# First Post: Birth Of The Junk Yard Dog



## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

Welcome to the forum Virgil. It's good to meet someone else with no "fear of failure".
I'm especially impressed with your ability to turn a phrase.
If your skill with your hands is as good as you are with words, the boat will come out fine.
Your opening post has me grinning in anticipation of what's to come.
Between the acerbic comments and the rebuild of another project hull,
it looks like its going to be a fun ride up the learning curve. Keep it coming!

[smiley=1-biggrin.gif]


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## AfterHours2 (Aug 2, 2010)

Aaahhh. She's not that bad. You will be surprised by what the pressure washer will do to her ;D. Kidding aside, welcome to the forum and look forward to seeing progress in the making..


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## tom_in_orl (Dec 9, 2006)

Welcome to the forum [smiley=beer.gif] I say fish out of it the way it looks ;D Just kidding. Looking forward to watching your build.


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## noeettica (Sep 23, 2007)

Welcome !

I think I have one in similar condition ...

I bought it to Develop my Fiberglass skills ... LOL


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

Virgil you have it all wrong - that craft is only a piece of crap when you took the close up pictures. Take some from 100 yards and we will all be awe struck at its beauty.

Welcome to our playground


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## makin moves (Mar 20, 2010)

welcome to the forum, where about north of tampa are you


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## ht (Oct 1, 2008)

Welcome aboard! There is a ton of knowledge on this site and you cant help but learn from these masters of creativity! ;D

As I am constantly reminded, take lots of pictures and dont forget to share them with us!


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## vjordan (May 22, 2011)

Thanks to all for the warm welcome!!!
makin moves: I live in on the far west side of Brooksville. I launch the big boat mostly out of Bayport.

Well, the battle of the pod things is over. My superior tactics and weaponry (3000psi pressure washer)completely devastated my foe. It helped that the pod things didn't seem to be able to move. The ants were a whole different story. I made several valiant frontal attacks, but the ants simply retreated back into my front seat. I wasn't about to accept this cowardly behavior from the ants and rearmed myself with a 4" angle grinder and a dust mask. Alas, the front seat did not survive the battle and was laid to rest with full military honors in my trash can.

Now that I've started removing parts it's time to start asking some questions. My intention is to gut the hull and start the rebuild with a clean slate. From what I've read there seems to be two basic approaches. One was to remove the gelcoat from the entire hull and have the mess over with in fell swoop. the other is to remove the gelcoat only from the areas where you intend to glass in modifications. In both cases they us refer to "grinding" off the gelcoat. Looking at my boat there doesn't seem to be a hell of alot of gelcoat left. Using a grinder seems like a pretty agressive way for a novice to remove gelcoat from such a thin hull. I was thinking of using an air sander with about an 80 grit disc. what are your thoughts on this?

The second question regards parts. Tomorrow night I'm going to drill out the rivets and remove the top rail. Can I get a replacement from Gheenoe or is there a better source?

There is one bright spot to my "new" boat. I found this when I pressure washed it:










It's the cork the previous owner used in the main drain. It's one of those high buck hard rubber numbers not a plain old wine bottle stopper. My $200 purchase is starting to look like a real bargain!!!


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## AfterHours2 (Aug 2, 2010)

The comedy is killing me! There really is no need to remove all the gel-coat on your boat unless you are planning to re-glass the entire thing. An air sander with some wet sand will probably be easier on your lungs, just make sure to keep the paper wet and it will last 10x longer than your dry sand paper also saving you $$$. Your best bet is to keep cutting away and then decide which route/areas you want to replace with fresh fiberglass. I'm sure Brett will chime in here pretty soon though. He has a tendency to be very helpful and also informative when it comes to any aspect of boat building. Good luck and keep the updates coming...


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

Chime? Dayumm...I've just been downgraded from opinionated old coot to a bloody doorbell.    

I vote remove all interior gelcoat. If y'er gonna do 'er, do 'er right.
A clean slate is just more gooder to work with, eh?
I fear you are about to learn the dubious pleasures of tyvek, dust masks and summer heat.


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

You also need to support the hull in it original shape. Once you remove the rails it will probably spring out of shape and then your remodel job will be done in a crooked hull.


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## TomFL (Oct 2, 2007)

> You also need to support the hull in it original shape.  Once you remove the rails it will probably spring out of shape and then your remodel job will be done in a crooked hull.


Then again, it could go from crooked back to straight..

50/50 shot 



-T


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## vjordan (May 22, 2011)

In the words of another famous Jordan, "I'm baack".

It's been awhile since I made my initial venture into the world of rebuilding a MicroSkiff. I indeed got as far as cutting out the front seat and starting to remove the gelcoat when good sense reached up and slapped me upside the head. The project was not a complete failure because I learned a number of things:

1. Summer in Florida is not a good time to be wrapped in a jumpsuit grinding on gelcoat.

2. Restoring this boat to anything near what I really wanted was going to take a ton of work not to mention money.

3. Life is too short to waste it doing something stupid.

Alas the original Junk Yard Dog  is now residing along side the shed.

Not one to give up easily, I set about finding a better candidate to full fill my desire to own a custom Gheenoe. It took awhile to find what I was looking for, but last weekend I finally bought a new Junk Yard Dog. It's a 93 Classic with a 25hp Johnson. Still no raving beauty, however it's light years ahead of it's predecessor.










I got it fairly cheep so it's worth spending some money on. I think this time I have a reasonable chance of ending up with a boat I'm going to love. Welcome to the build thread of the new Junk Yard Dog!!


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## vjordan (May 22, 2011)

I got a small start over the weekend. I removed all the add-ons and wiring and have her back down to the basic hull. Anybody need a set of massive oar locks for a gheenoe? 

I built a strong back of sorts with wheels so I can roll it in and out of the garage. Then the rain set in.

It rained all day yesterday and is supposed to rain all day today. I'm going to take advantage of the cool weather today to get all the junk out of the garage so the Gheenoe will fit.


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## vjordan (May 22, 2011)

I finally got started on the interior mods to the Gheenoe. I cut out the read seat hump and notched the port side foam pod so I could get a 6 gallon tank in sideways. My plan is to put a bulkhead just forward of the tank and another bulkhead just in forward of  the foam pods. Add a ply floor and sides and I'll end up with a nice sized dry storage area.

My resin and cloth are supposed to come tonight. If It shows up I'll try to get the cut out in the foam resealed and the two bulkheads in tomorrow.


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## vjordan (May 22, 2011)

Made some progress today. Screwing around making a template and grinding off the gelcoat in the places I want to bond to took a lot longer than I expected. I finally got the first bulkhead in place. Right now it's just tacked in place. Once the tack welds dry and the bulkhead is solid I'll go back and put filets on all the joints.


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## orlandofast1 (Oct 15, 2011)

Coming along!


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## vjordan (May 22, 2011)

Yeah it helps my motivation to see progress, even if it is just a little.


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## vjordan (May 22, 2011)

Made a bit more progress on the Gheenoe. The stringers for the floor support are in and glassed. The pvc pipe for a wireway is in and glassed in place. The second bulkhead for the dry storage is in and glassed in place and the cutout to let me mount my tank sideways is in and glassed.I also had to remove the livewell pump and plug the hole. It was going to be in the way of the trim tabs so I plugged the whole with a dowel rod and epoxy and glassed over the plug. Ill have to make a new hole closer to the drain to install a new pump. It's going pretty slowly, but it is moving forward.


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## vjordan (May 22, 2011)

Made a bit more progress on The Junk Yard Dog. I've got the primer and first top coat on the rear of the boat. I've only painted the storage area and sump area since they won't be easily accesable once I put the deck on. The floor is in and glassed between the center console and the rear bulkhead. I think I need to put another coat of epoxy on the floor to help fill the weave before I put primer on it. I had a heck of a time finding a hatch that would fit for the storage area.

I've spent a ton of time waiting for parts. There isn't a good marine supply in my area with the exception of 
West Marine. They are so expensive I might as well just buy a new hull if I bought all my parts from them. They are going to supply the new rub rail since my local Gheenoe dealer( Crystal River Marine ) just ignored me when I tried to buy replacements from them. Said they'ed check on getting them and never bothered to return my call to tell me what they found out.I'm not interested in doing business with people like them. I can see an LT25 in my future and you can bet they damn sure won't be selling it to me even if I have to drive to Titusville to pick it up myself!!


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## vjordan (May 22, 2011)

Made a bit more progress on my remodel. 

The rear casting deck is installed and glassed. Both the hatches are installed and the mini jacker is installed.

I also made a tiller extension from an aluminum ball bat. Read it on a post on here and it worked great. Still need to get a stainless clamp for it.

Considering this is the first time I ever fiber glassed anything I'm pretty happy with the results so far. I know it could be a lot better but under the circumstances I'll take it.


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## noeettica (Sep 23, 2007)

Nice Work ! Gheenoes Rock ! knockoffs s*ck !


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