1981 campion 210 discovery

[brad fox]

Picked this up recently, was supposed to be a solid boat, the owner had replaced a stringer. did new upholstery in the V berth and 6 matching swivel seats a dead Merc 150 and a 15hp Suzuki kicker.

Got it home swapped the 2006 130HP Honda onto it only to realize the transom was weak....

so I stripped off the motors, the kicker bracket ect. took apart the rub rail up to the glass and cut the gunnel top apart before it transitions to the glass.


As it turns out campion did not mat wrap the top of the transom, and the drain plug hole was where the majority of the moisture wicked up into the 3 ply 1/2" transom. I never realized that it is just a raw hole.

the material stripped away easily, there was a ton of resin starved glass both where the transom was tabbed into the sides of the hull and in the transom skin as well.



the stringers were sopping wet, one of which was dirt. The foam while mostly dry was wet on the bottom and the top.
the floor ply is rotten as well.... so there is really only one choice when building a boat I want to have for the next 25 years and still have some value when I go to sell it

COOSA


While being exceptionally expensive. Coosa is also the only product on the market that is not susceptible to rot and a direct replacement for plywood.
the way I figure is it was already 2500 for materials.. why would I spend that much just to do it again in 20 years from now.

SO I laid up the first initial bond with epoxy and a layer of biaxial 1708. Being very careful to unsuccessfully keep it off any surface I would be bonding to further using a vinyl ester resin.

Of note I found the skin to be floppy while the boat sat straight on the bunks. jacking up the keel brought the transom back into shape.


After this went off a bit I scrapped all the boogers off and gave it an acetone wash.. then came back after 24 hrs and ground the amine blush left by the epoxy off of the Coosa and the surrounding fiberglass. I was very ginger about this step as Coosa while being very stiff is quite soft and easily shaped and gouged by 40 grit flapper wheels.

my next step this week will be finishing the prep pre cutting my 1.5ox CSM and layering up 1708 with CSM overtop and the next layer of 1/2" Coosa. all bonded with vinyl ester resin.

I will then top it all with another layer of 1708 and 1.5oz CSM.

next post will be the finished transom and aligning the boat and making ready to pull a stringer or two

 

[Stizzla]

You got right into it, Foxy!

Nice work. Keeping an eye on this.

And, I won’t ever call you Foxy again.

 

[Squire]

Cool old hull. Looks like you’re invested now so I’m invested in following your progress.

 

[chris73]

If you used epoxy for your first layer, aren't you concerned that the polyester won't stick to it now?

 

[seachicken]

If you used epoxy for your first layer, aren't you concerned that the polyester won't stick to it now?

He said vinyl ester (same difference I know) and after sanding off the squeeze out of epoxy as he said it's a tiny amount of surface area to bond to the epoxy. It's still a bond, just not as strong. Pretty sure done correctly it will be fine.

 

[brad fox]

If you used epoxy for your first layer, aren't you concerned that the polyester won't stick to it now?

yes exactly, which is why the squeeze out was ground off (lightly) so as to not damage the Coosa, and a vinyl ester was used for the next layer which is essentially a epoxy modified polyester. while it wont chemically bond to epoxy it can and will physically bond to it. I would say less than 1% of the surface still had any epoxy exposed.
Got it done last night. no pictures was out till 10pm setting up that next bond. will post tomorrow with pictures.

 

[brad fox]

He said vinyl ester (same difference I know) and after sanding off the squeeze out of epoxy as he said it's a tiny amount of surface area to bond to the epoxy. It's still a bond, just not as strong. Pretty sure done correctly it will be fine.

In the end were I to do this again I would have either used a different epoxy or just used vinyl ester resin for the initial bond. the t88 from 3 systems I was sold had the consistency of molasse's, which made wetting out the 1708 rather difficult. I should have demanded the wests systems as I have seen many people use it successfully. It was a gamble, I wanted to get that epoxy bond to the old fiberglass skin, it sounds like its bonded well.