# live well removal question?



## pds07d (Jul 19, 2010)

I'm new and need help.  I have a 13 foot river-hawk with a middle bench-seat/live well.  I noticed that one of the first thing a lot of guys do when they redo there boat is cut out that middle seat, which makes sense because it is too small to really hold anything and eats up deck space.

So here are my questions:

1) does it affect the structural strength of the boats gun-wales?  The riverhawk has a piece of aluminum riveted to each the side of the boat, the gheenoe has fiberglass from the box.  does removing these braces weaken the boat?

2) does anyone have any advice on how to start and finish it?  I guess i would just plug in the cut off wheel, go slow, cut close then sand down, then re-paint....


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

TomFL did a nice job on his...plenty of pictures to follow his work.

http://www.microskiff.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1245982497


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## pds07d (Jul 19, 2010)

WOW! thats really helpful, i am going to turn this boat into a duck skiff.

The only hesitation I have is the amount of re-glassing he did to the deck.  He did a total of 5 layers of mat between the two remaining bench seats?  Is this crucial?  Could I get by with 1 layer of thicker coarser mat?  I am not concerned with the cosmetics of the floor as I am going to paint it camo and it will be covered by decoys and hopefully dead ducks.

I am going to sand and paint the interior of the boat anyways.  Chopping out the middle seat, sanding it, glassing over it, and sanding again seems like a lot of extra work but i think doing it know will save time and money then doing it 2 separate times, right?


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## TomFL (Oct 2, 2007)

Pat, if you post pics of your hull I could help you better, as it sounds like the center livewell/seat is riveted to the gunnels. Is that correct?

In the 13' gheenoe it's not connected to the gunnels so there's really not much structural going on there. Removal was easy, just a sawzall and a 4 or 6" grinder is all you need to make really quick work of it. 

I would suppose you could just go with a thicker, single layer of glass, but Brett could probably tell you better as to what would be stronger, thicker or more layers of thin. 

Either way the bottom will still flex as it does normally, so it's not a worry. I layered the hull bottom extra because I figured I'd be a little more rough on it than most and was just trying to eliminate any chance of a poke-through. 

You'll love it when you're done, for sure it opens the boat up tremendously. You won't believe how many dekes and how much gear you can fit in there once it's out. Plus you can make a layout boat of sorts out of it too. 

Good luck, post pics!

-T


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## pds07d (Jul 19, 2010)

Ok I fired up the cut-off wheel and got to it










It wasn't to hard to cut, but the sanding is a little more time consuming










My question is what exactly do I need to glass over?  

Certainly I do not need to glass over the entire middle deck, right?

Do I need to glass the gunwales to add rigidity and strength?

Can I just smooth and sand then lay fiberglass mat over the newly exposed area?  That seems logical....

Help.


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

Sand the ridges smooth including an overlap area 2 inches
around the old well base. Sand down to fiberglass in the overlap area.
Then lay a couple layers of mat over the old well location.
Then go for a test ride, too much flex, add more glass or glass and core material.


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## pds07d (Jul 19, 2010)

Thought i would update you guys on my progress.  I laid the glass on monday night and sanded it yesterday afternoon.  The poly resin seems to have bonded well to the sanded deck but I guess only time will really tell.


























I havent wet tested it yet, because my motor is getting work done, and the shop is taking FOREVER.

However, i have stood on the patch with the boat on the trailer- not too much flex i think, but i won't really know till i get her up on a plane and see what happens.... :-/

Hopefully she holds together, then all thats left is a ton of sanding then paint.


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

Pat, 

I see an area that may need to be addressed before you spend the time painting. The area over the drain...is that just cloth over it or is there something under there for support?

If no support, it will rip when you step on the edge. Maybe not the first or second time you step on it, but eventually it will rip and then you need to redo.


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## pds07d (Jul 19, 2010)

Hmm...  I am not sure what you mean? 

If you look at the bottom picture you can see some exposed fiberglass mat strands extending out over the drain.  Is this what your talking about?

If so, then rest assured that there is no problem there.  Those fibers are just some loose strands that flew into the resin as it was drying and will be sanded out.  They aren't part of the fiberglass mat.

Or are you suggesting I fill in the area under the drain to keep it from collapsing  down to the deck?  

If so, I didn't really consider that a possibility... :-[

I laid three sheets of mat over the whole area with a considerable overlap, there isn't too much flex in that strip.  But i guess your right- if that right amount of weight hit in just the right place it could crack or punch through....



What should I do?  What did Tom do (I can't really tell from his pictures)?


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

> ...fill in the area under the drain to keep it from collapsing...


  Yes.  

There are a couple differences between what TomFL did and what you did.  He covered the entire length, he used epoxy and he used pieces of the old box as support.


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