1970 Rinker Proptwister restore

Sauerkraut

Hey all! Finally found some free time to get this thread started.  After a rather disagreeable gentlemen tried to run me and my cycle over last september, I've been slowly shopping around for a new project.  Found this poor proptwister sitting on craigslist, and she instantly won my heart over with that sleek and sexy hull.   She's going to be a labor of love, but that only makes the final result that much sweeter, right?

Without further ado, here she is!

The day I found her:

Washed off(with a few stains on the side from debris removal).  Will be resin casting that "Rinkerbuilt" logo and making replacements. 

Nose-on moneyshot


And possibly something to help track down the boat's history... Looks like a Fox waterway agency sticker...  


Onto the restoration plans:

She's got a great looking hull, but sadly that beauty's only skin-deep as she needs literally everything else 
My current plan of attack is Transom->Stringers->Electrical/mechanical->Decking->Motor install->Seating->Test ride->trim/cleaning up the hull.   This is my first go at all this, so if there's an alternate order I should be looking at, please feel free to comment!  Would 100% appreciate product recommendations along with any tips/tricks you guys may have!

Sauerkraut

I'll be cleaning out the rest of the inside this weekend and cutting out the rotten transom/fiberglass, and prepping the back of the boat for a new transom.   

The original transom seems quite small(Green rectangle in first pic) and I'm planning on extending it to the sides of the boat like you see in the second blue picture. Are there any issues with this?  Obviously a little more weight, but I see it being a huge structural boon. 


For construction, I'm planning on going with two .75" Coosa bluewater 26 layers.  Should I be placing FG sheets between the coosa layers and the hull?  So it would look like (Hull->FG sheet->Coosa 1->FG sheet->Coosa 2->FG sheets)?

And for materials, it seems I wanna go with epoxy for sealing them in there, but I'm guessing I need to thicken it up for anywhere it adheres to the existing fiberglass. Thinking 1708 for the fiberglass, 521 epoxy from promarine for the resin, and still looking for a thickener.  

Anything I should change up here?  Process/materials?

Thanks all in advance!

LaRea

Such classic lines!  Do any of the original fittings like horn and nav lights still work?  Are you going to restore them?

Sauerkraut

I haven't hooked current up to anything yet, nor have i even looked into the horns!  I see there's a hole for presumably an airline to pass up and through, so I'm guessing there was a small compressor and cylinder somewhere to power them below deck?

I'm going to attempt to keep the exterior along with the remaining fittings as stock as possible.  The interior however is going to be built a bit more modern.  

Pat310

Look up glastron gt150 restoration in YouTube search.  Very similar boat and should give you an idea the steps you want to take.  Learn from others mistakes I say

GMSLITHO

Im doing the same type of project   when I made a templet for the transom I used small wooden paint sticks and taped them together for the templet and it worked great, now I haven't touched the boat since last fall, hoping to get back to work on it soon 

aero3113

Good luck @Sauerkraut !! I’m excited to see the progress.

Dream_Inn

Oh man!  I'm so excited to watch this thread.  Please continue with pictures!  Especially the details of stringers and all the stuff that makes her look good on the outside!

Pat310

You might want to check out this youtuber 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL02C318B574CD948D
 

Different style and motor but very detailed on transom stringer and deck rebuild 

Pat310

He also did a Glastron with similar gel coat 

Sauerkraut

Pat310 said:

You might want to check out this youtuber 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL02C318B574CD948D
 

Different style and motor but very detailed on transom stringer and deck rebuild 

Very insightful video channel Pat, thanks!  Really feeling his quote of "The stringers were rotten, and they just put the deck over them", as I'm coming across similar repairs.  

Got a fair bit of the transom and wings ground out, as I'm still planning on extending the transom to the sides of the boat for extra rigidity. 
Before pic:

And after:

Came across numerous "repairs" that were just slapped on without prepping the surface. The ease in which they pried up was shocking, although also pleasant as it made less work? lol.   A combination of gasket scraper, belt sander and angle grinder made this about 3hrs worth of work.  Most in prep work.    

Hoping to sand back 6" of hull surface this week to prep for the transom, then just have to actually source a 4x8 sheet of .75" Coosa bluewater 26.   Going to give some local shops a call this week.  

That's all for now, hope ya'll enjoy the upcoming mothers day weekend!