13' Owens runabout

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shmbry
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Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2016 11:31 am
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Re: 13' Owens runabout

Post by shmbry »

Although slow, I am making progress. The bearers are in and I am fitting the cross braces. Before I fit the new floor I wondered if it would be prudent to turn the hull over and carry out any filling / gel repairs that were needed.

However the hull is heavier than it looks I I could not turn it over on my own. I did manage to get it up at about 45 degrees so that I could work on one side. The dirt and grime that I thought would come out with thinners or compound proved to be far more ingrained. So much so that I had to sand it down.

The curious thing is that there was a lot of dust which I would not expect with gel coat. Were the Owens boats painted? I can't see an edge of paint up near the gunwale or anywhere else.

What is the usual practice when you need to work on the underside of the hull? Should I continue and fit the floor and replace the deck and then turn it over when the boat has it's full strength?

shmbry
Posts: 30
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2016 11:31 am
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Re: 13' Owens runabout

Post by shmbry »

Using some lateral thinking I managed to turn the hull over. I put two tyres under the transom and pushed it over in a back flip with a 360 spin when vertical, and then back down in the same direction. This was whilst my father held the rope shackled to one of the forks on our forklift. Much easier then try to roll it about the centre line.

Woodwych
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Re: 13' Owens runabout

Post by Woodwych »

You must have a tall garage!
Good idea though- we should start a thread on boat flipping techniques..
I saw a Snake Mountain Boatworks Youtube video where they talked about flipping boats and the unintended forces on the sides during the process- i think they just used a couple of wooden braces across the gunwales each time and it was Ok.

shmbry
Posts: 30
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2016 11:31 am
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Re: 13' Owens runabout

Post by shmbry »

Well, after managing to turn the hull over I spent several days applying gel coat, rubbing down, applying, rubbing down .... Then applied a flow coat to finish. The hull now looks considerably better. There are still some high spots but as these probably originated in the mould I'm not going to worry about them. I invested in a Metabo random orbital sander for this job and I'm glad I did. I found one hole right at the edge of the chine where the the side meets the underside. I filled this with gel coat mixed with some micro-spheres and then applied p40 and some woven rovings to the inside once I'd turned the hull back over.

After finishing the bearers and cross braces I then set about putting the new floor in, but not before adding about 70 litres of buoyancy.

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Having debated how to secure the seats, which I've yet to make, I decided to use captive Stainless Steel M12 bolts in the same locations as the original floor. I can then make the seats to suit.

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I then secured the floor using Silicon Brass annular ring nails as per the original. They were expensive but are very tenacious and judging by the originals do not corrode.

I then applied three layers of 450 gram glass.

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The next phase will be to repair the lip around the gunwales so that I get a good joint when the deck goes back on. I also need to patch the hull breather tube after my attempts to dry the original floor.

shmbry
Posts: 30
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2016 11:31 am
CMBA Member: 0

Re: 13' Owens runabout

Post by shmbry »

Very chuffed to have found this on Ebay recently. It will save me an awful lot of work. I had traced the face from the old log in CAD and had started experiments in reprinting it.

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