1988 Parker Sou'Wester Deck and Fuel tank Replacement

[Final-lee]

So today we were able to empty the old tank, remove it and clean all the foam out of the hole. To our surprise it took about 2 hours to siphon the gas out and slice the foam around the sides of tank. It then only took about 3 hours to remove the old tank and foam from the cavity. Once we had a plan the tank came out pretty easy. A few more pics posted below.

New composite decking is ordered and should be in this week and tank sould be done early next week.

 

[Final-lee]

So it took a little longer then we expected to get the tank in but we finally picked it up today. This thing looks awesome all shiny with its white epoxy . Too bad no one will ever see it. Great job by SP tanks (other then a small delay in build time). We ended up ordering a custom T shaped tank that will hold 100 gallons. That will give us an increase of 35 gallons!!

Since we've been on hold waiting for the builders there was nothing else to do but spend money on other projects and goodies. Besides the new tank, flotation foam, new D31 Blue tops, 12 inch deck plates, fiberglass, composite deck and rear access hatch have all come in. A few pics below but we plan to start putting everything back together tomorrow and I'll make sure I take plenty of pics of the progress.

 

[kidfreediver]

Can't wait

 

[Megabyte]

Very nice!
Is that tank powder coated?

 

[TWOBOATER]

Thanks for the great photos of your project. very informative.

 

[Final-lee]

Sorry for the delay here's the update from last weekend and today.

We spent most of the last few days finishing cutting the openings to their final sizes, dry fitting the tank (multiple times), removing the two main middle stringers and finished off today with building the new front and rear bulkheads. Pictures below.

We also spent a good part of today replacing all the fuel lines and tank hoses.

We did find, to our surprise, the cavity between the next stringers are filled with foam. The foam is completely dry and not waterlogged like the foam under the old tank. I thought that was amazing for being in there for 27 years.

Tomorrow's plan is to get the new stringers in place and then fiberglass everything in below the deck. If we have time we will also be permanently installing the tank and possibly pouring new floatation foam.

Megabyte the tank is epoxy coated not powder coated. The old one didn't have any coating so we figured this couldn't hurt.

 

[Megabyte]

Nice clean work. 8)

 

[Brent]

Is this area self draining in case water is trapped?

 

[Final-lee]

Sorry for the lack of pictures but I found that its pretty hard to do fiberglass and pour foam all while taking pictures with my cell phone and wearing a tyvek suit. I put a few pictures below of the progress. Let me know what you think.

Progress on Sunday was good. We got the new main stringers cut installed and fiberglassed with 1708 and epoxy resin. We decided to make the stringers out of marine plywood as it was cheaper then the 4x8 sheets of composite. Full fiberglassing and the epoxy resin we hope will make the stingers last for years to come. Although I wasn't able to take many pictures I think it went very well for our first time fiberglassing. We used fiberglasssite.com out of Maryland for everything and Mike was very helpful and has YouTube videos showing how to use all of his products. Definitely would recommend.

After work on Monday we were able to begin pouring flotation foam in-between the new stringers and the old ones. I can't tell you how many threads I read regarding foam. Everyone had an opinion and it took a long time to weed through them. What I came up with was 2 main opinions most people view flotation foam as a necessity but also a curse as its purpose gets diminished as it gets wet and absorbs water. So how do we get the benefits of foam without worrying about it absorbing foam? After more research I came up with an idea. In certain manufacturing they ship glassware in foam to prevent breakage. The foam used is a liquid foam that expands and encapsulates the glassware. To prevent the foam from sticking to the glassware they use a grey bag material that seals in the foam preventing contact with the glassware. The grey bags open completely and fill with foam and then seal to prevent foam from escaping. So my thought is that if they prevent the foam from escaping they should also prevent water from getting into the foam. So what I've been doing is laying the bag material in the stinger cavities and filling the bags with foam and then folding the bags to seal he foam inside in a series of blocks until the cavities are filled. My thought is at worst the bag material will prevent the foam from constant direct water saturation. It seems like it worked and it looks good. Hopefully it will prevent or at least delay water from being able to saturate the foam.

A few pics below let me know what you think.

Brent, with the new stingers being built the center area is completely sealed to hopefully prevent any water from getting in but I did put in a few small drainage holes in the rear bulkhead just in case.

 

[Megabyte]

Nice work bagging the foam. Can't see any downside to using that method.
I know it's mostly referred to as "flotation foam", but I think that in larger boats it also serves as a sound deadener.
If those large hull cavities were not filled with something, the hull would sound like a bass drum on the water.

 

[Brent]

Thanks

Nice work and thanks for posting

 

[Final-lee]

Its been a grind over the last few days but we made some major headway. Below is a list of things we've finished off.

All new cavities are now poured and bagged with new floatation foam.

All new stringer wood has been wrapped in 1708 and covered with epoxy resin.

We installed the tank!! We used think rubber matting all around and under the tank to support it and cushion it against the hull and stringers. SP tanks no longer recommends foaming tanks in place but rather putting strips of rubber around the tank and wedging it against the stringers.

Rear bulkhead was glassed in with 1708 to create a waterproof area in the bilge.

Fuel lines to the engine were replaced with brand new ones along with a new fill line and vent line. The lines from the tank to the water separator/filter were also replaced.

Still have a long way to go and a lot of little things to wrap up but having a tank installed again starts making us able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Megabyte]

8)

 

[Final-lee]

Got a little more work done today. We installed rubber between the sides of the tank and the new stringers we built. This will serve to give the tank some buffering between it and the stingers and also to make sure it won't shift in its cavity.

We also installed a few braces between the new stringers on top of the tank. These will make sure the tank cannot pop out of place upwards and will also give a few more places to attach the deck to.

We are hoping to finish the list below this week and hopefully be ready to fiberglass the deck in place on Saturday.
New ground lines front and rear for tank.
New fuel line from tank to filter
Hook up the fuel gauge
Rewire bilge pump
Cut the decking

Hopefully we get everything done and start fiberglassing the deck in place on Saturday and maybe the first gel-coat done this weekend. Wish us luck

 

[Final-lee]

We've been busting it pretty hard over the last two days and got our list done. Pics are below. The deck has been precut and is currently sitting in place. Tomorrow we will be securing it to the stringers and sanding the old fiberglass down to prepare to start laying the fiberglass on Saturday morning. We are hoping to finish the fiberglass Saturday and possibly start gel-coating Sunday. Let me know what you think of the deck.

Replacing the deck and looking through Warthogs posts have got me looking around the boat at other projects. I just ordered new popup cleats for the rear and I'm still researching underwater leds to match the ones under the gunnel and in the cabin. Is anyone else using underwater lights? If so what brands are you using?

 

[Megabyte]

Once you successfully tackle a project like this, suddenly the project mind begins thinking...

 

[Final-lee]

Hitting the home stretch now.

We busted our backs this weekend and got the deck glassed in. We prepped all day Saturday and sealed all the little gaps and valleys as best we could with evercoat fiberglass repair putty. Also had to sand the little bit of remaining deck which sucked. Orbital sanders just don't do the trick on 27 year old gelcoat and fiberglass. I finally found that using a rotozip with a sander attachment was by far the bet way to go. Maybe it was the higher RPM range but it took almost no time to sand the rest of the deck. It took about 3 gallons of polyester resin to cover the deck and fiberglass mat. We used a foam roller and 3 inch brush to apply and two six inch ribbed rollers to take care of the air pockets. After letting that sit for 7 hours it was rock hard and just faintly tacky. At that point we started laying the gel coat. The first coat was a 10% diluted coat to start just to get it started. We then moved to a second coat after that one tacked up after an hour and rolled a second gelcoat that was 5% diluted. The 3rd and final coat wasn't diluted at all and had a wax additive and nonskid poly-particles added also. The 3rd coat went down smooth and has an awesome non skid texture to it.

We went back at it tonight and cleaned up some rougher spots and sanded them down a little bit. We also installed the rear hatch and 2 circle access plates. The rear hatch is a 23x14 composite hatch made by sure seal. It looks like it is made well but flexes a pretty good bit when a 240lb guy steps on it. Not sure if it will last forever but with all the costs this year I was splurging for the $400 metal one. The two 12inch circle access plates are composite and made by Bomar. These things are rock solid and flex very little when the same 240lb man walks on them. Very pleased with them.

The deck is bright white so it stands out a bit but I'm not changing it right now. I figure I'll live with it for the season and then decide next year if I want to repaint it with Awlgrip to match. Only have a few more things to finish up that include the new transducer, recalibrating the fuel gauges and finsh painting the bottom and waxing. Hopefully we will be floating on Friday.

Enough rambling, pics are below. What do you guys think? Not perfect but not to bad for our first time.

 

[Megabyte]

I think you did well. 8)

 

[Final-lee]

Time for an update:

The deck has been done and we are back in the water. Everyone has been telling us how good it looks and wants to know if we can do theirs.

On to some important things.

Before the tank and deck install we would do about 29-30 knots at 4000rpm.
After the tank and deck we are doing about 27-28 knots at 4000rpm.
Not much of a difference but just enough to barely notice.

Also we are sitting about an inch lower in the water overall. No big deal but I will probably raise the water line on the bottom next year by 2-3 inches to be safe.

We did notice with all the rain we have been having up here that the front hatch on the bow is leaking. We temporarily sealed it with some boat life caulk but after 27 years its probably time to replace it. Have any of you replaced yours?

I'm debating 3 things right now,
1. Replace it with a similar model
2. Do away with it all together and remove the hatch and fiberglass the hole to match the rest of the cabin top.
3. replace it with a non-glass locking hatch

I'm also planning a few more projects that include:
Building a new door of fiberglass to replace the teak one
Installing the chirp and structure scan
New Sirius Radio

I guess instead of starting a new thread I'll just keep loading this one up.

 

[MV Tall Tails]

Looks great! My 1989 is ready for a similar job. Hopefully next year.. Thanks for the detailed descriptions and pictures.