Whaler 17 Restoration Project Ep 2

1968 Boston Whaler 17 restoration/ rebuild. It's been a minute since I've been back to work on this, but we're picking up where we left off from Ep 1.

I gave the bottom a once over, grinding out previous repairs from the outside and uncovering some pretty good sized cracks along the keel and tunnels. I found the start of the keel crack, flipped the boat back over and then dug some more wet foam out of the inside. From there it was time to glass and rebuild, you can see how weak the factory laminate is without foam to support. Then some 2 part foam and laying down the new deck. The deck is a super light, super cheap PolyIso board from ‪@lowes‬. Might catch some flak for that, but PolyIso is often used in boat building and the 1/2" thickness will have plenty of reinforcement from the 2 part foam under it. Also, cut and fit a transom core of 1 1/2" Coosa for the transom and got a few layers of 1708 on it so far.

I flew back from CA and this was a sprint from Thursday to Monday, crammed in a messy tent with a propane heater. Apologies if the worksite looked like a tornado went through... it sort of did. Enjoy!