Beginning my 1987 Fisherman 20 Restoration

[Myfathersson]

Nice boat. I just got a 1989 20 fisherman. I’m starting the same thing as you. We will have to stay in touch. I have the same motor as you. It’s a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. When I figure out how to post pictures, I’ll send you some.
Keep up the good work.

It's DEFINITELY a lot of work, but tis a labor of love! Start a new thread and document your progress! Eager to see how someone else attacks it. Haven't touched my OB since I covered the ship up for the winter. I think I resolved to replace it. Just too much salt to contend with. Probably going to try and find a reasonably priced 150 Yamaha 4 stroke once the hull is squared away.

 

[brisboats]

I just read this thread from the start. Impressed with your skills , passion and ingenuity! I cannot wait to you start this again in the Spring you will have a new boat when done and one that will endure longer than the original.
Brian

 

[nymack66]

Wow amazing project, looking at your tools and your setup, and style no doubt you are a PRO, no shop I know can produce this kind of craftsmanship and quality, my hat off to you my friend..Thanks for sharing.

 

[Sangster]

Any new progress on this restoration?

 

[Myfathersson]

Slow progress this season. Between the impact of the pandemic and a couple medical issues I've gotta devote resources to I don't anticipate getting much done in 2020. I did decide that the engine is not worth attempting to rebuild. The salt infiltration was too excessive. I've spent the last several days dissembling to throw the good bits on eBay and recycle the castings. I finally got the heater core replaced in my truck (started in January but got side burnered due to health) so I can hook up and uncover her this weekend then pull the cap back off to finish up some odds and ends glass work in the hull. If funding can be pulled together I'll get foam to refill the side bays and finish marrying the two halves together. Gas tank will wait till next season. I've got paint on hand to paint the hull and sole so that will be the goal for this season if I can get the foaming accomplished.

 

[Destroyer]

Slow progress this season. Between the impact of the pandemic and a couple medical issues I've gotta devote resources to I don't anticipate getting much done in 2020. I did decide that the engine is not worth attempting to rebuild. The salt infiltration was too excessive. I've spent the last several days dissembling to throw the good bits on eBay and recycle the castings. I finally got the heater core replaced in my truck (started in January but got side burnered due to health) so I can hook up and uncover her this weekend then pull the cap back off to finish up some odds and ends glass work in the hull. If funding can be pulled together I'll get foam to refill the side bays and finish marrying the two halves together. Gas tank will wait till next season. I've got paint on hand to paint the hull and sole so that will be the goal for this season if I can get the foaming accomplished.

You might want to consider using pool noodles for foam. You can get them for a buck each at the Dollar store(s). Cut them to the length you need for each void. Nice thing is that you can buy them as you need them as the work progresses and as funds permit.

 

[RABBITFISH]

Definitely enjoying the pictures and progress. I have the same model and it is great to be able to see what is under the deck. Just curious have you an estimate as to what you have spent so far for the rebuild? It is getting to be a question these days of rebuilding or buying another one..

 

[Myfathersson]

Time to catch this thread up. I opened her back up the beginning of July. Pulled out the mothballs and pulled the cap back off:

Started off piloting the holes where the foredeck hardware would be mounting so that I didn't lose the locations while fairing the area. Dixie was an eager helper:

Spent some time polishing the oxidation off the hardware I was reusing. Here is a side by side of the bow chocks before and after spending some time on the buffing wheel:

Man...I need to wet sand and buff my shop table...but I digress.


Decided the replace the original cleats with something a little more modern looking (and which are less likely to impale me):

Worked on patching the holes and other scars on the foredeck:

And while I was working with glass I worked on the myriad of holes at the back of the cap - speakers, rod holders, poorly located holes for controls, etc.:

And fabricated and glassed in a new anchor shelf:

Guess I didn't save any of the pics of fairing, and sanding, and fairing, and sanding, and more sanding and oh my lord am I restoring a boat or converting epoxy and glass to dust... I did note that the green color of TotalFair is a dead ringer for the Seafoam Green of the 1970's Cruisers Inc tri-hull my family had during my childhood years. Kind of poetic.


With the fairing completed I primed the foredeck, anchor tray, battery trays and the bilge:

More to follow! - Greg

 

[Myfathersson]

With the priming completed, I laid out how I wanted the nonskid on the foredeck. I elected to hold the nonskid about 3/8" off the bowrail mounting plates which came really close to the minimum curve radius of the 3M fineline tape of 1½", and then left clear areas under everything else using that minimum curve radius. I cut templates out of thin cardboard (like notebook backer), then took a few days of vacation so I could ignore my phone while painting:

I'm using the iBoats Tractor Paint formula and rolling it on. With the layout done I laid down the first coat and coated it with nonskid granules as I progressed:

And once the paint had solidified sufficiently I pulled up the masking:

The following morning I swept up the excess nonskid for reuse and laid down the first finish coat. In hindsight I should have vacuumed up the excess the evening before before removing the masking and applied a coat to lock in the granules right then, as there were enough loose particles still, despite brushing and vacuuming multiple times, that I had particles migrate into the smooth areas. I was able to rectify all those with wet sanding but would have been nicer to not have to worry about that.

Four days of painting and then let it rest to get nice and hard.

More to come! - Greg

 

[Myfathersson]

While the paint cured up my brother traveled down to Louisville from Toledo to lend a hand for my next endeavor - FOAM!

Did my calculations and arrived at needing 47cf of foam and that worked out perfect to get a 40cf kit and an 8cf kit from US Composites. Set the cans out in the sun first thing Saturday morning to let them warm up and around noon we poured the first lift.

I guess it got a little too warm in the sun as the first cell, pouring in half the calculated amount resulted in a massive overfill. When I trimmed off the excess found large voids in the middle due to overheating. But we adjusted and figured out the best method for us to use.

Later in the week I went back with a handsaw and trimmed the foam down flush with the stringer tops and then coated the cut surfaces with a little thickened epoxy for good measure.


Then began installing the hardware on the foredeck. Since I wanted to through bolt all of that hardware and not rely on just screwing into the wood coring, that was the impetus for the prep work and painting on just the forececk and not the cap as a whole, before the 2 halves will get mated back together:

I'm really please with how the non skid contours around the hardware, I think it's a really slick detail. I'm also pleased with the finish of the paint with only rolling - no tipping or wet sanding or bufffing. It's got a light orange peel like surface but it's glossy as hell and easy to clean. I don't want to wax it until I blend the rest of the cap and sole paint in with this area, so washing the bird dropping and whatnot off it every couple days until it's recapped and can be covered with a tarp again.

More to come! - Greg

 

[Myfathersson]

Now you might expect the next post to be the cap being married back to the hull...but it's not.

I hadn't figured out my fuel tank plan up until this point, but I decided it was time to solidify that portion before I put the cap back on. In modeling the target tank I decided that while I probably COULD get the tank in through the hatch...it's going to be whole hell of a lot easier to do BEFORE the cap goes on. So, since the stock market and economy have been doing better than I feared they might back in the early spring (I work in the restaurant industry so...), I felt comfortable in ordering the fuel tank, the Oceanlink FOLT5007 I mentioned earlier in this thread. It's a 50 gallon poly belly tank. Less capacity than the original tank but more than enough for my anticipated use. And most importantly it fits within the dimensional requirements of the original tank compartment!

With the tank settled I began formulating a plan for supporting it. I gridded out the hull line from the stringer top, and modeled the hull in Fusion360, as well as the tank. After locating the tank at the height I felt was appropriate I then created a platform which matches the tank profile. That platform will rest on a riser assembly which spans the innermost set of chines. The riser will get epoxied and glassed to the hull, the platform will get epoxied to the riser and glassed to the stringers on either side. There's 1½" of gap between the bulkheads fore and aft of the platform so any moisture that does happen to get down in there can find it's way all the way down to the bilge and out.

At the ends of the tank I will wedge in a few strips of 2" insulating foam to lock the tank in between the 2 bulkheads. I'm fabricating the hold downs which will provide the rest of the rigid mount from a piece of 18ga 304 stainless salvaged from a bar renovation so the tank should be well anchored, fully supported, and last the remainder of my lifetime.

Here's the riser assembly that I started yesterday morning:

And the platform I glued up this morning:

The platform will receive (2) 4" diameter holes matching the tank design which aren't cut yet.

And here's cutting up the stainless for the hold downs:

The flux core stainless wire will arrive at the end of this coming week but no rush on that as the tank has a minimum 3 week lead time - should be plenty of time to get all the glass work done on the riser and platform and get them mounted into the hull, and finally weld the gussets on the brackets.

And THAT catches the thread up! I've gotten a lot more accomplished this summer than I thought I would.

Hope you enjoy! Thanks - Greg

 

[Pipe_Dream]

Fine work!

 

[Myfathersson]

Fine work!

Thank you!

 

[phatdaddy]

Looks good, i know expansion and contraction is an issue on poly tanks, be sure to factor that in.

Keep up the good work

 

[Myfathersson]

Looks good, i know expansion and contraction is an issue on poly tanks, be sure to factor that in.

Keep up the good work

Thanks for the reminder phatdaddy - 3% expansion once fuel is introduced. That's about 1.3" on the length, 0.9" on the width, and 0.37" on the height. All easy to accommodate. Might need to install the hold down brackets after fueling to manage the gain in the length since the threaded inserts are not symmetrical about the axis. Only drawback to that is I can't through bolt both pairs to the stringers once the sole is in place, only the forward bracket will be accessible on the back side. That's a minor issue though, as the brackets closest to the center are the accessible pair which should result in less stress on the rear most brackets. Only other adjustment is I'll use the hot knife to trim the 2" foam blocking at front and rear down.

 

[Blue_Runner]

Amazing work. Not only on the boat but the documentation, quality photos, etc. Pipe summed it up in 2 words - fine work! Nice job and thank you for posting up this really cool rebuild thread. Can't wait to see your next move, and the final product!

 

[Myfathersson]

Amazing work. Not only on the boat but the documentation, quality photos, etc. Pipe summed it up in 2 words - fine work! Nice job and thank you for posting up this really cool rebuild thread. Can't wait to see your next move, and the final product!

Thank you! Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

I've been doing additional thinking and reading about the fuel tank. My platform design wasn't going to result in a sealed compartment but I've decided the platform does need to be fully sealed to the stringers & bulkheads so that any fuel leaks can't foul the bilge. Not a big deal, just need to epoxy up a few pieces of glass as right angles to bridge at the ends - the sides were always intended to seal to the stringers for support.

I'm still contemplating if I need to add vents and a blower though. I'm leaning towards it'd be a good idea.

 

[Myfathersson]

Less than favorable weather this weekend so all I got done outside was some sanding to prep for priming and applying a coat of TotalFair to scratches and pock marks on the transom and keel.

But I was able to tackle one lingering project in the basement after I wrapped up glassing all the surfaces of the new tank platform. I went to work recoring the fuel compartment cover. A new piece of 1/2" MDO laid in with peanut butter. Then I filled the gap between the edge of the plywood and the lip of the cover with a blend of thickened epoxy, milled fiber and 1/4" chopped strand before wetting out a layer of 17oz biax over the back side. I am hoping that this mixture will allow me to countersink the screws which secure the compartment directly into the newly reinforced edge.

The piece of ply covered with mylar tape sticking out the side is just a form to let me build up the edge where a hole had been cut in the edge of the cover for the original install of the cables to the console. Once the back side is set up I'll patch that glass on the topside and create a new hole with a proper dam around it for the console cables that ISN'T in the compartment cover.

Up next may very well be removing the hull from the trailer again and applying paint. Weather just has to cooperate. Stay tuned!

 

[Myfathersson]

Happy Derby Weekend!

It's Derby Weekend here in Louisville and the weather is freaking fantastic - 80° days and 0% chance of rain today thru Tuesday. So painting is on tap.

Over the past few weeks I've made some new hull supports. I wasn't overly fond of the stacked concrete blocks I used last summer so I took some scrap treated 2x6's I had and grabbed a couple 4x4's and 2x4's and made up these pylons:

And then earlier this week I set to the oh so fun chore of jacking up the hull and shimmying the trailer out from 'neath her.

Then set to fairing and sanding the hull to clean up where I sanded thru the old antifouling paint and in spots gelcoat, and the myriad of scratches from the PO beaching her regularly.

On the less dry days I cleaned up all the hatches, faired them and set the non-skid in a coat of epoxy to simplify the painting process.

The PO also mounted a swim ladder to the transom and put one of the screw holes right through the E in the HIN. I tried to dremel a new E in but it never looked very good. So I modeled up a negative of the HIN in Fusion360 and printed it on my 3D printer, packed the mold full of epoxy and milled fiber with a backer of 1708 and put it under a vacuum for an hour to yield this:

Lost the islands in a few of the digits but they read well enough that it works. Cut the old HIN out and glued the new casting in and faired it last night.


And finally this afternoon, after wrapping up a late post lunch meeting, I came home and set to spraying the primer:

Tomorrow morning I'll wet sand and start spraying the finish. With the fantastic weather I'll get 6 coats on her and be ready to install the fuel tank when it gets delivered next week. Just gotta order the new hoses and clamps to make final connections from the deck drains to the thru hulls for assembling the two halves.

Thanks for looking! - Greg

 

[Myfathersson]

Productive weekend! I sprayed a total of 4 coats of paint. My bodywork filling and fairing wasn't perfect, but from 10 feet away I can't pick out the issues, and even at 5 foot I have to know where to look. Plus, except for the 3' long scar along the port side, all of the issues are below the waterline, or under where the engine will mount on the transom, so it's a win in this amateur's book.

It's so nice seeing a glossy shine on her - she didn't have a lick of that when she came home.

I did have one sag starboard side just fore of the ice box thru hull but it's hardly noticeable.

I should have sourced acetone by the pail...

I used a variant of the iBoats "tractor paint" process. Rustoleum Oil Base Gloss Enamel, Acetone to reduce, and Majic Enamel Hardener from Tractor Supply in a 8:6:1 ratio. Each coat took 120 oz of mixed product, sprayed through a Harbor Freight Pressure Pot HVLP gun, fed by (2) 21gal compressors to yield a theoretical 11.6 cfm supply rate, just above the 10 cfm spec'd by HF for the gun. While spraying the hull I also coated all the hatch covers which all had coarse non-skid. That really took some serious application to cover. I bet 30-40 oz of each coat was sprayed on the non-skid. I sprayed the primer with a gravity feed HVLP gun and decided that the $60 pressure pot version was a good investment to let me correctly aim the spray for the keel and chines - I was right


Now, since the hull is off the trailer, I'm setting up to replace 4 of the bunk supports on the inner pair that were too short in my original setup. I've gotta grab a length of 2x4 tube and weld those on over the next couple weeks before my brother travels back down to assist with getting her back on the trailer and setting the cap back in place. So I rolled the trailer up onto the patio to where the welder can reach the outlet, and braced the bunks where they need to be, cut out the front 2 and made up a template for the new supports out of a scrap 2x4. Once the front set is tacked on, I'll cut out the mid supports and tack those in.

Fuel tank should be delivered this week so installing that will be the next big ticket endeavour.

Thanks for looking!