Stessl 4mt Tinnie refurbishment

Hi all, I jumped at the chance offered in the classifieds to snaffle a tinnie to play with. After Selling my big boat for various reasons last Sept, I have been land bound, longest time without a boat in 20odd years.

Even though I won't pick the boat up for a few weeks (budgetary constraints and some work needed to get it back on wheels) I have started doing some planning and conceptual sketching.
Here's what I have to start with.....

The hull is very sound, no corrosion inside, seat rivets still tight, no real dings to speak of. Floor is had it, but I would replace it anyway. There's a few added on brackets here and there, they'll go as well. Will get my mate around to weld up the various bolt holes with my MIG (he's better at Ally welding). Needs a scuff off and repaint inside and out. Nothing I haven't done before, as long as it's scuffed off, acid washed and primed in the same day all is good. Once the prime is on I can overcoat at my leisure.

Here is my first concept sketch....

Side console with screen, replace cable steering with Teleflex push/pull steering. Update control box to single lever with key start. Offset side by side pedestal seating, carpeted floor and fore & aft casting decks with storage under. Will fit mount for Minn Kota bow mount on foredeck to port side, with deep cycle battery under front casting deck.
Scotty and Snap Loc Swivel rod holder mounts along either gunwhale, Vertical rod rack on front of console.

Will update this post as the project progresses.

Cheers Brad

Brad you've got a big job ahead of you l will be very keen to watch this thread to see your progress good luck

Alistair, yes indeed the weight distribution will be considered carefully. Having the 'house' battery and fuel tank moveable under the rear deck "should" give me enough flexibility. I also rarely go out ina boat alone, so the passenger will be moveable ballast as well
Done it all before so have the T Shirt and the scars worse comes to worse I know where there are some trim tabs that should suit

Nicho can solve all problems

, gunna be a good post to watch. Martin

Pete, its a Stessl 1978/79 dinghy, probably the closest in the current range would be the 3.8 Open Dinghy. However this is narrower than the current tinnies and while less stable at rest tend to be a better boat in motion and require less grunt to get going and usually a better top speed.
Certainly is solid and the hull is all 1.6mm and well braced with internal ribs and the longitudinal external strakes combining to keep the hull flex in control.
I was fortunate that the previous owner had the motor converted to elec start and remote controls, so all I have to do is update it all.

Brad

Pete, the old 'don't judge the book by the cover'. The trailer looks nasty, but under the coat of house paint  is a perfect hot dipped galvanised frame 
The springs are pretty beat up, and way over rated for the rig...... I hate multi leaf types in boat trailers, always fighting rust with them. The axle is brand new and will take about 30 mins to refit and ready to get the rig home. They will be replaced with solid elliptical springs anyway.

Brad

Going to be good reading. Very interested in how it comes up. She is a top little tinnie and I would have scored it if I didn't already have one. Another "Brad" was interested and was disapointed that he missed out. Martin

coming along well..........solid old boats..........the old guy down the road has one as new in a bone color..........great boat although stability is very ordinary when standing at the side of boat.
The old evinrude(veryrude) are a great motor........people knock them but my old one was whisper quite and reliable......(and all parts are interchangeable with johnson)
Im visioning hot pink, chrome dip the motor/anchor and prop, a small perspex window shield around the console, with a set of  black and white fluffy dice

Haven't done much on the boat since last post, been pricing up various bits and pieces.

But on the trailer front, I did some fiddling over the last couple of days. Stripped all the fittings off, which was surprisingly easy considering the age of the thing, ALL the bolts came out with out any bother .
Got stuck into the crappy paintwork with a wire brush on the drill.

AHHHH HAHHHH as I suspected there lies a lovely galvanised trailer under all the house paint as first thought. The brush/drill was making slow going as the paint had a few layers.......
Time bring out the real tools, 4" grinder with one of those scourer type pads on it...


much easier now I have 1/3 the trailer done in a POLISHED Galv finish and the scourer pad is stuffed...will continue next weekend, but I did buff the rust on the guards and gave them a coat of Galv-it.


Brad

Well, 9 months later, I have finally had the time to spend on the boat refurb.......Rome wasn't built in a day, was it 
Started with the floor beams...60x40x3mm wall Ally RHS..nice and strong but still light. Trimmed to suit the individual framework variances and a good snug (smack with hammer) fit over the existing cross thwarts.

Fixed in place with ALL alloy 5mm ddia rivets. I say ALL alloy for the beginners around. The usual rivets sold in hardwares are alloy head on a steel shank..THEY RUST!!!! Get ALL alloy rivets from a boat chandlery or specialty fastening shop.
Up in the bow, the challenge was the angle of the cross thwart, no real option except a couple of separate chocks.
made a template of each section using cardboard

mark out a centreline on the beams, keep inside edge on that line, trim the outside edge to suit. do one side of the boat, flip the template over and check it fits the other side (you'd be surprised if it did, there's always a bit of variance)

Draw a centreline on the ply, line the template up, and transfer shape to ply and cut it out with circ saw and jigsaw. Drop into the boat and trim if needed where require with jigsaw, to sit flat on beams.

Due to the front seat being so low on this older boat, I had to do the floor in 2 sections to get it in place.

front deck in place. There will be a bulkhead going from this floor up past the anchor shelf and about 100 further to meet the casting deck at the seat height.

Now I will coat ALL the edges and upper and lower surfaces in epoxy resin to seal the ply from the weather. While that's going on I will also be waterblasting the old house paint and any loose original paint off the inside before etch priming and painting the below deck area.

Stay tuned for more over coming weekends

Brad

John, The floor is made of 13mm ply and I can lift the 2 pieces myself. The loor will carpeted up onto sides of hull, floor screwed down, and the entire working floor area will be isolated from the rest of the boat. No sinkers down the cracks  actually the worst offenders for corrosion enhancement are brass swivels and steel hooks.

Brad

Project coming along nicely, pleased to see you didn't raise the 'centre of gravity' too much. Some make that mistake, trying to get a larger floor area, resulting in instability and knees up under the chin whilst sitting. Keep up the good work.

Well hired the gernie today, started blasting away, mould came of easy, but that damn mission brown on the inside was stubborn...out with the paint stripper then. got it bubbling nicely and is is coming off
slowly, must be oil based. So off comes all the original yellow inside then, down to floor level at least.
Slapped some stripper on the outside as well...geez there about 4 different coats of different coloured paint on top of the original beige. from the top....Beigey Green, then 2 different shades of light blue and bugger me if there isn't a silver grey from about the bow back to about the rego letters. End result of this afternoons effort is Outside 98% clear of paint, Inside 60% clear of paint.

Brad

update 28/9
Got stuck in with the gernie and stripper again this morning on the remaining paint on the inside sides.


just water blasted the sub floor area to remove any loose stuff, gave any bare areas a scuff with a abrasive disc to feather the edges, and applied an etch primer over everything I could get to.

only just in time too, not 15 mins after finishing painting, the breeze came in strong and blew leaves and crap into the boat. The paint is quick drying thank god and none of it has stuck down.

The areas above floor level I will have to finish with various abrasive wheels and discs as what the stripper didn't lift is well and truly solid. I'll wait till the floor is coated befpre attacking that as working on those beams is a killer on the legs

I said I would show the result of using unsuitable fastenings in aluminium without some anti corrosive compound.

This is the hole left by a steel self tapper that held down a wooden box onto of the rear seat, The screw itself was rusted through inside the wood, and you can see the corrosion (dull & pitted area) caused by the steel into aluminium combined with moisture trapped by the wood. The screww was a 10gge (6mm dia) and the corrosion extends quite a way from the hole. I will use an epoxy putty to fill all the holes and corroded area after treating with an aluminium cleaner.
 TO BE CONTINUED.....
Brad

Brad,I've done something similar some years ago. It is interesting watching your project progress/come together. I know what you mean by "all alloy". I made the mistake of using "alloy" rivets, had the problem pointed out to me, drilled them out and replaced them with the appropriate rivets.
Dave