Woodworking has never been my forte, nor has wood finishing.
Unfortunately, there was plenty of both ahead.
Completing the Transom
Having braced the cracked transom cap, acid-washed and painted the pitted aluminum underneath and cut new transom boards, I decided it was time to put it all back together.
One of the transom boards was badly warped to start with, but it looked OK now. I sealed both boards with “tabletop” epoxy resin.
Knowing nothing about epoxy resin, I chose tabletop (1:1 mix ratio) because it’s forgiving of user error (and because it was cheaper) .
(note: this is an Amazon affiliate link, which means that if you click the link and buy the associated product, Amazon may pay me a fee–your cost is unaffected)
I researched further after the fact–my signature style–and learned that 5:1 and 2:1 types are more popular for marine applications because they’re more flexible.
While the tabletop stuff will work, I think a 2:1 would’ve been better for the job of coating transom boards: more flexible than 1:1, without the precise mixing drama of 5:1 types.
Lesson learned.
Anyway, I allowed the first–thin–coat to soak into the wood for four hours, then applied a second coat. After waiting a couple of days for the epoxy resin to cure, I scuffed it with 100 grit sandpaper, then glued the boards together with Titebond Wood Glue.
After the glue dried, I noticed a gap at one end of the warped board. I reglued it, then left the clamps on for another 24 hours.
I spray painted the entire assembly with a couple of coats of “Enlightened Desert Sage” (actually, Rustoleum Army Green), then left it to dry overnight.
Because I insisted on spraying the stuff during one of our extremely hot, extremely dry afternoons, some of the spray dried in the air and went on as a rough powder.
Fortunately, this paint is more or less idiot-proof. After it dried the powder wiped off easily, leaving a smooth finish behind.
The next day I slid the transom wood assembly back into place and reattached the transom brackets using the “splints” I made.
Unfortunately, I didn’t label which splint was which or which side was up when I made them, so it took awhile before I matched splints with brackets and got all my pre-drilled holes aligned again.
Even after I got the holes lined up, the brackets were under tension and needed some persuasion to fit back into place. Eventually, though, everything worked out.
Replacing the wooden seats
My plan was to replace the missing seats with 3/4″ plywood.
My measurements showed that I needed 17 square feet so I bought two 4′ x 4′ sheets of 22/32″ exterior grade B/C plywood at Home Depot.
In English, “exterior grade” means the glue that holds the plywood together is waterproof, and “B/C” means that one side is finished and free of knots. I could’ve used marine-grade plywood, which has more plies and less interior gaps than exterior grade, but it’s much more expensive and hard to find unless you go to a dedicated lumber yard.
I cut the plywood to size on a table saw, then went out to check the fit.
Both the midship and fore thwarts (middle and front seats) needed to be trimmed to allow for the curvature of the hull. Cardboard templates helped here.
I drilled and counterbored bolt holes in the wood to match the existing holes in the aluminum supports.
Unlike the factory originals, my seats would be split into sections to allow for center hatches, so I had to drill extra holes in the aluminum to secure the outboard pieces. Finally, everything matched up.
Hot Hot Hot
Now it was time to apply epoxy resin to the seats. The instructions said to only mix as much as you can apply in ten minutes, so I did the first coat in small batches, mixing each in a separate paint cup and then painting it on with disposable Harbor Freight chip brushes. I let the first coat dry for four hours.
I knew the second coat would go on easier since the first coat had pretty much sealed the grain. This time I mixed one big batch, figuring I could get it all done in less than ten minutes.
I failed to allow for the fact that larger batches emit more heat when mixed. Combined with the fact that it gets HOT during Arizona summers, you end up with much less working time.
When I noticed the epoxy was getting a little thick, I reached over to give the cup a stir.
The stir stick didn’t budge. When I tried to remove it from the cup, this happened:
Cripes–I had a smoking hot (literally) epoxy-sicle!
I’d dropped the brush into the cup after I removed the stir stick. It, too, was stuck fast.
So small batches is definitely the way to go.
I managed to finish the second coat without further drama. After it dried overnight, I did one last coat around the edges to seal them.
After waiting a couple of days for the epoxy to cure, I roughed it up with 100-grit sandpaper both to remove the flaws I’d left and to help the paint stick.
Epoxy resin breaks down under UV, so I used the same paint as on the transom to protect all the parts that would be exposed to sunlight.
Not sinking is good
I’d removed the old factory floatation foam from under the midship thwart. I planned to replace it with blocks of closed-cell, water-resistant sheet insulation, and to do the same under each of the other seats.
This way, I hoped, in case of mishap the boat would linger on the surface rather than plummet to the bottom of the lake.
I paid the folks at Lowe’s extra to deliver the 4′ x 8′ sheet to my doorstep. It was too long to fit into my Forester and I didn’t feel like hacking it in two in the middle of a blazing hot parking lot.
They don’t mess around: the sheet was on my doorstep before I got back from running errands that morning.
I made one cut with a sharp insulation knife, but gave up and did the rest with a sabre saw. 2″ foam is too thick to cut with a knife, even if you’re a stout lad/lass.
I tied the blocks of insulation together “for pretty” with paracord, then bolted the seats down.
The midship thwart on my Gregor came equipped with dividers to hold the factory floatation foam in place.
These also neatly walled off the center compartment. I decide to do the same under the aft thwart (back seat).
I picked up some .019″ aluminum sheet at Home Depot, then cut it to size on a table saw using a fine-toothed wood blade. I bent 90-degree angles using a homemade sheet metal brake, then hammered them square with a rubber mallet.
I was going to pop-rivet the dividers into place, but in those tight quarters it ended up being easier to use a mix of rivets and bolts. Had I thought of it sooner, I would’ve also painted them to match the rest of the interior.
I still might.
But for now I was worried about installing the hatch cover hinges and latches. If I got those wrong, my cunning seat design would turn out to be a major failure.