AQUA HUIE - 1982 Fiberform 20' Cuddy Cabin Restoration

Questions about boat repairs with our resins and fiberglass: hull patches, transoms and stringers, foam, rot etc.
Cowbro
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Re: AQUA HUIE - 1982 Fiberform 20' Cuddy Cabin Restoration

Post by Cowbro »

Teaser update. I got most of the "demo" complete. motor, sterndrive and all transom rigging is removed. Foam and rotten stringers are out. Transom has been templated and new layers of 3/4" AB marine Fir is cut and ready to go. This weekend i'm hoping to glue in the new plywood on Saturday and then tab it in on Sunday. I'll end up with 3 layers of 3/4" plywood on the transom. I found evidence of the original fiberglass layer over the original transom, and I am pretty confident that the factory installation was just 1 layer over the whole thing, with a little extra reinforcement around the sterndrive. This should be much sturdier, and if I ever decide to hang a bracket and outboard on the back it should be a good foundation for that.

9684

Phil

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Re: AQUA HUIE - 1982 Fiberform 20' Cuddy Cabin Restoration

Post by Jeff »

Nice start Cowbro!!! Jeff

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Re: AQUA HUIE - 1982 Fiberform 20' Cuddy Cabin Restoration

Post by TomW1 »

Good start Cowbro. May I recommend that you coat each piece of plywood before attaching them together. That fir marine ply will suck up the epoxy and if not precoated give a poor bond between each layer of plywood.

Tom
Restored Mirror Dinghy, Bought OD18 built by CL, Westlawn School of Yacht Design courses. LT US Navy 1970-1978

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Re: AQUA HUIE - 1982 Fiberform 20' Cuddy Cabin Restoration

Post by Cowbro »

TomW1 wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 6:20 pm Good start Cowbro. May I recommend that you coat each piece of plywood before attaching them together. That fir marine ply will suck up the epoxy and if not precoated give a poor bond between each layer of plywood.

Tom
Totally. The fir plywood looks thirsty just sitting there. lol. My plan is to get 1 or 2 coats of neat epoxy on it first thing tomorrow morning, then once that starts to gel up, i'll spread thickened epoxy on it and clamp it together on the transom, then follow that with the same procedure for the next layer. I am horrible at remembering to take pictures, but i have a helper coming over, so i'm hoping i can task him with helping me document the work.

Phil

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Re: AQUA HUIE - 1982 Fiberform 20' Cuddy Cabin Restoration

Post by fallguy1000 »

TomW1 wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 6:20 pm Good start Cowbro. May I recommend that you coat each piece of plywood before attaching them together. That fir marine ply will suck up the epoxy and if not precoated give a poor bond between each layer of plywood.

Tom
It is actually really required..good advice Tom.
My boat build is here -------->

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=62495

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Re: AQUA HUIE - 1982 Fiberform 20' Cuddy Cabin Restoration

Post by Fuzz »

That plywood for the transom is an amazing, precise, fit! Impressive work.

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Re: AQUA HUIE - 1982 Fiberform 20' Cuddy Cabin Restoration

Post by Cowbro »

Fuzz wrote: Fri Oct 14, 2022 2:16 pm That plywood for the transom is an amazing, precise, fit! Impressive work.
Thanks. It turned out about as good as I had hoped. im hoping that the "Squeeze out" from between the ply will be enough to fill the gaps around the perimeter. I forgot to take a picture of the template before i cut the plywood, so i threw the template back in last night to show what it looked like. All 1/4" underlayment plywood and hot glue.

9685

Something else i wanted to throw out there. I picked a few new tools for the project. 1 of which i haven't seen mentioned here. The Makita 1-3/16" x21" belt sander is amazing. It burns through fiberglass like a grinder, but shoots all the waste out in one direction for easy clean up, it is also perfect for sanding fillets and getting into small corners.

https://www.amazon.com/Makita-9031-8-In ... 0947&psc=1

The other one is the DeWalt 5" Rotary Sander. The dust collection on it is 1000x's better than any grinder and it is nearly as powerful, with variable speed it is much more controllable than a 4.5" angle grinder when doing heavy demo.

https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DWE6401DS ... 9649&psc=1

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Re: AQUA HUIE - 1982 Fiberform 20' Cuddy Cabin Restoration

Post by TomW1 »

I agree with you on the Dewalt and depending on the grade of sandpaper you use it can vary from a destroyer to a finisher sander. Tom
Restored Mirror Dinghy, Bought OD18 built by CL, Westlawn School of Yacht Design courses. LT US Navy 1970-1978

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Re: AQUA HUIE - 1982 Fiberform 20' Cuddy Cabin Restoration

Post by OrangeQuest »

I have a 3/4" X 18" belt sander and YES, it does the best job of cleaning up fillets. For the hard-to-reach areas, I use a 6" long mandrel with little cone sanding drums. Both tools need a very delicate touch, or you remove to much.
"that it isn't just an ordinary sort of boat. Sometimes it's a Boat, and sometimes it's more of an Accident. It all depends." "Depends on what?" "On whether I'm on the top of it or underneath it."
A. A. Milne

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Re: AQUA HUIE - 1982 Fiberform 20' Cuddy Cabin Restoration

Post by Fuzz »

I too have one of those Makita belt sanders and find it just about right for corners and fillets. A few years back I bought myself a Fesstool vac and a couple sanders for X-mas. After I got over the wallet pain I have loved them. But the grinders are much better when you have heavy work to do and don't mind the mess they make.

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