Trojan Boat Forum

Hi everyone, Thought I would post some info. Bought a 1974 f30 charity donation in Chicago on a whim for a song. Have made 2 trips so far, for a total of 7 Days running And almost 600 river Miles( Chicago-alton Il, Then Alton- Kentucky Lakes) as I head toward Mobile,AL my home.

1 mile per gallon, on average, Downstream with a light current( at least on the Illinois. 25 mph (20 knts?) @3000 rpm(not verified-guages all a little skewed) tabs up full fuel and rollin down the river. What a sweet ride! All systems good, hull good, topsides and cockpit deck including toe rail bad from homemade fiberglass over original teak/plywood. any info on topside repairs on these Fiberglass/ woodtop cruisers?Particularly the joints where deck meets hull and deck meets cabin top(prefinished factory fiberglass-needs only paint) got to get the ruined core out and crusty homemade fibergass off the top, the hull is beautiful with nice original gelcoat! Any Thoughts? Yes I'm handy with wood and glass, plan to do a top notch job, as reasonably as possible- would fully penetrated marine ply be a longlasting core for new decks, as opposed to the coring that was used in 74? Thanks for the input.
Mike

I have a 1975 F44 that had teak over plywood decks.In the winter of 1998 - 1999 we removed the teak and plywood and any rotten framing. The Boat looked a little different with no decks. New framing was installed where needed any old frames where reinforced and epoxed. Next 3/4 in marine plywood coated with epoxy was installed. Over the plywood is fiberglass mat and coats of resin. The finish is 2 part paint with non skid on traffic areas. The decks look great! and NO LEAKS

Good Luck, Dave J

I had a pair of 302s in a piece of crap Carver I had once. They were the only good thing about the boat! Never had a problem with them except for a little wire came loose in the coil once when I was way out to sea. Took me about an hour to find why it just stopped.

But they got just great mileage, always started great and stayed tight well over 1000 hours. I'd take those over 350s anyday.

Congratulations-you have bought a stout boat. When you start to look for the source of leaks (you will it's just a matter of time) post.

What chairy did you buy from?

sorry - that would be charity