Restoration of 1981 C-22 swing keel #10580

[CloudDiver]

The middle section is bolted to each end with 3/8 x 4" bolts, and you can see the supports are also bolted at the middle so it can be taken apart and put into a truck bed.
I have my Warn Pullz-All electric winch anchor to the back wall of the garage so it makes it easy to hoist it back in at night when I'm done for the day!

 

[CloudDiver]

With the boat inverted you can gain some new perspective on stuff you'd normally never see. I'll be using Interlux Bilge-Coat to paint things while inverted that would be too much of a PITA when the boat is sitting upright. Also, with the gelcoat mostly sanded away a lot of light is coming through the bare fiberglass.

 

[CloudDiver]

I had some plastic taped onto the hull for over 48 hours (while it was still indoors). When I took it off there still wasn't a speck of moisture on it. I'm still going to let it dry out at least a week more after I wash the hull next weekend.

 

[CloudDiver]

There were two broken screws from the rub rail, one on either side. I am pretty sure someone had to tried to use regular zinc plated wood screws as these were heavily rusted. I found the cleanest way to get them out was to use a roto-zip bit on my dremel tool and grind around them. I was able to easily grab the broken screw shaft with needle nose vice grips and turn it out. Then I drilled out the void clean to 3/8", cut short plugs of 3/8" fiberglass rod and epoxied them in.

 

[CloudDiver]

The hull is back in the shop, so hopefully I'll finish off the last of the bottom sanding during the week. I've also filled the under-side of the lip where the deck meets the hull with fairing filler. Below if the before and after shots. A bunch or dirt collects under the rub rail here and is just a general mess. I used a long bristle stainless steel brush to get all the dirt and crap out, blew down with compressed air, and washed it with denatured alcohol from a squirt bottle. So far I've filled it all the way around the hull and have sanded most of it, still a bit to go until the port quarter and transom filler cures. When I finish it'll be flat and painted. The rub rail will be super easy to put on with the hull inverted (I know cause I already test fit the front V section!). I'll tape all the pieces in place and pilot drill the screw holes before I paint.

 

[CloudDiver]

Something I have been meaning to get to for awhile, it was much easier with the boat outside. I noticed that the outboard leg of the swim ladder was making only half contact with the hull right where it curves. I decided to move the mounting holes up 3/4" so the rubber foot pad if fully on flat transom. The hull is inverted, so the new holes are down. The old holes are filled with the 3/8" fiberglass rod plugs and sanded flush.

 

[piedpiperIII]

awesome job and great detail thank you for sharing

 

[CloudDiver]

Sanding Progress and Hull Drying

Just a quick progress update; after last night I am about 85% done sanding the gel coat off the bottom. I barley did any over the holiday weekend because I was busy building the rolling cradle. After tonight I should have knocked out the last 6 or so square feet near the stern. I am soooo sick of this heavy belt sanding!

Contrary to my earlier post where I taped the plastic to the hull... I know that moisture is in fact escaping. When I got up on the hull yesterday afternoon I noticed darker spots in the partially sanded gelcoat, especially where the white was gone but the thinner blue undercoat was still there. having done a bunch of reading about water intrusion into fiberglass it seems that, before it is really bad and soaked up into the fiberglass itself, munch of the moisture is trapped between the gelcoat and fiberglass layers. From what I saw this is the case on my hull and it was a really good thing that I decided to sand off the gelcoat.

 

[CloudDiver]

I can now officially retire my belt sander.... for this job anyway!

 

[CloudDiver]

This is what is left in the Dusty Deputy bucket. Look close, it is a 5 gal pail that is 3/4 full!

 

[Time_Out]

Woo hoo!!! Major pain in the butt step done! Good work! I like the cradle too. Having the winch to pull it back into the garage is a great idea. Did you have a lip that you have to get up over going in/out of the garage?

 

[CloudDiver]

Woo hoo!!! Major pain in the butt step done! Good work! I like the cradle too. Having the winch to pull it back into the garage is a great idea. Did you have a lip that you have to get up over going in/out of the garage?

No lip at the threshold, but I have a slight grade to my driveway. When I roll the keel in its pallet cradle on my rolling M/C lift it bottoms out at the transition because it is so low, major pain.
The wheels on the boat cradle are 5 inches and the frame sits a few inches higher, so no issues there thankfully. Its so easy to roll I can do it practically with one hand.

 

[CloudDiver]

So I rolled her back outside after work and washed the bottom down with soap and water. From here on out it'll get a rinse two more times about 3 days apart and then just let dry out. I also finished sanding and fairing the filler that I put in under the rub rail lip, then sanded the port side with 80 grit for paint prep, the starboard side was done over the weekend already.
So at this point I have at least a few more weeks of drying time and I need to figure out what my plan is before I epoxy the bottom. I know I am going to at least prime, if not top coat just the rub rail area. I want to install the rub rail while inverted. Another option is to just pilot hole the screws and that will make installation easier when the hull goes back upright. I dunno... I was thinking I may just paint the sides completely all the way up to the boot stripe. Its so much easier to move the boat around on the rolling cradle so it will be easier to roll and tip both sides.

 

[CloudDiver]

I primed the rub rail area today all the way around. I also primed the some spots on the sides where I had ground out some crazing and added fairing filler along with filler is some deep scratches.
Using Interlux Prekote and I did get some brush stokes after tipping. I picked up a can of Interlux 333 Brushing Liquid (basically its kerosene, smells just like it at $23 a quart!). I added 360 ml of the 333 to the rest of the gallon. So tomorrow I'll see if it tips out better. I have good weather for painting outside, about 67 degrees and partly cloudy. Interlux recommends sanding with 180 between coats, which I did but I decided to wet sand and the results are impressive.
Also working on restoring the Motor Mount... The bushings are shot and there was serious corrosion between the stainless bolts and aluminum spacers that are inside of the bushings. I can get newer style bronze bushings for $32 (set of 10) from the OEM. Pics and details to follow, at the moment the stainless is soaking in de-scaler to remove running rust and gobs powdery corrosion from the eaten aluminum.

 

[$tingy Sailor]

What brand motor mount are you refurbing? I recently rebuilt an OMC gas lift mount and found polymer bushings WAY cheaper than the OEM ones at Zoro.com.

 

[CloudDiver]

What brand motor mount are you refurbing? I recently rebuilt an OMC gas lift mount and found polymer bushings WAY cheaper than the OEM ones at Zoro.com.

It's the OEM mount for that year (and many others), Garhauer Marine single spring. The pic below was before I dissembled it. You can see it has plastic bushings, several were split. The ID of the plastic bushings is 1/2", so they put in an aluminum sleeve to reduce it for the 5/16 through bolts... bad idea. The aluminum was so badly corroded that the sleeves and bolts were seized inside the tubing. I'll post more pics later of everything cleaned up after soaking in phosphoric acid de-scaler.

I looked on that Zoro.com, what a pain in the butt the search is. I could't find the correct size in plastic or bronze and got sick of looking. McMaster Carr's website has a way, way better search feature where you can narrow by size and material. Still, the correct size isn't there and McMaster Carr is usually pretty pricey. I'll just order the Garhauer rebuild kit, comes to 3.20 per bushing and I know they will be the right size.

 

[Fred Villiard]

Try mcmaster.com, for bushings

 

[$tingy Sailor]

If this OMC works out well, I might sell my two-springer. If you're interested in more lift, I'll drop ya a line when the time comes.

 

[CloudDiver]

Here is one of the Motor Mount tubes after I knocked out the plastic bushings. You can see the caked in corrosion from the dissolving aluminum;

 

[CloudDiver]

The rub rail area got its second coat of primer followed by the hull sides getting its first coat. I had added 10% Interlux 333 Brushing Thinner to the Prekote primer and it tipped out so much nicer! Any brush strokes are almost invisible to the eye.