BrownDogFlies
Member
Hi everyone. As the title says, I am up to my neck in an uplanned rebuild. I’ve reached the point where I need to ask for a sanity check.
Before I do that, I want to thank the community at large here at Tinboats. I’ve spent hours looking through the archives and I’ve learned a ton. I think I’ve also managed to avoid a number of mistakes. Just wish I’d found this site BEFORE I made my purchase.
OK, progress to date …
-- Acquired the boat in early March. The price seemed right, and it came with a title for both the boat and the trailer (huge deal here in North Carolina).
-- I split my fishing about 50/50 spin/fly, and I chase everything from smallmouth in the mountains to carp in the piedmont to redfish in the saltmarsh. I also hope to duck hunt the Yadkin in the fall. So I want a multipurpose boat that is wide for flycasting, deep for crossing the intercoastal, has lots of deck space and plenty of room for the crew (aka my 9-year-old son). At 15 ft long, between 42" and 48” wide at the bottom and 60” wide at the gunnel, the Rhyancraft seemed to fit the bill.
-- For now, I am planning on running the boat with a 55 lb thrust bow mount trolling motor. Next year I will be getting either a 15hp or 25hp. Keep that in mind for later.
-- Got it home and got to work. Started by rebuilding the decking to add access hatches. Before mounting the new decking opened up the gunnel to run electrical. Noticed that the foam peeking out from under the aluminum floor was significantly darker than the sidewalls. Mashed a finger sized hole and watched water fill the divot. Three hours of demo I had the aluminum sheet for the floor off and 250 pounds of water logged foam in the trash. Later in the week acquired and cut to fit new XPS foam. Went out this afternoon to prep for re-installing the floor and in the process noticed there that THERE IS A HOLE IN THE TRANSOM. About 3/8”, but not drilled. Down low. Would not have noticed it had I not had the floor off and been sitting in the boat drilling out the bases of pop rivets. How it got there god knows.
-- I thought about this for a while and decided the only thing to do was the right thing, so I started to demo the transom. What I found was 1) a 1/8” aluminum plate that was mounted with stainless steel bolts, plain old washers and silicon caulk and covered all kinds of p/o drilled holes for motor mounts, 2) a crumbly wooden transom that broke into 3 pieces, 3) a piece of steel angle iron that looked good from the front but is pitted and rusted on the back, and 4) an aluminum transom that is corroded, pitted, full of holes (both drilled and corrosion) and in need of help. Sorry, I did not get a picture of the pitting today - will add tomorrow.
So, here is my plan, and tell me if I am crazy.
- First I am going to hit it with a wire brush and Goof Off to clean it and then some muriatic acid to stop the corrosion.
- Next I am going to make a new wooden transom out of two ¾” sheets of non-pressure-treated ply which I will laminate together. I will pre-drill all my holes slightly larger than the bolt and paint the thing with 4-6 coats of minwax spar varnish.
- I am going to order a sheet of 5086-H32 aluminum, 0.063” x 20” x 60” , cut it to shape ¼” to ½” narrower than the boat and, using either (1) as few as possible and even those only down low in the corners, pop rivets or (2) 1/4" SS hex bolts, mount it to the EXTERIOR of the transom, using 3M 5200 as a sealant, running a bead around the outside edges of all the holes.
- Next I will apply a heavy coat of JB Weld from the inside wherever there is pitting or a hole that doesn’t get a bolt, using the new aluminum on the outside as a back. After that is dry a good coat of paint.
That’s the plan. Thoughts?
Thanks
--Brown Dog
Before I do that, I want to thank the community at large here at Tinboats. I’ve spent hours looking through the archives and I’ve learned a ton. I think I’ve also managed to avoid a number of mistakes. Just wish I’d found this site BEFORE I made my purchase.
OK, progress to date …
-- Acquired the boat in early March. The price seemed right, and it came with a title for both the boat and the trailer (huge deal here in North Carolina).
-- I split my fishing about 50/50 spin/fly, and I chase everything from smallmouth in the mountains to carp in the piedmont to redfish in the saltmarsh. I also hope to duck hunt the Yadkin in the fall. So I want a multipurpose boat that is wide for flycasting, deep for crossing the intercoastal, has lots of deck space and plenty of room for the crew (aka my 9-year-old son). At 15 ft long, between 42" and 48” wide at the bottom and 60” wide at the gunnel, the Rhyancraft seemed to fit the bill.
-- For now, I am planning on running the boat with a 55 lb thrust bow mount trolling motor. Next year I will be getting either a 15hp or 25hp. Keep that in mind for later.
-- Got it home and got to work. Started by rebuilding the decking to add access hatches. Before mounting the new decking opened up the gunnel to run electrical. Noticed that the foam peeking out from under the aluminum floor was significantly darker than the sidewalls. Mashed a finger sized hole and watched water fill the divot. Three hours of demo I had the aluminum sheet for the floor off and 250 pounds of water logged foam in the trash. Later in the week acquired and cut to fit new XPS foam. Went out this afternoon to prep for re-installing the floor and in the process noticed there that THERE IS A HOLE IN THE TRANSOM. About 3/8”, but not drilled. Down low. Would not have noticed it had I not had the floor off and been sitting in the boat drilling out the bases of pop rivets. How it got there god knows.
-- I thought about this for a while and decided the only thing to do was the right thing, so I started to demo the transom. What I found was 1) a 1/8” aluminum plate that was mounted with stainless steel bolts, plain old washers and silicon caulk and covered all kinds of p/o drilled holes for motor mounts, 2) a crumbly wooden transom that broke into 3 pieces, 3) a piece of steel angle iron that looked good from the front but is pitted and rusted on the back, and 4) an aluminum transom that is corroded, pitted, full of holes (both drilled and corrosion) and in need of help. Sorry, I did not get a picture of the pitting today - will add tomorrow.
So, here is my plan, and tell me if I am crazy.
- First I am going to hit it with a wire brush and Goof Off to clean it and then some muriatic acid to stop the corrosion.
- Next I am going to make a new wooden transom out of two ¾” sheets of non-pressure-treated ply which I will laminate together. I will pre-drill all my holes slightly larger than the bolt and paint the thing with 4-6 coats of minwax spar varnish.
- I am going to order a sheet of 5086-H32 aluminum, 0.063” x 20” x 60” , cut it to shape ¼” to ½” narrower than the boat and, using either (1) as few as possible and even those only down low in the corners, pop rivets or (2) 1/4" SS hex bolts, mount it to the EXTERIOR of the transom, using 3M 5200 as a sealant, running a bead around the outside edges of all the holes.
- Next I will apply a heavy coat of JB Weld from the inside wherever there is pitting or a hole that doesn’t get a bolt, using the new aluminum on the outside as a back. After that is dry a good coat of paint.
That’s the plan. Thoughts?
Thanks
--Brown Dog