Notched 23 Hourston Transom

[FisherTim]

Hmm, the budget seems tight. I think you will need $1500 in Epoxy minimum for stringers. I would think 20 gallons would be about right. Check prices here. Use lots of 1708 and make nice big fillets http://www.uscomposites.com/epoxy.html (good prices on epoxy and its nice for wetting out) Id go slow cure for summer work and then no blush to deal with

Easier to get an Alum pod made and bolt-on than re and re the transom. Lots of work to make a motor well-but not impossible! But motor wells suck so that's why I would never consider them when the boat already has a full transom.

Building a pod out of glass is more advanced and will take longer than the time it will take to make money to buy an alum pod LOL.

In summary, I would go with a bracket of some sort, the boat is long enough that a planning pod will work great.

It's your boat, your decision, and $. Good luck with the project! Great hull

Thank you! 20 gals of Epoxy? my plan was to use epoxy as glue, and poly fir glass work. I kind of figured 5-10 gals of epoxy and 15-20 Poly for the job, could be way off though...

 

[myles]

Thank you! 20 gals of Epoxy? my plan was to use epoxy as glue, and poly fir glass work. I kind of figured 5-10 gals of epoxy and 15-20 Poly for the job, could be way off though...

You can totally use polyester GP resin for the glasswork. It will save you lots of money for sure. It really depends on how far you will take the project and how long the boat will be kept for. The cheapest place in Vancouver is ultra lux plastics for polyester and glass and foam board. I wouldn't even use epoxy if you're going poly for the glasswork. The only place id use epoxy is for filling holes below the water line that will be drilled out for mounting in order to protect the wood core. such as pod bolts, trim tab bolts, and transducer bolts. For this, you need a maximum of 1/2 gal or you can just buy it pre-mixed in a tube. Use cabosil as a thickening agent for the fillets.

Make sure you get a full-face respirator for the poly you will be doing some big layups so it's going to be stinky. Keep the catalyzation as low as possible for maximum strength and working time.

Try and design everything to minimize or completely reduce any deck screws from going into your new floor and stringers. These boats rot from the topside down for the most part. make lots of limber holes in the stringer network to allow for drainage is a good idea. Personally, mine is watertight and foam-filled. But my hull has 8 laters of epoxy so it won't get wet from osmosis and it has no penetrations on the topside going into the deck or stringers.

might have just said a bunch of stuff you already know but just trying to give some general information coming from someone who did the same project a few years back...

 

[FisherTim]

What If I try to do exactly what you have, but the other way, instead of building a 20 up to a 23, I cut the euro transom into the back of the 23, add a 1.5” bulkhead to act as the front of well and essentially just make a 2’ self bailing raised deck In the back and use the space to hold a big yeti when the engines are down...

Something along the lines of this, pardon the drawing, I’m no artist.


Also, @myles dont I need epoxy to properly laminate the ply for stringers and transom?

 

[Fritz]

I hear you. A pod would be ideal. I would like to say that the first line is a little condescending. I’ve owned 8 boats so far and I’m only 22. All of these I paid for entirely myself.

I like to think it’s possible to get the hull structurally restored for 10k, and I don’t think that’s too unreasonable.

$1500 marine ply
$1000 Epoxy and filler
$1500 Poly and Hardner
$500 for Matt and cloth
$1000 In disposables(gloves, rollers, brushes, grinder disks, suits, masks, etc)
$500 in gelcoat for internal sealing.
$1500 for epoxy paints

leaves me 2500 In wiggle room

its not necessarily a matter of being able to afford the pod as much as if it’s really a good idea to focus such a big part of my budget on it

Keep in mind I already have power, rigging, and electronics, riggers, etc.(so really it’s a 25k project)


a full hull extension pod/euro transom was also a consideration, but I don’t want to turn the 23 into a 26. 23 is more than enough boat(esp for twin 115s) . My plan was just to cut the transom top and glass it back in 2’ further forward(some idiot already cut it up so it would need to be repaired anyhow. My decision Isn’t final yet,

Welcome Fisher Tim to opinions ‘o’ plenty,
One of the reasons I didn’t pursue the 23’ is podded they can be even longer than 26’ and I wasn’t interested in paying the coin for a 30’ slip! There are definitely things that I had to do to with my build that were tough decisions involving the economy of effort. I am not trying remotely to influence your build one way or the other and as a general rule I keep my nose out of other peoples builds. Like Myles said your boat, ect. ect.
The only thing that I would encourage anyone to do is their homework. My boat has been extension hull podded. Before doing so I did buoyancy and weight and balance calculations using the simple formulas in Transport Canada’s TPE1332E (which unfortunately they say are for boats under 20’ but the math still works) as well as used the West Systems boat repair manual, DNV boat construction references (much clearer than Lloyds standards and written by Norwegians) and ABYC references to make the best scientific guess I could. But most importantly I copied somebody else’s boat that has been a successfully modified vessel.
There are a lot of things I like about your ideas! The reduced length, better CofG and placing the propulsive forces closer to where the factory intended them to be. I just wanted to warn you that experimenting does drive innovation but it can also drain the bank.
Honestly if you paint the boat with a roller and heavily mod it and have fun doing so (safely) then more power to you!

 

[DuroBoat]

What If I try to do exactly what you have, but the other way, instead of building a 20 up to a 23, I cut the euro transom into the back of the 23, add a 1.5” bulkhead to act as the front of well and essentially just make a 2’ self bailing raised deck In the back and use the space to hold a big yeti when the engines are down...

Something along the lines of this, pardon the drawing, I’m no artist.


Also, @myles dont I need epoxy to properly laminate the ply for stringers and transom?

Dude this is a great new direction on a build thread. Keep up the posts and pictures!

 

[bonez10]

I have a pod I was going to put on a 26 hourston. I am told it came off a bayliner
Would take a little modification to make it work.
I would let it go fairly cheap.
Let me know if your interested

 

[Rain City]

What If I try to do exactly what you have, but the other way, instead of building a 20 up to a 23, I cut the euro transom into the back of the 23, add a 1.5” bulkhead to act as the front of well and essentially just make a 2’ self bailing raised deck In the back and use the space to hold a big yeti when the engines are down...

Something along the lines of this, pardon the drawing, I’m no artist.


Also, @myles dont I need epoxy to properly laminate the ply for stringers and transom?

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[FisherTim]

I was thinking the same thing.

Welcome Fisher Tim to opinions ‘o’ plenty,
One of the reasons I didn’t pursue the 23’ is podded they can be even longer than 26’ and I wasn’t interested in paying the coin for a 30’ slip! There are definitely things that I had to do to with my build that were tough decisions involving the economy of effort. I am not trying remotely to influence your build one way or the other and as a general rule I keep my nose out of other peoples builds. Like Myles said your boat, ect. ect.
The only thing that I would encourage anyone to do is their homework. My boat has been extension hull podded. Before doing so I did buoyancy and weight and balance calculations using the simple formulas in Transport Canada’s TPE1332E (which unfortunately they say are for boats under 20’ but the math still works) as well as used the West Systems boat repair manual, DNV boat construction references (much clearer than Lloyds standards and written by Norwegians) and ABYC references to make the best scientific guess I could. But most importantly I copied somebody else’s boat that has been a successfully modified vessel.
There are a lot of things I like about your ideas! The reduced length, better CofG and placing the propulsive forces closer to where the factory intended them to be. I just wanted to warn you that experimenting does drive innovation but it can also drain the bank.
Honestly if you paint the boat with a roller and heavily mod it and have fun doing so (safely) then more power to you!

Thank you, This is kind of what I’m thinking. Still exploring the idea of making the entire cockpit self bailing too; but if I don’t, I expect this kind of cross section with the transom door on the port side

 

[FisherTim]

After some more thought, it would be stupid to ruin the original gunwale lines of the hourston. Perhaps something like this would be a little better

 

[myles]

I have a pod I was going to put on a 26 hourston. I am told it came off a bayliner
Would take a little modification to make it work.
I would let it go fairly cheap.
Let me know if your interested

i love this idea

 

[myles]

What If I try to do exactly what you have, but the other way, instead of building a 20 up to a 23, I cut the euro transom into the back of the 23, add a 1.5” bulkhead to act as the front of well and essentially just make a 2’ self bailing raised deck In the back and use the space to hold a big yeti when the engines are down...

Something along the lines of this, pardon the drawing, I’m no artist.


Also, @myles dont I need epoxy to properly laminate the ply for stringers and transom?

If you want to be fancy and really waterproof the stringers you can bed them in with epoxy and glass mixture. Do the fillets with thickened epoxy and a few layers of epoxy and 1708 over the stringers. peel ply it all and then laminate on the polyester after....

Honestly, with your budget, I would just do polyester from the get-go. Overbuild it a little bit and you should be okay. Don't have any screws from the deck going into your floor or stringers unless they have been pre-drilled, epoxy filled and then pilot drilled into the epoxy. The cool thing about that is you can use machine screws this way just get a good tap set.

Because you are using wood its very important that the stringers stay dry and have limited penetrations (water always finds a way in through the polyester). With the price of lumber, i would seriously look at Coosa and other composite boards. Then you can ram screws wherever you want!

 

[FisherTim]

If you want to be fancy and really waterproof the stringers you can bed them in with epoxy and glass mixture. Do the fillets with thickened epoxy and a few layers of epoxy and 1708 over the stringers. peel ply it all and then laminate on the polyester after....

Honestly, with your budget, I would just do polyester from the get-go. Overbuild it a little bit and you should be okay. Don't have any screws from the deck going into your floor or stringers unless they have been pre-drilled, epoxy filled and then pilot drilled into the epoxy. The cool thing about that is you can use machine screws this way just get a good tap set.

Because you are using wood its very important that the stringers stay dry and have limited penetrations (water always finds a way in through the polyester). With the price of lumber, i would seriously look at Coosa and other composite boards. Then you can ram screws wherever you want!

Fortunately 3/4 inch marine ply is available at under $100 a sheet to me for this build (family friend runs a hardware store). So It’s still by far the most cost effective option and easy to get.

I’m planning on using interlux epoxy primer and paint inside and out of the hull and stringers as added water protection too.(May go gelcoat on inside of hull but unsure as of yet) My plan was to screw down deck on a big peanut butter glob, Let it cure, then take out the screws, over drill to 1/4, and fill with thickened resin before glassing over the deck.


Furthermore, raise the stringers all in the cockpit 8“ to be self bailing, put a 3” lip on the bulkhead into the cabin.

This will allow me to put in a 32x16x64” fuel tank, capable of holding a respectable 150 gallons, which can entirely be cut out of 2 4x8 sheets of aluminum with 4 baffles and zero waste.

 

[Wild Bill]

You can build your pod from marine ply / foam and glass, not my style but it’s possible and will likely cost you the same in materials and time as you’ll spend ruining (IMO) that beautiful transom and building an adequate well.. not to mention aesthetics and safety but to each their own. If you checkout what Myles has done to his 20 maybe ask him some questions?

I have said it before aluminum would be easier however it is possible with fiberglass. No wood in the pod, I did use wood on the swim platform.
Glassing up a pod is nicer work than doing stringers and the transom in my opinion, and most of the glass materials were given to me so same thing I just wanted a larger ugly inexpensive boat to go fishing in!

 

[gunnerlove]

I give you an awesome bracket option.
Mild steel pipe and spite.

That lasted long enough to hour out engines.

 

[Fritz]

I give you an awesome bracket option.
Mild steel pipe and spite.
View attachment 66370
That lasted long enough to hour out engines.

This whole thread has been filled with a lot of passion so far. I’ve been looking at a lot of new production boats and most (not all) aren’t podded anymore. The newest trend seems to be open transom with a self bailing deck (I like free board). I’m wondering if Inboard/outboards will be the next thing? Maybe duo-props will be a craze again?

That is the ugliest motor bracket I’ve ever seen..........Bravo

 

[Wild Bill]

I give you an awesome bracket option.
Mild steel pipe and spite.
View attachment 66370
That lasted long enough to hour out engines.

Yeah thats pretty

 

[Wild Bill]

Yeah thats ugly however I considered that option.

 

[adrian1991]

How's the battle going