iron. Also got all the boxes built, for those I'm just sealing with Thompson water seal because they should never see water. Also got the plywood cut. Still need to make the dry hatch and the lids along with installing the boxes and rod tubes. Also running some conduit to the bow before anything gets pour foamed so we can run wires to the trolling motor, lights, and bow mounted fish finder.
Got the framing for the bow wrapped up today, still have some little stuff (pour foam and electrical conduit and drains) that need to be ran but all of the framing is in place and the boxes are attached. Super happy with how the rod locker is turning out, can hold 14 rods up to 8ft. And the rod locker walls are made out of pink foam adding a bunch more flotation. Now time to start the rear deck...
Got the rod locker all epoxyed and almost done, glassed up the back sub floor, and started framing the back deck...
PS, now I have 1700lbs in reserved buoyancy in foam in the boat. Im pretty sure it will be unsinkable
Looking good but respectfully speaking, keep in mine your flotation should be balanced with the Longitudinal Center of Gravity of the vessel so it floats level when swamped. Too much in the front without balancing the displacement aft and it floats like a cork, much harder to hold on to if you are dazed from a accident.
Appreciate the comment. I actually haven't considered that, when I was planing out the boat I was thinking about it more in a rough water navigation standpoint. I don't have much experience fishing on bass boats, most of my experience is running much bigger boats in salt water offshore and in some sometimes less then ideal conditions were the rule of thumb is always if you keep the bow up when running in rough seas you won't flip or get swamped... as long as the bow stays up.Quote:
Originally Posted by rojoguio
Now that being said, those boats are all sealed hulls and even sometimes sealed bows with a scupper drainage system. I did figure that they would probably be some air trapped in the gas tank and under the subfloor is filled to the rim with pour foam. But all the weight is gonna be in the rear, batteries, engine, gas, etc. I have been trying to figure out how to raise the live well up a good couple of inches and I was planing on a aluminum frame but after a little research you can apparently fiberglass over polystyrene so mabye ill pick up a sheet and glass it down to act as a support for the live well to sit on and give me another 200lbs of flotation in the rear give or take a few lbs. My only drawback has been fear of putting polystyrene in an area exposed to potential gas fumes but with the epoxy and fiberglass that may solve that problem.
Bud I am a Chief Engineer Unlimited, if you ran boats outside you know what that is. When figuring weight you work from the stern, a forward distance is a positive figure, aft of the transom a negative. If you work in inches it's easier balancing a personal watercraft. I used to have to calculate the balance of a 468ft vessel in the North Sea every night for our insurance underwriters. I used a spray in foam kit. The kit uses the same foam formula as the boat manufacturers and I think it is posted in the little Blazer restoration. Another thing I thought to bring up but didn't (don't want to stick my nose in too far) but it is called the "Righting Moment". This is the vessels tendency to right itself so if your foam is all low on the Vertical Center of Gravity the boat will want to roll or capsize. You want flotation as high as possible. Keep in mind that any water displaced reduces the extra foam needed for positive flotation. I sprayed the sides of the Blazer for this reason. The original flotation Blazer sprayed in the cap is all still there along with the gunnel foam. If you have a positive flotation of 15% it will be on the surface, 20% and is will be visible by search and rescue or the tow boat at a bit of distance. Looking at your pictures you have areas under the deck I think quite a bit of foam could be sprayed.
So under the subfloor I drilled holes and poured extra foam in until it came out the holes. Im assuming you are talking about spraying the foam next to the upper deck? I do still have the original foam under the sides of the cap. But so if I am understanding correctly you are suggesting keeping all of the foam as high up agenst the cap as possible and the majority of the weight low?Quote:
Originally Posted by rojoguio
Also I remember reading that you used a spray foam on the blazer, the boat came out beautifully by the way.
And since you seem extremely knowledgeable on boat weight distribution, for "heavy stuff" in the transom would you recommend it to be placed more in the center or evenly distributed along the sides?
So you have 3 Axis when balancing a vessel - Longitudinal, Transverse, and Vertical Centers of Gravity. Righting Moments, Free Surface Corrections (moving liquids like gas, livewells, not a big deal on a bass boat but still a moving weight/moment), Wind & Sail Effect all are figured into a Vessels design. If you look at how I did the little boat weight was kept as low as possible maximizing the Righting Moment. A boat swamped but upright is much easier to recover along with it's occupants. Keeping your added flotation as high as possible while loading the static (Immovable Weight) weight in such a way to improve level flotation while swamped is one of the things the USCG tests a boat to get a public consumer rating tag. Selling a commercial vessel to Joe Consumer comes with much liability to the seller than most know. At some point a vessel matching your project boat was sent to the Coast Guard to swamp with the maximum engine rated mounted on the transom to check off the list of terms above. Now the boat you have is being altered, weight distributions changed, etc but you can figure a fairly close estimate of the changes be it subtractions or additions but you should go back, give some thought to the changes, look to see where additional flotation counters the changes. You know when I did my first water test with the new "Hull" (I have 2 of these Blazers) it leaped all over the place. Without the 2 massive hooks in the hull for stern lift and the Yammy 115 2 stroke (358#'s) 8 inches of setback to boot holding down the stern was just too much for the new Hull. Using Coosa, 1708 S-glass and epoxy my hull is under 400 pounds. I could lift the bow of the boat when it was empty, walking it up in the air. All that water logged wood and foam weighed more than I thought. Removing a bit in the trash can weekly you loose track of how much weight was lost. I have the 4in Bob's Extensions removed waiting till we have enough water to test it again. On a boat that small with a 68in Beam you have to load as close to center as you can. 25#'s off center near the side will make that little boat list to that side. Answering your last question, yes, always load as close to Centerline as possible. Physics plays a part in a accident or just bad seas where rotating weight located further away from the Center Axis causes increased Pitch and Yaw.
The other Blazer has a 90Etec 320#'s with 8 inches of setback for years, without the Setback the little hull digs on the nose.
Thanks for the reply. Really appreciate all the great info, so before I read all this my plan was to run the gas tank on the drivers side next to the bilge and the batteries on the opposite side to counter balance it with the live well in the middle. But now I'm thinking maybe I need to move the weight more centered? Ill have to try shifting some things and see if it fits, if I can't find a another way to do it and I find the battery weight to be a problem I may just have to switch to lithium, or pull the back deck apart and re frame it...Quote:
Originally Posted by rojoguio
I run those little Odyssey PC925 batteries except on the electronics, there I run Lithium. 2 925's weigh 44#'s and run my trolling motor 70# 24V all day. When I plug it in the charger shuts off in a couple of hours. Two fit in a 31 series battery tray and are only 5.5in tall. What size fuel tank?
They are a sealed unit, no venting needed and can be mounted upside down if needed.
Believe the tank is around 20g. Its 26" x 16" off the top of my head.