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 

14ft Volero Dart Gt with Floor Removed

Replacing Stringers and Keel

New Marine Ply Floor Fitted and epoxied in

Set up for replacing the transom with a new Seacast one

Test Run on the Brisbane River

Jet Boat Purchase

First Impressions is a 17ft Pacemaker, also known as a Sportsman-craft hull, with a marinised Holden  308 engine. It did not come with a jet unit. I purchased it on Ebay for a good price. With help from my family, I transported the boat from central Queensland back to my home in Brisbane.

The boat being picked up from Emerald

The Decision to Restore

After getting the boat back to Brisbane and having a good look over it I discovered several large soft spots in the floor, not unexpected for a boat of its age and the price i paid for it. As money had to be spent on getting a new jet unit,and it needed a good tidy up all round, A decision had to be made weather to go ahead with the project or not. I started doing a bit of internet research and found similar boats in better condition for around $7000 to $9000. I then did up a basic costing of the restoration, my estimate was under $7000 and I really liked the boat, so I decided to go ahead. To begin I would  start by replacing the floor. I had done this before and knew what to expect, but grinding fiberglass is not something I look forward to.

Strip Out and Engine Removal

After making the decision to redo the floor and sub frame, everything had to come out. The seats carpet and engine all had to be removed. 

I then started cutting out the out the floor. I used a grinder to cut out a square of fiberglass over the softest spot on the floor. I had decided to do everything I could to minimise fiberglass dust on this project, So I used a pair of old tin snips to cut out the fiberglass skin over the floor. This method worked well, the black finish on the form ply that had been used for the floor, prevented the fiberglass from bonding to it. Another method i found to work well was using a paint scraper to lift the fiberglass where it joined the hull again this only worked well because the last repair on this boat had not been done very well and the surface on the hull had not been keyed adequately.

Once the fiberglass had been removed, I pulled the floor out in whole panels. The form ply was completely saturated and broke apart easily. Once the floor was removed, I removed the home made copper pipe heat exchanger and the expander foam from the hull.

Removing Rot and Epoxy Prep

With the Floor lifted and frame exposed I could see how much more work was required. What I had discovered was that in 1991 in Cairns someone had installed a copper pipe heat exchanger under the floor in doing so they had cut through sections of the frame and not sealed so
gotten in to these areas.