# Falcon 14 Rebuild / Mod



## SpartinaCo (Oct 10, 2016)

I already have a flats boat, which is great for what I do most of the time--out on the boat soaking bait with the kids, and just all around fishing. 
However, I had been thinking it might be nice to have a smaller skiff that could fit in the garage, and that would be really easy to clean up. It would be good to also have a really light skiff for flood tides that I could pole for a couple hours straight without wearing myself out. 
I had been looking for a while for something to rebuild, and wasn't that amped about what I saw. Gheenoes are pretty cool. However, they seemed a little narrow to me--particularly at the transom. The 13 was just too tiny, and the 15 was just ok. 
I was on another forum and saw a boat that was made in Georgia back in the day called a Falcon. The boat looked really good. Good lines, and a little bit of deadrise to it, which I liked better than the Gheenoe. I couldn't find much at all about these boats online, but amazingly I found one for sale. Got it for 150 bucks. The buy said he was about to haul the thing to the dump, and instead tried posting it on Craigslist. 
I'm stoked about this thing. It was a little heavy when I got it, but there was some foam that was fiberglassed it, which was filled with water. The hull had a strip of plywood up the middle that I cut out. That was also drenched. The transom was so rotten that it had several colonies of ants and even earthworms living in it. After I cut those things out, it reduced the weight of the boat by somewhere around 40%, estimated. 
Here are some pics of the skiff, and the work done so far. The sides of the hull were only 10 inches at the transom, so I added a spray rail both to knock down spray, but primarily to raise the sides by a couple inches.


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

That pic shows nothing but pure child abuse!!!

Good luck with the build.


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Yicks... there's gonna be a lot of itchin going on!


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

Good luck that thing will turn out great especially since you have such experienced help


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## SpartinaCo (Oct 10, 2016)

Backwater said:


> Yicks... there's gonna be a lot of itchin going on!


Backwater, one of the things that I hope to pass on to my kids is that we work with our hands, and we do things for ourselves when we are able. The boys had been watching me work through the window of the house, and asked to help. So, I rinsed the whole boat down, and then let them take a pass or two on the gel coat with a palm sander. I thought it would be clear to most everyone from the picture that I wasn't letting my 4 and 5 year old kids hard-core grind glass with angle grinders with no shirts on.
Based on your comment, clearly that didn't come through for you.
Rest assured, they are good.


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## WhiteDog70810 (May 6, 2008)

Don't worry, everyone is just talking smack. We all believe in child labor based on the number of kids and grand kids working on projects. I admit that I also thought "Oh, itchy!" at first when I saw they were shirtless, but then I actually noticed they were sanding gel coat. You even hooked them up with good dust masks, not the crappy paper ones. 

Looks like a fun build. Keep posting.

Nate


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## SpartinaCo (Oct 10, 2016)

Doesn't look like much here, but got her all ready for the next steps--divinycell transom cut out, divinycell also cut out to run down the center of the hull to replace the plywood that was there before, and ready to be glassed in. Hull sanded down to accept glass. I've also cut out a couple of the bulkheads.
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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

SpartinaCo said:


> Backwater, one of the things that I hope to pass on to my kids is that we work with our hands, and we do things for ourselves when we are able. The boys had been watching me work through the window of the house, and asked to help. So, I rinsed the whole boat down, and then let them take a pass or two on the gel coat with a palm sander. I thought it would be clear to most everyone from the picture that I wasn't letting my 4 and 5 year old kids hard-core grind glass with angle grinders with no shirts on.
> Based on your comment, clearly that didn't come through for you.
> Rest assured, they are good.


Yea I knew that 
I have 4 grandsons and when there 4-8 they think and want to do everything your doing. I stop them when using chain saws
But shooting bb guns, painting or sanding pinewood derby cars are all approved tasks
At lest you had face mask on them


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## SpartinaCo (Oct 10, 2016)

I got a fair amount done this weekend. I glassed the underside of the divinycell that I cut out to run up the middle of the boat, sanded it down, and then epoxied it in place, and put 1708 down over it, overlapping on the sides a bit to tab it into place. I got a yard of carbon kevlar 5.5 ounce and did a little test area in the front. Really liked working with this stuff. It wet out super easy, and dried hard as nails. Wondering if anyone has any experience with this. When I do my decks, can I use this instead of 1708 and still have a rigid enough platform (assuming H80 3/8 inch divinycell used between)? 
I didn't get the transom glassed in yet, but got it cut out, and think it will look good. 
I got the spray rails epoxied to the boat, and tabbed in with 1708. At first I was worried about these adhering well enough because in some places I only have 1 to 1.5 inches of overlap with the top of the hull sides. I'm not worried now though. It's not going anywhere. 

Here's the boat just before I put the spray rails on. Got everything all sanded and prepped. Pieces of 1708 cut and in place. Screws laid out, and ready to pull the rail against the boat. 
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I've got the spray rails epoxied and tabbed in in this picture. Also have transom cut out and sitting in place. 
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View from transom to bow. Spray rails done. Core replacement complete down the center of the boat. I left a little cut-out where I should be able to run the fuel line from engine to tank at the bow. As a side note to those learning, when I need to weigh something down that I'm epoxying I will put plastic trash bags down and then put weight on top. That way after the cure I can just peel them right up. Turns out you can't do that with grocery type bags. They stick to the epoxy and will have to be sanded out. 
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One more picture from the bow back. I think she is going to end up looking pretty mean.
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## SpartinaCo (Oct 10, 2016)

Got the bulkheads cut out and in place. Waiting for some more materials to come in the mail before I can glass. Instead of cutting them straight across, they are crowned so the deck will shed water. to get the right height for each bulkhead, a line was tied from fore most bulkhead to transom. 
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## yobata (Jul 14, 2015)

SpartinaCo said:


> Got the bulkheads cut out and in place. Waiting for some more materials to come in the mail before I can glass. Instead of cutting them straight across, they are crowned so the deck will shed water. to get the right height for each bulkhead, a line was tied from fore most bulkhead to transom.
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Why did you choose to have that curve on top of your bulkheads, to shed water??

I cut the top of my bulkheads flat by placing a straight 2x4 from gunnel to gunnel, and tracing on the bulkhead material. This allowed me to put a flat deck on. 

I don't quite understand how you will fit a curved deck and then feel comfortable keeping your footing while standing there. How much water could possibly be on your front deck if it is flat? And how will you make the curve on your deck accurate when glassing the deck material?


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## SpartinaCo (Oct 10, 2016)

Yobata, I can see how it looks really steep when you are just looking at the bulkheads, but when the deck goes on the camber is more understated. It is for function, but more for aesthetics to be honest. I learned to build from a guy named Beau Johnson who has a shop in Wilmington, NC. He was taught on the OBX building sportfishers. He curves his decks, just like you'd see on a sportfisher, and it looks really sharp on a skiff, in my opinion. When you stand on the deck of the boat the curve is almost not noticeable, and certainly isn't going to cause you to slide off the boat.
The last boat I built was not a rebuild. It was a custom build that I designed and built from scratch. It has crowned decks, and I think that is one of the main things about it that makes it stand out to people as something that is not a production skiff.
The main benefit, besides the look, is clean up. I have owned 4 production skiffs with flat decks, and it is my experience that a pretty fair amount of what you spray off a flat deck is going to shed into the cockpit. With a crowned deck it wants to move to the sides and off the boat.
As far as your question about how you fit a curved deck, it's pretty easy. You glass only one side of the deck. Then you fit it in place. With only one side glassed, the divinycell will form pretty easily to the curved bulkheads. You screw it in place, epoxy it over the structural members and bulkheads, and then once cured you remove the screws and laminate the topside. The trick (and where the work is) is getting all the curved bulkheads to be in line with one another. The 2x4 across the gunnels approach is definitely an easier way to go.
Here are a couple of the pictures of my last build. you can see that when the deck is in place, the camber is not so pronounced (given, the crown on the last build was slightly less than this new build--but one of the things I would have done differently if I built the last one again is to add more camber--it's kinda like cow bell. You can always use more).
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## Whiskey Angler (Mar 20, 2015)

SpartinaCo said:


> Yobata, I can see how it looks really steep when you are just looking at the bulkheads, but when the deck goes on the camber is more understated. It is for function, but more for aesthetics to be honest. I learned to build from a guy named Beau Johnson who has a shop in Wilmington, NC. He was taught on the OBX building sportfishers. He curves his decks, just like you'd see on a sportfisher, and it looks really sharp on a skiff, in my opinion. When you stand on the deck of the boat the curve is almost not noticeable, and certainly isn't going to cause you to slide off the boat.
> The last boat I built was not a rebuild. It was a custom build that I designed and built from scratch. It has crowned decks, and I think that is one of the main things about it that makes it stand out to people as something that is not a production skiff.
> The main benefit, besides the look, is clean up. I have owned 4 production skiffs with flat decks, and it is my experience that a pretty fair amount of what you spray off a flat deck is going to shed into the cockpit. With a crowned deck it wants to move to the sides and off the boat.
> As far as your question about how you fit a curved deck, it's pretty easy. You glass only one side of the deck. Then you fit it in place. With only one side glassed, the divinycell will form pretty easily to the curved bulkheads. You screw it in place, epoxy it over the structural members and bulkheads, and then once cured you remove the screws and laminate the topside.
> ...


Yeah, I guess that's not too shabby. Kidding, that last build looks awesome. Excited to see this one come to life! The decks do look good.


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## WhiteDog70810 (May 6, 2008)

I cambered my decks 1.5" over 48" and I like it for the most part. It keeps some rain and spray from entering the cockpit and makes it easier to wash down the decks without flooding the cockpit. Once I make a cockpit cover, I won't have to worry about it filling with rain or snow overnight while I have it moored. I wouldn't camber it more than than 1.5" over 48" if you will be standing on it exclusively in my experience. My ankles crave standing on a flat surface after standing on the cambered deck all day. It doesn't necessarily hurt my ankles, but they notice the camber. A casting platform would be helpful in that regard.

Nate


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## SpartinaCo (Oct 10, 2016)

I've done a lot of cutting out parts, and laminating them over the past few weeks. But now I've got enough of them done that I can start tabbing in the superstructure. I got a couple yards of an end roll of carbon kevlar, and tried it out on the transom. It's awesome stuff. Cures tough as nails, and wets out with way less epoxy than 1708. 
I got the front deck cut out, and made a template first out of cardboard so that I could figure out the most efficient way to cover it with the sheets of Divinycell that I have left (it'll have more shape to it once it is in place. Left a little overlap so I can shape it later once it is in place). 
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## SpartinaCo (Oct 10, 2016)

I took y'all's advice and took a half inch of the camber, and am glad I did. It has a nice look to it now with the deck in place. In the pictures I just have the deck screwed in place, not epoxied down. And obviously haven't shaped the edges of the casting deck. But I'm pretty pleased by how this is shaping up. I think she is going to be pretty sharp, and so far she is still super light. 
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## redsonfly (Jun 8, 2007)

looks great, and your helpers will feel part of the build as well, great project to share with them. They will have to feel proud on the boat they "built" to fish from it with you.


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## SpartinaCo (Oct 10, 2016)

Got the front and rear deck epoxied in place, and I cut the rear pieces cut out to form a well in the back. I also sanded down all the bulkheads this weekend, as well as the floor. Cut the edges of the deck so all the pieces line up pretty well (but will still need a little help from the block sander. 
I was driving out in the country, and went by an old service station that was no longer in use. There was an aluminum baseball bat smashed into the storefront window, and it was stuck in the window, hanging out. So I plucked it out. I have it sanded down, and will paint it to match the outboard. It should work just fine.
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## JET4 (Jul 14, 2014)

This is looking very nice.


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## SpartinaCo (Oct 10, 2016)

I had a couple buddies come by yesterday evening to help me lay some glass. Got the remainder of the topside completely done. All major glass work is done now. Time to sand, and then flip her over and work on hull side. Thinking about building a mini coffin box as well to attach grab bar to.
I really liked working with the carbon kevlar fabric. Down side is that it doesn't sand that well, so if you are thinking about using it, use it on the undersides, and have glass on top. I used 5 ounce carbon kevlar on bottom, and 1208 biaxial on top, and that seems to be a good combo for strength and weight. I also used carbon fiber for some of the tabs (hoping this will cut down on some sanding later from otherwise thick tabs). I also used peel ply when I glass this time to cut down on the amount of sanding I'll have to do. Here are some pics.
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## SpartinaCo (Oct 10, 2016)

Reinforced the tab where the motor will mount, did some fairing, and applied the first coat of the barrier coat.
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## SpartinaCo (Oct 10, 2016)

Sanded the primer, put down a second coat of primer, and sanded again. The second sanding session went much faster, due to the fact that I had super-human strength on my side.
After it was all prepped I painted it with marine paint made by a company called Kirby. I really liked working with it. It is a one part paint, and I rolled and tipped it. It doesn't have the same leveling characteristics as does awlgrip, or probably even interlux (although I've only sprayed interlux). However, it dries at a nice rate--fast enough so that it doesn't sag easily, but not so quickly that you don't have time to tip it. The finish came out pretty nice. It isn't flawless. You can see some brush strokes in it when you get right up on it, but really it looks nice. The main advantage for this paint though is the coverage/thickness with which it goes down. The picture below where the hull is green is after only one coat.

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## Gamecock89 (May 30, 2015)

My dad used Kirby paint on his sailboat and we both were impressed with it as far as one parts go. He experienced the same with the leveling but it came out nice and as you said, it was as pleasant to work with as paint can be. Nice work!


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## Zika (Aug 6, 2015)

Coming along nicely.


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## SpartinaCo (Oct 10, 2016)

I am in the short rows now. My wife is a tax accountant, so the amount of free time I had to build over the past 2 months has gone down dramatically, but I'm getting it done. All that is left is to roll on the non-skid, put on the grab bar, poling platform, and misc hardware. I also decided to do a little coffin box. I've got it formed and inside glassed. Need to do the top, glass outside, and finish. Will be painting the coffin box the same color as the hull. 
I painted it earth tones so it won't stick out like a sore thumb while fishing flats along the ICW. Turned out really sharp, I think. Haven't wet tested it yet, and am excited about it. It's gonna smoke. I'm sure it'll be a little tippy (it's only 45 inches wide) so may also put some kind of grab bar on the deck as well.


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