F32 New owner and project boat Help and advice.

Islanddr08 · Post by **Islanddr08** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 12:26 am

Hello everyone and it's great to see I'm not the only nut who will devote my life and savings to restoring and old classic.

I just bought a 1975 F32. She had minor engine problems and What seemed to be a fairly decent hull with no major damage. I bought it 300 miles from my home and fortuneately the previous owner is a very nice gent and has allowed me to stay in his home to refresh the boat for the trip down to south Florida. Maybe he's sorry for me.

I found that the boat had basically two previous real owners who used and maintained the boat. The second owner kept very good records and this gave me some insight into the boat. He kept good records and did alot of textbook maintenance but really didn't understand boats. He spent alot of money and thank God for that because everything works. But because he did not looking into the structural workings of a boat there is alot of wood rot in the back deck. He didn't realize the boat needs to flow, so all of the areas can dry out. All the drains were pluged with dirt and this allowed water to settle in areas he could not see. So now I've developed a nice project of removing rotted wood and fiberglassing it all back in to get the structual integrety back to the boat so it doesn't buckle on me in heavy seas. I found all this while trying to sort the steering out and realized someone was there before and knew this boat needed serious structual repain. This is the second phase recondioning needed, I believe after my research on these boats. In ~1989 seems like boats of this era needed repowering as mine had with INDAMAR 351 CID (Fords). At that time he should've gotten diesels. Two extra aft tanks and new onboard charger from shore power. And now the structure goes soft. Which I keep finding.... !"Â£$%^&*$$$$

The Engines seemed to have gone in this model in the late 90's or people got Iacoca fever and got rid of the cryslers. Now the structure gets weak.

I'm currently working on the wood work in the stearn because the stearing went out and I see some rot in one of the stringers. Luckily I have some experience with fixing this because if I had to hire someone to do this work I' sure it would have been in the $3 - 5K range to do what I'm doing. But it seems like some work was done in the past to put in the aft tanks and this may be where some !"Â£$%^&* didn't do a proper coating to the wood work and the water invasion started.

What I'm looking for now is a complete set of plans to the boat to find out what the structural configeration originally was. I can pretty much repeat what the last guy did with the additional genious of sealing the wood with either fiberglass or paint so that it will last. Does anyone have any pics or plans.

As for my two Indamars, they have great compression and with the exception of a click in the SB motor on the far riser hose, she sounds great. I may need to change the risers and this I would like to do once I know I have two strong motors. The port only shows signs of a weak engine water pump. I will continue with previous owners immaculate oil and fuel filter changes. Cudo's to him for that.

Electrical wireing all there, but hell if I'll ever figure all that out. I would rather insure and wait for the fire to start. Seriously if anyone has some serious wiring advice, please pass it on.

If anyone has any other advice or sugestions or some good ole support, bring it on.

Also after taking all the dead gas out and starting to do the work, she's now starting to smell more like a fishing boat, oil and grease, than an old gas tank. That's motivation enough.

Happy boating and look forward to hearing from some other F32 and Trojan enthusiast.

Island Dr.

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:58 am

Welcome to the forum . As far as the plans for the boat your can try Bob at Beacon marine . site sponser

As far as the boat being re powered with fords Many of that era F32s came with Fords ( mercrusiers ) as a option . and many have been repowered with Chevy's . a few re powered with Diesels but you don't see many of those on the market .

Wiring ? unless your having problems or see something wrong I would leave it be as Trojan did as good a job as anyone in this area .

k9th · Post by **k9th** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 6:13 pm

Welcome aboard

katprice · Post by **katprice** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 2:56 pm

Welcome! We are in the process of buying a 1974 F-32, so "we're in the same boat" LOL

Stripermann2 · Post by **Stripermann2** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 4:26 pm

Here's a start.

http://www.trojanboats.net/wforum/viewt ... t=stringer

rossjo · Post by **rossjo** » Sat Nov 12, 2011 8:56 am

Welcome and congratulations on your new F32.

They're great looking, roomy boats - still love ours.

I think the 351 were probably original as well .. still fairly easy yo get parts for them, and probably a bit more HP than the 318s?

Plans are hard to come by ... Beacon might have something. Probably best to find some others near you with F32s and compare notes.

Islanddr08 · Post by **Islanddr08** » Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:37 pm

Nice welcome. I'm really glad you are all excited and as enthusiastic as I am because everyone is starting to think I'm a little nuts with the work I'm doing and what I got myself into. I read that thread on Redoing stringers and it was very scary but helpful. I cleaned the bildge throughly and did a half a** check of the forward stringers but did not feel and rot or soft spots. I have replaced the rotted areas of stringers in the stearn with 2x6 presure treated lumber and 1x2 to give it thickness to fit. I glassed them using regular cloth to seal them and covered with woven to bond to hull. The pieces fit pretty good that I made but I found that the stringers were a little moist even where the wood wasn't rotten. I gave them two days to dry and they flexed a little to where I had to recut/shave my repair peices, but once I get her to my home port I will open them up again, with 1" holes on the tops for a few dry weeks, to dry out properly and then reinspect everything.

Well I worked for the past week and disaster stuck with all the rotted wood under the back door and in the back wall between the engine room and the cock pit floor. Changed everything, plywood, cross beam, reglassed it all back in but ran out of time to reconnect everything. I will be taking her to drydock next to replace all the wood fittings in the floor holding her bottom gear on. It was all soft and a little scary. I just hope she can limp by idle ten miles to the boat yard without anything coming loose.

My raw water ports seem frozen shut and this is a big problem because I don't want to pry on them to hard because the wood under is soft and I don't want to open her up. Any sugestions. I was thinking of opening the closed side and spraying some liquid wrench in and let it sit for a day or two.

On the engines she has been repowered in 1989 with the Indamar 351's. I know about the auto 351W as a good engine. When I was a kid my mother had an LTD with a 351 and that thing ran forever without problems. We loved that car.

I don't like that she was raw water cooled. My mechanic buddy says run them until they give up, just keep the oil clean and the filters changed. I agree, but was reading today about deisels vs gas and I think the 330 hp EFI sounded sensible, and the 24 knots sounded nice. Although I love diesels and would benifit from the long range as I plan to take her to the Islands and a normal day out is 100 - 150 miles. If you plan on serious fishing in good locations from Nassau. But that is another day and lot of research.

Thank you for the support and advice. My boat is 300 miles from home right now, but when I get her close and work the way I would like then I can discuss details better. Will post pics when I get smart to that.

DAVIDLOFLAND · Post by **DAVIDLOFLAND** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 1:25 pm

On the raw water ports (sea cocks), did you loosen the 'nut', before turning the valve? I thought mine were stuck, until I did that.

Islanddr08 · Post by **Islanddr08** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:07 pm

Did not notice there was a holding nut. Will look at it closer. There was some sort of T-Bolt that screwed all the way out and nothing. Is that what you are talking about.

At present though I've been doing alot of research and my fordeck is a little soft and I'm worried about that. Haven't found much to go on in the line of research. I don't want to rip it all apart to find out I should have gone a different route.

Does anyone have or know of someone with experience in this and is it common for Trojan?

DAVIDLOFLAND · Post by **DAVIDLOFLAND** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 7:16 pm

Yes, the "T" bolt is what I was referring to. It is not a nut. Sorry to confuse you.

When the "T" is loosened, the valve lever should be free to move.

Islanddr08 · Post by **Islanddr08** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 7:42 pm

Didn't happen. I'm waiting till dry dock. Don't want to sink her.

I was looking at sand blasting the bottom. It looks from the side there are many uneven layers of bottom paint and I think I want to start over fresh. I just hope the boat yard will let me do it. Then I can really clean all the running gear at the same time.

DAVIDLOFLAND · Post by **DAVIDLOFLAND** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 7:55 pm

Instant Fun had about 25 years worth of bottom paint when I sandblasted her. It was THICK. Sandblasting really was the way to go. The only thing that surprised me was the number of tiny bubbles in the gelcoat, which appear as pinholes after sandblasting. I filled them all with waterproof, fiberglass reinforced, filler, before applying the barrier coat (which has to go on before anti-fouling paint). The pinhole filling took close to a day, by itself. The finished product was worth the effort though.

Islanddr08 · Post by **Islanddr08** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 8:11 pm

Nice job. If you apply the filler very smooth, do you still have to sand it.

I agree though with cleaning the bottom. I'm restoring a 36 year old boat and I know in the past 15 years of meticulous records there's no mention of sandblasting only painting the bottom. I wanted to sandblast to save time in sanding. but I guess its best to do the job right. Thanks for the pics

DAVIDLOFLAND · Post by **DAVIDLOFLAND** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 8:21 pm

You need to scuff-sand the blasted surface, whether you have to use filler, or not. The freshly blasted gelcoat is "rough" to the touch, and may result in a not-so-smooth painted surface, if you don't scuff it. Good news is, it's easy to scuff the blasted gelcoat with 80 grit, either by hand or mechanically, and all the nasty anti-fouling paint is gone. Sanding old anti-fouling paint is really nasty.

Islanddr08 · Post by **Islanddr08** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 9:41 pm

I know. Have a pic of my dad about 10 years ago after he and I gave up on sanding of a 28' that I had. He looked like a smurf, but it probally took a few years off of our lives from what we inhaled dispite mask.

That's why I'm looking at blasting. And I have a gitter bug sander that I will go over her, but with all the heavy gone, I'm sure it will be easier. I also plan to use the primer. I had a sailboat that was done in a Marina once and it looked like a spotted whale, because they just presure washed and put on the paint. Real Mug job. That's why I do as much as I can now. Thanks for the motivation.

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F32 New owner and project boat Help and advice.

F32 New owner and project boat Help and advice.

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Sandblasting

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