'73 Kona restoration

[holorinhal]

Well since I do not have any thing to do for the moment, I thought I would share My build with the great Pepole of River Daves Place.
Many of You may have allready seen the build, so I am sorry if it is redundant. But for those that have not Please enjoy.

Please keep in mind that all of the pics that I will be showing are of work that I have allready done on the boat.

These first pics are when I went to Huntington beach to pick up the boat.

Ok here are a few more Pic's.
These are from when I got the boat back to Vegas(back full circle).
The boat had been sitting under a dark blue heavy cloth boat cover for four years,so it needed a good cleaning.

The boat had a Jacuzzi 12WJ. That Will have to go.

From these pics and from a distance,You could not see the boat acne it had.

Ok here is where it started getting intresting!
I bought a 454BBC which was reportedly in good running order,rebuilt with about 5000mi,with 10:1.compresion ,with the intentions of just sticking it in the boat and go have fun.It was end of season and being the curious one,or skeptik,Idid not just want to take the word of another,I poped the pan off to have a look inside.lo and behold what did I discover ?A spunn bearing,I WAS PISSED! Any way I proceeded to tear down the engine .I pulled the heads first and made another discovery.It aint no 10:1 motor and further more one cylinder was really rusty .UHHO!Have I got a cracked block or head?
I tore the motor completly down and off to the machine shop it went to cleaned and maged.
well The block and the heads tested good,NO CRACK'S,but the one rusty cylinder could not be cleaned up,so it was time to bore.
I talked with My engine builder and we decided to go with some more cubes,A STROKER MOTOR! Bored .030 and bought a Scatt 4.25 stroke rotating asymbly.

Any way while I was gathering parts and with My limmited budget,and being hard headed and not wanting to settle for a lesser motor (i did not just want a stock motor) ,I started picking at the boat! For one the cracks in the deck were driving Me crazy! so I started contemplating fixing the deck, started there and one thing lead to another.You Know one of those ,while I am here I might as well fix this too,situations.

Anywho here I am a year and a half later and I am still working on it! Oh well hopefully the end result will be worth it,When all is said and doneIt will practicly be a neww hull,as I have filled every hole except the transom cutout,and replaced every pice of wood,except the wood glassed into the deck.I think it will probobly even be built better than Kona built it the first time!
I am calling It a reso build instead of a restoration ,becouse while the hull is a classic It will be updated and modernized to almost a custom boperformance boat....Hal

Here are is a pic of what the deck looked like up close. Boat Acne!

Here are a few pic's of the interior ,before we get into the ugly stuff!

 

[holorinhal]

Ok well while I was waiting on My engine to be built,I was sitting here staring at the deck on the boat.Every time I would look it over I would tell Myself,Man i should fix this! After a while I started picking at the deck.I had seen Roostwears Stevens thread ,and He was scraping the paint with a razor blade,and I thought would this work for Me.

I started scraping and it was working

Aha! The original gell,Silver metal flake!

 

[holorinhal]

The razor scraping is taking too long. I will have to grind the rest of the gel off with a power tool,But first being that I guess I will go ahead and re paint,I need to get the boat off the trailer and onto a dolly that I built.
I went ahead and removed the rub rail from around the boat. When I got it removed I was surprised that there was no hull deck seam It apears that the huhh is some what capped,but is cracked in spots.I don't know if this is a factory deal or an after thought?

To get the boat off the trailer I decided to try Squircha's method ,with the two engine hoists.I have allready removed the pump ,so I will have to use the transom eyes to lift,hope it holds.The hull does'nt seem to be all that heavy,so I dont see a problem.

Got her all hooked up and started to lift

Bottom shot.Got some work to do here.

I built a dolly To set the boat on while doing all the work and be able to move it around. I built it for two stages of the work. The lower half with the carpet ,for the boat up right and the extended upper portion, which is removable, for the boat upsidedown.

I got the boat off the trailer and onto the dolly for better working access.

I needed to grind all the gell coat off the deck,down to the bare glass to make sure that all the cracks go away .When I got down to bare glass I found that there was a ton of tiny cracks in the glass itsself.The cracks were very tiny and bunched together all over th deck,almost like at some point there was a bunch of weight placed on the deck. Maybe someone too heavy walked on the deck? Any way there were too many and they were too small to V-grind and fill back with glass.
I called Todd(Toddnjuzz) at TRG fiberglass,to see what route He thought I should take. He gave Me a couple options,one of which was to lay up a layer of mat followed by a layer of cloth,over th entire deck then blocksand it down. Todd said that is what they did to Cyclones deck on his Rogers and it worked great,So that is what I did. Deck grinding

Here You can see the original gell coat ,which was silver flake with blue flake graphics.

Down to the glass

 

[holorinhal]

Before I glass the deck I need to Fix a spot on the nose.
If You look at the nose in this pic You can see the bad spot.

I filled in the bad spot with glass,then laid up layers of glass over it.

 

[holorinhal]

Ok ,I got the deck laid up with a layer of mat and a layer of cloth.

First I laid out the mat and cut it to fit the deck,then cut the cloth to fit ,so every thing would be ready to go

I used vinylester laminating resin for the layup,and added some sufacing agent to the final coat to harden non tacky.I had to work at night and under catylize the resin,due to the heat here in Vegas.
Here is the deck cured and ready for block sanding.

I got one ripple in the final layer,that I had to grind a little before blocking

After sanding down the glass layup,I skimmed the whole deck with a mixture of finnishing resin and microballons to fill in the low spots(not shown),then blocked that down.Then as a final fairing I used a pollyester putty to finnish fairing.

 

[holorinhal]

Well I was'nt really planning on replacing the stringers,but there I go again looking at things too long!

After looking them over realy good I found that they were still very solid,but I can see that the glass has delamminated from the wood,and they were very ugly.
I cut out the stringers. I just took a side grinder and cut about a 1/4" above the hull,on both sides of each stringer.Then with the stringers removed,I took a sawsaw and cut down alongthe hull and the remaining glass to make it smooth.

 

[holorinhal]

I am doing a pump swap and set back,so I removed the Intake.
I started first by removing the bolts through the hull and intake,then carefully cutting,with a grinder and cutoff wheel,along the seam of the intake hole and intake,from the bottom.
I then took some screwdrivers,wood chisels and a pry bar and wedged them between the flange and hull working around the inake,tapping each one in allitle at a time ,untill it finally just poped loose.

REMOVING TRANSOM WOOD

Went ahead and cut out the glass and removed the wood in the transom. also filled a few holes in the inside.

I went ahead and removed all the wood in the gunnels and the dash in prep for replacing with new.

Filling holes and guages
_____________________________________

I filled all the holes on the inside around the gunnelswhere varrious things were mounted.
I cut out all the gauge holes,then ground(not shown)the area down tapering the edges inward.

I then bonded the dash wood with two layers of mat and clamped them with bar clamps.While the glass was still wet I laid up the glass in the gauge holes alternating mat and cloth untill built back up.

As You can see in the pic above, I decided to fill the steering col hole,so I could have some adjustability in mounting the wheel.

Transom
__________________________________
I cut out and fitted the wood for the transom.
I scribed lines in the wood with a wood burning tool,to try and simulate the balsa look.

I ground out and glassed in the exhaust holes,swimstep holes and various other thrugh hull fittings.

Here I laid up the transom wood using two layers of wet mat to bond the transom wood to the hull.I then used 2x4's and bar clamps to clamp the wood tight untill cured.

Here I ground down the fiberglass on the holes I filled.

I mixed up some resin and micro baloons to fill in the low spots,from where I had ground the fiberglass

then I block sanded the resin/microballoon filler and washed the boat out from all the acumillated dust.

[

 

[holorinhal]

 

[holorinhal]

Ok here was My delima.I am doing a pump swap and a set back.I am swaping from the jucuzzi 12Wj that was in the boat To a Berk 12jg. The intake hole for the jacuzzi is wider than the berk intake ,the bolt holes are'nt even close,and I really did'nt want to just patch the front of the set back, So, I decided to just glass in the entire hole and start from scratch.
This is the hole after bulling the intake and cleaning the area up a bit.

I then made a scarf cut around the perimiter of the holeand tapered it out wards ,so there would'nt be a lip inthe glass after it was built back up

I then took a piece of plexiglass ,sprayed PVA(mold release) on it and atached it to the bottom of the hull, over the hole.(not shown)
I then laid up alternating layers of mat and cloth,using laminating resin,until the hole was built back up flush with the top of the inside hull.The laid one final lyer over the entire bilge area inside the stringers

In this pic You can see the plexiglass attached to the bottom.with the PVA the plexi just pulls right off without sticking.

After I got the intake hole glassed in I encased the transom wood in two layers of mat and one layer of clothI used one solid piece all the way accross the pump hole.I will jus cut the hole back out later.

I then ground the floor and sanded the transom.I got the cloth a little focked up around the hole,but thats allright it will be cut out anyways

I then did a llitle work block sanding the repairs around the insides of the gunnels and dash.I also found acouple of spots that I wanted to give a little atention to on the rear of the deck and transom.

 

[holorinhal]

Just when I thought I might be getting close,I got another hair brained idea.I decided to go head and cap the hull,instead of having a rub rail.I also needed to fix some stress cracks on the lower side of the hull.
The hull was already capped for the most part, from the factory.However it was cracked in some areas and I needed to fix the holes fron the rubrail also.
I started by v-grinding along the cracks and holes between the deck and hull.I then laid in layers of glass building it back up to just a little high.
I then ground the glass down a little and finnished by block sanding.

I then skimm coated the cap with filler and block sanded again and then primed

These holes were bugging me.I thought that since ihad filled all the other holes ,I may as well fill these alsoI also found a few areas on the transom that needed some more attention.
I ground out the holes and bad areas and filled with glass.
I block sanded the repairs ,then skimmed the entire transom with filler and block sanded again.

 

[holorinhal]

I took the boat off the dolly and set it up on a three point stand,for stringer fitment and installation

I cut some jigs out of plywood,to hold the stringers upright for installation.

I know the level across the stringers Was not neccessary,but I was just currious.
After I got the stringers fitted to the hull like I wanted,1/8" maximum,I took My router with a round over bit and routed the tops of the stringers.

Next I cut up strips of mat 1-1/4" wide x 12' long and had them rolled up ready to go so all I have to do is wet out the hull then just roll them out while wetting out the strips.

after I wetted out and laid up the bedding stripps ,I set the stringers down in the wet glass and weighted them down with some heavy granite pieces that I had lying around

After cured,I removed the weights and I am ready to lay up the glass over the wood.

I cut up all the glass materials,4 layers each(alternating mat and cloth)and had them ready to go.
I coated the stringers ,generously,with resin and then laid up the first layer of mat,then wetted that out.I then laid up a layer of cloth and squigied the cloth and resin to get out all the air bubbles,then repeated the proccess(mat,cloth,squiegie,mat,cloth,squiegie),fi nnishing with a layer of cloth.

Man I'm glad that is over! That was a chore.
The hardest part was trying to beat the heat before the resin kiked off.I had to work at night and under catalyze the resin due to the heat here in Las Vegas

 

[holorinhal]

Well after completing the stringers I had a few repairs to make where I got a couple of air bubbles in the last layer of cloth,so earlier in the week I ground them out,reglassed them and then sanded down the stringers.

After sanding the stringers,I cut fitted the plywood floor,front and rear bulkheads and center stringer.
The boat ,when I got it had a removable floor wedged beteen the stringers with the carpet.I am going to glass every thing in solid.
After I got every thing to fit the way I wanted I bondedThe center stringer abd bulkheads in with epoxy,then I cleaned them up and laid up mat and resin over them,on the inside of the well.I will drill a drain hole in the front and back and set a brass drain insert in each one ,latter.

I coated the bottom side of the floor with about 4 coats of resin and bonded the floor to the hull and supports with wet strips of MatThen placed a bunch of heavy weights on the floor to keep it down tight untill cured.
.

I made the gunnel supports and lamminated them with cloth.
I had allready test fitted them so I know they will fit.Just for the hell of it I sanded and polished the glass on the gunnel suports.

Here are the supports sitting in place.

After testing them again,I shimed them away from the hull about 3/16 ,then took some glass and folded it in a 90 deg angle and laid up the glass the length of the suports and the hull to install them.I used two layers of glass ,making sure the only place the suports were touching was the wood on the gunnel itself.

 

[holorinhal]

I got the center floor glassed in.

 

[holorinhal]

The old bulkhead was a removable piece,with carpet on it.it was not glassed i at all only screwed to twopieces of wood half assed glassed to the hull,so it didnt lend any stuctural support at all.
I used the old bulkhead as a template as it fit the hull pretty well on the bottom and sides,and made it taller to fit up to the underside of the deck ,making sure to leave a 1/4" gap all the way around.
I test fitted it and will install it later.

This is the old bulkhead that was used as a template

here is the new one all cut out and ready to go.

I coated it with three to four coats of resin and layup a layer of cloth on the front and back.

After the resin had dried on the bulkhead,I sanded the perimiter 2-3 inches wide,so that the glas that bonds the bulk head will bite

I fitted the bulkhead back in , shimmed it to a 1/4"gap all the way around and tabed it in with small pieces of glass and resin.
When installing bulkhead's You want to make sure that there is about a 1/4" gap all the way around ,so that the bulkhead does not touch the hull ,to prevent stress cracks. It kinda acts like an expantion joint.

After the tabs had dried ,to hold it in place while I removed the shims, I tabed the bulkhead in, all the way around with two layers of 4" wide cloth tape and resin,with 2" turned up onto the bbulkhead and 2" turned down onto the hull,like an angle.

And the bulkhead is done!

 

[holorinhal]

I modified The dolly to set the boat on after it is flipped upside down.I made it to support the boat on the stringers and also made it to where I can remove the parts and use it both ways.All I have to do is unbolt the upper cradle and I can sit the boat back down,right side up.

I also built this nifty hoisting rig. I load tested it with a small bock 350,so it should more than handel half the load of the boat for flipping.I intend on using it for alot of other things,after a little more bracing.

When It came time to flip the boat,I was a little preplexed on what I was going to do about a lifting point at the rear of the boat,since I had filled all holes in the transom and I had no pump touse as I had pulled the intake and glassed in that hole.
I finnaly came up with the Idea to drill holes thru the section of the intake hole that will be cut out and U-bolt a section of pipe on the inside of the hull.Thes will give Me a circular object to allow the hull to rotate and a stiff lifting point,It took about six U-bolts and a 1x4 board to use as a shim to get the pipe over the lip in the jet cutout in the transom.
I thought I took a pick of the rig but I cant find it. The flip went smooth as sikk.I had My son lend a hand to just balance and position the dolly.

Any way's,Up and over!

http://www.performanceboats.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9897&stc=1&d=1212375983

and we have touch down

In this pic You can kinda get an idea of the lifting rig that I came up with.
I had planed on cutting out the intake hole while she is upside down,but I dont know what to use ti flip back ove.Any Ideas? I might have to flip it then cut the hole from underneath the boat.

Next up, Bottom by HAL !

 

[holorinhal]

That does'nt have quite the same ring to it as Bottom by Bennet.
Allright !I got the boat flipped upside down and resting on the dolly.
Now it's time to try my hand at bottom blueprinting!I am no expert and at this point omly have a vauge idea of what I am doing.There is a thread onhere with a post called "Bottom blue printing 101" in which Jeff Bennet gives step by step instruction on blueprinting a bottom.I have that saved to fav's ,coppied on paper and will be following them to the letter,with all the materials that He suggests.

At first glance the bottom does'nt loog to be too bad.All that dark gray stuff is the old speed coat that is all but worn off.I took some acetone on a rag and it came right off.

Speed coat is gone and I have sanded with 40 grit from transom up 6'.I sanded first so that when I started witing on hull that I would'nt sand the writting off.

I put the straight edge on the keel.It does'nt look too bad.

WOA! look at that

Looks like I got I got some work there!
I staightedged the other side ,the side of the wall in the above pics,and found that side to be worse.It will need a couple layers of matt laid up.

 

[holorinhal]

I measured up 6' from the transom toward the bow,and used a 6'straight edge laid along the keel,on every strake and at mid points between every strake. I used an asortment of plastic horshoe shims,1/16",1/8"and 1/4",to gauge the space between the hull and straight edge.As I went along ,I wrote down the measurement'sat each spot ,right on the hull.
I only concerned Myself with any thing above 1/16".

I laid up two layers of matt on the right side of the hull from the keel down to the first strake,and transom up about two feet.
I got the glass ground down and block sanded as flat as possible.The red is just some old rattle can paint sprayed for a guide coat.

All the glass is sanded and ready for the next step

Ok, the next step was to clean with acetone.
Since I still have some low spots that are about 1/16" I am going to use the duraglass.

I got the duraglass all sread out.Its not the prettiest spread job ,but man this stuff kiks fast!

 

[holorinhal]

Ok ,I got the dura glass all ground down and then block sanded flat.
Man This stuff is hard as hell.You have to grind the majority down to almost where you want it then finnish with a sanding blockand 40 grit. Here are some more pics before the next step.

Time for the next step,filler,
Becouse there are still some small low spots 1/16" and smaller,Bennet recomends to use regular body filler for this step and the product that he recomends is Rage gold,by Evercoat.

I got the rage gold spread out.This stuff realy is gold.It will probobly take 3-4 aplications to get every thing nice and straifgt.Make sure to keep checking with the straight edge as You go.

Next I block sanded all the filler down with a long board and 40 grit.

 

[holorinhal]

I checked it with the straight edge and saw that there are still a couple of spots that need more filler.

I added some more rage gold ,blocksanded again, and checked it again.It's getting there .but I think it is pretty damn close,Of corse I checked with the straight edge at the center and all strakes and mid pointd inbetween all the strakes.

I found I neede a bit more on the keel and transom area and was a little lower than 1/16 so I used a little more dura glass ,blocked that down and then detailed the rest out with 80 grit and a block.I then washed the bottom off to remove the dust build up.

well I think I have it straight enough.there will be some blending needed after the intake is set,but i will have to finnish the rest at a later date,after I get My intake back from being machined for a ride plate and shoe.

Since I am kinda at a stand still on finnishing the blue print untill i get my intake back,I went ahead and sanded the bottom and sides in prep for pimer.
I washed the hull to remove all the dust,Will let dry for the rest of the day and will spray a couple coats of primer tomarow after work.

 

[holorinhal]

got the bottom and sides primed, with about 3 coats of primer.

I did discover that I have quite a few pin holes and scratches to fill,mostly from the hull capping.

I am waiting to get my intake back From MPD,so I can finnish up the bottom. I talked to Jack yesterday and finnally got it shipped to him Yesterday afternoon. Jack said about 7-10 day turnaround ,once he recieves it.

I have been waiting on My intake and this is just what I have been doing in the mean time.
After priming I spread out some glazing putty to fill in the scratches from the blueprinting.
I then block sanded the bottom and sides with 80 grit.i have been waiting on My intake and this is just what I have been doing in the mean time.
After priming I spread out some glazing putty to fill in the scratches from the blueprinting.
I then block sanded the bottom and sides with 80 grit.

I then washed the hull with comet and gave it a good rinse.

I then reprimed all the spots where I broke through the primer,scuffed and gave the entire bottom and sides another coat of primer.

I then sprayed some rattle can guide coat.

I block sanded the bottom and sides with 220.

I washed the hull again,touched up the break throughs.

Then I sprayed a third and final coat of primer in preporation for wetsanding with 400 grit.

After the primer has dried I sprayed another coat of rattle can guide coat,this time using black.
I prefer black for guide coat ,but any left over s you have will work.

 

[holorinhal]

Well While I was waiting on My Intake I decided to go ahead and dress up My tanks.
I have been practicing this for a while and I could see in My head what i wanted them to look like.
The tanks were covered in carpet glue and fiberglass.I was able to clean the glue off with chemicals,but I had to sand the fiberglass resin off.after that I would have took alot more work than I was willing to do to polish them.

I achived this look by sanding with a Da and 80 grt,then using a 4 1/2" side grinder with rough scotch bbight rollock disk,just going crazy in all directions.I then took some 80 grt rolock and pressed straight down ,making rows of circles, and overlapping each row.it's hard to control,becouse the grinder wants to take of.
I the put on a medium scotchbright rolock disk ,drew ot some flames on the face of the tank,and went to town grinding the flames.I ended up just freehanding the flames as it was easier than following what I had drawn.
So What do Ya think?

 

[holorinhal]

Well I finally got the intake back.Jack made it a pretty quick turn around.
I had the intake machined for a ride plate and shoe ,with shims.
This is the intake with the shoe and ride plate bolted on.

This is the cradel that ataches the ride plate to the bowl,with shims for adjustment.

Here are all the parts laid out.

 

[holorinhal]

With the boat still upside down ,I laid out the Intake hole cutout.
I am doing a setback and I want the biting edge of the shoe as close to the edge of the transome as posible,and the hand hole outside the boat.
First I found the center line of the hull by measuring the distance of the strakes at the rear of the hull.
I measured from the very upper edge of the strakes at the
rear.

I then measured the distance of the two center strakes about 5' foreward of the transom.

I then measured the length and width of the intake.

Then from the transom I measured foreward to define the front of the cut out.

And then from the centerline I laid out the width of the cut out.

Then mark the cut out on the hull.

Normally You want to cut out the hole from the outide bottom,but I still needed to use the rigging that I have bolted to that section, to flip the boat back over.So after I got the hole laid out ,I drilled holes in all four corners of the layout and on the center line,with a 1/16" drill bit.I will use the holes to transfer the layout to the inside.

I then flipped the boat right side up,transfered the layout to the inside and cutout the hole.

The lines you see around the hole is the outside edge of the intake,where I have to grind to get the intake low enough.

 

[holorinhal]

I droped in the intake to test the fit.

I ground the perimiter of the hole to get the intake deep enough.

I installed the adjustment bolts to get the height in the hole right.

Then get under the boat with a straight edge.To set the hight of the intake ,in the front make sure no part of the intake hangs below the keel.Then lay the straight edge along the center of the keel to the back edge of the shoe ,where the rideplate ataches. This is very important,make sure the backedge of the shoe is in the same plane as the keel.With the straight edge ,on the keel. the keel and back edge of the shoe shold all be in the same plane.

After priming, I sanded and then laid down some base coat/clear coat.

After The paint had dried,I set the intake back in the hole and mocked up the suction housing to make sure I was happy with where the hand hole is positioned.

 

[holorinhal]

After I got every thing painted and mocked up,its time to stick it.
I taped off the areas I didnt want to get epoxy on.

I reinstalled the jacking bolts.

I reinstalled the shoe.

VERY IMPORTANT! Make sure there are no shims installed right here in the shoe,for installing the intake ,it will make the intake too high above the keel!

Next I taped off the perimiter of the intake hole,for a neat epoxy job.

I set the intake back in the hole,with the jacking bolts installed, to reajust all the settings.
I adjusted the front up so that there was NO aluminum hanging below the keel.

I then measured up,1' from the two strakes at the transome onboth sides of the hull,and staight edged a line across the two points.This line is used to level the intake side to side.

I then laid the staight edge backk along the keel and adjusted the hieght of the shoe to be flush with the keel.

 

[holorinhal]

then removed the intake,being very carefull not to distub the jacking bolts.
I then mixed up the epoxy,on a cardboard sheet and spread it generously around the intake hole and around the mounting flange of the intake.

After spreading out the epoxy,I set the intake in the hole and smashed it down tight ,while wiggling it back and forth, to get out all the air bubbles and squeez out the excess epoxy.

I will drill and install bolts temporarilly,to flip the boat and then countersink the holes with the boat upside down



I then picked up the excess,and smoothed out the epoxy ,with wet hands,on the top and bottom.
Just as the epoxy was starting to tack up ,I pulled the tape from around the hole perimiter and the intake.
I then rechecked all the adjustments and measurement's.
I checked the centerline alignment and level.

I then rechecked every thing again.Once I was stisfied that nothing has moved and all adjustments were dead nut's on,I put some dead weight on the intake to hold it in position untill the epoxy had cured.I also put a heat lamp on it to help cure ,since the temprature was a little cool.

I let all that set and cure for 24 hours,before removing the weight.
The intake is set !

 

[KENDOG689]

Impessive to say the least.My dad had a 73 as well,nice boat.Just wondering why you would spend so much time and money,when right now you could get such a good deal on a turn-key boat?

 

[holorinhal]

drilled the holes for the intake bolts.They will be installed temporarily,to flip the boat.I trust the epoxy,but better safe than sorry.

Next I bolted up the suction housing and the bowl,to use as a lifting and pivot point,to flip the boat back upside down,tofinnish the bottom,around the intake.

After I got the boat over,I mocked up the rideplate and cradle.

Well after playing around with the ride plate,I removed all the intake bolts,and countersunk all the holes.
I then mixed up some epoxy,coated the head's of the bolts and droped them in the holes.
I climed under the boat reinstalled all the nuts and washers and sinched every thing tight

After the epoxy was hard,I sanded down the epoxy around the intake.
I then mixed up a litle more epoxy and spead it out around the intake area and into the intake entry ,to form a smooth transition in to te intake .I fanned the epoxy outward towards the transom,to blend in the area around the intake.

 

[holorinhal]

I got all the epoxy sanded and blended around the intake.
I sanded and reprimed the bottom,sanded through 220 grit ,Taped off the bottom and prepared to spray some color.

sprayed the bottom with a no sand sealer.

Time For Some Color
___________________________

Finnaly It's time to lay down some color!
For the bottom I am using a single stage urethane.The color is called Spectra blue.
It turned out really nice,I think.
The color really pops in the sun.

While the boat is still upside down,I wanted to wetsand the sides,
because it is easier to get at

Ok, the sides are preped and ready for paint.I flipped the boat back right side up,to finnish the top side. I filled some pinholes and sanding scratches with some spot putty.

My next project was to gell coat the bilge area,and install brass drains in front and behind the floor bulkhead's and at the transom thru the stringers .
First I masked off the intake ,then sprayed in some gellcoat.

Next I drilled the holes for the brass drains and then I epoxied them in with some marine tex.I will touch up around them later with some gellcoat and a brush.

 

[holorinhal]

I have allready sanded the spot putty down and re primed,I sprayed some rattlecan guide coat on and am now sanding with with 220.

The next step will be to spray a final coat of primer and wet sand with 400.

I decided to go ahead and gellcoat the entire inside, although most will get covered with carpet.

here are a few sneek peak's of the Mill.

489 C.I.D.BBC Full roller motor.

.030" over bore
Scatt 4340 forged crank,4.25" stroke
Splayed main caps /w ARP main studs
Eagle, 6.135" forged H beam rod's
SRP forged pistons,small dome
Block,zero decked
Chris Straub/Bullet roller cam
Morel pressure fed solid roller lifters
Cloyes hexadjust double roller timming set
AFR 325cc aluminum heads
Crane gold rockers,1.8 int.,1.7 ex
Edelbrock TR2 tunnelram
two 600 cfm holley carbs

 

[holorinhal]

Well Here is another of My projects.
My trailer is a single axle trailer and I hate it. I can not have My boat running around on a single when it is finnished ,so I am going to convert it to a tandem.
I have another trailer that the tunnel is sitting on and needs a shit load of work done to it becouse the entire bottom of the fender frame members are rusted all the way through. So I am going to borrow the axels from it to save a few dollars.
I allready measured the donor axels and they are the same length as the single .

Here is what the trailer looks like now. it is just an average single axel trailer.

Oh Yea I am also barrowing the fenders and tires from the other trailer also.
I set the trailer up on jack stands. I used the fenders to do a litle mock up an to take some measurements.

This is the fender mounts. They will be cut out when I make the new cut out for the longer fenders,so I will have to fab up new ones and weld them in.

I got the axels out from the other trailer. I will need to clean them up a bit ,but they are in decent shape.

I went to Trailer Tech ,here in Vegas and Got all the new undercarraige part's for the convertion.
For those here in town that may need trailer parts these People can hook You up. They have every thing.

Well after doing a litle mock up and alot of measuring , it looks like the centerline of the single axle is where the center of the tandem need's to be.

From the center line I measured for the a 65" fender cutout.

On the donor axels the spring locator is in the wrong place becouse the tunnel traile frames are narrower than this trailer,so I have to remove the old ones and weld in new locators in the proper location.

I measured from center of frame to center of frame to get the right location for the new spring locators, then I measured from the centerline of the axels each way and marked the center location of the locators.

 

[holorinhal]

I ground off the paint down to bare metal for the welding ,and then made the marks.

I marked the centers of the locators and aligned them with the marks on the axel.

Next I cut off the hangers from the single axle and ground all the welds smooth and then started mocking up the new hangers.

I realized that it would be easier to do all the mock up and the welding ,with the trailer up side down,so I used My trusty old boat fipping technique to flip the trailer.

With the triler upside down it is much easier to work with. I mocked up the undercarraige to make sure every thing was going to work right.

I marked the centerline of the hangers .

aligned the hangers with center marks that I had marked . I clamped them down and welded each end. I will weld the out sides after I flip the trailer becouse flat welds are much easier than overhead.

I fliped the trailer back over and cut out the fender openings.

I used some of the scrap from the fender cutous to fab up new fender mounts.

I fitted the fender mounts and tacked them in place. I will flip the trailer and finnish weld them from the back.

After i got the fender mounts in place I mocked up the fender to test the fit.

 

[BasilHayden]

Wow,

Thanks for sharing, cant wait for the rest of the job. :bowdown:

 

[jetboatperformance]

Very Nice Hal , great to see you back crankin out a project Tom

 

[460]

One of the best builds out there.

Sent from the liquor store around the corner.

 

[crzy2bealive]

I know I’m bumping an old thread! But I was searching the forum on the best ideas to remove the intake for the jet boat I’m restoring.

I wonder if this build ever finished.

 

[carrera202]

I know I’m bumping an old thread! But I was searching the forum on the best ideas to remove the intake for the jet boat I’m restoring.

I wonder if this build ever finished.

Boat was finished then totaled shortly after. Great build for sure!

'73 Kona Resto Build II

www.performanceboats.com

 

[Redracer1090]

Beautyful Work

 

[crzy2bealive]

Boat was finished then totaled shortly after. Great build for sure!

'73 Kona Resto Build II

www.performanceboats.com

Damn that’s unfortunate that a drunk driver took it out!!