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I am finally ready to order some materials and I am hoping to get little help on some quantities. I have a 17 ft (the beam is 6 ft) polar that I have had for a few years. All of the sudden I was having some problems getting on plane with my 40hp (max hp on the tag is 75hp) Yamaha. I originally assumed the motor was losing power so I had everything gone over and tuned and even experiment with some different prop pitches to no avail. Finally someone suggested the problem may be water logged foam so I cut an inspection hole and dug out some of it and sure enough, water logged so I assume it was not closed cell. So I removed the console, cut out the sole and dug out all the foam. Well bad went to worse. The cheap ply was water logged and had large gaps between the bottom of the stringer and hull, the glass (poly) was not wetted out in more than 50 percent of the length and so on and so on. So I decided a complete rebuild was in order. Another thing I was amazed about is the rear left corner of the rear casting deck was assumable installed to low and the top then filled with resin (about 1” thick) to bring up the level of the deck to the gunnels height.
When I took the debris to the dump it weighed almost 900 lbs. The boat is perfect for me as far as size and hull shape. Draft was very shallow and before the problems it zips along at 25 mph with decent fuel consumption. I am hoping with the weight savings once put back together with good wood and epoxy performance should be great. Sorry about the long rant, now on to the details.
The boat is 17 ft long and from this picture you can see that the plywood (2 x ¾ ply) is only partially covering the transom. That would be the first change I would like to make. The rear corners are rounded so there will be little fitting to do but that should be no problem. I plan on cutting 3 layers of ½ in at full profile then stepping each piece in to conform to the rounded corner.
There are only 2 stringers with some frames in the mid section between the 2 stringers. The original had nothing from the stringer to the hull except the sole however I think I would like to add some. The stringers are 13 ft 2 in long and 9 ¼ in tall at the tallest point comprised of ¾ in ply. I was planning to replace those with a double layer of 3/8 epoxy glued together then adding the frames that were on the original construction of which there were 3 between the 2 stringers then add the same number of frames from the stringer to the hull sides. The original sole looked like it was 5/8 ply with a thick maybe 1/4 in layer of chopped glass on top. I was thinking that with the extra frames I could use 3/8 in with a layer of 6 oz on top. The original had transom knees on top of the sole about 9 in tall, I am thinking of bringing those all the way down to the hull and all the way up to the rolled gunnels and using them to support the rear casting deck which would be level with the gunnels. That would make the transom knees approx 48” long to match the rear deck. The old front deck was 66” from front to back the width of the boat 6 ft. it was made of ¾ ply and glassed around the gunnels and only supported at the rear of the deck with ¾ ply. There was not any flex to the deck at all which surprises me given that span. If I support the deck in the middle with another frame can I use 3/8 instead? I could them have a compartment in the front for an anchor locker and storage or fuel storage behind that. I do have one 3 gallon kit of marine epoxy originally purchased from here for a different project but this is more important. I am hard on my boats and only wish to have a no frills work type boat. I would like to cover all the deck surfaces just for some abrasion protection. Can I get away with maybe 4 oz fabric? All the seams will be 12 biax tape and then I assume I will need some 12 oz Biax cloth for the transom. Does my plan seem sound? I would like to place an order with you this week if possible and I can work out the quantities.
PS I forgot to add that the stringers are 25" center to center apart and are parallel. From the stringer to the chine is 14" in the rear and tapers slightly to approx 13" forward.
As far what I think I need:
3 more gallons of epoxy (for a total of 6)
5 lbs wood flour
??? yds 12 oz biax tape
??? yds 12 oz biax cloth
??? yds 4 oz fabric
2 sets of plunger pumps
I have access to some marine fir really cheap but it is all 3/8 and 1/2. So I would like to try to stick to those sizes.
Thanks in advance
Marc
Hopefully I have given all the need info. If not please let me know and I will get it.
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