1975 Rainbow Nautique

Gary,
What should I use? I actually bought Nida bond and it was expensive but if I'm wasting my time, I want to know now.
Thanks

The boat had two speedometers on it but they were both broke years ago. I just bought an original and working on getting another one.   I may have been mistaken about the windshield. It is a one piece but it could be a polycarbonate. It was in the early '90's and I don't have the memory I use to. I am still looking for some of the older pictures but I have a lot of books to go through. Once I find some, I will post them.

I'll try to find the FAQ section / links to stringer replacement tomorrow. There have been several in the past who were going to use Nita Bond. They insisted that it was the greatest but never posted any of their results. One can assume it did not work or turned into a bigger project than planned. Nothing wrong with wood if properly prepped and in combination with epoxy resin will outlast you. Several have used Coosa Board with great results but requires a bit of reengineering.

Thanks Gary. I looked at the coosa board last night. I'm thinking about going with it now after the research last night. I know that it's expensive but it only has a 1% absorption rate and that's pretty good and if it'll last another 30 years then I'll have passed the boat down by that time. I used mahogany last time and had the fiberglass blown in on top but the water still seemed to get in somewhere. I'm thinking about going with it on the floor as well. I would appreciate any links. I have been searching with limited results on here about the coosa board and the best solution to not have to keep redoing it.

Tommy

Tommy,
The Mahogany wouldn't have been one of my choices on wood. If you didn't treat the wood with CPES (clear penetrating epoxy sealer) and used polyester resin, I can understand why it failed. The CPES is the primary barrier for moisture and then with epoxy it's sealed. After the basic stringers are laid, ANY penetrations for bolts/screws are then CPES'd. Did you use polyester? It's hygroscopic!!! Wood is certainly a less expensive option. I recommend Douglas Fir. If you can't find it in your area, LVL (laminated veneer lumber) is another option. There's even a complete thread on a re stringer using it.

Don't forget to take a look at the FAQ thread.

TRBenj wrote: I would cut down those glass channels and grind out the edge of the bilge gel before starting.

Absolutely. Looking at the glass channels still in the hull is the reason I thought you were going with one of the pour in a form casting compounds. They are very costly and to my knowledge we've never heard back on the results from some that planed on using the method.

Gary, with this boat on its second rebuild, makes me think someone didn't glass the wood properly for it to rot twice like that in its lifetime. I've never done a complete rebuild like so many so on this site. Maybe, just maybe, someday.

Why does everyone do wood instead of a complete glass and poly boat like new boats? Is it that much harder to do Coosa and a glass floor? Also--why put foam under the deck instead of an air bladder or something that can never get saturated?

Just seems crazy to tear all the old rot out and hope never to have to do it again.

tryathlete wrote: . Why does everyone do wood instead of a complete glass and poly boat like new boats? Is it that much harder to do Coosa and a glass floor? .

My GUESS is that Coosa is more TIME consuming and I do know that it is more expensive than Douglas Fir, but it will not rot or rust. You have to stack the layers of Cosa to build it up with glass sandwiched in between. You are building up the boards, but I may be wrong since I have not done it before.

JMO,

Donald

I have the 1978 that is mentioned in this thread.

That is a beautiful boat!! I hope I can get mine that way again.

When I restored it the first time I was 19 and there wasn't a way to gain knowledge about it as much as it is today. There were some things that I missed I'm sure that made them rot. One of which was the drain holes through the stringers. It seems like that's where most of the rot started from.

As far as the windshield... I couldn't replace it with something other that the one that is there. I'm not going to go back to totally original but I want to keep it's originality as much as possible and I think that's one thing that makes this boat a little different.

Tommy,
The bilge needs to be ground down where you will be laying the new glass because the coating is decorative without any strength. It should be ground down almost to the first layer of glass you come to. Keep in mind it's the glass that's structural and the resin just bonds it all together.

Here is a good thread on replacing stringers. One of the problems of using a Coosa type of material is that a screw will not hold in it. Your engine mounts to the stringers are a good example. Newer boats use an aluminum cradle that has mounting points welded to it and then the whole assembly is cross bolted thru the structure. It is also the pylon mount. You would have to figure out a way to duplicate this for your boat since your motor mount lags will not hold into the coosa. A wood stringer system done with care and no short cuts will last. Do all the reading on the various stringer threads here that you can.

Thanks 8122pbrainard!! I didn't find it before but I have now. Thanks for the advice on the grinding down of the bilge plate. What is going to be my best method of grinding it without getting too far into the original bottom?

Thanks

Tommy,
A 36 grit resin bonded disks in a 4 & 1/2" angle grinder works great. Some have used diamond disks too and reported they work great as well. The diamond abrasives have really come down in price big time over the last 10 years. You can even find them at Harbor Freight.

That is awesome!!! I'm glad to know where the other one is!! I'm glad it has the reverse windshield as well!! If you don't mind getting me his email or any way of contacting him, that would be great!!!
Thank you very much!!

Thanks for the advice on the wheels guys.
Tommy