# River Hawk restoration (lots of pics)



## nitrozoom (Jul 8, 2010)

I bought this 97 Riverhawk with an old Honda 8 HP 4 stroke last year and spent countless hours and too many dollars fixing it up.  It's pretty much done now except for nav lights, rod holders, and maybe relocating the trolling motor to the transom.  

I'd never done any fiberglass work or boat painting before this so everything was a learning experience for me.  Biggest lesson learned was don't ever buy a boat needing this much work!

*Before*:




























*After*:


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## tedcombs (Mar 12, 2010)

WOW , That looks amazing. Do you have any more pics from the build process because im sure everyone would like to see them. I am in the process of redoing my boat and I might have some questions for you


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## shallowassult (May 30, 2010)

boat looks great, Paint looks nice what brand did you use?


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## drewrossi (Jan 30, 2010)

Wow, looks very professional! Great Build!!!


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## nitrozoom (Jul 8, 2010)

Thanks guys!   

The paint is Interlux Brightside white on the exterior and Brightside Matterhorn White in the interior.  It has 3 or 4 coats of Interlux Pre Kote primer and about the same # of coats of paint, if I recall.  I also mixed in some of their anti skid stuff for the floor and the rear bench.  Intergrip or something like that.  

I used the roll and tip method on the outside but I sprayed the interior because there's too many corners to deal with.  I got one of those 10 dollar Harbor Freight low pressure spray guns and it did the trick and was really fast.

*Here's some more before pics:*



















Was able to pull off most of the stuff on the bow:









Another view of what I'm dealing with:









*Is this JB Weld?!?*









First coat of primer:



















After final coat of primer and paint.  I gave up on getting it flawless, I could never fair it right as there was too much to hide and I couldn't sand out the previous fiberglass work with even with 60 grit orbital:










Front bench raised with styrofoam insulation sheet and a couple pieces of that plastic composite deck wood stuff.  I forget the name but it's the balusters for the rails.  I glassed over it after this but I didn't get pics of that:


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## riptide (Dec 31, 2009)

Looks good ,im shure you will get a lot of compliments


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## flyfisheraa573 (Jun 26, 2008)

nicely done...as said, very professional!


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## Tom_C (Dec 10, 2006)

Looks Great!!!


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## FSUfisher (Jul 16, 2007)

That's definitely an real good job for your first time. Heck, I'd take that kind of quality on my tenth build. I agree, it looks like the previous owner JB Welded the hull. Their second mistake looks like they used polyester resin for their repair jobs, which is why you were able to pull the stuff right off. I definitely made the same mistake before...


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

This is an excellent example











of why you don't fiberglass over gelcoat or paint,
as fiberglass and polyester resin won't bond properly.
As a result it pops right off with minimal effort.











To repair a hole through a hull, the gelcoat or paint must be removed down to the underlying fiberglass
otherwise the new fiberglass patch won't last.


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## Ed_B (Jun 28, 2010)

WOW! You give me hope.. I have a B-60 I bought from a buddy in Mufreesboro.. It's see a few rocks in the Caney Fork, but nothing like what you had to deal with.

I would like to convert the front bench into a deck. I may have to get in touch with you for some guidance..

Great job!


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## nitrozoom (Jul 8, 2010)

Keep us posted on what you do with it!  Someone will find your project useful for their own.  I read every post on here about decks and false floors and painting probably 20x each when trying to figure out what to do.  

Btw I just realized in the pics, it's probably not clear what the decks are.

The back is King Starboard, that's why it doesn't match the paint exactly.  Starlite or something like that which is lighter than the regular stuff.  The front is Starboard also but it's the anti skid type.  

Here's what it looks like up close:


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## OSWLD (Apr 20, 2008)

Hard to believe thats your first build, looks awesome man!!


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## anytide (Jul 30, 2009)

showroom new!!! -bravo ,very professional looking 
-anytide


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## mark_gardner (Mar 18, 2009)

wow man looks brand new  nice job [smiley=1-thumbsup3.gif], congrats [smiley=1-beer.gif]


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## popcorn (Apr 11, 2010)

Wow! That looks great! Love that decal too. 

Duncan


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## tbayray (Sep 18, 2008)

Very Nice.


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## gnuraider (Nov 4, 2008)

Erik - great work man. GT has been keeping me posted on this along the way too...

I really like the splash guard/trolling motor design...let me know how it works, might be interested in doing something like that on my Gheenoe.

We need to get the Middle TN micros out sometime soon...we are getting larger in numbers all the time.

Dave


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## nitrozoom (Jul 8, 2010)

Thanks guys!

Hey Dave yeah I took the boat out yesterday to JPP for the first time. The splash guard worked great but the trolling motor mount needs to be redone. I think the concept is ok but my execution is lacking. In the end I think I will try to relocate to the transom tho so it might not matter

I'd be up for a get together anytime!


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## Cody_Music (Mar 24, 2010)

Absolutely beautiful. Those decks are really nice!


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## bococdow (Aug 2, 2010)

what material are your decks made out of and how did you mount the brackets (at the bottom of the decks) to the boat? just wondering i am thinking of deck ideas for my gheenoe.


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## nitrozoom (Jul 8, 2010)

Thanks guys!

Johnnie the decks are made of 1/2" Starboard.  The front deck is supported by square aluminum tube and composite posts.  The composite posts are held on with 5200 epoxy. The supports at the front are horizontal posts with a vertical post below to distribute weight along the sides and floor.  It's very stable

The back deck is angle aluminum on either side.  It's unsupported across the middle so not suitable for walking on but keeps my stuff from flying out on the road.

Made this drawing to sort of show how the front is supported:
BLUE is 1.5" of Dow blue styrofoam insulation
GREEN is composite deck baluster material
RED is 1" square aluminum tubing


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