Pourable Transom Repair the longer story....

March 5, 2007
Bill Brenemen

High Springs Florida 32655

Pourable Transom Repair

First of all, let me say that I am not any kind of boat mechanic, restorer, refurbisher, or whatever. I am a pretty good mech on old JohnRude's but that is about it, - and an all around 'Handyguy'. The Seacast material is well known in MFG circles, as the way to replace these dual skin radius transoms. I had used some leftover Seacast for a project, and was not confident that it was something that I could do (especially by myself). When I stumbled across the Nida-Core and talked to those people a few times, I realized this was the product for my boat and my skill level. I am not familiar with other boats and construction, so you will have to make your own decision as to this working for you. Up front you need to know that you are going to be pouring a liquid with the consistency of 50W oil in the void you are creating. If it has a place to run out, - it will. On the other hand, after the prep work, the job took less than an hour to complete.

I recommend that you go to the SeaCast site especially the forums section, and the Nida-Core site. Jim Coffman has a 'how-to' article on the MFG Boats pages that depicts the process perfectly. Lay the transom out on grid paper or mark it out on the transom itself with a dry erase marker. I like the paper as it gives me something to 'noodle' on. I came up with a total of 1640 cubic inches. the Nida-Core pours 1255 per five gallon bucket, so ordered two buckets figuring on having 2 1/2 gallons remaining unmixed. This was $295.00 including shipping. I had to order the MEKP from another source for $26.00 total, but only used half of it. I now have 10 ounces of high explosive in my shop to dispose of{Transom opened to core} All of my pics of the core removal are archived on the MFG site. I robbed this one from Jim's article, (I hope he doesn't mind). I removed the aluminum extrusion from the top and used a skill saw to make a plunge cut on the inside of the inner and outer skins and just moved it back and forth until I had the fiberglass cap cut off the top.



Then it was a matter of drilling, chipping and vacuuming to get all the wood core removed. I wanted to preserve my thru-hull fittings so this made it a little more difficult for me. If you do not have these types of fittings, or know how to replace them, then you could just get 'down and dirty' with a chain saw and remove the core in hours. I found that by drilling the center section of laminate, I could then pry other pieces out in larger sections.







The upper corner blocks on the MFG just 'sit' on the top of the transom core. I think they are just there to attach the deck to at the rear. I replaced these with marine plywood, and cut them four inches longer so that they would be well down into the resin. This allowed me to pour without building 'dams' or removing the deck.









Here we have the core completely cleaned out, and all holes in the inner and outer skin patched from the inside.











I glued a few spaces in place to keep my transom thickness so that my extrusion would fit back properly.











The inner skin felt kind of thin, so I tensioned with a 'Deadman' to keep it form bowing.











I sat the trailer on stands (I could envision one of my "maypop" tires going flat) and leveled it from side to side and as much as possible from front to back. This created a situation that I did not think of, which I will go into later..











I draped the whole work area and put down drop cloths, got out the jeans, long sleeved shirt, gloves and mask and goggles. I usually take material data sheets and warnings with a grain of salt, but this stuff sounded pretty scary, as far as fumes and skin contact.









This is the unstirred, unmixed product, I wanted to show the consistency here. I stirred both buckets with the clean mixer blade and then poured 21/2 gallons into a separate bucket to mix. I have to say this product mixed and stirred easier than latex house paint. I poured the first two mixes, poured off 1/2 of the second bucket , mixed, believing I would have a gallon or so left.











-- WRONG! I was an inch short of the transom top! I did not want to try to recalculate mix ratio's at this point, so I went ahead and mixed up the remaining 21/2 gallons. I poured to the top, filled up some molds I had laid out for 'experimenting', and placed the remaining product in a cooler with ice packs to 'hold'. This was per Gary's suggestion.

This is the poured product. It gelled up within minutes and generated so much heat across the transom, I had to leave it until the next day. It was at this stage that I realized what had happened to the extra product. My calculations weren't off, I forgot {did not think about it) that some material was going to run between the hull and floor between the stringers. I could feel the heat about six inches forward on the bottom, but only about one inch on the sides. I just totally lucked out here. I got a better job than I had planned by accident. I guess one thing you could do in prep, is to pour water into the void a gallon at a time, to see what happens. Then just wet vac back out and let dry. My cooler did not work at all, I think this material hardened up just as fast as the rest. (Maybe not enough ice)

The next day it took a couple of hours to replace the extrusion, scrub the transom down with comet, and apply a few coats of Poly-Glow. I would like to paint the sides and transom one day, but first I want to get it all back together and go ride! This product allowed me to do a job that would have been impossible (for me) using any other method. You could honestly do this in a weekend, if you had every thing in place and an action plan. Guestimated weight of new transom core 57 pounds.

1964 Brochures

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Photo Gallery

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Gel Coat Restoration

paragonfl2@aol.com

Restoring a vintage fiberglass boat is an ongoing, time consuming, and never ending
project. If you want to truly maintain the character and charm of that old boat, then
consider refurbishing the original gel coat rather than repainting. It is a tedious and
labor intensive process but has great rewards!

The following is a well known and proven method for restoring the gel coat on your
old boat. It came to me via Mark Mullen on the MFG Boats web site.

The first thing is to get a good idea of the true condition of the gel coat. You will need
to do this regardless of your decision to restore, re-gel or paint.

Completely remove all hardware, windshield, deck cleats, etc.
Start by throughly cleaning the surface with liberal amounts of Comet, Barkeepers Friend,
or any other kind of cleanser. You will need several good green 'scrubby' pads.
Keep the surface wet and scour the finish with the green pad. It helps to have some tooth
brushes and fingernail brushes handy for getting in to all the nooks and crevices.

After several scrub downs and washing with dish washing soap, you will be left with a dull
matte (but clean) surface. This procedure will get rid of the oxidation, grime and tree sap.

If you have a few chips and stress cracks, you need not be too concerned. Now pick out the worst spot and rub in a few coats of paste wax. If you come up with a moderate shine you are good to continue. This is the time for your evaluation. If you feel that a much better shine (10 times better) on that old gel coat will be all you desire, then go ahead with the following steps.
If you are not seeing a good shine, you can make the decision to paint or redo the gel coat as you choose.

You will need a two speed polisher and a good bowl type lambswool bonnet. You can save money
on an inexpensive polisher, but be sure and buy a high quality bonnet.

Again you will want to keep the surface wet, so do this outside or drape your work area
to protect against drips and sling off. This is a very messy procedure, but you waste energy
in trying to keep it 'neat'.

Buff the entire boat twice with red polishing compound. I like Turtle products for this, but
any brand will do. You will see a cleaner surface with little or no shine.

Now buff out twice with the white compound. You need your polisher on low speed for
both the red and white compounds. This should leave a very smooth and clean surface,
again with little shine. Just consistent color throughout. Be sure and remove all the compound as it will degrade the wax if left on. Use the brushes to get into crevices and any spider cracks you may have.

Wash the bonnet out after each application and be sure and keep the material wet at all times.

Now, for the fun part! I prefer pure carnuba waxes, but this is a matter of personal preference. The McGuire's line of products go on and come off easily and leave a clean, sparkly shine in my opinion. Buff in two coats of wax at low speed being sure to cover all sections
thoroughly. Buff this out until you have a very uniform and moderately shiny surface.
Next, move that polisher up to high speed and burnish two or three coats in. Clean well
between each application of wax. You can buff in all the coats you desire and at this point
it will become cleaner and shiner with every application.

The final product will be a clean crisp gel coat that is easy to maintain and will make your
boat stand out in any crowd.

Keep some spray type wax on hand for weekly cleaning and buff in more wax at least
twice a year. The old gel will absorb this wax and become richer and sharper with each
application.

Enjoy!

Common Sense Rules of Boat Maintenance

Boat Maintenance

For every complex problem there is a simple answer.
The simple answer is wrong.

Every job will cost three times as much and take twice as long as your first estimate -
if you are lucky.

Axioms of Boating:

If it ain't broke only a sailor will fix it.
Murphy was a sailor.

In the long run, all solutions are temporary. -
Go ahead, use duct tape.

The binary theorem of maintenance:
If it doesn't move and it should, spray it with WD40.
If it does move and it shouldn't, wrap it with duct tape.

If all else fails lower your standards.

Cruising is maintaining your boat away from your home port.

If you didn't swallow it, don’t put it in the heads.

Clean (nautical): An imaginary unstable transient state of infinitely short duration
between dirt and dirt.

If anything is dropped on the pontoon, only the most expensive or irreplaceable
items will fall into the water.

Outboard Law:

The probability of an outboard motor starting is inversely proportional to:
Distance to shore x's number of people watching.

The probability of a motor failing increases as a square law as you approach the half way point on the trip. In a strong tide the law is exponential.

Polish Polar Bear Club

or, how hard is this guys head?
This is not exactly boat related, but it sure needs preserving for posterity!
The woman cackling in the background?
I would have clocked her.


Polish_Polar_Bear_Club.wmv

What's an old (vintage) boat worth?

So, What’s it Worth?

We see this question popping up so often, that it got me to thinking what would my ‘64 MFG Westfield be worth? Knowing that ‘Fair Market Value’ is determined when the seller doesn’t have to sell and the buyer doesn’t have to buy, what’s it worth?
I sniped this boat on eBay for $370.02 in usable but rough condition. “Hey Honey! I just won a boat on eBay! Uh, it’s in Elgin Illinois”
So, we make plans for a Memorial Day trip to go rescue ‘my boat’.
Installed a light weight receiver (over protest) on the wife’s prized old Maxima. Loaded up two tires and rims, brought my own trailer wiring harness to clamp onto the trailer, tools, grease and a new set of buddy bearings.
Had a great trip straight up through the heart of the country, dodging parades and celebrations along the way. Five nights of Comfort Inns/Clarion’s and dinner along the way. Phyllis said she didn’t mind the trip, but I wasn’t getting off ‘cheap’. An uneventful trip home, stopped for diner with old friends in Alabama and rolled back into Gainesville, Florida on the 6th day.
I started stripping her down. The weathered, ugly seats were the first to go, along with 500 pounds of Astro-turf. I cleaned up the ‘59 Golden Anniversary 35 horse ‘Rude and sold it for $275.00. Stored the whole thing for a year in my garage, just tinkering with things, as we were in the process of selling the house, building and moving.
Finally got back to working on her one winter after a year of so of shopping for parts and needed items and building up an inventory of things I would need. Removed all deck hardware and accessories and buffed her out. Purchased a new polisher, bowl bonnets, white and red compound, cleaner wax, paste wax, 4 cans of comet, and wore myself out of elbow grease. Dismantled all the lights and horns, cleaned, steel wooled, polished, painted cleats and rope guides. Polished out the windshield and did many other little things during the winter.
The hull had some yellowing and dock rot, which I scrubbed, bleached, sanded and applied Poli-Glow to.
I spent hours on eBay looking for a new power source and finally found my ‘68 85 hp Evinrude at a Dealer in New Jersey. $424.00 including shipping. Spent many more hours searching for the three starters ($160.00) I purchased to build one. Countless hours looking for the after market CD pack ($99.00) and many more hours building my own wiring harness out of an old Merc cable. Several bags of stainless screws and fasteners. It was along about this time that I discovered that the transom needed replacing before I hung the bigger motor. Another winter went by while I dug out the old transom from the top, preserving the skins and thru-hull fittings. New canvas cover to wrap it up until I figured out how to replace the transom. I finally discovered Nida-Core. $260.00 for materials.
I Scraped and wire brushed the TeeNee, and spent about $150.00 on paint, supplies and another bag of bolts to replace the rollers and trailer parts I had removed for painting. Installed a new tongue jack, and wired the trailer with an old Merc tilt/trim cable. I had TeeNee decals made for the trailer. Forty one bucks for a socket to fit my impact wrench so that I could get the flywheel off the motor, and do a tune-up. About a $150.00 for an engine hoist to mount the motor on the boat. Several more days of wiring fun to build my boat harness and get everything situated the way I wanted it.
Along the way, repaired and painted the steering wheel, cleaned and painted the Evinrude Simplex controls and countless other little projects. I have probably went through 6 bottles of spray wax, to help preserve all the work I did in buffing her out.
Now I still need carpet, seats, steering cable and probably several other incidentals. Maybe another $700.00.
I will also want to paint the motor if it runs out well.
Thanks to Peter (in Denver) I have my NOS baby moons, and huge thanks to Scott (Chinewalker), Bruce Hammet and others for coming up with needed parts for me. Thanks to everyone on the Fiberglassics forum and the old MFG site for the info and motivation.
So, that brings us back to “What’s she Worth” after 5 years of tinkering, rainy day work and countless delays for one reason or another?
The fact is, no one would pay what the boat is worth to me, or what I have invested in it.
So, does that make it priceless or worthless?
Inquiring minds would like to know.
Bill

“What is a ‘59 Chevy El Camino worth?”
“Would that me this car or that car?”

POURABLE TRANSOM REPAIR

1964 MFG
Pourable Transom Repair
paragonfl2@aol.com

I had purchased this boat several years ago and spent quite a bit of
time polishing and buffing before I realized I would have to replace
the transom. It seemed solid at first, but anticipating installing a
larger motor, I wanted to be certain of it's soundness. I removed the
aluminum cap or extrusion and drilled some test holes into the core.
The bit brought up water and mush!

I knew I did not have the skill to replace the wooden core inside this curved transom, so I began
looking at alternate methods. I found a product called Seacast and read several articles and
talked to people who had used it. I even obtained some left over material from a friend and
did a simple repair on a small john boat transom. I was not happy with the results and decided
not to pursue this avenue for my boat.

While searching the internet one day, I found a product called Nida-Core and after talking to
the company and reading several 'success articles', I realized this could work for me and was
a perfect medium for the dual core radiused transoms on MFG boats.

The Seacast requires you to mix large amount of cut matting and fiberglass chips and 'stuff' it
into the transom void you have created. The Nida-Core is composed of resin and microscopic
ceramic beads. Just add hardener and pour it in as you would a heavy oil. It is self leveling, leaves no air pockets and sits up like concrete. It generates a great deal of heat during the curing
to insure a good bond to the skins.

Now, for the 'down and dirty' part of the project. You have to get all of the old core our and clean
the interior of the skins down to the fibeglass. I used a 3/8" drill bit chucked into an extension that allowed me to drill down to the bottom. I found that by drilling out the center of the core, I was able to pull out large pieces of the plywood. It just takes a lot of patience, but it works.
I know some people just use a chain saw, but I wanted to preserve my thru-hull fittings (drains)
so I took more time with it. Drill, vacuum with a shop vac attached to 1.5" hose (I used my pool hose for this) and pull out the larger pieces where possible. Once it is all cleaned out, I wrapped sandpaper around a 1x2 and scoured the insides as best as I could. I then pressure washed and
let it sit out in the sun for several days with fans on it.



On MFG's the upper corner of the transom has
'floating blocks' that just sit on top of the core.
This is just something to screw the deck to and keep the void filled out. I replaced these with
marine plywood and cut them longer so that they
come down below the ski tow eyes. I drilled the inner and bottom edges so that the Nida would flow into and "peg" these pieces.








I wanted to make sure the transom was as level and verticle as possible, so I put the trailer tongue on the ground and jacked it up as high as possible in the rear. This allowed me to level and have a solid work platform and get the transom as verticle (front to back) as possible.

I used metal duck tape to cover my motor bolt holes from the outside and plugged them from the inside with Kitty Hair and resin soaked cloth.

I draped the inner and outer skins with plastic, cleaned up the work area and prepared to pour the material. I used a clean plastic bucket and mixed 2.5 gallons at a time. this was just to make
it easier on me as I was working alone.

Everthing went perfectly! The Nida flowed into the aft area between the floor and hull and solidly filled this area. Pouring it to the top was a snap and the whole process mixing, pouring and all took less than 30 minutes. As the material began curing, it generated so much heat that I had to leave the shop. I could feel it about 2 inches forward on the sides and maybe six inches on the bottom. this means that the Nida flowed into this below floor space and gave me a much better anchor to the rest of the hull than the original transom.

The next day I cleaned everything up, used a little Kitty Hair to fill in the quarter inch or so of void I had on the front edge of the transom. (You would have to get the transom perfectly verticle to avoid this) and screwed the extrusion back on. A little scrubbing and wax, and you cannot tell the boat has been worked on. this was a must for me, as I am not a cosmetics kind of guy. Here is the end result.

You can read a more detailed account at: www.fiberglassics.com/howto/nida