Project: Shoebox - 1764 Fisher FINISHED!!

[Shoedawg]

The wheel wells. I had a difficult time painting these, and ran into a few problems trying to get the paint to stick evenly.


A close up of one of the wheel wells.


The steps with primer.


And the steps painted black. The white wheel wells go between them. Hope the trailer turns out like I pictured in my mind with the play on color contrasts. And yes, I did mask up the diamond plates with painters tape.




The wheels all done. I painted both sides to protect them and masked the area where the tires go. Didn't see a reason to paint the rim area, since the tires should protect it. Didn't see any corrosion when I had the tires removed, so it should be good to go. Plus it saved me painting time.


And finally the axle. She turned out really good.

With primer.


All painted and DONE!!

 

[Shoedawg]

If your curious, I used 14 cans of black, 10 cans white, and 9 cans of Primer. Don't think I would use spray cans again, but it does make the process a little easier and less clean up, but a little expensive. Be cheaper to buy it in the regular cans and apply with your chosen method. I plan on using my HVLP for the boat.

The paint I used was an Enamel. I didn't know before hand, but it can take 2 weeks to a month before the paint is fully cured. Instead of putting the trailer together, and risk marring up the paint, I am going to try and "bake" it in the back of my pickup that has a topper. The trailer frame is going to sit on my flat bed. We have 100 degree days coming up, so hopefully this will speed up the curing process.



Note: Yes the orange letters on the back window of the pickup say, "IF I AM DRIVING FAST, IT'S CUSS I HAVE TO POOP" I SWEAR TO YOU THIS WAS NOT MY IDEA!!! It was my WIFES!!!!

OK, now that's settled, here is my up coming to-do list. So I got the boat off the flat bed, and back in the garage. I need to replace and/or rebuck the rivets on the hull, and flip her over to finish cleaning up the inside in some areas. Got to order some paint, (thinking going with Parker's), some fill foam for the back of the cavities, and rivets. All that time will be good for the trailer and its part to cure, before I put it back together. Stay tuned and thanks for watching!! :wink:

 

[firstresponder01]

Love this resto man. Keep it up. I wish ibhad taken so many detailed pictures of mine. I'm doing a similar thing with my baot right now. I'm "baking" it in the garage. My digital thermostat has been reading 101 out there. Still a little soft. Was going to give it a week but might give it much longer. I out on really thick costs of that rustoleum pro grade enamal. I rolled mine on.

 

[Shoedawg]

Progress Report.

Got a little work done over the past week, but not much. Got two of the bunks for the trailer coated with a water sealant (will report on this later), and ordered some stuff. Have some Parkers Duck Boat Paint in Hunters Green coming in, and some 2-part Foam being shipped by US Composites. Started on removing some of the bad rivets on the boat. Here we go!!

Started out with outside of the boat (port side). These were pretty easy to remove, being aluminum rivets. They were leaking pretty bad when I ran my leak test.


I then moved on to the inside and concentrated on the rivets holding the back decking frame/live well. Thinking how the rivets came out easily on the first set I removed on the outside, little did I know I was about to have a battle with the rest of the interior rivets.


THOSE RIVETS WERE STAINLESS STEEL!!! :shock: :shock: :shock: It was a PIA to remove them. :evil: :evil: :evil:
I had to use various tools and methods to remove them. I used a Dremel with cutting disks, chisels, punches, grinder, drill bits (GOOD bits not cheap ones), pry bar, you name it.

The only thing that worked out the best for removing them was using the Dremel's cutting disk on top of the rivet head, making multiple cuts, thus weakening it. After that, I used my chisel and hammer to remove the weak rivet head. Once I saw the rivet's shaft, I then was able to punch it through. It was a slow process......but was the best method that worked.

After the front rivets were gone, I decided to remove the live well. That was easy enough. Now I had access to the rest of the back.


The live well gone, but the battle was about to continue with the rest of the SS rivets.


Very little room to move around in. Was uncomfortable and a pain to find a good angle to use my tools. Thank goodness I only had about 8 SS Rivets to deal with.


If you look closely, you can see where the rivets were attached to the bottom of the boat. A partition wall runs down the middle, separating the livewell cavity, from rest of the back.


Still have some rivets to remove, but not SS (as far as I know and see). After that, I can remove the deck frame and get access to the transom. The only way to get access to it was removing the frame itself. I also was thinking maybe I can add some of my left over foam (I should have some) around the outside of the livewell, and make it into a built in cooler. Not sure if the foam will help keep stuff cold, so need to look into that, and figuring out how to keep the foam around the well. Bad Idea??? :mrgreen:

 

[Shoedawg]

Today's goal was to remove the rest of the rivets and get the back deck frame out of the boat. Would have been done sooner, but the brand new Husky Air Hammer I purchased from Lowes, wasn't working properly, so I had to drive into town a get another one. Got me a Powermate Air Hammer for $17 at D&B (farm store) and it was WAY better in quality than the Husky, and cheaper too. Hope Lowes will take the broken one back. Dont have receipt and bought it like 2 months ago. I used the hammer to help me remove the rest of those SS rivets that I had left to do. It made for short work.
Anyways on to the restore:

Started with the outside rivets. No more SS one's to deal with. \/


I used an Automatic Punch first, centered in the rivet head, to help my drill bit out. This keeps the bit dancing away from the center. If you use one, punch it a few times to get a nice little center dent.


After punching, I took my drill bit (I started with a smaller size first) and made a pilot hole. I took the bit into the rivet just a little bit, just enough to make a nice pilot hole.


I then moved up to a slightly bigger drill bit. This time I went all the way through, cutting through the rivet's shaft.


From here, I use a punch to pop out the rivet head, then use the punch again to push the rivet shaft out. I used this method for the remaining rivets, and it worked very well for me.


I then concentrated on the back. These four rivets are attacked to some support brackets.


I used the same method above for removing them. The only thing I did different was use a chisel to pop off the head first, then a punch to remove the shaft.


Next were some screws holding the rest of the deck from and that black drain, center and above.


After removing the screws and drain I FINALLY for the back deck off and out of the boat.


Here is the deck frame out of the boat. Gonna be a heck of a lot easier to clean it now.

 

[Shoedawg]

Finally have access to the transom.


It looks to be in OK shape from the top. Opinions on this??


So I am in a dilemma right now. I don't think I can access the entire transom without having to remove rivets on the outside corner's of the boat. If I do that, it seems I need to remove rivets that hold the rail together, and they are in good shape. All in all, it looks like its going to be a pain to do.


I will look at it further in the next few days, and see if its worth the effort and work. From the pictures, do you think the transom is OK??? Let me know. I really don't want to add more work, just to find that its in decent shape.

 

[amk]

That board looks to be in decent shape I don't think you need to pull it.

 

[sonny.barile]

It looks like you have some holes in the inside face of the transom that you can probe with a little screw driver or pick. See if the material is dry and intact.....

 

[Johnny]

Dang Dawg, that right there is some Gosh Awful amount of WORK !!!
well, not work, but a labor of LOVE !!!

AWESOME tutorial !!! AWESOME workmanship !!!

I am making a note of your thread - so when somebody asks,
" how can I fix up my boat " - - - LOL then they will see how much WORK it is.

Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to document the project.

 

[Shoedawg]

Thanks for all the reply's guys. I took another look at the transom, and it appears to be in really good shape. I see, nor could I feel/find, no signs of rot. That is GOOD NEWS for me!! :LOL2: I can scratch my plans of removing the back to gain access to it. One less thing to worry about. I am going to seal the areas that I can reach though, using maybe the left over Thompson's Water Seal I have on hand.

So I got my paint in the mail yesterday. I purchased 2 gallons through Parker's website. They charge $35.99 per gallon, plus shipping and handling. Cabela's sells it for $60.00 a gallon!!! No thank you. Save your self some cash and get it through Parkers.

Parkers Duck Boat Paint (Hunters Green)


Today, I decided to remove the foam that was in front of the boat. I was back and forth on this, and just went to it. I was thinking it was in the way for good water drainage, and catching all the crap I could run into, down the road.


I used my Keyhole Saw to cut through the foam, making full length cuts, then cut across the opposite direction. Essentially I was making cubes in the foam. Cutting cubes lessens the mess, and makes it easier to pull out the crap.


Use a flat pry bar to help you pop the foam out. You can see how the cuts help make it easier.


Making progress.


Glad I made the right decision to get rid of this crap. All this sand/dirt was UNDER the foam. I also found a rusty screw and some random junk.


Here I am using a large putty knife to remove the foam that is sticking to the tin. I had various putty knife sizes on hand to help me out.


Almost there.....


Here are the results. I shop'd vac'd the dirt and crude out, then pressure washed the area, and flushed out as much dirt and crude as I could. Turned out pretty good, I think.




Plan is to get rid of some more of the dirt inside the boat, then get her cleaned up inside and start removing the leaky rivets. It's getting closer and closer to painting this thing.

 

[Shoedawg]

Got a few things done over the last few days. Started cleaning up the back deck that I removed and got the trailer put back together. Here we go!

Here is the back deck. It needed some minor cleaning and had some old carpet still attached to it.


The sides had some left over foam in the lips and on the cavity walls. I used a 3M stripper pad to remove the film from the foam on the sides. A putty knife was used to remove the foam from the lips.


The other side.


The top ready to be cleaned.


All cleaned up and ready. Just have some very minor areas to clean up and this puppy will be ready for paint.


I also received my fill in foam from US Composites. It is a 2 part liquid, Expanding Urethane Foam. I choose the 2lb Density (16lb kit) with a total of 16 Cubic Feet, to fill in my cavities. Total cost was $134. Shipping was $$EXPENSIVE$$. I think it ran me about $50+.


While I was at it, I removed the drain plug and live-well intake. They were in Okay shape, but needed to come off anyways before I painted.

The drain needs to be resealed and replaced. The live-well intake was alright.


Both gone. Was a PITA to remove the intake.

 

[Shoedawg]

Now on to the trailer!! :mrgreen:

First I had to prime and paint all the brackets (I forgot about them :roll: ). Had to soak them in some rust eater and it cleaned them up very nicely. I was going to paint some white and others black but ran out of black. So I just used up the rest of my white I had left. To make it easy to prime/paint I took a 2x6 and drilled some holes to hold the brackets. It also protected the threads from getting paint on them. Had to wait a day for them dry.


This was today's work. Getting this trailer put together. Got all my parts gathered and ready to rock this out.


Steps, axel and springs mounted.





Wheel wells added.


The winch housing with a new winch.


Now add the new jack wheel and put the back bunk guides on, plus the tires and DONE!!!


The following pics are some trailer porn....

 

[Shoedawg]

Some more.....






Its not completely finished yet. Still need to add the bunks and hook up some lights, but at least its together. Glad I left the paint to bake and dry in the back of my topper for about 3 weeks. Might do the bunks this week, the lighting will come later. I am pretty happy with the results and the way it turned out. It was A LOT of work, but well worth it. Hope everyone is enjoying my build. I know I am. :LOL2:

 

[Shoedawg]

WOW its been almost a month and a half since my last post....but I assure ya' I have NOT been lackadaisical :LOL2: Been tooo busy to make any updates on the thread, but I found sometime this evening to post. I have a major update to announce as well. Just keep reading the thread and you will found out. Here's what I have been up too.

I needed to clean the inside of the boat and prep it for paint. There was some left over paint from the original owner and some light rust build up.


You can see the light build up. I also plan on removing those aluminum brackets that are on the sides.


I spent most of the day cleaning the inside. It was a PIA to get between those drain channels with a green 3M pad and some elbow grease. I used some paint stripper to remove the old paint and some rust dissolver to remove the light rust. After that I did a rinse, and this was the results.


Next up was removing the brackets on the sides.


Here is what I found after removing all the sides. Some crude and dirt.


FINALLY ALL CLEAN!!!! :roll:


After the inside was cleaned up, I flipped the boat over and began to work on removing the leaky rivets on the bottom. I marked them with a sharpie during my water leak test.


Using the method I have shared before (its in the thread somewhere :wink: ), I removed about 20 rivets.


I purchased an assortment of different sizes and lengths of rivets from Jay-Cee Sales & Rivet, Inc. I went with all aluminum closed end blind rivets (pop rivets) and solid rivets with a brazier head. I wanted to have different sizes on hand, just in case a hole was too small or big. The solid rivets are going on the bottom to replace the leaky rivets and be used in some structural support for later on. The pop rivets will be used as well, down the road during the build. I would highly recommend Jay-Cee's. I got 700 rivets for about $60. Much cheaper than buying them at a Big Box store. Shipping was fast and ran me about $16. I know I wont use them all, but I have them now for future repairs or mistakes I make.

 

[Shoedawg]

I know solid rivets do a great job and keep leaks out, if done properly, but I just wanted some peace of mind, and coated the shafts with some 3M 5200 before I set the rivet in.


From there, I grabbed my bucking bar and some ear protection and had the wife hammer the rivet head with a engineers hammer. It was LOUD. Wear ear-pro. Here is the bucking bar I had. You can get a kit with different sizes and angles from Northern Tool. Well worth it.


Here are some of the brand new rivets installed. After we installed all the new rivets, I let the 5200 cure for a few days and then ran a water leak test. NO LEAKS!!!!! :LOL2:


I had some small leaks on the backside of the boat that needed to be addressed. They were just pin size holes, but I wanted them patched. I purchased some JB-Weld Water Weld and YES it works with aluminum. Just take a snip out of the tube, rub the putty between your fingers until you get a uniform color and apply to your patch work. It cures in about an hour and can be sanded and painted.


If you look closely, you can see some small white patches. I had about 7 holes that I patched.


Here is an example of what the stuff looks like after its been cured and sanded.


I spent some time cleaning up the rest of my brackets, back deck, panels and lids.


After cleaning them up, I needed a way to mark the brackets and couldn't use a sharpie since they were going to get painted. To solve that problem, I used my electric engraver and gave each bracket a part name. That way I know where they go back to. If you look close towards the bottom of the pic you can see the engraving. The brackets are only going to get a light coat of paint, so I know that I will have to pay attention not to cover up the engraving with too much paint.


Now it was time to paint the inside of the boat. This was the BIG announcement I spoke of earlier. I cant believe I am at this stage already. Didn't think I was going to get here, but I'm here!!! :LOL2: :LOL2: :LOL2:

The inside was first given a nice wash down with simple green, then dawn dish soap and a good rinse, then air dried. I then applied my first coat of primer.

 

[Shoedawg]

Here is the primer I used. Rustoleum's Self Etching Primer. I think I went through about 9 cans of this stuff. I had a LOT of surface area to cover, since my boat is a 17 footer. I think I did too many light coats. All you really need is a light fog, but its ok. I choose not to sand the primer as well, since most of the bottom wont be seen anyways.




After drying, it was on to painting the inside of this thing. I choose to do the inside first for a few reasons.

1. It was the logical first choice. The boat was going to be flipped anyway for the outside paint job, and I don't have my bunks for my trailer quite done yet.

2. I bought a Wagner HPLV paint sprayer. The model is a Flexio 690. I have never used one before and thought practicing with it first on the inside would help me understand how to properly use it and fine tune the gun for the Parkers paint I am using. If I made a mistake, had runs, etc, no BIG deal. The paint job for the inside is just to protect the aluminum.

Here are some pics of the Wagner in action!!




I had to have a bandana on to keep my forehead sweat from dripping into the boat... :roll: See how high the paint gun is from the surface of the boat??? I was trying to find the right distance for a good application. The best distance I found was about 8". Also keeping a steady speed of moving the paint gun is key. If you go to slow you get to much build up and runs. To fast, and you don't get a even application. The inside was a beast to paint. It was difficult to get into the channels and paint the inside sides. Thing is, spraying is a lot faster and smoother than brushing. And easier IMHO. :mrgreen: I did make some mistakes, hence why I wanted to do the inside first.


Here she is after a couple of very light coats. The paint is still wet, and does look like I missed some spots, but I assure you I didn't.


Another view


Close up of the front of the bow.


I let the paint cure for a few days and flipped the boat over. It was now time to tackle the outside. :twisted:

 

[Shoedawg]

First things first. Since the boat had been flipped over a few times and collected all kinds of dirt, dust and other crap, I wanted to do a quick sanding. Plus I had some minor clean ups to do. Back to the trusty Dewalt drill and 3M's Stripper pads.


After sanding, I rinsed the boat down then gave it a good scrubbing with some warm water and Dawn dish soap and another rinse. After drying, I also gave it a wipe down using Acetone and a cloth. Acetone does a great job of picking up any fine dust that may be left and also removes any oil/grease residue. Good prep work makes for a great paint job, its the KEY.






From there I moved on to using Klean Strips's Prep & Etch. Basically this stuff chemically etches the aluminum so the primer/paint can adhere to it. It also removes rust, if there is any. I put one part of etch and 3 parts water into a clean Simple Green spray bottle and sprayed the stuff all over outside of the boat. From there, you let it sit for about 15 minutes then rinse well with water, then dry. If you use this stuff it may leave a fine white powder. Just wipe it off with a clean rag and you are good to go. Another note. According to the directions of Klean Strip, you need to prime/paint within 48 hours of etching. Keep this in mind if you use this stuff.


Next was the primer. Here is just the start. Again I am using Rustoleums Self Etching Primer. NOW. You may be thinking why did I etch chemically then use the self etching primer.....well, because I had bought the stuff a few months ago back and didn't think about the Self Etching Primer. Plus I figured it would hurt.


After a few light coats of primer, here is the boat all done up. I think I used about 9 cans.

 

[Shoedawg]

After the primer had sat and dried for a few hours I went over the outside and LIGHTLY sanded off some of the nubs that the spray can produced. I used 1000 grit paper and a block to help out.


See the nubs from the primer. I wanted to knock that down a bit so it wouldn't show up in the paint job. I learned this when I was doing the inside of my boat (see why I did the inside first?), because the nubs where showing through the paint from the inside paint job.


After sanding the primer down, I used my air blower to remove the sanding dust. This thing is awesome and I use it all the time for cleaning out my computer to cleaning out my table saw. Don't use an oiled air compressor that doesn't have a air filter on it to blow your off your sanding/paint jobs. If you do, you run the risk of shooting the compressors oil all over your project.


See the amount of sanding dust?? If you don't clean your piece, that crap will interfere into your paint job and make it look like crap. Remember PREP, PREP, PREP!!!!


After blowing the dust, I used my shop vac with a brush attachment. Using an attachment with a brush helps pick up the fine partials. Since I am a wood worker, I have a Dusty Deputy that goes with my shop vac, with a HEPA filter. Essentially I have a two-stage vacuum system. Basically the Dust Deputy creates a vortex, and dropping the fine dust particles into a sealed bucket. This method prevents these fine particles from clogging up your main vacuum's filter and keeping the sucking power at its max. If you do a lot of woodworking and sanding, like me, it is defiantly worth the investment.


After that, I used a tack cloth to pick up any remainder dust. As you can see there is some dust still left. A lot of it came from the gouges I have on the bottom of the boat. I wiped until very little was picked up from my cloth. I know, I am getting anal about this PREP work, but sue me!!! :roll: :mrgreen:


Here she is all sanded and cleaned up of dust. Now time to shoot the first coat of paint on it.

 

[Shoedawg]

So the following are the steps that I took to do my paint job.

First thing to do is stir that paint good. I am using Parkers Duck Boat Paint. It is an oil base paint and is very thin. You can add some paint thinner or turpentine to thin it out some, but this stuff is thin enough as it is. Parkers recommends 15% to thin, but you can get away with doing 5% to thin.

Note on my Wagner sprayer:
It comes with a little test funnel and a counting chart to help you determine if you need to thin or not. You dip the funnel into your paint and count how long it takes for the paint to empty out. After you got your count number, there is a reference sheet that tells you if you need to thin or not, depending on how many seconds it takes for the funnel to empty. It only took about 20 seconds for the paint to flow out for me, thus keeping me in the parameters to shoot the paint without having to thin it. Read the directions and practice and there should be no issues.

I know some people have had a terrible experience with Wagner sprayers, but if you follow the directions and read the thinning guidelines carefully, then there should be no issue. Also once you have finished laying out a coat, CLEAN THAT SPRAYER RIGHT AWAY!!! and use the recommended clean up guidelines for the paint you are using on your sprayer. If you don't clean right away, you risk the chance of gunking it up and it not working correctly. Plus its easier to clean while the paint is still fresh. I have done this many times and the sprayer is working like it should. End rant.

Okay back to it. Stir that paint and WELL!


After stirring, I use a ladle (like for gravy and soups) and pour my paint into a cup with a paint strainer. Plus it makes it easier and cleaner to pour the paint. All paints come with some impurities and a strainer will catch the crap, thus preventing clogging in your spray gun and going into your paint job.


After that, I dump my strained paint into the spray cup and apply the first coat. Here is the first coat.


After letting it dry for the day and baking in the sun, I light hand sanded the coat down with 220 grit and did all the steps I used for cleaning up the primer dust. Here she is after being sanded and cleaned.


Next I applied the second coat. Again after drying over night, and sanding/cleaning.


The next two pics are my third coat. The paint is still wet.




And that's where I am at for now. Plan on doing maybe two more light coats and then I am done. I will let the boat cure for about a week before I put it back on the trailer. Don't wont the bunks to mare the paint job in any way. Still have to paint the rest of the parts, but that's the easy lane. Sorry for the time lapse in the posts. Have a goodie!!

 

[Shoedawg]

Just a quick update. I pulled the boat out of the garage during my lunch break to see how it looks after drying over night. I am liking the results so far. Here she is all dried.




Close up of the bottom and rivets.


Gonna do one more light sanding job and another coat if I have time this evening.