(09-04-2006) New wood cut, sanded and wiped down with acetone.

(09-04-2006) First time using resin and fiberglass so triple checked to make sure I had everything handy so I don't take too long and miss the kick.

(09-04-2006) Mat cut and waiting.

(09-04-2006) Ok...I may overkill a tad. I build these clamps out of scrap 2x4s and bolts. I REALLY want to make sure that the transom stayed together while the resin dried.

(09-04-2006) Well, here it is...3 2x4 clamps and 8 other clamps. I put this in my shed and let it dry/cure for several weeks. I decided to flip the hull and remove the bottom paint sooo..I had plenty of time to let it do it's thing.

(10-10-2006) Well, if at first you don't succeed... Seems that I didn't use enough resin and/or I clamped it too tight. One half started separating when I removed the clamps. I was able to pull it apart and I found dry mat. I applied resin and mat to the side that the original mat didn't stick to. I then applied resin to the side with the original mat still stuck to it and clamped it back together. I used as much resin this time as I had for the entire transom on the first attempt.

This time, after removing clamps...it held.

(10-10-2006) This is looking at the top of the transom. Here you can see all the resin that oozed out. I haven't cut it even yet, I am going to wait until I get it fit in...then cut it. I want to make sure that I don't screw up and cut it too short.

(06-20-2007) A lot of work done (see bottom paint section) and I have glassed in the new transom. I don't have any pictures of the process (sorry) since I was trying to get stuff together before resin kicked.

(06-20-2007) Another view of transom and new bilge area. The original bilge was a small semi-circle that I gould barely fit a bilge pump in. I wanted to have a little more access to the transom/drain/bilge.

(06-20-2007) You can see how thick my transom is. Solid as a rock.

I wanted to double up the floor thickness here because I am planning on installing a ski pylon. I notched out the stringers so the main floor will sit level over this.

(06-20-2007) Another view. A lot of dust to be cleaned up. I will be so glad when all the grinding is done.

(06-20-2007) Another view of transom.

(06-20-2007) Side of transom. I drilled drain holes in the stringers to allow (if any) water that gets below the floor to drain to the bilge.

I don't have any pictures of the stringers glassed in. Sorry.

(06-24-2007) New brass drain installed. Used a borrowed flange/flair tool...worked like a dream.

(06-24-2007) No pictures of the floor glued and screwed in. I cut several 2" holes and poured foam to fill beneath floor.

Here it is after coating with resin, laying mat, tabbing with woven roven and finally laied cloth down.

(06-24-2007) Another view. Bilge area still needs to be clean outs...sanded and a layer of mat and cloth laid.

(06-24-2007) Another view. The white areas is the fairing along the seams and edges.

(06-24-2007) Bow section of floor.

(06-24-2007) Another view from bow.

(07-2007) I attempted to put the cap back on and found that the transom was a little too thick. I tried to grind it down a touch but went through a few times so decided to cut the back off and just glass it in. (Wow...a year ago I would NEVER have said that!).

Here is a picture of the transom/splash well. I put a brass drain tube in and used the flange tool again. A few more coats of resin and lots of sanding...it will be ready for gel coat.

(07-2007) Dry fitting the motor mount bracket so I can drill the mounting holes before re-gel coating. I am going to sand, prime and paint the bracket before installing it. I will probably wait until next? year to paint the actual motor.

(08-10-2007) Here she is almost done. I have gel coated it with 3 coats (2 un-waxed, 1 waxed) sprayed on. I only have to wet sand it and add the aluminum trim for the corner. I also have screwed in the rub rail.

(08-10-2007) Shot of the splash well after gel-coated. It is not perfect...but frankly...I don't give a damn.

(08-10-2007) Tried to texture floor with thickened gelcoat. It would have dome out great...but I didn't thicken it enough. I then tried spraying a couple of coats with the syphon spray gun I have....but since I only was mixing up about 8-10oz each batch (I was afraid that it woudl kick and ruin the gun) I had a problem with not getting thick, even coat whenever I aimed down.

I decided just to roll on the rest.

(08-10-2007) I should have applied one more coat of resin before trying to gelcoat. I could still feel the texture of the cloth but I figured that the gelcoat would fill it in....and it did... sort of.

If you zoom in...you can see some pin-sized voids caused by the cloth texture. You can also see some cloth texture. I will be rolling on another coat after I am done everything else.

(08-10-2007) Another view of floor.

(08-10-2007) Here is the re-designed bilge.