Hot Wheels Batboats found

This evening I arrived home from a nice long, relaxing trip to Genesee County in a search for Hot Wheels Bat toys and a visit to the mall. People at the 66Batfan.com forum said the 1:50th scale stuff was showing up on shelves again.

After making weekly road trips to various stores in the tri county area since February, I finally found my first two 1966 Batboats at the Toys R Us down the road a few weeks ago.

Today, to my surprise, the Toys R Us near the Genesee Valley Mall had four 1:50th scale Batboats on the same peg, a Batcycle and two Batmobiles. One 1:64th scale $.99 Batmoble was there too, hidden beneath other cars.

Can't believe that those $.99 Batmobiles are still popping up in stores this late in the game! Hot Wheels stopped shipping those a long time ago, they say.

In all, I came home with all four Batboats, one Batmobile and the $.99 Batmobile.


I took one out of its packaging for the first time today. This vehicle is fairly accurate to the original vessel in many ways and to hold a three dimensional version gives a different perspective on how it looked verses photographs.


I'm not the toy collector type but this has been the first time in decades that a manufacturer had been given licenses to make 1966 Batman vehicles. They are low priced and I am a sucker for '60s Bat-stuff.

These are shipped to stores boxed with later Bat vehicle incarnations but the '66 toys seem to sell the quickest and are hardest to find.

From my trips around eastern Michigan to date I've brought home ten $.99 Batmobiles, three 1:50th scale Batcycles, three Batmobiles with trailer hitches, and six Batboats. Most will be given away as presents and maybe displayed with the Batboat vessel.

There are a few updates coming soon on the full sized Batboat work. The deck is almost ready to go in. Stay tuned!

Batboat Rebuild: Day 34 July 19th, 2009

I didn't do much work today. Just ground off the excess fiberglass from the cross braces, glassed over sections of the two remaining stringers with what was left of the 1708 cloth and made the template for the deck.

There wasn't much to show regarding the fiberglassing so I didn't take pix.

BEFORE

AFTER

The cross braces cleaned up nicely.


Three days later, the several problem spots on the largest stringer were very visible. I'll have to grind out the large bubbles and patch them. No big deal.

The fiberglass going up the sides are not too much of a concern. It is the top edges that need fixing because the deck plywood has to lay on top the stingers flat and even.



When I was fiberglassing over the second small stringer I decided to let the resin kick in a little so I wouldn't have to stand over it, constantly rolling it back into shape with a fiberglass roller until it stiffened.

The cloth covering the top of the stringer began to get a little stiff. I went to roll it to find the ends touching the hull had almost bonded!!!!!! I tried to ripped it off but one side didn't budge so I grabbed the scissors, cut off what I could and rolled it flat to the hull. This is something I will never do again!

I am out of 1708 biaxial fiberglass cloth so I took the last of there was that had been cut for the second long stringer and used that to finish the job.

This gave me just one short section of 1708 biaxial left! Instead of glassing it all on at once it was cut into three, each piece overlapping by a couple inches. Rolling it on in sections with overlap turned out to be easier to work with than the one long cloth.

I finished up the stringer under the bow with four scraps of 1708. Two overlapping with two more on top.


The fun part of rebuilding this anti-crime cruiser has begun! Hours later after the fiberglass resin had cured I made the templates for the new deck plywood sections.

Thanks to Art Noey Maytag of Saginaw for giving me the free cardboard! It is thick, corrugated and worked great!

The new deck sections will be three pieces of 1/2 inch exterior Douglas Fir plywood cut four foot long. Each butts up end to end. The cardboard was shy four inches but was perfect for what I needed. The following pix show the templates spaced 4 inches apart.



Making these was easy. The deck piece starting at the transom was a uniform 52 inches in width, so was the middle but tapered off to 49 1/2 inches nearer to the bow. The last piece is odd shaped and narrows at varying points. It didn't take too long to get this done.



The triangle plywood you see in the photos is original to the boat and had been fiberglassed in as part of the deck at the tip of the bow. Just as the original deck, it is untreated 3/8 inch ply and will be replaced with 1/2 inch exterior grade Douglas Fir.




This triangle piece was stapled to the front end of the deck ply and was fiberglassed in along the edges. The exposed center was painted over along with everything else under the bow area.

When demolition started on the Batboat I found the ply was moving around loose under the fiberglass!

It was dusk so all the tools were put away, all around the boat was cleaned up, tarp put back on, and I called it a day.

Batboat Rebuild: Day 33 July 16th, 2009

Now that the construction adhesive had bonded all the stringers in the hull my goals for today were to lay fiberglass on the two cross braces and two of the stringers.

I have to take a day off between work on the Batboat because all of the bending and putting myself in odd positions in the hull leaves me stiff and sore, especially in the lower back. Wearing my weight lifting belt helps out a lot. Its worn from this day on.

Again, screws at the ends are supporting the brace plys on the saw horses. Here they are wet down with polyester resin. I laid the 1.5 oz chopped strand mat on top and rolled them on using a fiberglass roller.

The finished product. At the end of the day both sides were protected and water proofed with fiberglass. I'll grind all the excess off another day after the resin is completely set.

Lengths of 1708 biaxial fiberglass cloth were cut for fiberglassing over two of the stringers. I was doing one side of the hull one day at a time so cloth was cut for the other two for another day but I didn't have enough left. Five more yards of1708 was ordered that morning so no big deal.

This stuff is many times more stronger than what was originally used by the factory. More on this later. The width of it laying on the hull makes the boat stronger, also.

To fiberglass the cloth over the stringers a lot of polyester resin is spread over the ply and the hull where the cloth goes. It is then shaped around the stringers and rolled with a fiberglass roller.

That thick 1708 cloth soaks in a great deal of resin! More resin was pained on top and rolled until it became transparent.


1708 biaxial fiberglass cloth does not bend around edges very well but in this case the small stringer turned out good.


The five gallon bucket of resin was almost empty but it wouldn't pour out of the dang thing. A few holes were knocked in the bottom with a crowbar and the rest dripped out into another container. I ended up with 16 oz. more resin to use which otherwise would have gone to waste. This stuff is expensive costing up to $50 per gallon depending on shipping charges.


I hate getting resin in a five gallon bucket!

After mixing it with the MEKP activator, I wet down the long stringer, mixed more up and began glassing the cloth in.

A big mistake was made here that I hope will help you out if you are making your own Batboat. I started glassing in the long stringer beginning from the transom and worked my way into the bow. This got me into some sticky situations with my Tyvek suit. On the way in and out I accidentally stood, sat, and kneeled into the work I had done. It is best to start at the bow and work your way back.

The seat and feet of my suit frequently got stuck to the hull. Days later I had to use my grinder to get the shreds of material out!

Here is the suit. The seat and crotch is split out and feet gone.

Some of the 1708 cloth lengths were slightly misshaped at the ends before I glassed them in. At first I thought they would lay flat when soaked with resin but so such luck. Those spots will have to be ground out and patched with more 1708.


Be careful not to get odd pulls in the weave of your woven biaxial fiberglass cloth. This is what it looked like a day or two later.

This bubble surely has to be ground out and fixed with a patch of 1708.

With exception for some odd scraps, I was out of 1708 biaxal and got this far up the stringer. Halfway up the end section under the bow.

At this point my Tyvek suit was torn to shreds, parts were stuck to the hull, I ran out of 1708, and the low class, stoner neighbor's dog had been barking for three or four consecutive hours. With no more areas to glass in I threw the container with 12 oz. resin left in it across the yard.

Frustrated, I was done for the day!

Winding down

In a few days, weather permitting, the deck will be installed in the Batboat. Most of the heavy structural and grinder work will be finished.

In the duration of the last six weeks my car had been in the path of light clouds of fine fiberglass particles and saw dust. The morning dew and humidity made a sticky mess of it and those messy afternoons are coming to a close.

What a nice night to wash the car! Cool, breezy and slight overcast evening at the coin op car wash near my house. Its been the first time in a long while since its been washed.

Tomorrow it rains but I don't mind. :)

Fiberglassing tip.

Unfortunately, when in between fiberglassing projects sometimes left over polyester resin will begin to harden before I can use it on the next. I can't keep it in the bucket because I'll need it to mix up the next batch. What to do?

I found I can dump the left over resin in a damp spot of the gravel driveway. The combination of the thickened resin and water in the soil prevents it from seeping into the ground. Several days later I pick up the hardened blob off the ground and put it in the trash.

Batboat Rebuild: Day 32 July 13th, 2009

Two days later the adhesive had bonded the one stringer to the hull nicely. Today I spaced apart and linked the rest together to caulk in two others.

I ground off the excess fiberglass from the fourth stringer brace that I repaired.
The two longest stringers were temporarily fastened with cross braces and stainless screws to keep them all square.





PL premium adhesive caulk spread nicely under and along the sides of the plywood.

I weighed down the two stringers on each side of the one already bonded in to simulate a level deck. Over the winter they developed a slight bend. Forcing them to their original shape made the adhesive bond them in level and at a uniform height. This will make putting the deck in a little easier.

The original boat, a '69 Glastron V-145, was not built with precision. Before doing all the caulking work, I laid the stingers in the boat perfectly measured and spaced. However, I moved one stringer into the position of the original and it made the deck level 2 to 2 1/2 inches higher on the drivers side.

The original deck line is still visible along the hull and it was higher on the steering wheel side and uneven in other spots.

If you are making your own Batboat keep in mind that the work you are doing is better than what was done in the factory. Don't split hairs if you make a small mistake!



Again, the cross braces, scrap ply and cans kept the stringers perfectly square, spaced apart and level as the caulk hardens. Yea, its overkill but took only a moment to do. ;)

You'll need this little gadget to save your caulk cartridge for the next day. I picked this up at Harbor Freight for $.99.


The next day I unscrewed all the cross braces and caulked in the last stringer (on the right). Again, plywood scraps, a cross brace and weights forced the ply level with the others bonded the day before.

Its suppose to rain tomorrow so I'll get the 1708 fiberglass cloth ready for fiberglassing the stringers into the hull.

Something you'll not see very often...

Two Glastron V-174s side by side.

The owner Mike M. plans to make one of them into a Batboat.

Congratulations, Mike!


edit: I spoke too soon. Here are two more in Logansport, IN. One of them will be a Batboat replica, too.


Batboat replicas seem to have just become the "in" thing to do recently.

The V-174s are getting hard to find. The hulls of the sterndrive models made in 1966, 1967 and 1968 are from the same molds.

The original TV Batboat was based on a 1966 Crestflite Stern Drive V-174 Super Sport made by the Glastron Corporation out of Texas.

Batboat Rebuild: Day 32 July 11th, 2009

Today the first stringer gets bonded to the hull.

At first I planned to use peanut butter (peanut butter = polyester resin mixed with fine saw dust called "wood flower") to bed the plywood in. Checking with the guys at the iboats.com forum, however, they recommended using PL construction adhesive. Its better and cheaper.

The two main reasons are the cost of the amount of resin needed for the job (including UPS delivery, the resin is $50 per gallon) and that the PL adhesive is more flexible. A rigid bond will harm the flexible Batboat fiberglass hull if it hits the water too hard too many times.

The PL adhesive was less than $8 per 28 oz. tube. That won me over and I went with that.

No need to run back to Lowe's! Three 28 oz. tubes of PL were all that was needed for this job.

Last year when I was grinding out the old fiberglass around the rotted stringers I decided to leave three small sections from one of the longest ones in. This was so I can clamp the new stringer to them, giving support to it and the others when connected and bonded to the hull.

With all stingers placed in the boat and connected by the cross braces I took a shim to get the top of the long stringer positioned level, using the bottom edge of the dashboard as a reference.

After a few adjustments I got it where I wanted and clamped the ply to the fiberglass.


This is is better than what the factory did. I would find out later that the original deck was at least 2 inches higher on one side because the stringers were not set in square with each other.

I glopped in a generous amount of adhesive under and along the sides of the wood.

None of the stringers are completely flush with the hull. The original ones weren't either (not suppose to be) and over the winter the hull lost its shape a little due to the missing deck. Now it is more square from the improvements I made to the trailer, however.

I cut a shim and used it to smooth out the surface and to push the compound into openings.



The tube says it cures in 24 hours. I left it for two days and the ply is securly bedded to the hull. I broke out the old fiberglass the wood was clamped to by hand. Everything turned out perfect without the mess of using peanut butter.

The rest of the stringers go in soon, followed by the deck.

The best has yet to come!

Batboat Rebuild: Day 31 July 9th, 2009

As of today I was fed up with the slow progress but I kept reminding myself it will be over soon.

Nearly all the work on the stringers was completed. Before bonding them into the hull I took the Batboat to the river one last time and make sure there were no leaks.




The inside was as dry as a bone. Good.

A cleaned up hull with cross braces and stringers loosely positioned in place.

Today I made the last big fiberglass dust clean up of the hull using the air compressor and acetone in a rag. Acetone dissolves fiberglass resin so the remaining dust wipes up easy.

A day or two ago I waterproofed the stainless steel screws by laminating 1708 biaxial cloth to the large braces. Today the small stringers got 1.5 oz chopped strand mat and 1708 biaxial.

The grinder removed the excess and cleaned them them up nicely.

No water will get under those screw heads now.

The small stringers before I finished adding 1.5 oz and 1708 cloth.

The above photo shows a small stringer compared to the decades old original. The wood was fiberglassed in the the hull by the factory untreated. Bare wood with nothing added. The new one is waterproofed with polyester resin and 1.5 oz. chopped strand mat.

All of the original stringers I kept for reference seem to have broke and rotted in the cross brace area which is why I went the extra mile to add braces.

New stringers are cut for six inch wide cross braces. The originals had two inch.

There was another cross brace at the end positioned at the center of the hull, however, I'm not adding this for two reasons. The six inch cross braces I designed are overkill for this boat (I already have the extra wood laying around anyway.) and it will be impossible to adequately lay fiberglass cloth around all the angles.

I am completely happy with what I've done so far. :)

Batboat Rebuild: Day 30 July 5th through 8th, 2009

I didn't get much done during this time period. All work was focused on laminating the braces to the stringers. The heat and dehydration from being in overalls also convinced me to take a day off.

The work was slow going. There is one set of saw horses here so there was progress on one set of stringers at a time, one side at a time.

Joining the two ends of the longest stringers and didn't take much time to figure it out. This was easy. I placed them in the hull one at at time, lined them up with the remaining fiberglass layups of one of the originals and clamped them with a brace. I pulled the stringer out and drilled holes for stainless steel screws and screwed them in.

While demolishing all the old rot last year I removed all but three small sections of one of the original stringer's fiberglass from the hull. This was so I can clamp a new stringer, giving support to the others when they are bonded to the hull.

I flipped them over on the saw horse and laminated a brace to the other side using 1.5 oz chopped strand mat cloth.

Here they are steadily held in place.

The next day I did the other side and the day after ground the excess fiberglass off.

I finished up joining the braces to the small stringers I started on the 4th Of July.

The below photos shows how they all fit in the hull with the cross braces. Everything is perfect so far.




Now that they braces are permanently laminated to the large stringers, holes are drilled for more stainless screws for the other side. These things will be joined together long past my years.

The small stringers get less screws than the large because there is not much room.
The large got eight stainless screws on each side and the small have four. All positions were predrilled and counter sank.

All went in good and tight to the point where several screw heads broke off. All stainless that I couldn't drive in beneath the surface of the wood were ground flat. There is no way these are coming out! lol.

The lamination gave way on one of the small stringers when I was putting in its first screw. The holes I drilled were not big enough and the torque broke the bond! What a pain in the a*$.

Rebonding this added a couple more days of delay in fiberglassing them into the hull. This time I did it with peanut butter resin! lol!

Looking back....

Before heading off to sleep tonight I browsed through some old posts of mine at the iboats.com forum and found a photo not on my harddrive and this post.

"Reading various threads here it looks like replacing the deck and transom is easy, but takes a little time. Only thing standing in my way is the cold weather. Once it gets to the temp where I can properly fiberglass all the rot gets ripped out."

Me, March 17th, 2008, 03:38 PM

This was a little over three months after buying my Batboat and quite true.

Batboat Rebuild: Day 29 July 4, 2009

It was a happy Independence Day for me. I started the long process of getting the stringers ready to bed into the hull.

Stringers are important structural components to boat building. One of their functions is to have a solid place to screw the deck on.

Decks for boats like mine are generally made out of several 4 foot sheets that butt against each other for the length of the hull. To add strength and prevent the board ends from moving, cross braces are mounted in across the stringers. The deck sections screw down to them for stability.


One of the issues with the way my particular boat was made is that the notches for these braces created weak areas in the stringers. The smallest stringers were reduced to 3/4 inch in height.

Nearly all of those spots on the original stringers were broke and rotted. To compensate I designed braces that both add strength for the stringers and cross braces.

Also, the original cross braces were about 2 inches wide. The ones I'm putting in are 6 inches.

It took nearly all day to get it right and the results were great.

During the week I cut the marine grade cross brace braces into the shapes I needed. Today came the notches for those and the stringers. It took a long time to do this with my table saw.

Four of these braces will also join the sections of the longest stringers together. Marine Grade Douglas Fur Plywood comes in 4 foot by 8 foot sheets in this area, the two longest stringers in the Batboat are about 12 foot. So I have 8 foot pieces that the brace braces will join to their other ends, as shown above.



Stringer halves gets are joined and braced on each side of the cross brace notch.


The smaller stringers really need extra help as you can see above. The notch reduces them to less than 3/4 inch by 3/4 inch in that area. However, the braces will give them a total of 2 1/4 inch of strength in width.



The stringers seeme much more stronger and cross braces are more better positioned with the added braces.

The plan is to laminate all of the braces to the stringers with fiberglass, add stainless steel screws for added stability and lay fiberglass over that to waterproof the screw heads.

On this day I began fiberglassing the braces to the stringers. I have one set of saw horses so this took forever. One set of stringers at a time, one side at a time. It was a few days before I finished it all. The results, however, are very nice.

Batboat Rebuild: Day 28 June 23, 2009

BEFORE

I want this to be the strongest Batboat transom in maritime history.

I added 1708 cloth along the parameter to anchor the ply to the hull. Each strip of cloth is overlaps 1 1/2 to 2 inches, sometimes more. It is among the strongest fiberglass cloth weaves available.

This boat will not have trouble out on the water, at least not on that end. lol!

AFTER

When done correctly fiberglass laminates clear.

No matter what you try, fiberglass dust gets everywhere. Even on camera lenses. It is best to use the grinder on a boat outdoors or in a place you can easily clean. You can't completely get rid of it. Use an air compressor to blow as much of it off your work clothes before entering your house. Trust me.

BEFORE

I took the excess cloth off all the stringers, too.

AFTER

Batboat Rebuild: Day 27 June 20, 2009

I spent about 8 hours on the Batboat this day. Glassed in the stringers with 1.5 oz. chopped strand mat cloth and the transom with 6 oz. woven Hexel.

Strips of 1.5 chopped strand mat were cut to size for all the stringers and laminated to them.

Later, when glassing them to the hull this gives the 1708 cloth I'll be using something extra to hold on to, I figured.

At the time I didn't know this but I have been told since at the boating forums not to fiberglass one layer of cloth on one day and do the other later.

Oh, well. After reading about it I took a look at the original stringers and the long ones were done the way I did it and short ones had none on at all. I'll be using 1708 biaxial which is one of the most strongest fiberglass weaves out there and overkill compared to what Glastron used.

At any rate, whatever I have done so far in the Batboat is better than what the factory did. Glastron was and is one of the best quality fiberglass boat makers in the world.


This took all day. Glassed cloth on one side, wait for it to cure then do the other.


The boards do not rest on the saw horses. Screws at each end of the stringers make things easier.



These are the tips for the longest stringers.


While the stringers were curing in the sun I glassed 6 oz Hexel cloth to the transom. I forgot the reasoning behind it but the guys at iboats suggested it. After curing I see it gives the surface a more smoother appearance than the 1.5 chopped strand mat.

The cloth was cut larger than needed and tabbed along the sides of the hull.

Batboat Rebuild: Day 26 June 14, 2009

I think I spent this day cleaning up around the Batboat, did a little yard work and figured out the stringer situation.

Without structural supports like the deck, stringers and the splashwell I cut off the back, the flexible fiberglass hull had shifted its shape slightly over the past year.

The short ones were fine but the long stringers didn't fit in as well as they did when I cut them from the template drawn of the originals. It can be fixed, however. I just had to figure out how and also what steps are needed to laminate them to the hull.

The stringers are very important. If you think of how a shoe is made consider that a fiberglass boat's deck is its sole. The deck is attached to the stringers. Stringers keep the hull from flexing too much when hitting the waves at high speeds.

To get my head around the concept of Fiberglassing them I posted queries at the iboats.com forum. Many helpful tips came in which boosed my confidence. :)

I'm ready. :)

Batboat Rebuild: Day 25 June 11, 2009

A had a few frustrating days off from working on the Batboat due to rain.

Finally, back to work! :)

Using 1708 biaxial fiberglass cloth and polyester resin I patched in the spots where my grinder went down a little too far into the hull when I took out the stringers.

1708 cloth is much stronger than the woven cloth used to make the boat. The patches are heavy duty and permanent.

Strips of 1708 were cut to size for every gouge. One side of the cloth is woven fiberglass and the other chopped mat strand. The chopped mat side faces down when bonding it to old hulls.

From the amount of cloth I cut you can guess that it is easy to remove too much hull when using a coarse grit flapper disc.

The fixed spots become seamless. Can you see them?

The ridges of the fiberglass roller squeeze out excess resin and air pockets. The less resin you have in the cloth the stronger the cured fiberglass becomes.

Once one side was finished I took a break and waited for the resin to cure then went to work on the other side. Some of it wasn't completely cured, however, making my Tyvek suit stick to the hull as I sat in it. lol!

Batboat Rebuild: Day 24 June 5, 2009

The next afternoon I took the grinder to the hardened peanut butter and smoothed it down.

I made several more repairs where I had dug deep into the hull with my grinder while removing the rest of the original deck.

There were a lot of those so I did some light grinding on the hull surface and cleaned up the mess with an air compressor and Acetone. This was to prepare it for more fiberglass patch-ups.


Acetone and rags are used to clean up fiberglass dust. Its about the only thing that really works because the chemical dissolves it.

An air compressor blows the majority of it out and Acetone does the rest.

I want to give a special thanks for Ruth Uhala. She generously loaned me her compressor for the rebuilding of the Batboat. The job would be much harder and dirtier without it.

Thanks, Ruth!!!! :)

Batboat Rebuild: Day 23 June 4, 2009

This is the day I had been waiting for since last October. Nothing had to be thought over because I had been rehearsing everything in my mind all winter. It was time to put in the transom.

I woke up, had breakfast, suited up, grabbed all the materials, and got to work with no hesitation.

Here is the 1708 biaxial fiberglass cloth I cut from the template last year. I mixed up a large batch of tooling resin and wetted it all down and squeezed out all the bubbles with the fiberglass roller.

I let it cure for a little bit as I got the plywood ready. I wanted that fiberglass cloth to be a little rigid before dropping the transom in fearing it would ooze around while adjusting the wood to fit in place and from the pressure from using the drill, clamps and bolts.

While it stiffened I rehearsed exactly where every clamp was suppose to go. I did this the evening before but one final run through couldn't hurt. :)

Once the resin was tacky and cloth had stiffened a little I mixed up a large batch of "Peanut Butter." This is what boat restorers use as a low cost adhesive and filler.

Here's how to make it. Blend polyester resin and its MEKP activator good then add a lot of wood flower (fine saw dust) and mix. What you'll end up with should have a peanut butter consistency, depending on how much wood flower is added.

The idea is to permanently bond the new plywood to the hull. The fluid-ness of the peanut butter will fill in the voids created by surface inconsistencies between the ply and fiberglass hull when clamped together. The excess peanut butter will ooze out from the corners of the ply as pressure from the clamps increase, thus filling in those spaces, as seen in the below images.

Moving quickly, I spackled a generous amount of peanut butter along the parameter of the transom.

Then I spread on a thick layer of the peanut butter to the plywood. The thickness of the brown goop ranged from around 1/8 - 1/4 inch.

I ran out of it and hurriedly mixed up some more.

There is no room for messing this up. If the transom was bonded in wrong I'd have to start all over again from scratch by grinding down the hull and buying new marine grade wood.

For some reason peanut butter does not seem to harden as quickly as plain old resin but I had to work and move fast. Everything had to go in perfect. After a few adjustments it slimed in superbly.


Having the ply in place I clamped it in at the center then drilled holes where the splashwell and bilge holes are to tightly fasten it in with scrap wood and a couple of nuts and bolts.

Starting from the center, the various clamps where mounted and screwed tight. A good deal of peanut butter oozed from every corner exactly like it supposed to do.

I think 10 clamps were used. Several were bought at Harbor Freight the night before but I really could have used a couple more.

The rear of the structurally unstable fiberglass hull had spread under its own weight after I cut off the splash well last year. I put the well back in temporarily to bring it back to its proper shape while the peanut butter cured. When hardened it is not flexible.


No stone was left unturned because there was no room for error. This had been thoroughly rehearsed for months.

As it cured, I smoothed the peanut butter down and used some to fill in spaces.

Looking down in to the hull

It oozed out from the pressure of the clamps perfectly. No evidence of voids or air pockets between the new plywood and hull.

A couple hours later the peanut butter was hard and I took off the splash well.

The outside of the transom was hot to the touch for hours from the curing of all that polyester resin.

When I started out I had a useless Batboat with a rotted transom. It was cut out with a grinder but I went too deep and took out most of the original fiberglass down to the gel coat and had to rebuild the hull. For that 1.5 chopped strand mat was glassed in. Later, peanut butter was spackled in and sanded down to make the surface smooth and another layer of 1.5 oz was laminated on top of that. 1.5 oz was added to the transom plywood and today 1708 biaxial was laminated into the hull. Both were bonded with peanut butter.

The result is a transom that is better built and much more structurally stronger than when it came out of the factory 40 years ago.

BEFORE
(red outline shows the original transom area)

AFTER

The Best Has Yet To Come....

Happy 4th of July!

I am spending most of the day preparing the hull so I can install the stringers and deck. When that is done work finally begins on the Batboat detailings.

There are a backlog of updates to post here. I'll be working on that soon so stay tuned. The best has yet to come!