14' Feather Craft V-hull

[FishFry]

Gluvit works, here's the after picture. It's been 48 hours after painting it on - when it reaches full cure according to directions. No leaks and you can see that the boat has plenty of water in it.

And here's the before so you don't have to go back a page to see how bad it was:

 

[ben2go]

Sweet.

 

[SlimeTime]

Good deal! Glad to see 'er dry.

ST

 

[dedawg1149]

sweet no more drips =D>

 

[FishFry]

Work, hunting season, and family have all collided recently resulting in the boat collecting dust. I did get a coat of steelflex on and got the boat wet a couple days later. No leaks.

 

[FishFry]

I thought I would pass on what I've learned from making this boat watertight. First, both gluv-it and steelflex are really nice products. There was plenty of information on steelflex on any number on threads, not much on gluv-it. Gluv-it does cost more, but has much, much, better coverage than steelflex. Gluv-it is also available in both quarts and gallons, as is steelflex. Which one you use really depends on whether you want to paint the outside of the boat, or the inside. Gluv-it is easy to paint, and has a longer working live before it starts to set up. Steelflex is difficult to apply due to how thick it is and sets fast. Gluv-it really works it's way into crevices and flows well, no drips. Can't say that about steelflex at all, though it does stick to everything extremely well once set up. I wouldn't want anything else on the bottom of my boat. The worst thing about steelflex is having to order through the manufacturer who doesn't do web sales or even take a card over the phone. Gluv-it you can buy from any number of suppliers.

 

[dedawg1149]

nice feedback good to know

 

[FishFry]

Here's a couple pictures of the flotation foam going in. The manufacturer recomends plastic down first if you don't want foam sticking to everything. I was able to use a sheet of plastic draped over the framing to create a channel front to back for water to work its way out. I mixed small amounts for each pocket of plastic at first to lock in this channel. Then I filled it up and shaved it down with an handsaw. Fairly quick and simple actually.

 

[ben2go]

Looks good.Should float anything you put in it plus full of H2O.

 

[spanky543]

What type of foam did you use? I have a V-Hull I am restoring and I am trying to put foam down in the bow and under the decking. Could you let me know what you used?

 

[taino_racing]

nice job very interesting!

 

[FishFry]

What type of foam did you use?

The foam came from aeromarine products / John Greer.

https://www.jgreer.com/Foam Page.htm

 

[RStewart]

so you used gluv-it also. i as well have not seen many reports on it or ever heard of it for that matter.

 

[CrappieReaper]

I love the Feather Craft Boats. My last aluminum was a 14' Feather Craft. I had brought her back from the depths of dead by repairing an 18" gash along the starboard floor/side. It was so bad, I had to create doublers for the inside and the outside of the gash. When it was said and done, it held and became the little boat I had dreamed of. I sold her about 4 years ago to a young, enthusiastic kid for a mere 4 bills sporting and lil 9.9 evinrude. I had been running an '84 model 25hp Mariner on her and that lil boat screamed for it's size. Most of those pre 1950 aluminum boats were built out of the left over aircraft aluminum that was in abundance after WW2. They sure made some nice boats back then. Hope you maintain the integrity of what a Feather Craft created. They were a fine ship.

 

[baptistpreach]

Really nice job so far! keep it up!