Serving tray

Pine with printed transfer. Finished with hand rubbed lacquer.

Frame #1

Been a couple of week since I've had any boat work time. Today just wanted to get the members cut and epoxy on frame 1. This is probably the quickest frame to build but one of the hardest to glue up. I layed the frame on top of the ply and screwed through the wood frame into the ply to start with then flipped the assembly over and sent screws through the ply into the solid frame as well. Probably a little over done but I am certain it is well attached for the epoxy to setup.
I also cut the top member today for the transom. Tricky getting the angle cut across the top member. Not sure if I am going with the inboard or out board yet so I will continue on following the plans for inboard as they can be modified easier to accept outboard versus trying to add parts for an inboard.
So far had to scrap about three different boards that developed a crack while cutting frame members out. Devastating but I'll find use of them on somthing I'm sure.

 

Work Begins on Frame #5. All parts cut out based on templates drawn from original plan. Layout board set, lines drawn for setup level and attachment lines for the Floor Lumber. All prep work done this time to get ready for the epoxy stage.

Wax paper used to keep the frame from sticking to the work table, gloves at the ready, hammer ready for the carriage bolt insertions, clamps ready just in case, one drill set for drilling, one drill set for phillips head screw driver. All fasteners pre-staged ready to insert. Cup, Stirrer, filler, and epoxy all ready.

I have placed some blocks under each side to keep the whole frame level. Also I used a couple of scraps of 3/4 ply in the opening of the bottom of the frame where the breasthook will have to go through; thought this may help keep everything square and true (just be sure to put wax paper over the scraps if you do this).

 

 

Another overlook to make sure everything is ready.

 

Did Side A (the Aft Side), first then flipped the assembly over, replacing the wax paper and in hurry up fashion epoxy the second floor timber in place. This went pretty smooth since I had pre-staged for both sides.

 

 

As a word of caution, while you are dry fitting the frame together, go ahead and dry fit your bolt, washer and nut together as well. I found that the bolts (Hot Dipped Galvanized) didn't go together too smoothly. It was a little rough to get started and partly way down actually stripped the box end on the other side of the frame, so the whole bolt was turning in the whole. A good grip on a wrench was needed but I did manage to get it secured all the way down. Next bolts will all be dry fit to get them at least wrench-able.

 

 

 

Here is a picture of that center slot where the breasthook will slip through. This slot should center the frame on the centerline.

 

 

 

This picture shows the reliefs cut into the frame for the battons and chine. 

 

 

  All in all, not too terribly tough on this frame. I ended up finishing mounting the deck member on Frame #4 with the bolts and so we have four completed frames as of this weekend.

Just need to finish cutting the floor beam for frame #1 and it's plywood attaching. Then we have the entire Transom to cut and put together. Saving the most complicated for last I think.

 

Swim Platform with folding ladder

Even if your are a fresh water only boater, I would stick to at least the SS (Stainless Steel). Here is an example of what could happen. The donor boat I bought had a really great swim platform ladder on the back of it. I think it came pretty standard on all the Somerset boats as I have seen quite a few for sale and all seem to have this great feature.

 

 

 

I liked it so much I want to reapply it to my build boat. New models of this same ladder run about $150. All the hardware is in pretty good shape and very sturdy despite having the steps dry rot.
In doing the tear down I noticed the manufacturer stainless screws come right out and look almost like new; not bad considering the boat is a 1982 model.
However, the nuts and bolts anchoring it to the boat are not stainless. May have been galvanized of some sort but are completely rusted out. Easy enough to remove as when you go to remove the nut, if you jerk it hard enough quickly the bolt will shear off. I think I will invest in some better fasteners since this part of the boat will always be in or nearest the water.

 

The plan is to replace all the wood. I will use the current wood for templates and cut each new piece, fair the edges like the current one, and reassemble with a better set of fasteners. All the aluminum will get polished and a good buffing.
I am not real sure what type of wood is the original, but I think for the time being I plan on making it out of white oak for now. If that means redoing it again down the road I will try something else next time. For now though, I think the oak will work.

 

 Here it is disassembled. I will number each piece accordingly. The entire step tapers; wider at the stern and narrower as it gets to the ladder. As each piece is cut it will be numbered to make for easier assembly.

 

All the slats and spacers cut from White Oak. Not sure how that will hold up over the long haul but if I get a few years out of it before replacing the wood with something else, it will have been worth it.

Still have some fine sanding to do around the edges and will round over all the edges. Then I plan on coating it down with a good sealer after staining it to match the deck of the boat. Pretty sweet extra that came on the donor parts boat. Savings:... around $140 bucks online.

 

Temp mounting of the ladder. Will need to pick up about 10 more stainless steel bolts, nuts, washers to properly mount the ladder and the whole assembly to the new boat. I may find that hardware on the donor as well; it seems everything from the factory was mounted with SS, so I've been plucking as many fasteners as I can from it.



 

 

Bottom Rung step with original stabilizing rod. Still needs a good sanding but for now will do.

 

 

 

One Good Looking Swim Platform Ladder!

Donor boat for parts.

 
Well found a great donor boat. It has well surpassed its prime. A 1980's Somerset 17'6" ski boat. It came with a decent trailer that has new tires and newer wheels. That was the main purchase of the boat. Also had a nice aluminum 21 gallon gas tank that may work in the new build. Has a really nice swim platform ladder that I could see paying 150 for easily.

I also may be able to salvage the entire Mercruiser 165 with pre-alpha out drive. Not sure if I will be able to use that in the Roustabout... waiting to pull it out and check the weight on it. The Somerset had used a lot of flotation foam in the aft I presume to help keep the aft end afloat under the weight of that engine. Our plans for the Roustabout don't mention the use of floatation foam and I wonder if that would counteract enough to bridge the weight of the 165 in case it comes in over the 650 pound limit.

Today I spent a few hours pulling parts off the donor. First pulled the gas tank. Will end up pulling the pump out of it and sending the tank out for a good cleaning inside and outside. The pump will be replaced as well as the hoses, cutoffs, and air venting tubes. Still need to get the filler and air vent out of the donor. Not sure if I will reuse those but we shall see.

I pulled the foot off the outdrive. Thanks to Matt (previous owner) for giving it a proper greasing before I bought it! Well. I did find some excess milky puddle in the drive bellow. Definitely lube from the foot in the milky mixture. Well I knew that was going to have to be torn down anyway to go ahead and replace the water pump impeller. I may have a leaky seal in there somewhere. Exhaust and drive bellow looks ok, but shifter bellow does have a rip in it. The whole foot has been store in the up position for over a year by means of a ratchet strap, so I had already planned on pulling the bellows and replacing them anyway. Shifter cable and shift mech in the housing has a good bit of rust and corrosion on it so that too will have to get replaced. And I wasn't sure about an opening on the bottom of the gimbel housing. It looks like it was made there for the exhaust to exit but will have to research a bit further to make sure that it is supposed to be there. It seems to be in an odd place but I presume the pressure from the exhaust would keep water from coming into the exhaust system. Also found the pin for attaching the trim pistons; prior owner didn't know where it was (found in the glove box). Can't say anything about him since I pried open the glove box assuming it was locked, only to have my neighbor show me the push button that actually opens the box!

Other miscellaneous items salvaged were: a bilge pump, the full set of gauges, a few tools left by previous owners, some wooden step protectors, and a pretty nice anchor. I pulled the electrical panel, not sure if I will use it since it is pretty outdated. The bilge switch only is on/off, I plan for having an auto selection as well. But the Nav Lights switch did offer a three switch. May find some use in the new boat for some of it.

Not salvageable that I had hoped might have been: the steering system and the single arm throttle/gear shifter. I found that the steering cable was just locked up somewhere. I presume that it would be a sound investment to replace that anyway. I will take the steering column gear set and the aft steering system and see if I can locate the replacement cable before scrapping the whole system. Also I have seen where a fare bit of boaters prefer the two arm throttle/gear shifter versus the single arm. Some say it makes it a bit easier for docking and backing as well as maintenance since less parts to have failure. I also know this engine will require a little throttle to keep it going in a cold start. So I'm not too terribly dismayed about not being able to salvage these two items.

The donor boat cost a whole $150 bucks. Not bad considering I just was interested in the trailer.

Steering Mechanicals

Donor boat yields another part!

 

I had hoped that the entire Steering system would be reusable on this boat. However, I found that the steering cable was completely locked up. I researched the interwebs and found that it was just plain easier to replace the cable system, as they do tend to go out eventually.

 

Replacing the cable is find but how about the other parts? I opted to remove the under dash portion when I was removing the gauges anyway. I was only a matter of removing the two bolts at the bottom of this picture that release the cable stay barrel, and then four bolts that retain the steering gear housing. That released the internal box gear set and the steering cable came right out. Not sure if I will reuse the plastic housing that runs through the dash to the steering wheel but I will keep it just in case I cannot fabricate anything to serve the purpose.

 

I plan on building wheel versus reusing that plastic wheel that came on this boat. That thing was hideous! Looking more into doing a wooden three spoke wheel.

 

Frame #4

About 80% done on Frame #4. I still need to attach the Deck Timber to the lower portion of the Frame. This is done with bolts. Notice my mistake? I didn't cut the floor timbers 100% correctly. This frame actually butts up to the breast hook. So one floor timber should have a cut through the center to receive that member. I plan on running the circular saw up through the timber to get a nice tight fit on both side of the breast hook. This wasn't intentional but I think it may help keep it tight. Of course it may deviate from the plans a little... but I don't think it will sink the boat.

Looking at it today the epoxy has set up great! I couldn't be happier. I think I nailed the mix on Filler to epoxy this time just right. I think the tendency will be to put too little filler to epoxy ratio.

I've watched a few videos on this thus far and the most common quote before doing this is, "ok now the messy part," I kid you not! Get yourself plenty of wax paper anytime you are doing epoxy. I have found that wax paper will protect your projects better than anything. Don't settle for that baking paper... if it doesn't say waxed, don't buy it! My only source for waxed paper was paper that was only about 14 inches wide, but if I need wider I can tape it together. I presume nothing could be worse than building a frame only to have it permanently affixed to a table.