1990 Yarcraft 1778 Deck/Stringer/Transom Replacement

[fishnowworknever]

So I just started tearing into it and am just in the beginning phases. I'll keep this thread updated with my progress.

I bought this boat last year knowing the floor would have to be replaced at some point...and a simple deck replacement turns into a whole other beast.

The plans/questions:

1. Build some type of support for the boat while on the trailer

2. Remove motor

3. Remove cap

4. gut.

5 replace all wood

6 Fish

I will be using exterior grade plywood for the floor and transom, some type of directional wood for the stringers. Epoxy Resin throughout. For the floor I'm not sure what I'll do...since I use it primarily for fishing I was thinking of doing a non-skid. That carpet sure did stink.

These pics are a bit older...newer electronics now and 24v TM.

Ripping up the carpet I find:

Gas tank and hatch removed

Looking towards the front:

The back rollers on the trailer:

Keel:

[fishnowworknever]

Let's try that again:

Ripping up the carpet I find:

Where the stringers meet the transom(I cut away the fiberglass, the wood was not exposed like the picture shows)

[fishnowworknever]

Well I finally got the cap off today, it too me a while to get the splashwell to separate from the transom.

Now the real work starts.

[Valv]

Very nice job tearing down the boat, it makes every repair much easier.

Keep us posted on the progress.

[fishnowworknever]

Thanks Valv, it really is nice to have so much room to work now.

epoxy and fiberglass ordered today - still looking for a good lumber yard, any suggestions?

I thought the transom would be somewhat OK...NOPE! Completely soaked.

Here she is with a very thin skin left over..I'm hoping it dries out a bit and comes off easily without much grinding/sanding.

[fishnowworknever]

The transom is all cleaned up for the most part. Hopefully I'll have it installed by Sunday.

Then onto the stringers.

[gregg52]

WOW!! Looks like lots of work

Says alot about new YARcrafts not a piece of wood in them

[fishnowworknever]

A little weekend update:

1708 biaxial fiberglass with epoxy resin:

My two 1/2" sheets of fully epoxy encapsulated aracuo plywood glued together with thickened epoxy, with more thickened epoxy troweled on ready to go(I'm going to have to get a 1/4" to add onto it to make up the thickness...no big deal though"

All clamped and bonded...I think I'll leave it clamped like this for 24-36 hours

Next...the stringers.

[fishnowworknever]

Ok I lied...the transom is now tabbed and fiberglassed to the hull:

Nice rounded corners so the fiberglass adheres correctly.

[fishnowworknever]

Almost all cleaned up and ready for the new stringers. It takes a lot of grinding to get it clean, I never want to do that again.

[fishnowworknever]

Stringers are in.

[fishnowworknever]

Well I got the bulkheads, cleats and lower deck installed. I still need to fiberglass the deck to the hull which will be done tonight. The casting deck will get installed this weekend.

[Surface Tension]

That is a ton of work and you've done a good job so far.

Thanks for sharing.

[fishnowworknever]

Thanks ST

I haven't been on a lake at all since July 4th. I'm really hoping to get this back together by Friday so I can bring it to the cabin. I did get the front casting deck and livewell in this weekend. All of the wood is in the boat...now I need to get that dam cap back on, seats mounted, engine mounted and hookup the electrical. Oh yeah and the tuff coat on the floor

Time is against me right now.

[fishnowworknever]

After today I have 2 new holes in the garage wall from tools flying through the air, resin and 3m 4200 all over my hands and one hell of a mess to clean up... but I also have a ALMOST 100% complete boat again. Just need to mount the motor and get the tuff coat on..which will happen tomorrow or Thursday.

Looks like I might just make my deadline.

[fishnowworknever]

I should note that the guys over at thehulltruth have walked me through this whole project

[fishnowworknever]

Labor day has come and gone but I got to fish over the holiday weekend, in my boat.

There were a couple little quirks with the motor (electrical) that were easily fixed. A fuse-able link wasn't making good contact so that was causing the tilt/trim to not work. Took me a good 20 minutes to find it while wading in the water at a small boat launch. Luckily no one was there.

I can tell the boat lost some weight since I am able to hit 40mph when before I was at 37. I'm thinking the waterlogged transom/deck were the culprits of the additional weight.

The transom is absolutely 110% more solid than before. No movement what-so-ever when I bounce the motor.

The ride is so much more solid now, it wasn't bad before but I can tell a big difference with a solid deck and new stringers that aren't 90% rotted out. Hit some pretty decent waves that would normally rattle some stuff around underneath, that doesn't happen anymore.

The tuff coat I put on the floor seems to be good idea so far, it's not too bad on bare feet at all (I usually have shoes or sandals on). It looks really good with 2 coats...I'll probably throw one more coat on to thicken it up just a bit. One thing I did figure out is the primer they want you to use doesn't do any good if you are already using epoxy for your resin. It's basically a water based epoxy that they send you, well I used epoxy resin with the fiberglass, just a quick once over with 100 grit sand paper and it's good to go.

The seat bases I built 2 1/2" above the deck provide a really solid base for the pedestal bases, no holes in the deck anymore = no water draining in there from above!

All in all it was a "good" experience, but one that I don't want to go through again anytime soon. I'll get a few better pics of everything up in the next day or two.

Hope you enjoyed the thread.

[BartmanMN]

Nice work. Looked like a huge job.