help me identify my new old panga with pic.

[Captain Tyler]

By the end of this you will be the Sofa King!!!

Name the boat " Sofa King " 

If you dont get it right off the bat say it out load when the kids and wife are not around!

[texas]

thats awsome!!!  Sofa king it is.  By the way have you met my friend mike hunt?

[Captain Tyler]

no but I was just introduced to Howie Felterbush.

Ok Ok sorry I derailed the thread! 

[texas]

Well I began to dig in head first today.  I began by cutting down the old seat cross members to the level of the floor.  I am going to use them to help support the floor in combination with the stringers.  In my mind it should provide a very stable platform for the floor. 

Here you can see the level of the future floor.

Everything is going pretty good and I notice a couple of soft spots on the bow rail as well as going down the starboard, and port side.  I began to investigate and found some pretty bad wood. 

I think it will be pretty easily replaced and repaired though. 

 
I knew it would probably be this way before I even took it home so I am not surprised it was like this but I didn't think it was quite as bad.  definitely fixable just a little more work.  Looks like a pain but I am having fun!  I will have another update on monday, when I get back at it again.

[doc]

Looks great, keep the pics coming.

You could fill in the areas you are removing the rotting wood from with thickened epoxy (or polyester;  would be much cheaper)  jUST MIX UP THE EPOXY WITH A BUNCH OF CABOSIL OR OTHER thickener  and putty it in;  beware though that many thickeners seems to catalize the hardening of the epoxy, so mix in small batches or else  you will wast a bunch or material or even cause a fire hazard as it creates a shit load of heat when it kicks way too fast and might start smoking up on you...  i did it once and learned my lesson.

If you dont want to waste the money on cabosil, you can thicke it up with chopped glass strands from your scrap glass, will also make it thicker for application  and stronger due to the fibers;  but not as easy to work with, I usually use a little cabosil and some added fibers to strengthen and pull it all together.

[texas]

heres the monday update.  Got most of the stringers in thanks to help from my dad.  got a lot done just need the stringers for the center section.  I just wanted to make sure of the in deck fuel tank measurments before I cut the plywood.  here are some pics of the stringers clamped in, still need to be glassed in.


here is a pic of the combination stringer/motor bulkhead/transom support.  cut out of 2 pieces of 3/4" treated plywood glued and screwed together,  I am quite proud of these, they turned out great if I do say so myself.  they also have a bevel cut on the bottom to match the contour of the hull, it took forever to make these.  They should really help stiffen the transom as well as the whole stern of the hull.

Here is a picture of the two brackets in place.

Capt. Tyler this picture is for you


Doc, can I use CABOSIL for polyester resin to thicken it up?

[doc]

Yes, you can,. and will save  money doing so.  You can also use your fiberglass grinding dust instead of the cabosil if you want to save even more money.

[Captain Tyler]

Love it!! 

[texas]

Thursday update.  I have got all the stringers except the center section built and glassed in with two layers of glass on each side.


the center section I plan on doing a 10" raised deck for extra storage and to fit the fuel tank and batteries.  It looks crazy high in the picture but it is only 10 inches.
 

Here you can see the transom support/stinger brackets glassed in.


I have gone through 10 yds of glass and 3 gallons of resin.  I decided to use polyester because that is what the local Dargel dealership had and it was available.  tomorrow I am gonna finish the center section and hopefully glass it all in.  next will be cutting out he floors, and doing flotation!  I still have a long way to go but I am getting excited.

[doc]

Looking good thanks for all the updates!

Where did 10 yards of glass and 3 gallons of resin go?  By the pics does not look like you have done that much...

YOu definately look like you are wetting out the glass too much with excess resin;   this does not increase the strength; costs money and adds weight.  Just enough to wet it out is all you need...  let capillary action soak it all up, and dont squeeze out so much that you leave air bubbles/resin poor areas. Also it Looks like your using that really thick woven-roving glass;  I would use  biaxial with matting so it lays down smooth; especially on the deck.  YOu will also get more strenth if you mix up some putty/thickened resin to add a bit of "radius" where you are glassing corners rather than forcing the glass into the 90 degree angles.  Cant wait for more pics;  its like boat restoration porn.

[texas]

thanks for the advice.  nothing in the hull is square so making duplicate pieces from templates is impossible, each piece has to be made custom and then cut to make the future floor square and drain right.  I plan on using the biaxial with matt on the deck just haven't got that far yet.  I think the reason it looks like I haven't gotten far was I cut all the parts out first and then put them in.  My back and my feet are killing me!  still having fun though.  got the center section all built today and almost fully glassed.  I will probably work on it a little tomorrow, hopefully get the center section glassed in and ready to go.  I also have monday off and plan on working on it then.    I am using 3/4 treated plywood for the deck.  should I lay glass on the underside of the floor? or should I just coat it in resin?  more pictures to follow.

[doc]

glass on the bottom is better;  but more time, money and weight; your prob just better off throwing a good coat of polyester over the bottom of the wood and sides to seal it as much as possible.


THere are some really cool penetrating epoxies that penetrate deeply into wood, but they are expensive...  formulas to copy these exist, but are not as good ( the good stuff uses a substance called AROMATIC naptha to penetrate the wood,  and this is not readily available, the naptha found in stove fuel is not the same, i tried)  you can thin some epoxy with acetone and/or some xylene and it will penetrte deeper into the wood because its thinner, it basically just soaks in deeper and doesnt fully cure until the volatile solvents evaporate out;  I dont think this will work the same with polyester, but i have never tried.

[texas]

Sunday update:
Well I have gotten all the floors cut out except for one little piece behind the raised portion and the top for the raised portion.  I coated all the floor pieced underneath with resin.  I ran out of plywood today and I need two more sheets.  Next week I am going to do the floatation with two part expanding marine foam.  any tips on that would be greatly appreciated!  Also the gap between the hull and the deck needs to be filled with something before I glass the deck in.  Question is what?  should I make a fillet out of resin and glass dust?  Any way now for the pictures.  In the first picture you can see the two compartments in front and the back of the raised portion.  the back box has a cut out in it for access to the top of the fuel tank, suction line, and sending unit.  IT is also going to house the batteries.  It will be accessed from under the seat via a water tight hatch.  The front box will be extra storage that will be accessed from under the console via a hatch.  going to add lots of storage but it is going to be in a kind of hard to access area being under the console and all.  I figured it would probably be used for things like tools, extra parts, I think I could even fit a couple of extra 5 gallon gas cans in it if I wanted, anything I probably won't need real easy access to.

[doc]

Looking good Tex.

I have never used a two part foam so cant give specifics, if you use it be very careful to fully seal every compartment and dont go anywhere near it with screws becasue the stuff does get waterlogged over time....  look at every old whaler or twin vee; they all have water intrusion issues and get heavy over time and often need to be drained out.  If you want to use it maybe you should  just foam in the outside compartments and leave a central draining bilge;  this way if you ever had a problem you could drill in from the bilge space, let it drain, then glass it over again....   I left the compartments in my boat watertight (hopefully) and filled with air, with a very clear plan on how I could drain every section If I ever needed to without pullling up my deck.

As far as the deck edges go, you have the idea exactly right.  THickened resin putty wedged into the cracks;  do this as you are laying glass not before;  apply mild pressure only  so there is a slight radius to the glass between the deck and gunnels.

[texas]

Sunday update.  sorry its been a little while since I have updated but its been a little while since I worked on the boat.  I go the rest of the floors cut out  today and made sure they fit level and the transition between them was smooth.  I finally got an idea what the intire deck is going to look like and it is so awsome!  I know I have a long way to go but I am  so excited about finishing this thing and actually getting on the water with it.
In this picture you can see the front storage area.  I plan on building a horseshoe type structure and adding tank racks so that I can hold 4-6 scuba tanks if I need to.  other than that little project my plywood cutting is done!

the guy in  background is my dad.  he has been so much help in this project!  lucky for me he is retired and has some time to help.

When I was done with that I began to fill the voids with 2 part foam.  according to my eyeball calculations I should need about 2 more gallons of part A and 2 gallons of part B to finish it of.  that will be a total of 3 gals of each.  There is definatly an art to using the foam  but I am getting a little better at it.

I used a hole saw to cut throught the bulkheads to run some 2 inch pvc to pull wires and hydraulic lines for the motor and electrical stuff.  I am also going to run some pvc to the bow for bow lights.  I have coated all the underside of the decking with resin, and I just ordered enough 12 ounce biaxial for two layers for deck and some 12 ounce biaxial tape for the edges.  Doc I am running a little low on grinding dust to thicken up the resin.  can I use saw dust?