Hello All. I am new to the V20 forum. I am looking to do a total refurbishment on my '78 V20 CC with a '95 Johnson 150. She runs out great. It has several areas with soft spots. I plan to pull the top cap and replace ALL the wood in the floor, stringers and transom. I would also like to add a motor extension bracket with 6-7ft swim platform. I will be doing all the work myself. I am looking for any helpful hints, tips, best material to use in each area, etc. Does anyone know what the stringer size is? I can not find that info. Hope to start this project next year. Thank you in advance.
1978 V20 CC Rebuild
- Thread starter Fldivebum
- Start date
bradford
God
Welcome to the Cult. Where in Fla are you? You'll love your V20, but be cautioned about jumping into a cap off restoration, lots of time blood sweat and beers. If the soft spots aren't too bad I might just run it as is for a couple years. Or at least start it in the off season although Fl doesn't really have one. Lots of good, helpful people here who have done just about everything you can to these hulls at one point or another.
Bradford, I am in the Destin, Fl. area. I agree, we do not have much of a off fishing season. I have found several soft spots throughout the boat. I have had no problems so far with the way she runs out. With the areas that I have found bad, I don't want to wait too long to do these repairs. Most of my floor has soft spots. I know it will be ALOT of work. I have to remove the cap to accomplish the repairs needed on the floor. While I have it off, plan to tackle the stringers and transom as well. Get it all at once. No signs of any repairs from previous owners.
phatdaddy
God
great to have another member south of I-10.. not sure, does the 78 have a 20 or 25 inch transom, also doesn't that deck drain into the bilge. if so, might want to raise deck to drain overboard. is your gas tank under the deck or saddle tanks?
adding the bracket & swim platform will be a big job alone. might be quicker to look for a newer hull with a blown sea drive set up. these are usually mid 80's with below deck fuel tanks, raised deck, and transom already closed.
what ever u do lots of knowledge on here. and we like pictures.
adding the bracket & swim platform will be a big job alone. might be quicker to look for a newer hull with a blown sea drive set up. these are usually mid 80's with below deck fuel tanks, raised deck, and transom already closed.
what ever u do lots of knowledge on here. and we like pictures.
Phatdaddy, sorry for taking so long to reply. I have not been on the forum in a long time. My transom is 25". My floor drains into the splash well. I currently have a Johnson 150 and she runs out great. Recently I was cleaning the boat and found 2 cycle oil in the bottom of the hull. Upon investigation and pulling the fuel tank, I found several holes in the bottom of my original aluminum tank. Fuel finally worked its way through the expanded foam surrounding my tank and started draining back. I am currently prepping to remove top cap and replace stringers and bulkheads that I found rotted when I pulled the fuel tank out.I will replace the transom as well. Going back with a poly tank. I am going to do some customizing while I have everything apart. Adding a 30" motor extension and getting rid of my splash well. Moving my center console forward as well. Going to be adding about five feet of space in the back of the boat for fishing and diving conveneance.
Thanks for the info. I already have a poly tank that was given to me. It came out of a wrecked boat. Boat was run hard into a dock and destroyed the port bow area.i have a few pics of my v20 so far and will be taking more throughout the rebuild process. I am hoping things work out and get the top cap off tomorrow.
I'm very interested in seeing pictures of the stringer setup once you get the top cap pulled. I'd also like to see pictures of the underside of the top cap if you can get them.
My 1977 V-20 Center Console will probably need stringers replaced in the near future also and the floor needs some work for a couple of soft spots behind the center console.
My 1977 V-20 Center Console will probably need stringers replaced in the near future also and the floor needs some work for a couple of soft spots behind the center console.
Redloon, I got the top cap off Sunday and sitting on saw horses. Waiting for weather to clear up to get some good pictures. I will post them later. Do you have the bench seats/storage on both sides of the bow or do you have the raised deck in bow area? I have the seats on each side of the bow. I have several spots on the floor that are soft as well. Most of the area behind the console is soft. Especially around the helm seat. After removing top cap and further inspection of the stringers and bulkheads, I found all of the bulkheads are rotted and very little wood in the stringers. Most of the floor is rotted too. Good luck with yours.
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Destroyer
God
TIP: When you replace the underside of your deck, cut the marine plywood into irregular size pieces. (Kinda like a jigsaw puzzle) If you make long seams all in the same place you will create weak points. So by making some large and some small you will avoid that. Then, when you have it all glued in place (Liquid Nails Construction adhesive or it's equivalent) place a thin sheet of fiberglass over the wood so it's permanently sealed against moisture.
Additionally, when you replace the stringers do the same thing with the fiberglass. Water is the enemy of wood. By sealing the wood with fiberglass you avoid any problems in the future. If Wellcraft had done this simple and relatively inexpensive step many more V20's would still be alive instead of sitting in landfills.
My V20 CC has the two bench seats/storage up front instead of the raised deck.
When I remove the cap on mine I've been thinking of making boxes for the 2 storage area so that the foam/stringers are not exposed and making it harder to lose items into the bottom of the hull.
When I remove the cap on mine I've been thinking of making boxes for the 2 storage area so that the foam/stringers are not exposed and making it harder to lose items into the bottom of the hull.
SkunkBoat
God
You won't be able to do it directly because your pix are too High Res so the file size is >1 meg. There are some threads about posting pix, try searching, but here is the abbreviated version...
One way, get a Photobucket account online and post them from your phone to there, then copy and paste links to your thread here using Insert Link.
Another way is to email them to yourself as Medium or Large file size (not original size), save them to a folder in your Pictures folder (I have a folder called "email pix" so I can find it easily) and then post them to your thread using Insert Image
As you can see in the pics, the bulkheads have little to no fiberglass covering the side facing the tank. Due to no coatings, they are rotted enough for me to push my finger through. I removed some of the foam along the sides today and upon closer inspection, most of the wood in the stringers and bulkheads on sides are 75%-90% gone. Most of the joints were not glassed properly. Large gaps that allowed water and moisture into the wood core. Most of the fiberglass tabs are poorly layed out. Some appear to not have enough resin (dried out) or was left with large wrinkles in the glass not sealing core material. I am not happy with the way it all looks. However, it will all be reworked correctly when I replace all the bad material.
I had a 1984 Wellcraft 180 Fisherman and saw the same thing with the bulkheads next to the hull sides - parts of the plywood was not covered with fiberglass leading to rotting wood. It appears that taking a shortcut or just poor workmanship was a common mode of operation back then.
Thanks for the picture of the hull with top cap removed. How did you get the cap off - forklift or other means?
Thanks for the picture of the hull with top cap removed. How did you get the cap off - forklift or other means?