The sea flea budget fix

[scotts2t]

I thought I would share with everyone my latest project. I got the hull out of a pack barn from a friend who has had it for quite some time. It appears to be 50's-60's kit boat(judging by the slot brass screws) where you would get a plans book and build it yourself. I want to fix it just to try it out because I think it's cool realizing that with a set of plans and probably 400$ worth of materials a new one could be built. I'm going to try to keep the fixing to under 200$ worth of new material. I have a lot of material laying around so I'll use what I have.

Onto the build, it is very bad shape. Full of holes and controls are very outdated. I should have started the thread earlier but better now than never. The whole back of the hull was rotten so I laminated new 1/4" material to what was still somewhat solid to screw to. It's is still very strong so my goal here is just to seal it up so we can use it. Here are the first pics of it now that I have got to working on it.

 

[scotts2t]

I have some resin and a roll of fiberglass. I have some thin fiberglass aswell

 

[scotts2t]

This will be the motor for the boat, it's not setup for steering controls so I'll have to make some brackets somehow to steer this thing. The original steering was with cables and pulleys so I'm going to upgrade to a steering cable system from a old boat my buddy had lying around. The steering cable from the old boat had the steering wheel snapped off. Thankfully the steering wheel off the pulley system fit on with a little bit or grinding to the woodruff key. Over a couple beers last night my neighbor suggested we put a kill switch teather to shut it down in case something goes wrong. Pretty good idea so I'll have to do that too.

 

[jetx]

Cool project

 

[CrazyJoesRacing]

You want to find a mercury hurricane super 10 for that an it will fly had one

 

[Quinc]

@jonolove

 

[Marcgraham27]

So cool Scotty

 

[scotts2t]

@CrazyJoesRacing I've seen some pictures of really nice sea fleas with the hurricane motors. Mine is old as dirt but I'm just hoping to get it working.

 

[CrazyJoesRacing]

The 10 hp really is 20

 

[Sanoman]

This will be the motor for the boat, it's not setup for steering controls so I'll have to make some brackets somehow to steer this thing. The original steering was with cables and pulleys so I'm going to upgrade to a steering cable system from a old boat my buddy had lying around. The steering cable from the old boat had the steering wheel snapped off. Thankfully the steering wheel off the pulley system fit on with a little bit or grinding to the woodruff key. Over a couple beers last night my neighbor suggested we put a kill switch teather to shut it down in case something goes wrong. Pretty good idea so I'll have to do that too.

Like an old hydroplane! Haven't seen a wood one in years.lf l remember correctly you attached a "quickly" bottom end to a small hp engine (10hp) and it would change the revolutions from the crank to prop at a 1:1 ratio.Sissor type squeeze throttle control.

 

[jonolove]

I love it awesome mini boat keep up the good work

 

[scotts2t]

Here's a shot of the first layup done. Looks pretty good. The back is now sealed.

The throttle that came on it is cast aluminum ratchet style with a push bottom release. It will need a new cable aswell.

And we have snow now!

 

[scotts2t]

A few more shots of the damaged spots to be repaired. I have some patching to do and laminating new 1/4 ply to the hull. Plan is to patch and fill the holes best I can and cover the entire bottom with new fiberglass. I have some contractor grade paintable polyurethane sealant to fill all the inside corners in hopes to seal it up.

 

[Sanoman]

Man that has had some rot on it.lt's to bad someone didn't take better care of it

 

[scotts2t]

Man that has had some rot on it.lt's to bad someone didn't take better care of it

I know right, such a cool little piece. I've cleaned up a lot of the rot so far. Needs some patches. I think the new fiberglass bottom should protect what's left of it while adding a lot of strength.

 

[badvinny]

In the 80's every summer we raced those at our River festival, good memories!

 

[Superunatural]

Doesn't look horrible from the pics. How are the frames? Cool project I occasionally do some work a guy that builds modern hydros (inboard) and restores old ones too. He works out of one of our shops so I get to see this stuff every day.

 

[scotts2t]

Doesn't look horrible from the pics. How are the frames? Cool project I occasionally do some work a guy that builds modern hydros (inboard) and restores old ones too. He works out of one of our shops so I get to see this stuff every day.

The frames are solid, just the shell is a bit rotten.

 

[scotts2t]

I got the hull stripped down to bare wood for the most part. That was a task. Working a wood chisel for hours, the old resin came off like corn flakes. Whoever coated it, used hardware store resin. I could tell just by the way it smelled. That's probably why it cracked and failed.

I also got most of the laminating done. All that left for lamination is the bond rail and the 'wings'. Should be able to get that done tomorrow if the kids stay in bed.

 

[scotts2t]

laminations done on the bond rail and the gusset wings. Turned out as good as it could have. I'm using pl premium and a air nailer for all the laminating. I use a lot of these products at work so it's free to me. I overcut all the pieces and belt sanding them to match the shapes. One step closer to glassing a shell on her, only a little bit of epoxy filling to do first.