Saving an Square Windshield 'BU

[2014Skier]

That's a waste...thanks for the link, I've posted, I'm hoping somebody is close by.

I e-mailed the guy, and offered to pay for him to take off the windshield and ship it, he said no dice...package deal...

Edited July 20, 2013 by Steve521

[jmkrak]

You are my new hero :-) We recently bought a 89 Australian Flightcraft that had been sitting outside for years, basically the same story as yours... rotted. We got the wood and foam out and are now at the point of replacing stringers and floor. I love some of your ballast ideas. I was worried that the foam was important for strength so we had not really looked into under floor options. Curious, have you found somewhere to get foam at a reasonable price?

[2014Skier]

Been busy and thus slow getting updates up. I got the two secondary stringers bedded in place in the hull. I managed to get them really close, within an 1/8" of the original height, and they fit well. As far as bedding them I used this stuff called Interfibre, which is an additive for resin that you mix in, it allows you to thicken the resin up, you can thicken it up to almost the consistency of peanut butter. I then troweled this mixture into the existing grooves in the hull and squished the stringers in, which squeezed some of the resin out, I was then able to smooth the edges at the bottom to make a slight curve, so should be better when I glass the stingers in with biax cloth.

I cut out the primary stingers using the same technique as I did for the secondary ones, they were bonded to the hull better than the secondary ones, but they still came out without too much hassle. I peeled off the fiberglass and was then able to trace out the shape onto the blanks. They had a fair bit of water in them, especially around where the motor mounts were, though they seemed to be in good shape everywhere else, I guess it goes to show how detrimental it can be to just screw into the stringers. Another issue that I didn't really like was how easily the fiberglass peeled off the wood. I'm certain that with the technique I'm using, coating the stringers with thinned resin several times then glassing them is going to provide a extremely strong bond.

I made the blanks for the primary stingers out of 3/4 marine fir plywood, I ripped 8 lengths 7 1/4" wide out of two sheets of the plywood, cut two lengths in half to allow a staggered overlap and screwed the two layers together. The stringers are approx 15' long so I ended up with a foot extra on each one. I then clamped the old stringers to the blanks, traced the contour onto them and cut that out using a jigsaw. The tricky part was dealing with the curve of the hull as it moves towards the bow. Due to the way the hull is shaped there is a changing angle on the bottom of the stringer which gets close to 45 degrees as you move close to the bow. Once I got the main shape cut out, I clamped the old stringer beside the new one and used a reciprocating saw to transfer the angle to the new stingers. I don't know how other people have done this, but this way worked. I then rounded the edges with a router and sanded them to get ready to be coated with thinned resin.

Thanks Jmkrak, I'm not sure I'm a hero, maybe we are all just a bit crazy, thanks though. These old 'Bu's are sweet and worth putting the time into. I'm not sure how may hours I'm gonna put into her, and not sure how much money yet, but I guarantee it's gonna be fraking sweet and unique once its done.

As far as the foam goes, yeah I believe it is a part of the structure of the boat, no doubt. I'm only displacing a small amount of it by putting the bags under the floor. I plan on reinforcing the floor where the bags are going with a few layers of woven roving so it should still be plenty strong. Ya gotta figure the whole bilge area of the skier has no foam in it and the hull is quite thick. I think the big stress on the hull, as far as what the foam helps with is impact, as it hitting a wave head on or something like that. There will be plenty of foam up front under the bow to handle that.

The cheapest place I found for foam online for 2lb foam was Boat Builder Central, I think they want $85 for a two gallon kit if I remember correctly. I think I'm just gonna get it locally as shipping stuff like that to Canada always costs more that its worth.

[2014Skier]

Fist pic you can see the cut line in the fiberglass.

Second pic you can see the channel in the hull where they stingers were, this is what I fill with the interfibre resin.

Third is the stripped stingers, you can see the damage that happened to one as I was removing it.

[2014Skier]

First pic: the complex angle as the stringer approaches the bow.

Second pic: the completed stringers, minus the thicker part for the engine mounts, I have some ideas for this.

Third pic: rounded profile to help the fiberglass conform to the corner.

[2014Skier]

So progress has been slow, family trips, etc etc.

I got all the pieces of the primary stingers coated with resin and then screwed all five pieces together with a piece of biax sandwiched in the middle. As best as I can feel, the finished stringers are easily more rigid then the ones that I took out of the boat, plus feel lighter. I've made and coated the pieces for the motor mounts, hopefully I'll get those installed over the next few days and then I can get the stringers mounted. These stingers have been a royal pain in the a** to make, I'm really looking forward to getting them done. Once they are in the fun stuff will begin, under floor ballast, foam, and floor.

1st pic is of of the stringers being layed up, the rear section is sandwiched and you can see the biax wetted out in the front of the pic.

2nd pic is a shot of all the pieces that make up one stringer, minus the motor mount section, that is made of the five pieces too. I'll post pics of those soon.

[Levi900RR]

Good work man! This ol' Skier is a lucky boat

[2014Skier]

Thanks Levi...its coming along.

I've gotten both the stringers ready for install. The motor mounts are on and the bottom is wrapped in glass. The motor mounts are made out of three layers of 3/4" ply with biax laminated inbetween. I drilled three 1" holes through the mounts and stringers and filled the holes with resin. I'm going to then drill 1/2" holes in the resin and use those holes to mount the motor mount cradle. I'm gonna make a metal mounting cradle for the stock adjustable mounts to bolt to, then bolt this cradle through the holes in the stringers. I really didn't want to put lag bolts into the stringers, all sorts of problems associated with that as everybody is aware, this should be strong, and water prof. The good thing about the cradle is that is should be pretty easy to adapt to whichever motor I end up putting in, right now I'm leaning towards a stroked Lq4, but we'll see.

I'm hoping I can get the hull prepped and get the stringers bedded in by the end of the week.

[2014Skier]

Just some quick pics...
Progress has been slower than I would like but its getting there. The stringers are mounted, and I'm in the process of laminating them in, with a combination of biax and woven roving, with some chopped stand around the complex parts.

In the pics you can see the primary stringers bedded into the hull with the interfibre used as bedding material and to smooth the transition from hull to stringer.

I've got more pics of the progress, I'll post shortly.

Edited August 20, 2013 by Steve521

[Levi900RR]

Cant wait to see this thing all done

[cbmalibu98]

Nice work, thank you for sharing.

CB

[2014Skier]

In the first pic you can see the 8" wide biax that I'm using to laminate the stringers in, the 8" material allows me 4" of coverage on both the stringer and hull. I'm not sure yet how I'm going to build it up but once the primary stingers have their layer of biax I will most likely use a wide sheet of woven roving to bond it all together, then strengthen the corners with some more biax.

The third pic is just a pic of the biax being laid, between a cheap paint brush and an aluminum roller its not too bad wetting out the glass.

In the third is the start of the under floor ballast system. The bag is 65" long, it wont fill to capacity in the cavity, I'm thinking it should fill to a little over 200 lbs, not a ton of weight but should help things out.

Thanks for the comments, all good to hear. She'll be sweet once she's done...next year...

[Levi900RR]

This is just my unsolicited opinion but... You may want to look into having Fly High make you some custom sacs that fit perfect in there, get the most bang for your buck. This is a pretty insane project so I'd want to get as much in there as you can. If you can get closer to #400 lbs down each side the wakeboard wake is awesome (for a little boat).

JMHO...

Progress is looking great!

EDIT: On my Skier, I always thought I would make some hard tanks that fit right up under the gunwales. If you did that you could keep the foam in the floor. Just a though.

Edited August 20, 2013 by Levi900RR

[JohnnyDefacto]

Looking really good, I can't believe how much work it is to rebuild stringers. Looks like you are doing everything right.

As far as custom sacks, they are more expensive, and if you just get a sack that is bigger than the compartment you are building, the bag will fill the compartment completely and you will get max weight.

If you go custom, a hard tank would be the way to go, but that too is really expensive.

[2014Skier]

Levi and Johnny thanks for the suggestions. I had originally thought about getting custom sacks made, then thought about it some more and for cost reasons decided against it, though I never priced it out. Though with Levi bringing it up again, I think I will price it out, just to see. I agree with Johnny that the sack once full of water will fill the space, the only thing that would be nice is if I could get one that would be longer so I could get closer to the 400 lbs that Levi suggested. I'm hesitant to get hard tanks for the gunwales as I think I will be needing that space for storage more than ballast. For the most part this is going to be a family boat more than a wake boarding boat, its tough to balance but storage space takes a bit more priority that all out wake performance.

I figure the stingers are going to be the most labor intensive part of this project, once they are in, the visual progress should be better, floors are easy, as it the storage locker up front.

One a bright note I got finally got down to the states to pick up all the stuff I ordered and got my chrome back from the plating place.

Got the 4" slash cut tips from Hardin Marine, I got them with the removable baffles, they are suggesting a 8-10 db reduction with them in. They look sick, cant wait to get them test fitted to the hull.

The Skier decals are from Datsun510dad, they look awesome, the colors of the sun look great. I saw some Skier decals offered in either black or white, but couldn't find anybody selling them with the six color sun except him, so thanks...its all in the details.

I also got the start of my stereo equipment, RFX5000 with theRFX-MR5BB and RFX-MR6 remotes and the RFX33SD usb, iPod, SD, 3.5 plug in. Thanks to Cory for the RFX5000.

Edited August 22, 2013 by Steve521

[2014Skier]

I also got a set of black gauges from Hardin Marine, Volt, Fuel, Oil Pressure, Oil Temp (for the Velvet Drive), Water temp and Tach.

Also got my stuff back form the plating place. I got the Air Guide housings re-plated, they look awesome, the throttle lever, and the gas filler too. I ordered new reproduction Air Guide gauge faces from Classic Boat Works, I cant wait to get the speedo's put back together. If everything goes according to plan "The Mistress" will be able to peg the Air Guides next summer.

Edited August 22, 2013 by Steve521

[datsun510dad]

MOAR POSTS!!

[2014Skier]

I wish i had more posts to make, been really busy with work and family so no time for The Mistress. I'm Gina get it moved into the garage in a week, then the progress will continue.

[2014Skier]

So I know its been a while, life and weather just seemed to get in the way, I made a dolly for it and moved The Mistress into the garage, which means I can actually start making some progress after what seems like a really long break. I've now got the secondary stingers tabbed in and wrapped in two layers of biax , starting with 8" biax to tab them then using 12" wide biax to wrap them has worked well, there is a nice overlap over the top, one more layer of biax should make it plenty strong. I've started tabbing in the main stringers with 4" biax, got the whole length of the inner sides done with 4", and on the outer sides I have a layer of 4", and 8". Working around the motor mounts has been a bit difficult, due to the complex shape, but the biax is forming nicely given all the smoothing of the corners that I did.

First pic is the 4" biax being laid in.

Second is the secondary stringers with two layers of biax.

Third is the motor mount section with a layer of 4" and 8" biax.

I've created a photobucket album with more and bigger pics, I'll add put the link below.

http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/2014Skier/library/Malibu%20Skier%20Restoration

[2014Skier]

In the first pic you can see how rubbing down the area that will be glassed is effected by acetone, the acetone actually softens the resin enhancing the bond with the new material I'm laying down. The second is just the rolls of biax, I've got lots but it is sure going fast now that I've getting into the glassing more.

[Woodski]

Great work that will be a sweet ride. A couple of comments:

1. Airguides - nice work on those, I would suggest swapping out the standard pitot to the venturi style if not already done. That way, you will not risk any water going up the tube to the speedo if it is not 100% sealed. I did that to mine and a very worthwhile update. You should be able to source them from multiple online suppliers or local vendors.

2. The small SS mufflers won't attain the same sound level as the original or more conventional tourney ski boat fiberglass mufflers if you were thinking of using them as the only sound suppression device. I have them in my boat coupled with my own rubber baffles integrated in to the tips (just like your tips) along with some home brewed 4" diameter mufflers. That brings the sound level to a pleasant V8 sound.

[2014Skier]

Thanks Woodski,

I had not thought about changing the pickups to the venturi style that you mentioned, but I will make sure I take care of that, last thing I want is water getting into them. I think I have seen them on Bakes and SkiDim. I'm a little worried about the pressure that will be developed at high speed, apparently once you get around the 55 mph mark there is a risk of blowing the diaphragm. I know it's a still early but I'm trying to figure out a way to cap the pressure produced, open to any suggestions, all I've come up with so far is using some sort of air pressure regulator designed for compressed air use, would need one per gauge, and set it to stop the pressure at whatever it ends up being at around 50mph.

Good tip on the mufflers, I was planning on using them only at first to see how it sounded, I figured it might be too loud though. I had mulled over the idea of making the pipes that run along the bilge out of stainless and integrating some form a baffles in them, I saw something like that on this site, might have even been your boat, I just cant remember right now. I want it to sound good, not obnoxiously loud, but nice and noticeable, kinda like a 40 series (two chamber) FlowMaster, if you know what I mean. Given what your suggesting though I may just make those baffled 4" pipes and put them in at the start.

Thanks for the input.

[Woodski]

On the venturi style pitot tubes, I don't think there is an issue at speed, you will have to check the calibration and adjust. As for the pipes, I made mine out of PVC and installed stainless baffles at each end where you end up putting a reducer cap to allow the hose install. If/when you do, make sure you leave a slot at the bottom so the water can escape easily when the boat is tilted nose up. I put one baffle at each end of the pipe, basically a half moon shaped piece of stainless, one up & one down so there is no direct line of sight through the tube. Easy and cheap. I also incorporated an H tube at the front for a bit more torque. I went with 4" tubing so I have a 4" system front to back.

[2014Skier]

Thanks Woodski, i do remember reading your post bout the exhaust now...i like the idea of the H pipe too. I would like a full 4" system.

[martinarcher]

Here's a thread of my exhaust project if it might help. It has pics of the half moon muffler baffles that Woodski is talking about. He shared that idea with me as well and I must say the boat sounds fantastic!