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1987 Eliminator Whaler Resto

mesquito_creek

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I am restoring my whaler and tore out the old floor. It looks like in 1987 Eliminator used 16 penny nails to hold down the 3/4 plywood flooring. What is the preferred method going forward? Otherwise, the hull and stringers are in great shape for the age, nothing to do but replace two bulk heads and the floor. whalerfloorstripped.JPG
 

mesquito_creek

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When I put a straight edge across Perpendicular across all four stringers they are not all at the same elevation. Is it worth shiming the floor to make it lay relatively flat. The original floor just sort of bowed across the stringers?
 

coolchange

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None of those old hand tooled boats are square or symmetric. Check floor to gunnel heights side to side also. At some point y9ure going to have to make it up. Me, I would probably shim the floor to get it reasonable. Dont tbink I'd want it starting out under tension.

Love Whalers
 

mesquito_creek

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I was trying to stay within budget and only spend a couple thousand dollar more than the boat is going to be worth restored, so I decided to leave the trailer alone and not repaint it. I am not a fan of the skyblue color. But after seeing the KMG restore on the front page of RDP I guess it doesn't look as bad as I thought. So new carpet, rewire and a bunch of 3M rubbing compound and the trailer is pretty much as good as it is going to get... IMG_0679.jpg IMG_0680.jpg
 

Headless hula

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Did you spray new, to repair the damage, or have someone else take care of it? Looks great!
 

lenmann

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Wow, looks great!

Like Headless Hula asked can you share more about matching an blending the gel coat?

How did you end up addressing the floor to stringer level differences and how did you attach the floor?

Thanks for sharing!
 

mesquito_creek

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Only the repairs and holes that were filled in got touched up and color matched. Then color sanded the whole boat and re apply the clear coat. The bottom and keel were pretty hammered from too many good times and the white gel was also completely re done. All the work performed by a professional fiberglass repair shop in Mesa AZ. The floors are not done yet, I will be taking back the work from here out of my house shop.. My plan is to do all old school teak style 2 1/4 wide strips with 1/4 inch white filler, no carpet.
 

GregG

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When I put a straight edge across Perpendicular across all four stringers they are not all at the same elevation. Is it worth shiming the floor to make it lay relatively flat. The original floor just sort of bowed across the stringers?

I would. It's easy to do. I'd also suggest G/flex 650-8 Epoxy Adhesive from West. The G/flex has a small amount of elasticity in the formula so good for tie in to the stringer tops. Just remember, once you do it, it's never coming up again.
 

mesquito_creek

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Last Pics for a while... thread will go dark during the flooring and I will post when done... IMG_0687.jpg IMG_0686.jpg
 

Tommy Gun Images

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I'd be interested in seeing the floor construction process. I'm going to be doing the same thing with the Taco and have no idea where to start.
 

Headless hula

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Only the repairs and holes that were filled in got touched up and color matched. Then color sanded the whole boat and re apply the clear coat. The bottom and keel were pretty hammered from too many good times and the white gel was also completely re done. All the work performed by a professional fiberglass repair shop in Mesa AZ. The floors are not done yet, I will be taking back the work from here out of my house shop.. My plan is to do all old school teak style 2 1/4 wide strips with 1/4 inch white filler, no carpet.


Just askin, but why the clear? Is it clear gel, or automotive or what?

Boat looks great man!
 

mesquito_creek

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Just askin, but why the clear? Is it clear gel, or automotive or what?

Boat looks great man!

Budget, you can spend cubic dollars on gelcoat/paint. I am pretty realistic, no matter how much I spend on this restoration I end up with a 7500 dollar 80s day cruiser. So I am trying to just make good choices and end up with a boat I can still tie up to foxes/roadrunner, beach it and not lose my mind trying to have a good time. I am looking for a boat that looks great after 3 beers and standing 5 feet back from it. It's a urathane clear...
 

mesquito_creek

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So i made a floor shim jig with the little spacer blocks at 3/4 inch to represent the floor thickness. Then I cut the stringer shims and attached them with 6-10 epoxy. I left a little extra on the shim and finished them with a belt sander to get the final elevation. Took a measurement every 12 inches until the stringers were level. The front also got two shims about half that length. There was a nice 4-5 foot section that didn't need any help.




IMG_0700.jpg IMG_0702.jpg IMG_0703.jpg
 

lenmann

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Nice work.

Keep the updates coming. I'm really interested in how you attached the (sub) floor and then the teak.
 

HydroSkreamin

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That attention to detail will yield the results you are looking for. I 2nd the comment^^ nice work. That will be solid and level.
 

mesquito_creek

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Sub floor is embedded to the stringers but I still have to tab it to the hull with fiberglass tape and resin. I started milling the flooring... IMG_0738.jpg IMG_0732.jpg IMG_0734.jpg IMG_0733.jpg

Resin all the underside too

IMG_0709.jpg
 

lenmann

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Looking great!

What did you use to bed the floor to the stringers?

Thats some beautiful wood your cutting into strips, almost looks like honduran mahogany.
 

mesquito_creek

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Looking great!

What did you use to bed the floor to the stringers?

Thats some beautiful wood your cutting into strips, almost looks like honduran mahogany.

West system 6 ten for the adhesive... All the European teak board stock I found was almost black in color, so I decided on a lighter species of mahogany. Very well could be Honduran with how poorly and species identification is with the retail suppliers, but it came off the AF rack. I wish I could have got a blonde or clear in that size.

I could only get about 8 feet of teak and that single board would have been over a grand. I lucked out finding a 12 footer that wasn't too twisted although is has a decent crown. 200 bucks more in line with this project!
 

DLow

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Only the repairs and holes that were filled in got touched up and color matched. Then color sanded the whole boat and re apply the clear coat. The bottom and keel were pretty hammered from too many good times and the white gel was also completely re done. All the work performed by a professional fiberglass repair shop in Mesa AZ. The floors are not done yet, I will be taking back the work from here out of my house shop.. My plan is to do all old school teak style 2 1/4 wide strips with 1/4 inch white filler, no carpet.

What shop in Mesa? Have some work I want done to my Stoker and would like to stay local. Would you recommend the shop to others? PM if you prefer. Thanks!
 

mesquito_creek

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IMG_0749.jpg Ok... here is a teaser... since I don't drink beer while I work saws I blew off the fiberglass and started milling the floors... I wet a couple pieces for the color sample, I will be using a satin clear that should look the same... and here is what I am going for!


IMG_0745.jpg IMG_0742.jpg

This is all that's left of that beam:
 

Oilman

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That wood flooring is going to make that one of the best looking whalers out there.
 

mesquito_creek

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Been playing with samples... line widths and sanding characteristics. I definitely think there is an advantage keeping the lines pretty thin. I will also do a poly satin, gloss varnish and eurathane before I make my final finish decision. I was a little worried about the thin cut I did for the laminate, but it lays up nice and sands out fine. You can see the sanding before and after. I am having to hone my skills on the caulking, it's trickier than it looks.

IMG_0804.jpg IMG_0805.jpg
 

tkrrox

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I would put sealer on wood before you caulk. If not it will get in the grain and be a pita
 

mesquito_creek

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... trust me, I am the king of sander sealer... that's why I am working the samples..... I will have a finished "sample" before I go full bore
 

coolchange

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What are you caulking with? Are you really going to do gloss? We did a cape cod house ba k in the day and put down caulked floors. What a pain. The ice deal is brilliant. What are you adhering it with? I would finish each piece all sides before you install it. I would use CPES on each individual piece. Once its in how do you plan on redoing the finish.
 

mesquito_creek

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I use this boat about 2 weekends a year... I hope the finish out lives me... but straight marine varnish is gloss, but I normally lean toward satin finishes on this kind of stuff. If I like the satin poly it probably will win my favor.

IMG_0806.jpg
 

coolchange

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Cool. Interesting thread and following the progress!
 

HydroSkreamin

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You are going to have a gorgeous floor in that thing when it's done, no one will want to walk on it!
 

lenmann

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What do you caulk the joints with? Ive seen many boats (yachts really) with teak decks but never thought about what kind of material would hold up in that application.

Is there purpose specific marine deck caulk?
 

mesquito_creek

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See the pic above... "team deck caulking". All my research pretty much determined there are dozens of ways to go about it, there is no standard. Also there is nothing special about teak if it's not going to be wet all the time and oiled. If you are putting a eurathane/poly/varnish clear on it you can really use any species of wood you want...
 

mesquito_creek

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Here is some more sample work... I have 100 bucks into samples! LOL... I am going to go with a light natural satin and satin spar urathane. My only question now is that I have been going with the caulking under the clear which I really want to do instead of finish first and caulk so I am going to do one more sample with just exposed caulk and see if I can live with it...



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Headless hula

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What type of adhesive is that? I was going to ask you, how in the world do yu fasten that down. Lololol.

That is going to look FARKIN AWESOME man. Very cool to watch your progress!
 

mesquito_creek

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Final color sample:
80 grit
120 grit
220 grit
Sanding sealed
220 grit
Stain
Sanding sealer
220 grit
4 coats of poly sprayed with 220 in between each coat
Caulk

IMG_0826.jpg
 

coolchange

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Wow thats going to look cool.
Having done wood floors for several years can i give you a tip.
If you run the belt sander in a soft X pattern or soft figure 8 while keeping it running with the grain it should keep you from digging an edge of the paper and have a leveling effect. Cant wait to see the finished product.
 

Headless hula

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Wow thats going to look cool.
Having done wood floors for several years can i give you a tip.
If you run the belt sander in a soft X pattern or soft figure 8 while keeping it running with the grain it should keep you from digging an edge of the paper and have a leveling effect. Cant wait to see the finished product.

I have been giving this project some thought as well.
Just asking, but could a guy have ran these through a planer before installing them? Would the grain tear out?
I've never had the pleasure of working with teak before, so I apologize if the question seems silly.

Looks really nice man!
 

mesquito_creek

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I have been giving this project some thought as well.
Just asking, but could a guy have ran these through a planer before installing them? Would the grain tear out?
I've never had the pleasure of working with teak before, so I apologize if the question seems silly.

Looks really nice man!

I think you could run one side down the planer to help with the process. I would probably go a little thicker than I did if you planned on going that route. In my case, I moved the saw fence 1/4 inch each pass but because of the yawl of the blade and some movement on my part with the pushing it through I only netted somewhere in between a fat 1/8 - 3/16. If you planned on installing a finished side so to speak I think you would have to start with a PERFECT sub floor or it might end up that the pre-plane still requires alot of sanding to get it flat. I went pretty thin to allow for some wave in the floor and other less than perfect spots and I will use my judgement in the sanding process to finesse a reasonably flat floor. The other reason I am going with a thinner material is to keep the weight down, I still want to be able to out run the common jet boat!.. But seriously, if I was to go 1/4+ on the thickness I might consider a 1/2 inch sub floor.

Having said all that, it really isn't a very big area to have to work over AND unfortunately I think 1/2 of the flooring will be covered with interior seat bases, engine cover and the center console. But when you lift the engine hatch or a seat base it will be bitchen! hahaha
 

rivergames

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Incredible work! Can't wait to see the outcome :thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup
 

Kachina26

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Just thinking about all that sanding makes my knees hurt.
 

mesquito_creek

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6.5 hours on the belt sander with 80 grit, another 5-6 on the da working up to 220. Sealed, stained and re-sealed. Ready for clear but I have to spend a couple days getting my shop cleaned to hospital standard before I start with the clear.... looks darker in the pictures than it really is.

IMG_0840.jpg IMG_0839.jpg
 
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