First boat sr4 project

[Phil M]

When you said or had a stainless keel strip i assumed about a 1inch strip of bar on the very point of the keel. That thing is erm, unique!

Should be worn a few quid work the scrap dealer though.

Phil M

[daniel2003]

Yep its a big strip but it would be a shame to scrap it as there must of been so much effort gone into building it. The keel isnt as bad as I thought except from the thousand holes in the bottom off the screws

[Nos4r2]

I'd almost be tempted to put it back on with new screws and Sikaflex291i if you're going to regularly beach the boat. It'd be easier than filling all those holes.

It'll FLY with a Yam 50
You really don't need the aggro of the 70 that was on there, and I'm surprised the transom was intact if it's as rotten as you say and had a 70 on it.

[daniel2003]

We have already sold the Mercury which was quite sweet but too much for the boat & say the transom is quite squishy & delaminated & the plan is to replace the floor & transom & put a layer of glass along the entire keel to beef it up & deal with the holes from inside then glass as required on the outside then re gelcoat the bottom of the hull between the chines down to the keel. I am unsure about filling the flloding hull or not.

[matt h]

Looking a good project Dan. Nice one. The yam 50 comes in a 96 kgs i think so will sit a little low. Ive mostly blocked the hull up on my srs and balanced out with forward fuel tanks.if you plan to pop in on a beach the extra weight wont do you any favours and you will have to lose most of the 150kgs of ballast before it planes.
Really depends what u wanna do with it?

[daniel2003]

Im not sure what would be best as I want it for general playing about but my dad and sister do diving so sitting arround waiting would be better with it flooding. We do watersports so blocked would be better for that. As this is my first boat I might be looking to upgrade in a couple of years so I really need it to appeal for resale

[palsteg]

Originally Posted by daniel2003

& say the transom is quite squishy & delaminated & the plan is to replace the floor & transom & put a layer of glass along the entire keel to beef it up & deal with the holes from inside then glass as required on the outside then re gelcoat the bottom of the hull between the chines down to the keel. I am unsure about filling the flloding hull or not.

Hi Dan,
if your plan is to replace the transom & floor, it would be important to leave the outside of the transom, and rebuild the transom from the
outside to the inside. Reason is to avoid to get a "twist" in the hull when cutting the whole transom out.
Here some pics of a project in germany, similar to your plan.

Good Luck!

[ShinyShoe]

Leave the flooder. If you really want to not flood then fit some big caps so that at resale you give buyer the choice how to use...

[daniel2003]

Thanks for all the advice much appreciated

[daniel2003]

Finally got somewhere dry to work on the boat and dug a hole in the floor at the stern to see what it was like underneath. Once we had lifted the floor we found a thin layer of ply wood on top of a thin layer of fibreglass.
Underneath the fibreglass we were surprised that we found some damp foam. The foam was sitting in a fibreglass tray which only left a small area for the flooding hull. You can see the foam tray in the pictures. Is this normal?
It would be hard to put it back in like that so thinking of just using a flat plywood floor back in but wondering with a plain floor what thickness would you use and would it need any strengtheners in the floor. Would it be sensible to put a layer of glass and flowcoat on the underside of the floor before we put the floor back in?

[Tim M]

Originally Posted by daniel2003

You can see the foam tray in the pictures. Is this normal?

Yes. It provides some extra buoyancy at the back when the hull is flooded.

Originally Posted by daniel2003

It would be hard to put it back in like that so thinking of just using a flat plywood floor back in but wondering with a plain floor what thickness would you use and would it need any strengtheners in the floor. Would it be sensible to put a layer of glass and flowcoat on the underside of the floor before we put the floor back in?

I can't remember off hand what thickness the ply in the original decks is but its surprisingly thin IMO. Avon never bothered with any additional strengthening but it can't do any harm. And yes, very sensible to glass and flow coat the underside to help keep the moister out.

[palsteg]

Originally Posted by daniel2003

Underneath the fibreglass we were surprised that we found some damp foam. The foam was sitting in a fibreglass tray which only left a small area for the flooding hull. You can see the foam tray in the pictures. Is this normal?
It would be hard to put it back in like that so thinking of just using a flat plywood floor back in but wondering with a plain floor what thickness would you use and would it need any strengtheners in the floor. Would it be sensible to put a layer of glass and flowcoat on the underside of the floor before we put the floor back in?

I would defenetly protect the underside of the plywood to avoid a quick rotten weak new floor.

I also would rebuild that extra buoyancy "tray". This you will find in every SR4 hull to give a lift at that point when hull´s flooded. If not may be the
transom goes a little bit deep down and water
will swell easyer over the transom into the boat.

Here one pic of one in right way separatet "tray" to give you an overwiew of that thing.

Sadly you just made yourself some extra work ...but keep going on!

Just rebuild it in plywood and overlay it with
some fiberglass.....

Best regards

Heino

[daniel2003]

Okay, so to add more buoyancy to the stern I didn't want to use expanding foam again so my dad suggested to use polystyrene foam blocks. Still not sure of what thickness ply to use, any idea's? What weight CSM fiberglass should I use.

[palsteg]

Originally Posted by daniel2003

Okay, so to add more buoyancy to the stern I didn't want to use expanding foam again so my dad suggested to use polystyrene foam blocks. Still not sure of what thickness ply to use, any idea's? What weight CSM fiberglass should I use.

Always use water resistant plywood, in germany it calls AW100 quality. Use good quality without wooden "mistakes" inside the plywood.
9 mm for the floor would do it. As thicker CSM fiberglass you use, as more epoxy you have to use...dont use polyester! Dont know about the best CSM weight to use.
Polysterene foam isnt always waterproof, i wouldnt use that.
In your case i would read lots of threads about refurbs....that will help, cause there is so much to tell about that.

Use filter mask, protecting glasses & gloves if working with fiberglass, especially when grinding, do it!

Here another SR4 refurb thread, in german, but lots of pics will show you a lot. That guy closed the flooding hull, i wouldnt do that.

Raparatur Trööt Searider 4 m

Dont forget to take many pics during your refurb!
Best regards

Heino

[Nick Hearne]

Originally Posted by palsteg

Here another SR4 refurb thread, in german, but lots of pics will show you a lot. That guy closed the flooding hull, i wouldnt do that.

Heino

Why not close the hull off, I did mine years ago and very happy with the result!
If you are going to bob around fishing off it or using it as a safety boat I can see the point! But for me blocked off is the way to go!

[Ian M]

Originally Posted by palsteg

Always use water resistant plywood, in germany it calls AW100 quality.

I think you will find that AW100 refers to the glue used, and the gluing process, which while it MAY have a bearing on the water resistance of the finished board, does not mandate it. AW100 does NOT specify the type of wood used, and hence does NOT by itself give a measure of water resistance. The one sure way to ensure water resistance is to coat the plywood.

Originally Posted by palsteg

...dont use polyester!

Why? Many, if not most hulls in the UK are manufactured using polyester resin. Do you mean something else?

[palsteg]

Originally Posted by Ian M

I think you will find that AW100 refers to the glue used, and the gluing process, which while it MAY have a bearing on the water resistance of the finished board, does not mandate it. AW100 does NOT specify the type of wood used, and hence does NOT by itself give a measure of water resistance. The one sure way to ensure water resistance is to coat the plywood.

Why? Many, if not most hulls in the UK are manufactured using polyester resin. Do you mean something else?

Yep, right, there is used water resistant glue to the layers of
the plywood, so my description could be misunderstood.... wood
itself couldnt be water resistant in no case.

No, nothing else, i mean Polyester resin. As long as you not protect
the surface of polyester it is not watertight, water will penetrate the
resin, espeacially at the downside of the floor. (Inside the open hull)

All polyester resin Hulls are coatet & protected by gelcoat or good
thick 2K colours. Epoxy resin dont Need to be maintained as much.
If coat is gone on polyester, water will went trough the resin into the
glass layers.

The open working time on epoxy resin mixture (before getting jelly) is also
much easyer to work/ control & handle on. Polyester surface often stays sticky after hardening out if circumstances not 100% perfect. Epoxy also
stick stronger, gets harder and stiffer than polyester.

Yes, ist more expensive than polyester, but my personal experience is
that ist worth it. Polyester will do the Job & save some bucks.


Best regards


Heino

[palsteg]

Originally Posted by Nick Hearne

Why not close the hull off, I did mine years ago and very happy with the result!
If you are going to bob around fishing off it or using it as a safety boat I can see the point! But for me blocked off is the way to go!

I absolute know about your results, but it´s a searider.....

If yust floating for any reason ist much more relaxing, and it sticks
on the surface even in choppy conditions, i like that. Also gives you
some savety reserve against tip over from waves if engine yust
not running. At least i think so, am i wrong?

[daniel2003]

After a while We have finally got back on with the rib. We got all the floor fully cut out. There were a few places where theyre was either damage or we went through with the grinder which we have fiberglassed back up. We cut the deck and transom out of 12mm plywood.

[Phil M]

I take it the transom piece is in addition the the existing transom and you don't just have a 12mm board there?

Phil M