First Impressions Jet Boat Restoration

Wednesday, 22 April 2015

Sourcing Timber and Epoxy

After lots of deliberation, scraping out rot, explorative drilling and googling my options, I have decided to completely remove the stringers and keel and replace them.

I spent a lot of time looking for a way to avoid doing this, mainly because I hate grinding fibreglass. Another reason to replace is I have not found a good method that I felt confident would 100% work to stop the rot.

So when I start the grinding, I am going to try using baby powder to stop the itch and I'll let you know how that works out. Now for a couple of questions to see if anybody reads this. I am also interested in feedback.

1. Has anybody used a belt sander to remove flowcoat old stringer tabbing ect and and how did it go? Was it better than a grinder with a flapper disc ect? Any other suggestions?

2. Any suggestions on a setup to remove the engine from the boat, as a standard engine hoist wont have the height or reach I need to get the motor out of my boat. An A frame setup of custom homemade origin is my only idea so far.

3. Is an epoxy treated high grade pine like hoop pine as good as hardwood for my replacement stringers and keel any other suggestions.

4. Is a dust extraction unit better at filtering the fibreglass dust than a standard shop vac and is the cost difference worth it? I will be connecting it directly to the sander/grinder.

Framing And Epoxying

Beautification

Third Water Test

Second Water Test

Steering and Controls

Tuesday, 1 April 2014

A Brief Introduction

In 2011 I restored my first boat, a 14ft Volero Dart. With very little experience in boat restoration, the process was challenging. It was also very rewarding. When the project was finished, I learned so many valuable lessons, and couldn't wait to start a next project. I found a jet boat on Ebay that looked like it needed some serious attention, but I couldn't pass it up.

One thing that I came up against when restoring my first boat, was the lack of information on the web. I thought that with this new restoration, I would share my journey so others could benefit from what I have found and learned.

Here, you will see the transformation of First Impressions. You will see the mistakes I made, tips and tricks I have discovered and other resources