BentoniaPhil's 15ft Terry Jon

[BentoniaPhil]

I bought my first boat in April and was trying to hold off on my modifications till after the summer. My boat is (was) fishable, but i went to add some short side bunks to the trailer today to make it easier to load and noticed that the trailer was in poor condition. I needed to remove the boat to fix the trailer, and thought I might as well gut the boat to make it lighter and since its going to be gutted, paint it, redo the floors, re-wire everything and clean and repaint the engine. All this because a bolt was a little wiggly and I didn't like it. so here goes the renovation (read "the destruction and never ending repair") of my boat.

I've got questions already. I've got 3 cracked ribs like the one in the picture, what's the best way to fix them? I'm thinking about just welding a flat strip of aluminum over the top of the rib. would that be pretty sufficient, or would it bend and crack again? maybe i should use aluminum angle, or c channel. For those of you that weld on your boats, what kind of welder do you use? I've got access to a few and have used them for other things, but I don't know much about them and don't want to warp anything.

 

[sixgun86]

Looks like the floor that was installed was PT wood. Those ribs are probably too frail, thin, or corroded to weld. C channel or Angle bolted through the rib might be the easiest fix. Since you deck is most likely the same wood I'd be sure to get it off the boat asap. From the looks of that pic the previous owner may have known of the crack / s and drilled a hole to try and prevent their spread. Or the install cause the weak spot?

 

[TheMaestro]

Welcome! Looks like you've got some work ahead of you, but lots of people here to help..Are there more than just 1 cfacked rib? If you are going to put angle or aluminium how do you bolt it if you cant get underneath the rib (not trying to hijack your post, just curious)..

 

[bluegillfisher]

I have a crack like that and would really like to know how to deal with it. I put JB weld to stop the leak, but think it needs more than that.
Ideas guys?

 

[bigwave]

I would have someone weld all the cracks....Do you know what caused that crack? I would check for more and have them all fixed at once.

 

[BentoniaPhil]

yea, the floor installed was definitely treated plywood, not to happy about that, but what can you do. The front deck is held on with angle iron secured to the side of the boat. I'm hoping the paint saved it from some electrolysis, but we will see, it looks pretty rough. The bolts holding the deck on aren't stainless so they're rusted on there. I'm picking up a cutting wheel today to get all that mess out of there.

I'm not sure just how I'm gonna handle the cracked ribs yet, I have 3 of them. I'm gonna pull the foam, and the side walls out and clean it all up and see the real extent of the damage. I might weld a C channel over the one that's there, or even pull them out and replace them.

I don't know what caused the cracked ribs, I'm hoping cleaning everything out will show me the answer. I do know that the boat is a '76, and looks to have taken a few hits over the years.

I'll keep ya'll posted as the process unfolds, from the looks of it I think there will be a few more skeletons to uncover.

 

[BentoniaPhil]

I've nearly completed the demolition, I still have to pull the outboard and the sidewalls next to the transom. The foam was poured into the floor and no drainage holes were left so there was plenty of water trapped under it just hanging out, but its all out of there now. The front deck hardware was rusted in place and had to be cut out. I've got pictures to share, and a little more work to do before i can flip the boat and start re-vamping the trailer.
I don't have all my interior mods planned out yet, so i cant get real detailed, but I want it to have a front deck similar to what I had. I want to add a rear deck. I want the steering console raised up some, LED's to light up the floor, and some form of shade to cover the boat. With the shade I have an idea for something similar to a T top that stretches the length of the boat. More details will come in time, I'm still planning that one.
right now the plan is to 1) finish demolition, 2) restore the trailer, 3) repaint the exterior, 4) clean and paint the motor, then 5) mod the interior.

Questions: You've seen the cracked ribs above. In order to repair these, and keep the floor level I'm thinking about laying a C channel directly over the part of the rib running the width of the floor and riveting it in place. How's this plan sound? anyone have a better idea? ha ha. I want to fix the cracks, make it stronger, and make sure when i lay the floor into the boat it stays level and doesn't bow up anywhere.

 

[TheMaestro]

Are you thinking pop rivets for the c channel rib fix? They would have to have a wide head on them to disperse the flex forces I would think...

 

[BentoniaPhil]

Yea, I'm thinking pop rivets. I figured the new rib would flex with the old one since it was sitting on top of the old one and riveted to it. Anyone ever done or seen this before? Does it sound like a decent plan or is there something I'm missing? and I'm still open to ideas if someone has a better way of fixing it.

 

[papa]

I just welded 3 broken ribs and a number of other cracks in my boat. I don't expect them to be as strong as new but my plan all along has been to put an aluminum floor in her. I'm thinking the weld backed up by some 1/8" aluminum plate tied into ever other rib in the boat, fill the void with styrofoam sheets and leave the pressed in channels open for water to drain, stronger than it ever was. Coat the whole floor in some kinda non-skid coating, problem solved problem staying solved. If its too far gone to weld, I'd sleeve angle or channel back to good metal and contiinue as before. I didn't have the corrosion problem it looks like you have so I just had to clean and weld.

 

[BentoniaPhil]

I just welded 3 broken ribs and a number of other cracks in my boat. I don't expect them to be as strong as new but my plan all along has been to put an aluminum floor in her. I'm thinking the weld backed up by some 1/8" aluminum plate tied into ever other rib in the boat, fill the void with styrofoam sheets and leave the pressed in channels open for water to drain, stronger than it ever was. Coat the whole floor in some kinda non-skid coating, problem solved problem staying solved. If its too far gone to weld, I'd sleeve angle or channel back to good metal and contiinue as before. I didn't have the corrosion problem it looks like you have so I just had to clean and weld.

Thanks for the info papa. I sanded the ribs down to get a better look, I think welding the cracks and holes and riveting a floor down like you said should fix the problem. The corrosion is there, but it doesn't look like it got too deep and weakened things too much.

I got some pictures below, and i think I'll spend the next few weeks restoring the trailer before moving on.