14' V length reduction

[BrayD]

My family dug an old 14' Sea King out of the woods at our farm. I already have a 14' V and this one has a big hole near the transom, so I thought I'd have some fun with it. My plan is to chop it down to ~10' to make it a fun solo boat.

I thought I'd reach out here to see if there were any suggestions on how to build out the transom. I have 1/8" aluminum sheet on hand and I'm proficient at welding. My plan was to just chop the back off, weld in the sheet, seal as necessary, then build a wooden transom board for it. Just wanted to touch base with you guys to see if you knew of any pitfalls with that approach or if you knew of other techniques that would be more robust.

 

[Striper57]

I'm not a welder, but I do know that riveted v-hull boats are made of pretty thin aluminum (usually between .05 and .063 i believe), so they can be difficult to weld from what I've heard. Just a heads up.

 

[LDUBS]

Just wondering. Might have to pull the sides in, but could you remove and reuse the existing transom in the more forward position?

 

[BrayD]

Good input. I'll experiment with welding the hull on the damaged area. I have experience welding transoms (converting short shaft to long shaft) on more modern Jon's, but I'll admit I never measured the thickness. That's to say I have some experience, but not enough to be overly confident yet.

I really like the idea of re-using the old transom. It would have to be pinched quite a bit to get it in there though. I'll have to take some more measurements and see if the floor ribs would allow it as I don't see them moving too much.

 

[beagle]

Just thinking out loud here, but I would think moving the transom forward of the next rib / brace in that picture would keep you from having to pull the sides in much if any and you could just re-rivet everything. Use the rib for a cut line and remove the rib / everything aft of that and you have fresh area to rivet it in. Welding old contaminated thin aluminum has been known to be a) pain in the * , b) prone to crack. That stuff was heat treated. Finding a 10 foot long oven to re-treat it might be a trick.

 

[sonny1]

I would clean up and reshape hole area. Then remove transom. Tack a patch on inside and outside of boat. Carefully weld patches on. Install transom. I have the skill to do this but not the tools. As mentioned above area would be prone to cracking given old thin aluminum. You would really have to watch your heat and be highly skilled. Rubber seal under area of transom rivets would need to be replaced and proper adhesive applied. Would not be a easy task.

 

[TriBull]

Have you thought about how you’ll handle the new transom to floor angle brace(s)? Reuse the old ones vs new fabrication? Where/how to mount? That’ll be a critical part…

 

[LDUBS]

I would clean up and reshape hole area. Then remove transom. Tack a patch on inside and outside of boat. Carefully weld patches on. Install transom. I have the skill to do this but not the tools. As mentioned above area would be prone to cracking given old thin aluminum. You would really have to watch your heat and be highly skilled. Rubber seal under area of transom rivets would need to be replaced and proper adhesive applied. Would not be a easy task.

My initial thought was similar, but no way I could weld the patch on. I would have to use rivets around the perimeter. Old boat with a few scars has character!

 

[sonny1]

Since I do not own a welder and the arrangement I had to use one did not work out I patched my hole in the bottom of the boat close to the transom by using thin aluminum patches riveted in. Used a lot of 650k under patches inside and out. Applied some fairing compound over patches and blended it all in. After applying primer and paint you have to look hard to find the patch. Figure when I finish painting the inside it will be the same. Welding that close to all those rivets would not have been a good plan anyhow.

 

[BrayD]

You guys have me reconsidering my weld plan and researching other methods. Reusing the original transom may work if I only cut out the damaged portion, but if I'm chopping it I want to go a bit more extreme and cut the whole rear bench out. At that point I'd have to pull each side in multiple inches. Probably pushing it a little at that point.

I'm currently looking into shrinking some 16ga aluminum angle so it will fit the hull profile, then riveting that to both the new transom and the hull. Need to watch some videos to make sure a 'budget' shrinker would yield acceptable results on material that thick.

 

[beagle]

I'm guessing here, but lemme guess... you have a 15hp laying around and the idea of a 10' boat with that hanging off the back and going 35 mph?

worse ideas have been born. Grin. I was thinking in terms of time / labor / costs / cost recovery if you decide to sell it. My projects tend to suffer from scope creep, and many of them get shelved halfway into it. I've had to train myself (and it hasn't turned out all that great) to keep it simple, get it done, and not to let perfect get in the way of done. That said, don't let me discourage you, and post lots of pics!

 

[BrayD]

You're not wrong, haha. I already have a 14' fishing boat that meets my practical needs and I came across this hull for free. I spend my afternoons in the shop and this is the perfect opportunity to build some skills working with thin aluminum.

I have no interest in resale value and if I fail completely I'll just cut it up and haul it to the scrapyard. I too have a way of letting perfection get in the way of production, but I'm trying to keep in mind that I have nothing invested in this one so failure is OK. I'll make a decision and start choppin' soon.

 

[Weldorthemagnificent]

Interesting. If you have 1/8 sheet and a welder, why bother with trying to form angle. Cut a sheet and weld a strip to your transom sheet formed to fit around the inside hull profile. You can weld both sides or tack inside and weld outside. Then your transom is ready to rivet to the hull.

 

[Weldorthemagnificent]

Then Install console steering and a seadoo motor!

 

[BrayD]

Interesting. If you have 1/8 sheet and a welder, why bother with trying to form angle. Cut a sheet and weld a strip to your transom sheet formed to fit around the inside hull profile. You can weld both sides or tack inside and weld outside. Then your transom is ready to rivet to the hull.

Good call. I was stuck on using thinner material to better match the hull thickness, but that's not necessary at all. 1/8" transom panel and flange would work just as well. Sandwich a rubber strip between the two and go crazy with the rivets.

I planned to use my spool gun for this project, but I'm out of wire. Tried to source some locally over the weekend. TSC's shelves were pretty dry. I'll have to run to the weld shop soon to stock up on supplies, then I can start cutting and see where it leads.

 

[sonny1]

Spool gun. So we are talking about one of those hybrids. Mix between a mig and tig unit.

 

[BrayD]

100% mig. It just places the wire spool at the gun rather than at the machine. Reduces the risk of bird nesting the soft wire from pushing it through the full length liner.

 

[sonny1]

100% mig. It just places the wire spool at the gun rather than at the machine. Reduces the risk of bird nesting the soft wire from pushing it through the full length liner.

That should work. Thought maybe you were talking about an automatic fed tig torch. Never had any luck with the outfit. Applied for a job where that was all they used. Ran a bead and thought it looked horrible. They liked it and was ready to hire me. I walked around and looked at the shops handy work and walked right out the exit door and never went back.

 

[Axhammer]

Having welded some cracks in the skin of my 1751 hull, I can vouch for the theory that old aluminum is hard to weld. It welds like it is full of contamination, no matter how much you clean it first.

 

[sonny1]

Having welded some cracks in the skin of my 1751 hull, I can vouch for the theory that old aluminum is hard to weld. It welds like it is full of contamination, no matter how much you clean it first.

Have experience welding used heat exchangers for various aircraft including military type. Pressure test and dye pen test required. Even with the best equipment it can be tough to do. Aluminum loves to hold onto contaminants which makes welding a headache.