After finally compiling a bunch of pictures, i've decided it's time to post up a summary of a project I undertook over the summer. After coming in from a day of thresher fishing, I saw this beat up 16 Whaler in front of Basin Marine in Newport Beach. I went in and asked Derek what the story was with it, he said that he had just bought it. After a little conversation, I told him if he decided to sell it, I would buy it from him. Sure enough, that night, my phone rang, boat was ready for pick up. Next afternoon, I went over and picked it up. At first glance, the boat wasn't in horrible shape, just some minor spider cracks and a overall lack of care for a few years. Knowing that if I started working on it, my school would be forgotten, I towed it to my grandpas place and left it while I finished up school.
The start
The first task was to completely strip the boat of everything. The rails and console were quickly removed as well as the motor and all hardware.
The motor, 1977 Chrysler 90 Hp
Rotted Console
I called my brother and had him bring the flatbed trailer down so I could haul the boat up to the desert. I flipped the boat over to inspect the hull, to my surprise, there were no major cracks or defects, perfect!
Worst damage on the whole hull
Once the boat arrived in the desert, I put it on horses so I could completely sand the hull.
Transom sanded
After three long days of sanding, I was finally able to bring the boat into the shop and start restoring it. First thing on the long list was to re-glass the transom. My dad and I filled in all the holes with a fiberglass based bondo and faired the drains.
In the shop
We roughed the transom up so the fiberglass would stick better.
Faired drain
Since this was my first time really glassing anything, I had my dad show me the ropes before I went in and tried it. We hot-coated every square inch of the transom before we applied the glass and rolled it throughout the process to ensure no air was trapped.
There was a small patch where a transducer had ripped out a little glass, easy fix.
After the glass dried, we went ahead and put four heavy coats of primer on it.
Salute!
Light sanding and the transom was done for now
I went through the entire hull and filled in any minor ding, hole or crack with bondo, then sanded it with 80 and 220 grit.
After the hull had been taken care of, it was time to flip the boat over and do the deck. First on the list was to sand off the non-skid that originally came with the boat. Knowing that a 6 inch sander would take forever, I went ahead and modified it to get the job done faster. Needless to say, it was a bitch to hang on to.
Modified sander
After 5 hours of sanding, the non-skid was completely gone. There was a 3/4 inch space between the non-skid and the deck, an outline from where the original part was screwed into the mold. I decided to fill it in to create a more clean look. We used a the bondo laced with chop fiberglass for this area knowing that it would be a little more sturdy than standard bondo. I also filled in all the holes that were previously in the deck, sealing it.
Sanded
With the sanding done, it was time to start making the consoles. For this boat, I decided to make two consoles, one for the main controls and one that housed the bait tank. I went with an Aquaworld 23 gallon bait tank figuring that would be plenty for inshore. I put the tank on top of some 1/4'' ply and made a template for the radius. My dad and I then took some 1/2" Corcell foam and cut it into 1/2" strips with a 35 degree angle on the cuts. We found some large PVC that was a close fit to the radius of the tank and covered it with a non-stick material. Using bondo, we carefully smeared all edges and attached the pieces together, using our hands to provide pressure. Once the radius was achieved and the bondo had dried, we bondoed and faired both sides of the radius, making it strong enough to work with.
Corcell foam raduis
The console is built primarily from a lightweight Russian 1/2" marine plywood. I used a piece of 3/4" where the seat and backrest would attach for a little extra meat. Prior to assembling the console, I checked to make sure everything would fit properly.
Great math skills haha
1/2" to spare
Once the console lined up properly, I screwed it into place. I then bondoed all the inside corners, leaving a nice radius for the fiberglass to adhere to. My dad and I then hot-coated and glassed the inside of the console with once and a half glass.
My dad was having a lot of fun in the process
Even my brother was getting in on the project
hot-coat
glassed
Once we had the majority of the inside glassed, we attached the foam corners and the rear piece of the console. My brother took his shot at bondoing and glassing this part.
After the inside of the console was completely glassed, I flipped the console over and removed all the screws. I filled in the screw holes with bondo and then very carefully bull-nosed the outside of the console. By taking out the screws, there is no area for water to ever intrude into the consoles, they are completely sealed and solid. I went ahead and glassed and primered the outside of the console.
Just like the rear console, the forward console was constructed of 1/2" ply and the entire front is Corcell. The process was the same as before, mock up, screw it together, bondo and glass.
The girl decided she wanted to contribute to the project. She cut all the glass and did a stellar job doing the bondo work on the inside of the console.
She did an awesome job bondoing the inside
Corcell front of the console
You can see the difference in the densities of the Corcell and the ply
FLipped and radiused
glassed
I decided to mock up and trace out the consoles and the nonskid before I started to assemble everything. It helped everyone that worked on the project to get a basic idea of how everything was meant to be put into place.
After the consoles had been primered and sanded, it was time to fill in any little gaps and smooth the console. I did this by applying a very thin coat of bondo to the outside of the console and sanding it.
After doing that twice, it was time to apply the final coat of primer to the consoles and to the transom. Instead of using a brush for this, I decided to spray it on for a more even coat.
After sanding that coat off, the consoles and the hull were now ready for paint. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the hull being sprayed, but I do have the ones from the console.
Starting to gelcoat the consoles
Once we started the finish sanding, we used a 3M sanding compound to make sure we didn't sand off too much paint.
Once the consoles were sanded and ready for install, I went ahead and cut out the holes for the instruments, speakers, nav lights and deck lights. We hot-coated all the holes twice to ensure that they were water tight.
Because I did not want to use any screws in the construction and in the attachment to the deck, I made a king starboard pattern that exactly fit the inside of the consoles. With these properly secured to the deck, there was no way for the console to shift, it's a perfect fit.
Once the king starboard cleat was in, out came the 5200. We made sure that the entire bottom of the console was filled with 5200, I don't want these things going anywhere. After the console had been set in place, we made a bondo radius with the glass infused bondo and glassed over it. We went three inches up on the console and an inch out onto the deck to ensure a good hold.
Drain added to the rear of the console
We threw a little gelcoat on top of the glass before we sanded it, it helped out a lot in the long run.
Same thing for the forward console.
You can see the 29 gallon fuel tank in this picture
With the consoles now secured in place, it was time to make the non-skid. I pulled down the mold we had and made a part.
Moises and I made patterns out of paper then transfered them to 1/4" ply. Once we had all the patterns made, we nailed them onto the non-skid part and cut them out with a router.
Instead of going through the whole process of vacuum sealing, we opted to go with a way that was a little bit easier, and a little more Mexican. We taped off the radius of the nonskid first. We then hot-coated the area and put down a piece of ounce and a half, followed by the non-skid. To apply pressure, we put the 1/4" template on top and pushed it down with over 50 pounds of lead. The result was much better than expected.
We were able to use this same method for most of the deck with the exception of four pieces where we needed the vacuum. After the non-skid was on, it was time to paint the rest of the deck. Just like the hull, I wasn't able to capture the entire process. Now that most of the real major work had been done, it gave me a chance to fiddle and tweak with a few things on the boat.
The stainless steel backrest
Non skid complete
Bow view
Moises and I buffed the boat to bring out it's shine, man what an awesome day that was!
Once all the buffing was complete, it was now time to install some of the electronics. I'll have a complete list of what went in the boat at the end.
Tackle storage
I haven't uploaded the final pictures quite yet, I'll add to this post once I do. Because there were no 90 HP Yamaha's available for a few months, I opted to go with a 75HP.
Here's a basic list of the things put into the boat.
Motor- Yamaha 75HP Four Stroke
Steering- Baystar Hydraulic
Fuel- Moeller 29 gallon
Bait- Aquaworld 23 gallon
Nav Lights- Perko 2 mile LED
Deck lights- 8 Attwood bule LED
GPS- Garmin 545S 5 inch
VHF- Icom with full 8 foot Shakespeare antenna built into the console, attached at the deck. 2 meter still an idea as well.
Radio- Sony
Speakers- 4 Fusion 7"
Breaker panel- Blue Sea Systems
Compass- Ritchie
LED's at night
The boat is currently at Basin Marine getting the bottom paint put on, after that it's off to get the rails put on then it's off to our good friend Ali for some lettering. The boat's name is El Patróncito, the little Patrón. Even though the boat isn't fully finished yet, it hasn't stopped me from fishing it! I took it out to the 267 on Friday for a little test run, boat ran great, marlin didn't want to play though. Not to worry, she'll be catching fish in no time!
A huge thank you goes out to my dad, he showed me the way how to do things right. Another huge thank you to my brother who had to put up with my ass staying at his house for the many nights I spent in the desert. Moises did an incredible job with the paint and non-skid, he is second to none. To Ashling, my awesome girlfriend, i'm sorry I spent all of summer working on the boat and not with you at the beach, i'll make it up to you. Johnson Marine in Ontario did an incredible job with the rigging, I would highly recommend them. To all the others who helped out, thank you guys all so much, this wouldn't be possible without you guys. See you guys on the water.
Barrett
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