Denton, Texas
1971 16b
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I
have a 1971 16' Powercat Angler/ Bull-A-Gator. They are narrow,
trihull, open boats.
They have stick steering and only two longitudinally center mounted
seats.
I might add a cooler in the middle to serve as a 3rd seat/ live well.
This is just a fishing boat.
My intention is only to have a safe and solid boat as quickly and
cheaply.
The floor was your typical plywood covered with fiberglass but had
splatter paint instead of carpet.
The floor was half rotted so I removed it. Not surprisingly, there was
standing water
in there with the waterlogged foam. I have since removed the
foam, but I'm still undecided on whether
to replace the foam and if so with what. I have read quite
a few threads on this topic.
The 2 part foam seems the most expensive and work intensive.
I want to leave a center channel for bilge draining purposes. This boat
has three stringers.
If I do use the 2 part foam, I would have to either cut out the center
portion of foam or
make a barrier to keep it from filling the channel. I thought about
using the foam sheets
from the Home Depot/Lowe's, but I might have to avoid styrofoam if
polyester resin dissolves it.
Leaving the foam out would only leave the issue of it providing support
and rigidity.
(There is more foam under the deck. I will be guess-timating volume to
see if it’s adequate.)
I don't think the hull really needs help. How much does the foam
contribute to floor stiffness?
1/2" thick plywood (as mentioned in Runabout Renovation) sounds rather
skimpy for
floor thickness. I guess there's nothing holding me back from
going to 3/4"
(and I guess the fiberglass does add to the strength/ rigidity).
I'm planning on replacing the stringers which are "mostly" good with
new wood ones.
I've been reading about how people use a flowing epoxy to seal/preserve
the stringers and floor.
Since I was planning on using polyester resin for the floor
fiberglass, can one "seal" the stringers
with polyester resin? Is there a pre-thinned polyester resin for
this purpose or should I just thin some
with acetone or mineral spirits or just use a tiny bit less hardener?
I've done polyester fiberglass layup before, but it's already been some
6-8 years, so I'm sketchy.
I didn't pay attention to/know about the chemistry. Do I understand
correctly that the parts store
variety with the "wax" mixed in that floats out is adequate for my
purposes?
Also, don't you need chemical resistant gloves for working with
polyester resin? I didn't see
any at some of the mail order websites.
For safety purposes, I have a 3M mask with the 6001 cartridges and
prefilters.
I'm also using safety goggles, not glasses for my grinding/ sanding.
OK, last question for now. I'm not sure what width of fiberglass cloth
I should buy
for the floor covering. Because this boat is narrow, the floor is made
with full with (4') plywood.
I imagine that I wouldn't want to attempt to apply the full width of
the floor all at once.
Right? If not, I could buy a roll of 52" wide and cover the floor and
still have enough
to go up the sides for good measure.
I know this is a lot of questions and I greatly appreciate responses to
any small portion.
Thanks,
Thomas Gonzalez
Denton, Tx
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