1995 Grumman 1784 TC Complete Rebuild

[dearl]

Been Looking for a good solid all aluminum Split windshield Hull to build for a while and came across this jewel last week. She's a little ruff to say the least, but has a lot of potential. My son and I fish a lot of Catfish Tournaments here in North Carolina and our current boat is a Modified V aluminum Jon with a Jet outboard. We mainly fish the rivers with it, and it does a great job, but in larger lakes with a medium chop, it gets uncomfortable real quick. I do a lot of custom aluminum boat work so the work it needs will be right up my ally, believe me, finding this boat was a pleasant surprise.
The Hull I'm working with is a 1995 Grumman 1784 dual console, split windshield riveted hull. It came from the factory with wood floors and carpet, which was all rotted. Our goal is to completely strip the boat, Check for leaks, repair any found, seal the hull from the inside, buck all the rivets, put a good coat of paint on her, install aluminum floors and decking with vinyl. Add a 50 gallon live well up front, some storage, new aluminum consoles, Completely rewire the boat, with new pumps and plumbing, and what ever else is needed. The motor runs, but has low compression on the #3 cylinder, so its off to the shop for rebuild. Pictures of the day I picked her up and the destruction process.

 

[fishmonger]

Nice project, I have been thinking about doing something similar but retaining only one console in it's present location or further back as a CC. Please keep us posted with your progress.

 

[dearl]

Removed the fuel cell last night along with the rest of the rotten floor and saturated foam. Found a hole from a screw in one of the vent lines, gas and oil had completely broken down the foam under the tank. Just about done with the nasty part, a little more foam to remove from the transom area, then a good pressure washing is in order. So far I've only found 1 cracked stringer, I'll weld that one this weekend, Then she's coming off the trailer so we can flip it and start sanding the bottom and re-bucking what seems like 10,000 rivets.

 

[dearl]

Done with the foam finally, started cleaning out all the joints with the cup brush. Wore out a new cup brush just on the small section on the bow. Either got to find a better brush or figure something else out, I still got a long way to go. Found another cracked stringer bringing the total now to 2, also found a few pin holes in the Keel towards the front.

 

[Ictalurus]

=D> =D> =D>

Very nice!!! That is a great find, looking forward to seeing this build.

 

[dearl]

Got some work done this weekend. Boat has been completely cleaned out, and the Outboard removed. Good news is the transom is solid but I'm going to have to fix some issues with the stringer rivets before I can go any further with the floor. We flipped the boat so I can get to the bottom rivets, Oh man, I'll be replacing a lot of rivets down here, I have pan head screws in areas I should have rivets, and enough JB weld to build a battle ship. Hope to make some head way at stripping the bottom and sides this week to reveal any other hidden treasures.

 

[dearl]

Got started removing the decals and sanding one side last night. Took a good look at the bottom of the hull, I got some serious rivet replacement In front of me. Overall its not in real bad shape, like most older tins it has been used and abused, nothing some metal, rivets and 5200 wont fix.

 

[dearl]

More carnage......

 

[dearl]

Got some work done past couple of days, one side is completely sanded, along with most of the bottom. Started on the other side, a lot more dents and scratch's on this side to fix. Looks like they came from loading on the trailer with no side bunk covers. Got some trailer work planed for this weekend.

 

[dearl]

O.k. the boat is completely sanded, waiting on some rivets and 5200 to show up so I can start replacing a lot of rivets and fixing a lot of leaks. Worked on the trailer some today. Installed a new trailer tongue with hew coupler. Raised the tongue 3" so it rides level when pulling it with my 2500. Also through bolted the trailer jack, and cut off the old round taillights and added some 3" angle for the new 8" rectangular LED's. Also installed new safety chains and clasp. Hope to be moving along with putting this thing back together by the end of the week.

 

[dearl]

Worked on the boat some last week, got the Gunwale caps off, removed the fuel tank coffin and floor supports to get to the broken stringers. also got the transom broken down. Removed the 2 stringers closest to the transom, Hull had a bad hook in it there, got that beat back into shape, going to start re-installing the stringers and rivets with 5200 this week.

 

[dearl]

More pics........

 

[perchjerker]

doing a great job

enjoying following it

 

[dearl]

doing a great job

enjoying following it

Appreciate it......


Got some time to work on the boat some last week, splash well had a ton of holes in it from god knows what, so I welded all of them up. Plan to keep one rigging hole and fill in the rest. Also got my 3/16' Cleco's in....These little things will come in handy once I start pulling the stringers and re-sealing the rivets.

 

[perchjerker]

I worked with a guy who used to be an airframe mechanic

he had a bunch of those. Showed me how they work They are neat

 

[dearl]

Some shots of the finished rivets on the first stringers we removed, checked for corrosion and replaced. All the rivets were sealed with 5200 and drove home with a rivet gun. We're going to remove all the stringers and strakes and do this for all of them. Got the next 2 stringers up and found some real nasty corrosion, had already eat a hole through the boat. I'll acid wash this to kill the corrosion and wire brush the crap out of it, then fill in the void with JB and sand smooth. Feels good to be putting her back together.

 

[dearl]

Not much to report, finished welding all the holes up in the splash well, still working on corrosion control. The transom skin, and the last 1/3 of the boat was the worst. I used diluted Muriatic acid, a stiff stainless brush, and baking soda dissolved in water as a neutralizer. Worked small areas no more than 3 minutes each then washed the area real good. Works great, already started to JB some of the really bad pits. Hoping to get the rest this week then its on to Gluvit and primer.

 

[dearl]

Got a little done on the boat yesterday. Broke down the splash well for sanding/primering/painting. Sanded the JB spots on the bottom under the stringers. Replaced some rivets on the Nose Bulkhead, installed 2 stringers, Plan to get 2 more installed today, and hopefully remove the next 4 for inspection/repair. I did sand and primer the forward bow area that will be painted, amazing what scratches and dents show up after primer.

 

[dearl]

Still working on stringers, got the first 4 installed, zinc chromate primer on the stringers and floor area under the stringers, then re-installed with 3/16 x 1/2" brazier heads dipped in 5200. Had to weld up and re-drill a few holes due to being over sized. Next 4 stringers are up, not much corrosion under these but 2 of the stringers came out in pieces, planning to get those fixed today, cleaning up the floor area, knocking out the dents, primer and re-installed by the weekend. Then its on to the last 4. Drilling out rivets is no fun.

 

[dearl]

Moving right along...Got all the corrosion removed and pits filled under stringers 5-8, Got the transom pits filled, also got the splash well sealed and reassembled. Still need to fair the splash well out a little from the welding, then its getting ZC primed. Going to spend this week re-installing these stringers, pulling the last 4 stringers, repeating the corrosion removal process, Re-install those, and get the unneeded transom skin holes welded, then install the new transom wood. I want to have the boat flipped by the end of the month prepping the bottom for paint.