TOPIC: 1955/57 Crosby restoration

Hi All,
I'm about to start restoring a mid 50's Crosby "half and half" Hurricane. The work on the fiberglass portion is somewhat foreign to me as far as determining what of the the modern resin materials are compatable with the original polyester resin ie. vinylester or epoxy. In my case, I'm already set up for epoxy based repair work or wood boat construction. The polyester resin smells so awful in the home garage environment that I'd rather not use it. I'm talking about the interior hull repair of the course woven roving here. The exterior of the hull is going to be professionally re-gelcoated.
I'm in a conflicted situation here because folks at the automotive body shop (who also do boat repairs) that are going to do the gel coating on the exterior are advising me that we should spray truck bed liner on the interior. I don't think I'm going to let this happen - but I can't seem to get them off that idea for now.

Somewhere in the boats history, a previous owner completely carpeted the interior of the hull with an indoor/outdoor carpet . We've now got the carpet out, decks off, etc. and are now faced with how the !!*&%!!## we are going to get the old brown carpet glue out of the weave of the course glass roving in the interior hull. The Body shop guys say we should not consider media blasting the interior of the boat. What say Yee???
The course roving has got quite few pin holes in the original work that I want to seal up to prevent water from geting to the balsa core in the center floor. Will epoxy repairs of these areas work OK??
We did a tap sound test of the entire balsa core area looking for delaminated areas and found 4 small areas that had no "ring" to them. We did core drilling of these areas and found them to be wet. Now drying these areas out with heat lamps warming the entire cored area.
Interesting that this boat has not been in any water for 6+ years and the moisture was still very prominent in parts of the core, even though it was dry stored ever since. At this time we really don't know if the water came from inside or outside or both.
This boat didn't have a drain plug tube built into the transom so I'm going to install one.

In the end, (this summer),the boat is going to be heavily used by two teen aged boys for water skiing and lake home water travel.

I'll be posting here quite often looking for fiberglass advice.
Cheers!!
Paul Morris
WWW.cedartreeinc.com

PICTURES please!

OK, I'll see what I can do!!

You could probably use airplane stripper or acetone to get rid of that old glue, just leave it on long enough for it to soften up.

I would keep those guys away from your boat with the bed liner spray, it's fine for a fishin boat but not a Glassic.

Conflicting reports on gel over epoxy, supposedly it is OK with the correct prep. No problem with epoxy over polyester on the interior.

Core can be dried out with some success with acetone and CPES, but I'm sure you are familiar with that with your wood boat experience.

Looking forward to pictures...Welcome!!

Here are some shots from several years ago.

Well, That didn't work! These were supposed to be all different pictures!
The photo inserting scheme isn't very intuitive for me. I guess one can't add several pix as on other forums.

I'll try again!!

I don't see an edit icon or word anywhere here (as the picture instructions say) to insert several pictures in one post. Where didja hide it?? The preview button doesn't seem to work either.
This is kinda like working on old boats - just another can-o-worms.

Crosby, welcome. You have to post it then go back in and edit it. once your in the edit window you can add another pic, then post then edit etc.

I'm with Dave (CC1000) use then acetone and it should take the glue off. Once you use epoxy you have to paint over it you can't really use gelcoat over epoxy, or so I've been told anyway.

Definitely stay away from the bed liner on the inside. I used stripper to remove the old paint, filled in with some epoxy where needed, then painted and flecked the inside again, like the factory. i had to use a special stripper, as the original paint was lead based, 1960 boat.

Bob

More Pix.

I'm Getting the hang of it now!! Woohoo!

There ya go. Nice project by the way.

Bob

Waterwings wrote:

There ya go. Nice project by the way.

Bob

A true "WoodyGlassic"!

Thanks, Bob - I'm very interested in returning the interior of the boat again to a light color with a fleck or spatter in it. If any of you have done that what method and materials??? I've heard of a product called Zolatone, is that it??
Paul

Sure reminds me of my Century Palomino project that I gratefully passed on to a younger enthusiast!

Yep a woody glassic like mine.

You can use Zolatone. I used Interlux Brightsides with a nonskid additive and Rustoleum Black enamel to make the flecks. Just used a stiff bristle brush and some gloves to flick the specks on. Worked just fine for me.

Bob

Nice Crosby. Great to see another one coming back to life. Here's my '57 Crosby Capri. Did a little bit of restoration last summer (new varnish, moulding, and interior paint) and got lots of advice from great folks on this site.

Brian

That is one nice project. It will be gorgeous. Please keep us informed.

welcome aboard Paul,

Cool little glassic boat!

Yes, keep away from truck bed liner. Icky!

You know all about the wood work portions. I cannot help with your glass questions.

Andreas

when you say wet core , is your hull a balsa cored hull ? or do you have cored floor that is not part of the hull ?
The one thing you dont mess with is a wet rotten balsa cored hull .Heat lamps, acetone or whatever wont fix it . You have to remove the core and replace it . If your going to turn a boat with a bad hull core loose to teenagers , that could end badly . Just my .02 .

Brian, that turned out remarkable! Hope my deck comes out half as good.
Cal

Well some time has passed and the hull has been re-gelcoated, the interior stripped, the cored floor area dried, some balsa replaced, the carpet glue mostly gone, interior and exterior leaks and pinholes sealed, interior wooden framing restored and new white oak gunnel rail fabbed, steam bent and installed.
We were quite surprised at the number of pin holes in the interior glass roving cloth right from the factory. The balsa floor didn't have a chance right from the "Git-Go". It really needed another coat of resin to seal it well from the factory - but we took care of that, 2 coats of rolled and brushed epoxy, a good heavy coat of marine primer, and a good heavy coat of Epifanes Seafoam green yacht enamel.
The original fuel tank and battery trays were glassed onto the bottom of the boat at the stern and the wood they made these from and glassed over was really rotten and oil soaked after all these years. So, we ground, cut, chopped out all of this and built new with a slightly different design.
I made 5 3/4" thk. rails epoxy sealed to the bottom of the interior floor to elevate the new epoxy encapsulated tank trays off the floor so water can easily migrate to the stern and out the new stern drain tube. I think this will work nicely.
Pictures following.
Paul

Here are som shots of the new gunnel rail being steamed and clamped to the hull exterior to take the curve of the hull as it cooled.
Paul

Looking great Paul, she's really coming along nicely. Thanks for sharing the progress report.

She's looking great Paul, great work!

Bob

wow, great work! love the shine of the outer hull.

I just purchased a 57 Capri and am admiring your work and build. How did you do your gunnels? Do you have an inner and outer (separate) or did you use one solid piece with a rabbit cut for the edge of the hull? It looks like the original on mine had a single piece of wood.