[NoeSmyrnaBch]

Saw a few rebuild posts for Gheenoes going on around here so I figured I'd post mine up as well. The plan is to make it a shallow water machine since I fish Mosquito Lagoon mostly. Raised front/rear decks, small casting platform, and SMOOTH all over to keep fly lines tangle free. All composite materials, I hate wood in boats. You can see why in one of the pictures 
This is my first time rebuilding a fiberglass boat (i have 1 aluminum boat under my belt with a friend) so who knows how it will turn out!

I'm also on CG Forums as Flats_Broke with a build thread over there.

I picked it up a few months ago from a guy in Palm Bay. Front seat was cracked where it meets the hull, outside had some stress cracks on it, and it had some terrible "trim tabs" that were corroded to hell and back.

Anyway, below is a short timeline to where it sits today

First day I got her home

Removed fixed trim tab:

Aftermath of the trim tab removal:

Front seat cut out. Still needs more grinder work though..

Rear seat and center well cut out, ready for grinding.

Plascore cut for the front deck:

Battery tray and front bulk: This will have a buckle-strap inserted through it to house the 40 a/h gel-cell battery for the electronics (only minimal electronics like LED lights, bilge, and light trolling motor usage). Wiring will be run up the front and through the rub rails to the rear for bilge and rear lighting. There will be a hatch in the deck to allow access to the battery and storage. Battery will have a small battery box built for it as well at some point....

Front bulk in progress:

Looking in from the rear:

Hatch work on the front deck:

Rear bulk heads being built/fitted:

Rear bulkhead glassed in (the one further forward is just sitting there for now, glassed in where the seat was with two layers of mat and its very rigid now.

Friends don't let friends build boats with wood! This was what was waiting when I cut out the transom. This in a 1988 hull to give you an idea.... 

And its replacement....Aqua-Plas V from Piedmont Plastics. Somewhat heavy but very strong. Will be doing 2, maybe 3 layers glassed together top to bottom.

rear deck in progress:

Float test for weight distribution. There is 73lbs of weight under the rear deck in this picture to simulate the motor weight:

Thats it for now, progress pictures as I keep working.

 

[NoeSmyrnaBch]

Got the rear completely fiberglassed in, rear deck hatch has been cut out and I've started sanding/fairing the rear under-deck area for paint.
It'll hold a 6 gallon tank, which I don't plan to use often but nice to know it'll fit in through the top hatch.
You can see where I wanted to make the original cutout for the hatch but I completely forgot about the knee walls that I glassed in for support both for the rear deck and to tie the transom into the boat a little more so I had to trim it down 2" on each side.

 

[smeth]

Nice, I'd like to do something like that to my Dad's Gheenoe. What size motor will it have?

 

[kensfl45]

Nice project. I just read through the build thread on the other site.

Among other things, you did nice job cutting the edges of the bulkhead to match the contour of the boat floor and sides. Can you describe how to do that?

 

[NoeSmyrnaBch]

Nice project.  I just read through the build thread on the other site.

Among other things, you did nice job cutting the edges of the bulkhead to match the contour of the boat floor and sides.  Can you describe how to do that?

Funny you should ask about that. That was the thing that I struggled with the most so far. I started by using a compass and tracing the contour of the hull onto cardboard as a template but found it hard to do properly and didn't get great results. I finally ended up using a contour gauge from the flooring section of home depot. It's not the perfect tool (a little too small) but was able to make it work.

 

[NoeSmyrnaBch]

Nice, I'd like to do something like that to my Dad's Gheenoe. What size motor will it have?

I picked up a mid 90s 9.9 mariner for it off Craigslist. Figured that should be plenty and if not I can mood it to a 15 from what I understand. The main reason I went the mariner is for the shift mechanism being on the tiller handle. I'll be running it with a tiller extension so I didn't want to be running back to put it in or out of gear constantly.

 

[cutrunner]

Awesome build.
For your first fiberglass build you seem well versed, and are using appropriate materials.
The 13 is my favorite gheen

 

[NoeSmyrnaBch]

Thanks Cut. I knew I didn't want to do this again so I figured avoiding wood was a good first step. It's been a bit of a learning curve and I've had to back track a few times but its getting easier.

 

[NoeSmyrnaBch]

Been sanding and fairing the rear bilge area today between rain showers and thunder storms. I hate this part and really ready to get some paint going. Was hoping to paint tomorrow but I think I have more prep work to do unfortunately.

 

[NoeSmyrnaBch]

A couple of update pictures:

Rear bilge area ready for primer:

Front and rear under-deck areas primed and painted. The rear area will get one more coat since the front has 3 now after my decision to do away with the Krylon webbing spray that I used  :-/

Close up of the paint in the rear bilge area:

The paint is Rustoleum Topside paint in semi-gloss white. Lays down very nice, this was hand brushed with the absolute cheapest brush I could find (15 pack for $10). It's still wet in the pictures, so that's why its so shiny. The decks and commonly seen areas will probably get done with a nicer brush, but overall I'm super happy with the paint so far. I figured while I work on refinishing the outside the Topside paint will have time to cure and harden since people seem to say it takes a while to reach full hardness.

 

[NoeSmyrnaBch]

Finally pulled the trigger on some slam latches. I went back and forth on this decision...trying to decide if I wanted to go cheap and live with them or just pony up and get the good ones. As you can see, I decided on the better latches after a bad experience with the cheap ones on our other boat. $60 in two latches sucks, but the plus side is I ordered them on the 4th and they were here this afternoon
They are the Gem-Lux Stellar latches and they are WAY nicer than the the cheapies we used on the other boat. Not to mention, they met my ultimate criteria and are incredibly smooth and sit VERY flush. Extremely low profile. Super happy with these if you can't tell lol

Still working to fully flush in the hinges, they're getting there.

Battery sitting neatly under the front. Its a tight fit through the hatch opening but it works well.

View from the inside:

Just need to finish up the hinge areas and get some paint on the decks. Think I'm going to try my hand at spraying the inside of the boat in preparation for spraying the outside. We'll see how that goes lol

 

[tdg]

Looking good nice latches.

 

[jdpber1]

That battery couldn't be any more in the bow if you tried wow. Off to a good start.

 

[Shalla Wata Rider]

Great job ,it's gonna be a killer skiff when you're done .How are you going to address the open honeycomb on the hatches and deck?  :-/

 

[NoeSmyrnaBch]

Great job ,it's gonna be a killer skiff when you're done .How are you going to address the open honeycomb on the hatches and deck?  :-/

I've been filling it with high density filler mixture and shaping it to fit. It sucks...I can assure you I'll never use any sort of honeycomb board again. Every single opening requires tons of work. I have a few hours just in building up the filler and sanding it on the rear bulk head cutout openings.
At least its light weight!

Stressing now about how I'm going to run fuel and bilge lines. Poor planning around the rear deck area on my part has reared its ugly head in this problem. The support walls from the transom to the rear-most bulk head for the rear deck are in the way of the lines exiting the deck where they need to. Trying to find a way to build a PVC chase tube that I can somehow install easily with the deck when it goes on.

1 step forward...2 steps back   

 

[roger]

Nice project.  I just read through the build thread on the other site.

Among other things, you did nice job cutting the edges of the bulkhead to match the contour of the boat floor and sides.  Can you describe how to do that?

You can get a very good fit by doing what is called spiling. Spiling is a technique that uses a board and a spiling stick to transfer the shape of the hull onto sheet goods (plywood, composite panel, etc.). This is one of those things that is fairly easy to do but maybe not so easy to describe but I'll give it a shot.

First you need to set up a board in line with the bulkhead location. I usually use a piece of 3/4" MDF about a foot wide. You'll need to temporarily secure the board to the hull.

Once you have the board set, you can use the spiling stick to mark multiple points of the hull. A spiling stick is just a stick with a point on it. I generally use  whatever I have at hand (1/2 x 3/4 pine is good) that is long enough to reach the  points I want to mark.

To use the spiling stick, lay it against the board and push it to the point you want to transfer. Mark on the board around the spiling stick. Repeat as much as you feel you need to accurately replicate the curve of the hull on the sheet goods. When you are done, you'll have what looks like a bunch of rectangles randomly drawn on the board.

Once you have all the points marked, remove the board from it's temporary location and lay it on your sheet goods. Place the spiling stick on the marks you made previously and then mark the point on the sheet goods.

I hope this makes sense. Like I said before, it's a pretty easy technique to use but not nearly as easy to describe.

 

[NoeSmyrnaBch]

Got the motor started last night for the first time. Will need a good carb cleaning and all the basics but hopefully that will be it.

Still need to find a small jack plate....

 

[NoeSmyrnaBch]

Made some progress this afternoon. Got my rear foam poured, finish-sanded the front deck with 220 and faired the edge finally. Came out very good actually. Picked up the parts for my bilge bump. Had to get creative with the pump tubing and where it will exit the deck and out the boat. Still trying to tie up some loose ends with that. I picked up a Johnson 1000gph bilge and auto-float switch. Takes up a lot of room in the rear hatch area but it'll be worth it if something should happen.

Ran out of both my high density and fairing fillers today so tomorrow will be work on the bilge area again I think, and some sanding of the rest of the inside of the boat.

Poured foam

Front deck sanded

Finished Plascore edge (pretty happy about this)

 

[NoeSmyrnaBch]

Today has been a very good day for the Gheenoe!

I got up this morning and just went out in the garage to look at where everything stood. I got the itch and broke out the hole saw and dremel and a few minutes later had my fuel line hole cut into the rear part of the rear deck. Came out good, just need to glass in the tube itself. It'll be flush mounted with the surface of the deck and the fuel line has some free play, but not enough to let it get all sloppy back by the motor. Obviously the motor will be on a jack plate so it won't have such an "S" curve to it. Should just come out the hole and have a nice arc to the fuel fitting on the motor. Also faired the front edge of the rear deck, and put a final barrier coat of resin down on the front deck and started fairing the remaining part of the front bulk head. Couldn't complete that because I need some more fillers for the resin to finish fairing but should be done shortly. Once that is done and I give the deck one more good sand it'll be ready to paint. The rear I'm still working on. The bilge pump thru-hull fitting is giving me fits. I can't find one that I like that has enough thread for my transom (right at 1.5") and will work the way I want. Can't decide if I should go 90* down through the deck or straight fit and send it out the side of the hull. Guess at this point it doesn't really matter much (does it???)

So, not having any more fiberglass stuff to do today, I though...eh I'll see if I can find a service manual online for my motor. After about an hour of searching I found one! Then I started reading and looked at the fuel section. Went out to the garage and pulled the carb and cleaned it out real good. Found that the needle valve was stuck, i assume thats what was causing my difficult starting. Threw in two new NGK plugs and she cranked on the first pull. I was so worried that I made a mistake by buying the motor without seeing it actually run for more than a second with starting fluid. I knew it fired and had good compression but wasn't sure what else I was in for. It does have a bad coil pack, its arcing to the bracket and causing a misfire. Looks like the coil pack itself is cracked, actually both of them are but only one is arcing out. Will be ordering replacements here in a few minutes.

 

[NoeSmyrnaBch]

Got new coil packs in the mail today, swapped them out and started it up. Runs super smooth now!

I also worked on the bilge fitting that goes through the deck and exits the transom. Its all cut and ready to go in, and the hole in the deck for it has been filled to make it a tight fit. Started the final thing before installing the decks which is finishing the fairing on the front and rear bulkheads that face into the inside of the boat.

Thinking about making a test run with it soon to see how it works out and what (if anything) I should do about adding a false floor in the center. We'll see...