ex Finish navy SR6 build

Stresspill · 07 October 2016, 19:31

Warning! Some of the pictures in this thread may be too shocking for some audiences.

Hi!
I have been away for quite a long time. Since I have had no inflatables for some time. But it all changed four months ago when I won my first proper RIB from an auction. I was quite sure that I would not get this boat and just left my highest bib in and closed the browser. After a while a message came and told that I was the winning bidder

So I went and collected a former Finnish navy / coastguard Searider 6.0 from a guy who had bought it from another auction held by military. This raised some concern in me but I was blinded by the fact that I finally owned an Avon Searider. And hey it was dirt cheap and I was no stranger to glass work.

After I got home and made a more proper inspection I thought that it would not need any too major work. Just some paint and some elbow grease.. Then I gradually dug deeper and deeper.. Started dismantling everything.

Some of the ply on the floor plus on the stringers was wet and coming separated. Most of the damage was on the aft floor and stringers. There was some minor wetness on bow also. The stringers around the fuel tank were mostly wet but middle section of the deck was completely dry. It was apparent that the damage was due to leaks through improperly done deck fittings and some drain holes just drilled through stringers.

At this point I thought that I could re-use the “precision cut” layer of the deck when putting all together again. I was sure that I just needed to change the top part of the deck.

continues on the next post..

Stresspill · 07 October 2016, 19:33

So during these 4 months I removed all of the wet ply and constructed a new structure using about 25kg of epoxy, glass and birch plywood.

I used a tungsten carbide disc on a grinder to dig out the wet ply so I could then push the fresh board under the sidewall. There is a foam core behind there.

To save some effort and money on epoxy. I used chainsaw, multimaster and various chisels to remove wet ply from stringer cores and simply embedded new wood with epoxy on the cleaned up slots.

I made everything just about the same way as it was made on Avon so I did not alter the design very much. Just cut some corners where the design was overly complex and used a bit more wood than there was before.

continues on the next post..

Stresspill · 07 October 2016, 19:34

After the stringers were done I laminated in the new deck ply.

continued.

Stresspill · 07 October 2016, 19:36

I used epoxy with various fillers and additives. Here I have epoxy paste with chopped strands and colloidal silica topped with glassfibre cloth. Used staples to hold the mat in place during the laminating process. Most of the mat I used was 800gr./m2 combination of bi-directional and chopped strands. And finer woven cloth on top to leave finer surface.

The aluminium deck plate was in kind of a sorry state. But it was sent to be sandblasted and powder coated.

continued..

Stresspill · 07 October 2016, 19:38

Drilled some oversized holes to the deck for the hatches.

Every single bolt and fitting is embedded in epoxy that is cast on oversized holes. So this tragedy won’t happen again in any time soon. All the wet areas on the deck and stringers were due holes on the laminate. Fixings and drain holes.

This is where I'm now with this project.

I still need to re-upholster the seat, remove the paint from the console and paint it gray. I have to find an engine and instrumentation. Re-wiring needs to be done and finally I need to do some kind of anti-skid paneling / paint on the deck. So to be continued

Squid Boat · 08 October 2016, 03:06

Really nice work mate.

Cheers

ribraff · 08 October 2016, 07:16

Very nice work.

matt h · 08 October 2016, 10:27

looking great, good rebuild. what engine are you gonna put on it?

Stresspill · 08 October 2016, 18:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt h

looking great, good rebuild. what engine are you gonna put on it?

It has been really difficult to find good second hand engines on my price / power range. I'm looking for a 2003-2010 Mercury Optimax 150-225hp. Or maybe Yamaha F150. Or something similar.

Today I worked on my garage since the weather is starting to get really cold and it was very windy. Luckily I have finished most of the work that needs to be done outside. I removed paint from the console with a rotary wire brush and an air grinder. The console had been soaking in paint remover over night so it was quite easy task. Then I removed all the wet ply from the bottom part of the console. I was able to save the original laminate on the outside by chipping the ply off with a chisel. This was quite arduous. Then after everything was nice and clean I epoxied new pieces to the surface.

Stresspill · 08 October 2016, 18:20

I was thinking of using this kind of rubber matting for general protection as well as for anti-skid purpose. It's mostly recycled tire rubber combined with EPDM granules. Any thoughts on this?
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/281143...-1/s-l1000.jpg

PVC Gummigranulat Fb. 865 asphalt - raumprobe.de

This would then be glued to the deck with 2K PU glue. It's really cheap but I like the look of it. Usually used on gym floors, acoustic dampener etc..

paintman · 08 October 2016, 19:34

Very impressive so far!
Looks like those mats could hold a lot of water - much the same way as a sponge - so I wouldn't want to use it.
May be better with something like one of the ribbed mats like in this link & replace as it wears: Woolies Trim - Rubber Matting

Stresspill · 09 October 2016, 18:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by paintman

Very impressive so far!
Looks like those mats could hold a lot of water - much the same way as a sponge[/url]

Yes that is my concern too. However those are structurally somewhat open and water should be able to seep through. But I'm sure that some amount of water would be trapped. Is it a concern I'm not sure.

C-NUMB · 09 October 2016, 18:34

Impressive work as also plenty of it

Let the pictures come! Do you have a indoor working space as the winter starts to kick in very soon? p

Stresspill · 09 October 2016, 18:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by C-NUMB

Do you have a indoor working space as the winter starts to kick in very soon? p

Yes I have a garage but this boat won't fit in

I'm going to pause this project for the winter anyways. All the critical repairs are done and now it's just putting pieces together. But if I stumble upon a good engine this project might still see water in this season.

paintman · 09 October 2016, 20:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stresspill

Yes that is my concern too. However those are structurally somewhat open and water should be able to seep through. But I'm sure that some amount of water would be trapped. Is it a concern I'm not sure.

I use the ribbed type mat in my dory, cut to shape as required - used it in previous boats too, never glued it in so easy to rinse over the side, not had problems with slipping on the grp floor - & see a lot of heavy duty stuff in commercial fishing boats

Stresspill · 20 October 2016, 10:35

Found one possibility for the engine. 2008 Mercury Optimax 225. Those are auctioned off from the same source I got the boat originally. Run for about 1300 hours but since these are from the government I'm not too scared of higher hour count. No cables, meters or steering.. So If I were to bid to the end I would need to source these also. The weight is only about 30kg more than 150 hp. Opti.

22 days left.. going for the highest bidder.

jeffstevens763@g · 20 October 2016, 11:15

i would anti skid flowcoat the floor no mats for water to get trapped and it will look better IMO good build thread by the way.

cheers

C-NUMB · 20 October 2016, 11:32

How about 2 x 75 Yamahas (2 stroke), that would be a nice combo.....Not that heavy either?

Stresspill · 20 October 2016, 21:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by C-NUMB

How about 2 x 75 Yamahas (2 stroke), that would be a nice combo.....Not that heavy either?

Really difficult to find a nice matching pair. And I think that one engine would be easier and cheaper to maintain. Also looking for some economy in gas consumption.

Anyways here is a little update on console. I plugged all of the old holes and painted the whole thing. Looks a bit tidier now. Going to put on 2x3 set of carling switches and instrumentation for whatever the engine will be.

Stresspill · 23 October 2016, 16:43

Just some better pictures of the new floor and a powder coated seat frame. The anti-skid will probably be some kind of black rubberized coating like Line-X or Tuffcoat. And I'm going to cut a bigger section of that rubber flooring to the aft that I can just lift off and clean when dirty. Need something tougher that can take the beating from anchor etc.