# Carolina Ragrets



## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

Waaay late to the post. Adam89 has been bugging me to post my build so here goes nothing.
I bought my Carolina Skiff J16 about 3 months ago with some coaxing from Adam. I’ve never owned my own boat and Adam will tell you I can’t drive one very well either. Lol
I feel like I got a great deal on the hull because I basically bought the trailer and the titled boat came with it. Lol. I jumped right into the project and a few hours later the boat revealed her name... Carolina Ragrets.
Once we emptied the trash from the inside of the boat we realized we had an issue. With a bare hull me and Adam couldn’t lift the stern. After a test hole was drilled our fears were correct. Water spouted out of the hole like a drinking fountain. Me not being a quitter and halfway decent with fiberglassing. We dove in.


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## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

Here is the amount of water under the deck


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## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

Huge shout out THANK YOU to Adam89 for helping with the DEfoaming of Carolina Ragrets

Very shocked to find there were paper thin stringers and the floor was like formica.

After 8 big trash bags of foam later we got it done. We guessed the water soaked foamed weighed around 600lbs


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## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

After the foam was cleaned out and the water dried up thanks to the gas station vacuum... sorry about your vacuum.... I glassed in new 1x4s to ever other thin stringer and replaced the foam with closed cell 2 part expanding foam. Don’t really have a good picture of that.
The front of the boat got 2x4s to help the new deck with the upward curve of the boat.
Also was thinking ahead and placed a pipe that I heated up and bent under the new floor.

Tip: don’t over mix the amount of foam you need... you will be standing in your boat thinking of where to pour then it will overflow on you hands....


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## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

Floor went down pretty easily and was now at the point were I started when I bought the boat before we discovered the problem. 
Over not mad at it because I feel like it is built better. 

The wife thought it would be funny to have her breakfast in the boat when I was working on it. Glad she is as excited as I am.


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## Lowtidelowlife (Aug 19, 2014)

J16s are killer boats. But those stringers didn’t need replacing. Those stringers and foam are perfectly suitable for the Carolina skiff. The foam for sure had to come out. People like to just use 5200 to seal a screw in a CS deck and that’s the problem. But now with all that wood she’s definitely going to weigh more than “stock”


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## Copahee Hound (Dec 21, 2017)

NO RAGRETS! That's my motto


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## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

Then planning for the decking started. I knew I wanted to switch from a tiller to a console and need to plan decking accordingly. I also want the largest front deck as I could. Also because the wife made it clear she wanted to be able to suntan on the front deck which should be easy because she like 5’5 lol. 
So I started at the back with the measurements for the rear deck at 3’ then the console with enough walking space then the front deck with a measurement of 7’10”. Should be enough room for her and a friend... fingers crossed lol.


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## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

Lowtidelowlife said:


> J16s are killer boats. But those stringers didn’t need replacing. Those stringers and foam are perfectly suitable for the Carolina skiff. The foam for sure had to come out. People like to just use 5200 to seal a screw in a CS deck and that’s the problem. But now with all that wood she’s definitely going to weigh more than “stock”


Weight will for sure be more but I needed a way to attach the new deck down. It was way over my ability to copy the factory’s method.
So far nothing has been screwed through the deck so it should be good to go.


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## Lowtidelowlife (Aug 19, 2014)

FosterKid said:


> Weight will for sure be more but I needed a way to attach the new deck down. It was way over my ability to copy the factory’s method.
> So far nothing has been screwed through the deck so it should be good to go.


Well now that you have wood you can use 5200 and it will seal fine. But the key to keeping a j16 dry is just that, either don’t drill into the deck or fill and drill all fittings. Mine was a 1999 that was dry as a bone. As long as you’re not worried about weight carry on!


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## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

Here are some shots of hatch planning and gel coating the under side of the decks and in the hatches.


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## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

Got a sweet deal on a 2001 25hp on 3 min old Facebook for $600. 
75% worried it won’t be enough motor but I’m confident I can sell it for a profit and upgrade.


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## Copahee Hound (Dec 21, 2017)

Since you're adding so much weight in wood and probably epoxy, whatever power you were planning on putting on the back, add more horsepower, because it probably won't plane out with a 25 on the back. FWIW


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## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

My center console setup being dry fitted before attaching it to the boat.


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## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

Here is where I am tonight.
Final resin touch ups are done and Final sanding is done. Going to let it sit for a day or two then gel coat will be laid down.


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## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

Copahee Hound said:


> Since you're adding so much weight in wood and probably epoxy, whatever power you were planning on putting on the back, add more horsepower, because it probably won't plane out with a 25 on the back. FWIW


I am hopeful a 25 will be enough but I think your right. I will probably have to find a 40 or 50


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

I have a Yamaha 70 2 stroke for sale...SEND IT SON! Y’all could ski behind it. Bwahaha


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## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

First round of gel coat needed to be sanded down more in a lot of areas. 
Second attempt came out very nice for a rolled job. 

also Love Bugs can go to hell.


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## bcblues (Apr 10, 2018)

Women like a big deck......


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## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

Final coat and texture flake went down today. 
Beyond excited!!!


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Looks like it will fish!


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## GaG8tor (Jul 8, 2019)

Nice job


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## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

Console finished up and decals placed on the boat. 

Really liking how it is coming out considering I’ve never owned/built a boat before.


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## bcblues (Apr 10, 2018)

Looks great!


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## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

Officially able to stamp this project done just in time to do some social distancing. 

thanks for all the encouraging comments. Super happy with the final results. 
From nothing to finished project total build cost was $2,300


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## ceejkay (May 7, 2016)

Great job! I assume the 25 actually worked out for you


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## FosterKid (Mar 4, 2020)

ceejkay said:


> Great job! I assume the 25 actually worked out for you


better than I expected. This was me and my wife on flat water.


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## Zika (Aug 6, 2015)

One of the nicer Carolina Skiffs I've seen. Great work, now enjoy the fruits of your labor.


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## Zika (Aug 6, 2015)

One of the nicest-looking Carolina Skiffs I've seen. Great work, now enjoy the fruits of your labor.


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## GoGataGo52__20 (Jun 26, 2016)

Sweet skiff man, I really thought about a Carolina skiff prior to what I bought. They are sweet simple skiffs no doubt.


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

So CS draft, what, 4” so now it drafts 5”
Great job on that boat. Looks like your have fun


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## John Taylor (Mar 20, 2020)

That's awesome job


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