Bell Boy 404 Express Restoration

[TheBronze]

Haha! Not too cheap I suspect with that sweet paint job and new outboard on the back.

[TheBronze]

It’s been a while since I have posted on this thread. I’ve been lurking here and there on the site, but mostly its been either working on the boat, working on the Glasspar or using the Glasspar over the summer!

So, here comes the flood of pictures and progress updates!

Coming out of winter and in between working on the floor and transom repair on the Glasspar in the Spring, I continued my paint stripping. As of today, there is just a small section on the stbd side and the underside of the hull. This should all come off fairly easily as it is in pretty bad shape and lifting on its own. I’ll be getting to the remainder of this task in the coming months. Unfortunately, this means that she probably won’t see paint this year.

[TheBronze]

The first big project of the year was to replace the transom. The old wood was in bad shape all around, so I took it all out. The final solution to getting to it was a complete detachment of the deck. It wasn’t too tough to do. The difficult part was getting the main bulkhead cut completely free and removed. This required some cutting of glass and creative smashing where rotten... Once that was done, it all slid forward for easy access.

After moving the deck, I needed to separate the stringers from the old transom. Easy with a cut off wheel! I took care in cutting them back as it was my plan to utilize this tie in with the new transom.

Removing the old wood was pretty easily done due to its age and rot. One afternoon and the job was done. Then it was on to building the new one! I ended up going with birch plywood for the transom. This is a good hardwood, reasonably affordable at $50 a sheet, and readily available. After tracing the outline of the exterior of the transom, it was pretty easy to cut and fit to the inside. I used 2 sheets of ¾ with a layer of thickened vinylesther in between the layers. Each layer was secured to the transom with as many clamps as I could find up top, using wood to spread the clamping force. On the bottom, I attached braces to the stringers with clamps and then drove them into the base of the wood, wedging the lower section into place. This worked very well and didn’t require any new holes in the exterior of the hull.

The 2nd piece of wood for the transom was laid up with 1708 biaxial prior to placing it in the boat. This allowed me to lay it up flat on saw horses and not have to mess with a vertical application of resin. One in place, I glassed the stringers to it. The end result is a transom that is incredibly strong. The wood is completely encased in resin front, back, top and bottom and I don’t expect I’ll have to ever work on it again.

The only remaining piece of work is to fit the top edges. They’ll need to be sawn/sanded down on the lower portion of the splashwell and cut to fit on the upper. Once this is done, it will get a final layer of resin and the deck can be moved into place for attachment.
Pics attached for your viewing pleasure.

[TheBronze]

The next big item was the floor. I actually just finished the first stage of this work yesterday.

Construction material is 1/2 “ birch ply, 1708 biaxial mat, 700 vinylesther and glass beads for thickening.

I started off with the bilge area. It was my intention to seal this area off as completely as possible, as I am filling the bilge spaces between the stringers with pour foam for flotation/noise damping. The first order of business was to create mini bulkheads at floor height to stop the foam from flooding back into the bilge as well as to provide a good barrier against water intrusion. These mini bulkheads all have small drain areas to allow any water that may end up below decks to drain out. I doubt there will be much accumulation after the foam is poured, but you never know… The two outer compartments I filled with foam, leaving the 4 inner ones open for water collection and removal. The ends of the stringers are open. To close these off (preventing water from collecting up the insides) I glassed them closed and dropped glass to the hull on the outer ones to seal that compartment off from the rest of the boat. The end result is a small 2-3 gallon box below the deck that will be able to collect water. Both of the open sides will get bilge pumps to allow removal of any water that comes over the gun’ls in rough seas or after a wash down. You can see in the pictures that I made drain holes on each side of the main stringers to allow water to find its way into the bilge from either side of the stringers. Should do the trick. When I lay up the floor, I will be using glass beads to build the area up around the edges to encourage water to find its way to these holes.
Before I could finish the main floor, I had to replace the small bulkhead forward. This was a pretty small job and only took an afternoon to cut, shape, and lay up. The piece that was in there was, again, particle board! It now has a nice ¾ birch play construction and is nice and solid.

Then it was on to the main floor space. This was fairly straightforward, if not time consuming. I measured off the centerline of the center stringer at 4 inch intervals and used these numbers to plot the first bit of floor. I decided to go with a wide drainage area and so ended up meeting the hull where it flattens out. This should give me plenty of room to lay up a nice smooth drainage area behind all the wood paneling that will go in. I predrilled foam pouring holes at 12 inch intervals and struck a snap line for my screws, which are 1.5 inch stainless at 4 inch intervals. Once the wood was cut and fit, I used construction adhesive to form a sealed barrier in between the stringers before fastening down.

The second section was again plotted at 4 inch intervals, which proved a good starting point. Due to the curvature of the hull, however, it did require some hand forming to get it to fit correctly. Same as before, 12 inch intervals for foam and 4 inch spacing for fasteners. One other item that was included was a 2x4 backing on either side of the main stringer in the cabin area. This will allow me to secure a table base in there without having to worry about the thin nature of the 1/2 “ ply. This was glued into place and secured with screws, which I later removed. Once my order from us composites comes in, I will have enough foam to finish the pour, firming up the table bracing, and tightening up the whole area under the deck. Overall, I am VERY pleased with how it turned out.

Final glassing of the floor will probably not occur until after the main bulkhead is in place. This will allow me to work without having to deal with cleaning up messes in between the layers and such. The edges of the floor will be faired in with a glass bead paste to contour the edges as well as 2-3 layers of glass lay up. I’ll use a single layer of 1708 for the main floor area, with an overlapping section on both port and stbd that will go over the floor/hull joint and up the side 8 inches for extra strength.

[TheBronze]

This week I am going to tackle the rotten wood under the gun’ls. Once this is done, I should be able to move the deck back into position, clamp it down, and size and cut the main bulkhead. Once glassed in, I’ll do the floor glassing and its all fun finish work from there forward!

[Tim McCrain]

Lookin' good

Thanks for the update John, this is really good info to share. I can't imagine how many times in the next years this thread will be read by guys doing their own boat. :GoodJob:

Tim

[TheBronze]

Well, the best laid plans...

Instead of getting to the gun'l wood, I decided to pour some foam and take advantage of the hot weather. I used up one 16 pound (2 gallon) kit and about a third of anothe. It wasn't enough! I still have the outer bilges to do, one whole secondary, and about a third of another secondary (think two center, one on each side, and then against the hull). So, I'll be picking up some more in the next week or so. I am happy with the results so far though. No cutting corners, just spending money The foam will be in the entire bilge area minus the deep V up front. I'm going to keep that for an anchor locker.

Last night I went around the edges of the floor and laid up a big ol bead of 3M bubbled resin to give it some shape. Then I attached a 4 inch glass tape to the whole thing to tie it into the hull. This should keep it all in place until I am ready to put my 1708 on for the real tie in. That won't be until the bulkheads are ready to go in though. Roof repair first!

I'd post pics, but it really isn't much to look at.

[TheBronze]

Work continues. Slowly with the start of school, but one step at a time.

I elevated the deck last weekend to allow room for tools to get at the glass for the under deck wood. Its up about a foot in the stern, and 8 inches or so up front. Port side wood is out and in once piece! It will be a perfect template for both sides. Stbd wood is in REALLy bad shape, so it will more than likely be taken out in many chunks and pieces.

Plan for the weekend is to cut templates, and get the port side attached. Thickened resin and lots of clamps should do the job nicely. I'll post pics when I get a chance.

Stepping into the main deck area is NOT easy right now! I'm 6'1" and I can barely get my legs over the top of the splashwell. I'll be glad when its back down!

[BrianVic]

My experience with poured foam

John,
My foam came from Aeromarineproducts.com, and the instruction sheet suggested warming the two parts (A & B) prior to mixing. I filled my camping cooler with hot tap water, and set the one gallon jugs in for a while. Big difference!!! This produced noticeably more activity and expansion. I further observed that when the jugs were left out of the warm cooler bath water for a few minutes, expansion was less vigorous. Warm the two parts prior to mixing, and your yield will be much better.

Maybe this is old news (?)

[Helmar]

Boy, that is looken pretty darn good John.

Good Work !!!:cool1:

[TheBronze]

Brian,

I usually do heat it. But when it is above 80 degrees there isn't much point! When I poured in my Marathon in the spring, I kept the containers in the house at 70 and then when I was ready to pour, I put them in the garage next to a space heater. Got things up in the 80s and it worked great. For the 404, it was great expansion, just a lot of volume to cover. I'll check aeromarine for pricing. Its all expensive though...

Helmar,

Thanks for the encouragement! When the only one who looks at it is yourself, its easy to cast doubt on the quality of the work and whether decisions made were the correct or best ones.

[TheBronze]

This last weekend and this week I started attaching the wood under the gun'ls. I managed to get a good tempalte from one side and the match up was easy. I've run into a wierd snag though. The resin on the glass is taking for ever to set up. Usually overnight is sufficient. However, the paste I made with 3M beads and the resin I used on the glass are still soft the next day. I am wondering if my catalyst is going off? I mixed up with new catalyst last night and reenforced the soft sections, so we'll see when I get home how it all worked out.

If everything lines up this evening, I'll replace some rotten wood under the window and glass the underside of the new wood at the Gun'ls. The deck should be on this weekend. Woohoo!

Of course, if it is not set up to my satisfaction, then the whole thing has to come out for a do over.

[Helmar]

Most products, I test first. But when I am using the expensive Fiberlay resin, I don't worry about it, just Do it...

I HATE do overs....

[TheBronze]

Well, it looks like it was the catalyst. The resin mixed with the new catalyist worked just fine and hardened as expected. I fixed up a few sections on the aft portion of the wood that had come loose when I removed the clamps. I expect they will be all happy when I check them tonight.

I also got the rotten wood under the stbd window replaced.

Tonight is glass layup on the underside of the gun'l and under the windows for reenforcement. Oh yeah! The deck is going back on, probably tomorrow or Friday. I'll snap some pics of the new wood and post when I get a chance.

[Marvelous]

Boy do i remember doing all that fun stuff so many years ago on our 59' 404