SoCal Jet Boats
Tech Talk => Projects => Topic started by: kingsley on January 14, 2023, 10:17:10 AM
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Jet boats. I had my first experience on the Niagara river, a short trip on a friends boat that ended with me holding some damaged wiring away from the alternator belt with a pair of pliers while getting back to the launch ramp. It was a blast, I was hooked.
A year or so later, I'm in West Virginia buying my first jet boat. It's a project, no engine, mismatched trailer, but otherwise complete with some extra parts and it's what I can afford.
My intentions? "This isn't too bad, I can do some minor work, drop a motor in and go." Let's just say that escalated into an "I'm redoing literally every single bit of this boat" in a multi-year project that I have been working on while living at 3 different houses in 2 states, getting married, and many other happenings in life. I'm now in TN, currently dealing with some not enough garage space issues, but getting back into working on the boat.
Late 2016 I buy the boat and drag it back home to just outside Buffalo NY. Not a fan of the checkerboard or some other things, but its lime green, one of my favorite colors. The previous owner named the boat "shake n bake" but removed the name before I purchased. I have no idea if there is a different name hiding under the paint, but I plan to find out before any kind of name goes back on.
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I had a few months before winter so I started out by working on the trailer. I shortened it almost a foot, adjusted the bunk locations, replaced the fenders, steps, hitch and winch post. I also added a mount for a spare tire that I later find out that I can't get the spare tire in/out, so that needs to be redone. I also redo all lighting, wiring, suspension, have the frame blasted and painted, basically an all new trailer. By the time I finished I was into the next year (winter pause halfway through).
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To get the trailer out for blast and paint, I made a wooden cradle for the front and suspended the rear with an engine hoist. Jack stands underneath as a "just in case". Looking back I cringe at those jack stands, I later came up with a better method of supporting the boat when it came back off.
The axles were cleaned up and reused, but the springs, shackles and hardware are all new. New hubs, wheels and tires, but reused the bearing buddies.
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In my spare time I also worked on sorting through what parts I will use and get cleaned up. I also picked up an air scoop that matches the style of the hull and had a friend do some paintwork on it. I still need to make a base/mount for the air scoop. When the kitten was younger he also found the scoop to be an awesome fort.
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Next up I found an engine for the boat, a complete gen 6 big block chevy 454, out of a 2500 pickup. I stripped it down to a long block, had a buddy freshen up the short block and I got a different camshaft, intake and valvetrain parts. Heads were machined for the higher lift cam. We found out the motor must have hydro locked, one cylinder down but we found an oem replacement for the piston rod and moved on with the rebuild. Unfortunately, while waiting on a backordered oil pan from jegs my garage had sweated during a winter warmup, leaving all exposed areas of the internals to flash rust. Not once, but multiple times. Disappointing, but I've since chalked it up to an expensive learning mistake and moved forward. The engine later got dropped off at a machine shop, but I more or less parked it in the corner for a while.
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By this point I've moved into my new house, 1 door down. Pretty excited because the boat actually fits in this garage. After a bit of down time I'm back at it, somewhere around 2018. The boat came with two Berkeley JC-A jet drives, as well as a manual place diverter. At this time my parents are living in NH, and I find a complete JC-G jet pump out there. They pick it up for me and I grab it while visiting. I also pick up a new place diverter shifter, straight snoot, as well as win a droop snoot in a raffle so I have some options to try on setup. Everything gets powder coated white, but I fail to realize certain surfaces can't get powder coated so I have to wet sand some parts to get them to bolt up properly. Around this time I also meet the guy that runs the Allegheny river rats boat club in the southern tier of NY and western PA. Cool dude, has an awesome shop. He machined the intake and a shoe for me, as well as built a ride plate. In addition, helped me reassemble the jet drive and get it ready to bolt into the hull when I'm ready to do so.
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While collecting parts I decided to make my own rail kit and ditch the cast mount setup. I referenced the specs of the rail kit on lightning headers when getting material. 2.5"x2.5"x.25" angle, 3/8" thick plate, all 6061 t6 aluminum. I found a drawing of a big block chevy online for locating bolt holes, verified locations on my engine and then started drawing the templates in CAD. Print, tape and cut out the mounts with a jig saw. Put a sanding drum in a drill press to square off the cuts then used a router with an 1/8" bit to give a radius. Angle blocks I found on ebay, but might replace these later. I plan to make most of the additional mounts and brackets for the boat myself, and plan on picking up a tig welder as that will be needed later for some of the work.
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By this point I couldn't procrastinate any more and needed to start digging into the fiberglass. There's a couple reasons for the procrastination. First, I had zero clue what I was doing. Second, I discovered the boat was not as solid as I thought it was. When I bought the boat there was one section on the right stringer that was delaminating. No big deal I thought. Well, turns out a previous owner replaced this stringer and used pressure treated. Not good, has to come out. I also found that the left stringer, while original, had some rot in the rear near the engine mounts. Figure might as well yank it all out. While the stringers are out, I found some moisture damage in the transom, which you'll see is worse than expected. Also, the top of the boat was removed at some point and reattached terribly. Here we go...
Removal of the paint, glue, etc. was done with an angle grinder and flap disc, as well as a palm sander. A multitool with cutoff blade and sawzall got most of the stringers out. I also used a chainsaw to dig out some of the left stringer, and a mini belt sander and die grinder worked well for the tight spots.
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When I started cutting out the transom I discovered something really interesting. The layers of fiberglass on the outside of the transom actually started delaminating from itself. Yikes. At this point I paused and started doing a lot more research, searching youtube, etc and found some good info that definitely helped.
Also some tips; skip the paper mask or half mask when grinding fiberglass. The respirator with the face shield is a game changer. 100% more comfortable. Also, I found the white jumpsuits to be a waste, they rip too easy. A pair of old heavy jeans and hoodie, gloves, hat and deal with the heat works out a lot better for keeping the itching down. Use a shop vac whenever possible to suck the mess up while you are working, not after.
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Fixing the transom.
I found a youtube channel, boatworkstoday. This channel has been a huge help for me, highly recommend. This channel not only shows how to do certain tasks, but helped me in selection of materials. I'm out east, and without much for local sources I have been ordering just about everything for fiberglass through jamestown distributors. 1708 and 1700 glass, totalboat epoxy resin, fairing compound, silica and chop. The coosa board is from a place in FL and supplies like chip brushes, fin rollers, gloves and stir sticks (tongue depressors) are from amazon. I opted for epoxy because I didn't know all history of the boat and since it was already painted, I felt epoxy would be the strongest method to use.
After all of the transom wood was removed, I bolted a piece of plywood to the outside of the boat and started removing the inside layers of fiberglass that had delaminated. The plywood had packaging tape on the face to reduce chance of it getting stuck to the hull. I had sections of hull that were about an 1/8" thick here and very weak, so that plywood was important.
After removing the delaminated sections, I ground the edges to as best of an angle as I could and started tracing for the 1708. I glassed in the 1708 with epoxy resin, and got everything within 1/16" of flat. I then used epoxy fairing compound to get everything completely flat.
Next up I made a template, then cut out the coosa board. The coosa was fitted, rounded the edges, then sanded and prepped to go in. I mixed up some thickened epoxy and set the coosa, clamping it down. After that had cured thickened epoxy was used to give a filet around all edges.
A final sand, then 3 layers of 1700 went over the coosa. I trimmed the edges around the hole for the jet drive, and will later seal this up with epoxy.
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More photos of the transom work.
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Next up was stringers. I first got the boat off the trailer, supported under the bow and two jackstands at the rear corner, making sure the boat was level left to right. I modified the stands with threaded rod, nut and plate welded together for adjustment and a 2x4 on top to spread out the load. These worked out great.
I picked up two 2"x8"x16' kiln dried douglas fir, picking the best grain orientation and straightest material I could get. The hull got a final sand and prep and the stringers were fitted. I used 1/8" ply and an angle finder to determine the fit and chamfer on bottom of the stringer to get a nice fit. A string line was ran from transom to bulkhead to determine height, based on measurements I took before tearing the boat apart.
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The stringers got a radius on the edges and top then coated in epoxy. I also made some supports to keep them straight and locate weight for when they go in.
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Next up the stringers got a final sand and then bedded down using thickened epoxy. I also added a filet of thickened epoxy at the same time. The stringers were done one at a time to make things easier. When I got to the second stringer I also learned to start using painters tape as an "edge" to limit how much area outside of where I was working needed to be sanded after.
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Now that the stringers were bedded it was time to get some glass laid down. I built a platform that I could move and lay on to reach inside the boat where I couldn't reach from the outside. The last thing I wanted to do was step inside the hull and do damage this far along. The stringers got a few layers of 1700. I did this in sections to make it easier and overlapped all joints, going smallest to largest to increase the surface area that each layer was bonding to. After all work inside the hull is done I'll do one final layer of 1700 over everything to make sure its all nicely tied in together.
At this point I not only realized that the deck needed to come back off the boat, but I also would be replacing the front bulkhead after finishing glassing the stringers how I wanted.
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So when I said the deck was previously reattached poorly, what I mean is I could grab ahold of the single layer of glass tape and rip it off with my hands. So next I removed all rub rail, cut through the tape I couldn't easily rip off, cut through the tabbing at top of bulkhead, and lifted the deck off. I used ratchet straps and some furring strips to get this up in the air and hung from the rafters. I cut out the bulkhead around the stringers to give more room to glass those in, and finished glassing the stringers. While letting things cure, I also filled in the gas tank mount holes with thickened epoxy and 1708. I'll address the bottom side of those when the hull is flipped over.
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Now that the deck was off the boat I decided the best way to prep that for reattachment was to flip it over. While it was flipped over I also decided to replace all plywood in the dash and gunnels with coosa and the cardboard tubes with pvc. Note that I also filled in the holes from the old water discharge locations. These previously were out the side directly above one of the cleat locations.
Like the transom, the coosa was fitted and set with thickened epoxy and thickened epoxy was used to create a filet along the edges. I used 1 layer of 1700 overtop. The pvc tubes were flame treated, sanded and epoxied in with fiberglass tape. The mini belt sander was very helpful working in the gunnels.
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More photos of underside of deck work.
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Love the build. Awesome work. I dig the coosa board. I wanted to go that route but I could not get it here in so cal.
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Very very nice. Good job so far
Sent from my iPhone using SoCal Jet Boats mobile app (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=201)
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Thanks guys.
I love the coosa board. When I ordered it I did have to pay for a freight charge and pick up at a local shipping hub, but it has gone up in price quite a bit since. I'm saving and using every little scrap of it that I have.
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At this point it was time to put the deck back on the boat, but first I sanded and prepped as much of the seams and anywhere else I would need to get at for reattaching. In addition I got out all the old brittle resin and whatnot that was sitting inside the bow from previous poor work. Fortunately it didn't take much to get things lined back up, the hull kept its shape quite well.
I used ratchet straps to hold the top and bottom together, then taped the seam for a backing when glassing the seam back together so I didn't get epoxy resin all over the outside of hull. On the inside I used 2 layers of fiberglass tape, (1) 4" then (1) 8". I started at the back and worked my way to the front.
At one point while working the power went out for a few hours, but not wanting to stop mid way I just started working in the dark with a flashlight. Somehow still tuned out great. From the transom to the bulkhead in one day, and in the bow a couple days later. Squeezing through the bulkhead to glass up inside the bow was not fun.
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More photos of reattaching the deck.
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Now that the hull was back together it was time to replace the bulkhead. I had been trimming away at this to work but didn't want to take it out yet to keep some strength and shape in the hull while it was apart.
After removal it was more sanding and prep. I used some underlayment scraps leftover from the stringer templates to piece together the shape for a template, using hot glue to piece it together. I transferred this to the coosa, cut out and test fit, then added some holes for access. All edges were rounded and it got sanded and prepped for a layer of fiberglass on each side. I use a router to give a nice radius on the coosa, but still go back over with sandpaper by hand. Like elsewhere, 1700 and epoxy resin was used for glass.
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More photos of the bulkhead
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Finally time to put the new bulkhead in. Like the transom and stringers, I started out with mixing up some thickened epoxy and created a fillet around the edges, then went over it with a couple layers of 1700. I only did the one side initially, but will be doing the bow side as well.
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Super clean
Sent from my SM-A536U using SoCal Jet Boats mobile app (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=201)
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By this point I had the boat structurally sound again, some to do's still but it can at least get back on the trailer and be moved, which is important because my wife and I decided to move 800 miles to our new home in TN... in the middle of winter. The boat couldn't make it on the first trip down, so by the time I got back up north I had to dig out several feet of snow in single digit temps to clear the driveway and get the trailer into the garage. I ran a heater to get the snow melted off and then got the boat back on the trailer. Taped up the seam in the hull, packed everything that was left to move into the truck and hit the road. Everything went smoothly, and when I got home I washed the boat and trailer inside and out a couple times to get it clean.
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At my old house I had a pretty solid garage setup, with plenty of space for everything. When we moved I had to sacrifice in land and garage space, as finding what we were looking for in our budget just wasn't happening. The boat would fit in the attached garage, but this was already filled with my tools and the wife's car. I also have a 1.5 car metal building (actually a carport the previous owner enclosed) but the boat doesn't quite fit... well that's what I got right now. This was leaving me with frustration of dealing with birds, not having enclosed lockable storage, etc. I had spent most of the year calling around to contractors to either build a new, larger garage or to have just a retaining wall done where I could stick build a garage myself after. Unfortunately with higher prices and growth in the area I was either getting "no call/no show", "we're not taking on more work" or estimates that were 4x higher than pre c19 pricing. Nuts. I finally decided that for now I'm enclosing the front covered area of the metal building so I can get back on the project. Note I moved the door so now I can store both the boat and my tractor in there and actually get them in/out. But as of this weekend I'm 100% on the project and I can get back to the boat after some time off. When the day comes that the boat is finished, I will likely replace this building then.
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Gotta take a step back here. When we moved the engine did not come with. Previously when I mentioned the engine would get dropped off at a machine shop to be rebuilt a second time, that happened just before the move. Where we used to live one of the local engine builders is Jan-Cen Racing Engines, aka Mike Janis Superchargers. They build all sorts of engines, as well as have a NHRA promod multi-time championship winning team. I dropped off the engine and I'm letting them take their time of doing the rebuild, while adding some upgrades where they think its worthwhile. Everyone said I would be waiting but honestly I have the time and I'm ok with it. I want to support them and I know I'll have a solid engine when its ready. They will also put the engine on the dyno for initial run for any kind of break in and tuning.
Side note, a couple years ago Mike had a killer wrap done on his car and was raising money for first responders, anyone that donated could have someone's name put on the car. I put in a donation and had my wife's name (at the time fiance) put on the car as she is a critical care registered nurse.
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While working on the boat I decided I wanted to simplify as much as I could. These are hotrods on the water, and to me a hotrod is simple, bare bones. Part of that is ditching the heavy cocktail seating and going to a set of fiberglass buckets and bench. A while back I saw that Brian Wilcox (Lefty's) was selling buckets and bench seats on one of the Facebook groups, so I got in contact with him and ordered a set of the larger ones. He got them shipped out to me and I couldn't be happier. The plan is to make a set of aluminum mounts for these, the front one for the buckets having integrated cup holders. One thing that I have been doing throughout this project is saving any photo I come across online that has something I like, all these different ideas that I can incorporate into my boat. Whether it be a specific style of stitching on seats, a mount with cupholders, a certain color scheme, etc.
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Had a break in the weather so I pulled the boat out and set the seats in there, started some mockup to figure out what materials I need to order. I'm going to space them about 2" higher than the top of the stringer and will use a mix of aluminum angle and flat plate to make the mounts, just like how I made the engine plates and rails. Final placement will have to wait until after the engine is in for the back bench, but space there will get sacrificed so that the front two buckets are comfortable. One thing I'm not sure about is location of the drivers seat in relation to the steering wheel. I want the outside edges in line with the width of the rear bench, but then the seat isn't centered on the steering wheel location. I can put that wherever I want, but was hoping to keep that and the rest of the guages/controls in their current spots.