Clark Abalone 14FT Boat. "Alestorm II"

[Floegstad]

Yeah the autosol is the only thing i use to polish all my metal that should bling.
great product.
This will come along great Brodie!
I had a computercrash the other while downloading clymer manuals,so the canoevideo is long gone among other stuff :'(
It`s wrapped up for winter,but with patience pics comi`n!
(says the guy without a posted buildthread)

 

[Brodie]

Another quick update.

After a bit of a sand down and clean the outside is looking great. Then I decided to give it a go with a bit of polish. Then I started to hand polish it. Either I am in for a lot of work or hopefully I can pull off near enough with the power buffer.

I am using that "Purple" metal polish. It works great after I go over the surface with 240 then 400. I don't plan on having this boat look like a show piece as it is a fishing boat after all.

 

[Floegstad]

Wow!!
That turned out awesome Mr!
You could enjoy some fishing in that thing for sure

 

[andycafe]

Yeah it does look good raw, much less maintenance too 8) Surely you'll replace the canvas spray guard on the front and also the bimini cover, you could have these done in a nice colour for contrast maybe Maroon since your a Queenslander

 

[Brodie]

Thanks Andy, yep planning to replace the splash guard with a clear vinyl. The Bimini is tiny so I will either add on another section and have it the cover replaced or buy a new larger one, which ever is cheapest.
With christmas coming up and an unusual amount of bills for this time of the year progress is really moving at a no-expense rate.

I spent the whole weekend away and was unable to get any work done, and will be flat out with work this week. Today is really my only chance to get anything done, and that will be removing the paint from the inside.

As for polishing I will be picking up a buffer and some "wicked" metal polish that a spray-painter friend of mine has offered to lend me. See if I can get into it a bit better with an actual professional buffer.

 

[Brodie]

After putting a lot of effort in to getting rid of the left over paint that the stripper will just not remove I got stuck into the transom to remove all the old plates and inspect it for corrosion. I had a hunch that there would be quite a lot of it. Sure enough there is a lot of lost metal because of it. I have a boat builder friend who is willing to patch up the hole in return for a drum kit I no longer use and have been trying to get rid of for many years.

I will remove all the pop rivets tomorrow and pull the last two plates off the transom so that it is only the original sheet of aluminium. after that I will clean up the area as much as I can and mark out all the holes that need to be welded. Although the welds will not be neat they will stop water coming into the boat. Pictures of the damage tomorrow.

 

[Brodie]

So I have been at a bit of a stand still because of christmas and new years.

I have the floor boards ready to be cut and fitted but I have been to busy to do anything. I am going to try and get some of them cut this weekend.

My grandfather had a look at the transom over christmas and decided that he wants to get it replaced because of the corrosion. So I will take it up to get it checked out after I have the floorboards fitted.

I have drawn up a small wiring diagram which I need to take a photo of.

 

[Brodie]

OK I have proof I have been working on this.

I took the boat up to get the transom fixed about a week ago, ended up costing $350 and I had a new plate put over the old plate. Not what I wanted but after seeing it I am quite happy.
Now that was taken care of it was go time. I have been spending around 4 hours every day on this thing, most of it using a paint scraper to remove the old crusty stuff the stripper just won't lift.

I don't have a photo of the transom repairs yet but you can see the bottom of the new plate above where I have replaced the bungs. For some unknown reason a PO decided it was a good idea to use brass bungs on an aluminium boat. Since brass helps the ocean eat my boat I decided it would be a great idea to remove it. Once I had them off I had a lot of corrosion to file away. I ended up replacing the bungs with 1 size larger on the left and two on the right.

I have the fuel tank back inside the bow now and am painting the inside as well. Slow going but I am getting there. I decided to leave the floor boards until last as I need to run all the controls and wiring under the floor before I can attach it. Got the fuel line down today and bought the main electrical cables. Just need to get the grinder out to cut the holes in the console to fit the switch panel and VHF radio.

 

[andycafe]

Nice one mate, cool skipper 8)

 

[Brodie]

I have been quite busy and poor so progress has been slow.
My grandfather called me on the weekend and told me he has a friend who will show me how to install floor boards. Fairly sure that is his way of saying "Hurry the hell up!"

Anyway after a quick clean up before I took some new pictures to update everyone on the progress. All I have left to do is install the electrics and floor boards. Not much now and she will be in the water.

 

[haircuttergirl]

Whoa. Lookin really great since I last saw her! Rock on, Brodie

 

[Brodie]

There is a reason I have not update this thread in a while. I have been having quite a bit of trouble with this boat. But things are looking on the up and up now.
I think I have chased down all the leaks (hopefully) which I am hopeing will get it from 'sinking' to 'leaking'. The latest hole I found ended up being 6mm wide once I had cleaned all the corroded aluminium out, looked to be caused by a small sinker as it was in the middle of the keel at the low point... I couldn't see it from underneath as there was a super thin layer of metal holding all the alloy oxide and salt in place.

As for the motor, anyone want to swap a '90 Yama 70hp for my '86 Johnny 35hp? Thought not. I am having trouble getting it to idle right, I think it may be electrical as it was running find on my grandfathers boat before we swapped in the solid state coil and stator.

Anyway here she is on the water with my "first mate" holding on to her.

 

[Brodie]

Re: Clark Abalone 14FT Boat. "Alestorm II"

I hate boats.

 

[SONICJK]

They are just like motorcycles,
Only when you have a problem you can't just call a buddy to come pick you up.
And when you spring a leak you sink.

 

[Brodie]

So I bought a 1991 "Force" 50hp engine for cheap looking to do a slight power up on the boat as the 35 would not run quite right.

After going through the Force and finding out what I need to replace I have decided it is not worth the effort. Price list is as follows

Head Gasket: $50
Rebore: $130
OS Piston: $140
Trim motor: $220
Swivel bracket repair: $60 (and an arse load of time)
Prop repair: $70

Total: $670

So I have decided to take the 35hp Johnno to a local outboard shop that I came across while looking for a trim motor.
I will get him to do a tune and a service and get the 35 running right, and I will also get him to give me a trade in price for it.
If finances permit and he has a motor I like I might just get that power upgrade.

Now to find the last of those darn leaks.

 

[Brodie]

Re: Clark Abalone 14FT Boat. "Alestorm II"

Turns out what I had mistaken as an electrical and fuel issue was low compression. I guess two of the three and was wrong on both.

I had 95 in the top and 100 in the lower.
So I pulled the head and wouldn't you know it, full of water. Must have filled up when I had it laying on the floor.

New head gasket it is, after that a compression check and we will go from there.

 

[cxman]

Force you mean

F!@#ing Old Recycled Chrysler Engines

 

[Brodie]

That's the one CX.

So I took the 35 in to the mech yesterday and we had another look over it. Here are the results
The head needs to be milled.
The cylinders need to be milled.
There is a small leak from the gearbox (I am convinced this is to do with the water leak though)

He told me to spray some 2T oil down the intake side of the cylinder ports to get it on the crank bearings and make sure there was no water down there...

There is.

So since he has not charged me a dime so far I figured I would barter with him over a new engine and the price of my 35hp. We started at 2500 for a Johnson 40hp VRO, that went down to 2000 cash no warranty. Took me a little more haggling but I got it down to 2000 fitted with warranty if he took my 35. Then I had another go and we worked out if I do most of the labor and he keeps the stainless prop (that thing was friken heavy) then it will be 1800 with 3 month warranty. He will fit the engine and hook up all the controls. All I have to do is cut a few more holes in my boat and take the old stuff out.

I think I will go with that option, the last resort of most boaties who are sick of missing fishing seasons. THROW MONEY AT IT.

 

[cxman]

get a honda !!!!

 

[Brodie]

Re: Clark Abalone 14FT Boat. "Alestorm II"

Ha I don't have that much cash. I recon I would get a new yamny 4t if I had the cash. They are lighter then most 2t of the same power.