Take a load off...

The next installment in the continuing saga of a classic Mako runabout rebuild


After hacking away at punk flotation foam for awhile, we assessed the situation and our process. All this foam is no fun - in fact it's hard work. This picture shows better how wet this stuff is. It's mind boggling, since this boat has been dry for years. The boat was covered under a ventilated tarp for 3 years and then sat in dry storage of the warehouse for another 7 months or so. It's still soaking wet! The only way to truly dry it, short of ripping everything up, would be some decent holes ontop the deck to evaporate water out. But we don't want to wait and hope. We're taking it all out, saturated foam gone once and for all.



This is the way to do it - after struggling for a while with big pry bars, we came across a couple of shovels in the building. Flat nosed garden spade shovels would probably work best; we used what was on hand, pointed long handled shovels. As we picked up steam the foam kept a rolling- so fast that it meant constant trips to the dumpster. And these buckets of water soaked foam were not light either. Good tunes kept us motivated as TJ scoured out foam from every corner and I trudged between bright work zone and the quiet, cold winter night darkness of the dumpster.

A few hours in and things were beginning to clean up. We shoveled the ankle deep rubble into big trash cans. Now the stringers and hull began to peak through.


The foredeck area was perhaps the one spot of the boat in good condition with no soft spots. Nonetheless, we opted to cut this out as well. We want to evacuate as much wet foam as possible. Also, as we exposed more of the stringers, we conclusively agreed they desperately needed some TLC. With foredeck extracted we could access foam, stringers and main deck installation. TJ and I also agreed it may be nice to include a foredeck locker in the rebuild. Since the deck is in good shape, we're hanging onto the piece we extracted.


Now that looks much better. We even dug out any accessible areas below the gunwales. Any foam that felt dry to the touch on top was always wet on the bottom when we popped it out. It was particularly built up around the stringers as you might imagine. Improved design will certainly include some limber holes through the stringers to let the moisture drain into the bilge and out.



I wish we could put this dumpster on a scale - I bet we pulled out a between 500-1000 lbs out of that boat in just foam. It truly filled about 3/4 of the dumpster in the above picture.

Foam Foam go away...

Would you look at this mess. But wait, before you do...

If you found the repair video of last post helpful, here is the final half of West System Fiberglass Repair video. The West System steps outlined here are a proven successful repair method, one of many possible approaches. In any repair, proper preparation of the repair area takes the most time and is critical to repair strength. If you have never done this before, do some research beforehand, but fear not, it's easy when done properly.

In all fairness, this repair could be done more cheaply using polyester resins instead of epoxy. (See Epoxies, Vinylesters and Polyesters Explained) We selected epoxy because we are familiar with it, like the working characteristics of epoxy, better strength to weight ratio of epoxy and it isn't as stinky when the stuff kicks. Any polyester gelcoat finish will stick just fine to properly cleaned epoxy (soap and water scrub to remove amines). This was a great boat made of polyester, and it will be just as good should you choose to use poly resins in the rebuild. Whichever your tool of choice, just make sure you follow the proper preparation and mixing procedures. The West System Fiberglass Boat Repair and Maintenance Manual is a great resource for exactly this type of project. Now, on with the story...

With the old deck removed, we peer into black box. What lurks below decks is cruddy foam galore. Mako filled mostly all the void areas with 2 Part Flotation Foam. This closed cell foam serves many purposes. Foremost, it adds needed buoyancy should you wish to invert the boat and make it a life raft. ;) Additionally, the foam has structural purpose. Some boat designs seat the deck directly atop the stringers (fore aft longitudinal supports). The Mako deck instead is suspended. Smaller longitudinal supports are bonded to the underside of the deck, and the whole thing seated on a bed of foam. The foam cushion deadens shock when pounding through waves.

It almost looks fluffy and edible in the above pictures - some salty fluffernutter sandwich. But here's the rub- all this foam is soaking wet. Closed cell foam normally does not hold water. But even this most synthetic of foam degrades with age and exposure to elements, in this case good old H2O with a dash of fuel and twist of mildew. Dead flotation foam born again into a giant sponge. Cool! Remember those eerie groans and pops the winch cable made as she was guided home on the trailer. That's one heavy boat! If you suspect this may be a case in your boat, check the waterline. The yellow tell-tale waterline on this old girl grew higher and higher. Tall tale perhaps (sorry, couldn't refrain from the bad pun), but I suspect there was a time or two she was floated up from the bottom of some bay. There's alot of water in here.

So bring on the unsavory nasty task. We have to pull and rip all this foam out.



First we tried to lever chunks out with pry bars. It worked a bit, sort of like shoveling snow with a teaspoon. The foam clings to the hull, so is takes some elbow grease. Occasionally we'd celebrate a particularly big chunk that would pop free. Maybe even show it off boastfully til a bigger one came along.



But mostly, the big prybars made wet, mushy pulp freed up between the stringers. (and yes, that is a big ol crack in the stringer pictured above. "Dem bones weren't made to carry all that water Cap'n")



We need to change tacks to make any decent progress.

"Off with her Head!"

Time for the ceremonial first cut - Would the person responsible for the derelict white power boat please step forward... It's a funny feeling when you actually hold a saw over any boat with malicious intent. We're about to make every boat owner cringe - literally cut the top off this boat. Once we do, there's no turning back. TJ and I comfort ourselves by agreeing, "well, we can't make it any worse!" So here goes nothing - we grit our teeth and plunge in.

See, it's not so bad. Just like a friendly dentist visit ;)




Our basic plan with this cut is to leave a flange of at least 4-5 inches of remaining deck. The flange will provide area needed to tab the new fiberglass deck into. Check out the West System repair video to get an idea of basic fiberglass repair principles...




We will return to the flange of remaining deck at a later date to prep it for laying in the new deck.




The Sawzall rough cut through the old polyester fiberglass deck handily. This reciprocating saw is a great cut anything tool but beware - if you plan on keeping stringers and all intact for re-use, be careful in the depth of cut. Or you may unwittingly cut through stringers and other structural members unseen. It was challenging to contour the 90 degree corners with a Sawzall. If you plan on re-using the deck later, a jig saw will make a consistent, cleaner cut at a controlled depth, thus it may be a better choice.

Dirty Surprises...

So far TJ and I have pulled the console and outboard off this Mako 19. Decks are cleared for some destructive fun...

With console removed, we pulled the screws and pried up the deck panel covering the fuel tank. Some good pry bars were needed to break the sealant/adhesive bond securing the panel.

The aluminum tank was as expected, a mess. It looked as if it washed up on a beach then spent a few years beside a dumpster in some alley. The good news - it appears sound, no leaks. From first glance we have two options. Option one - send it out for professional cleaning with new fuel pick up and sending unit installed. Or option two - replace with a new tank of similar dimensions. We are favoring the complete replacement. Why? Because it's the easiest way to ensure good fuel (til they finally perfect the hydrogen fuel cell outboard ;)

We cut the last umbilical - fuel fill and supply hoses - and pulled the tank. From the stale fuel smell wafting from the bilge, it's obvious these hoses failed some time ago. We are likely looking at original fuel hose from circa 1970. Bad fuel tanks below deck are common in classic Makos, Seacrafts and Whalers of this vintage. The quick fix is simple. Just throw an above deck tank on deck and forget about the mess in the bilge. But since the decks are coming up next, it makes perfect sense at this stage to ensure any engine is fed good, clean fuel.

Pausing with the fuel tank for it's final goodbyes to the old Mako, we pitched it over the side. We're now ready for some reckless fun with the Sawzall as we cut out the sore spots.

Engine's Aweigh

Picking an outboard engine off the transom is easy enough in practice. Just grab it by the lifting ring next to the flywheel and hoist her up. But stick a boat in the tightest corner of the warehouse, surround her by other boats and storage shelving, then block her up so she can't move. Now you see why we stand there dumbly scratching our heads. Not so easy now is it.

Eureka! We've got a giant garage door behind us. Just open the door and drive the fork lift around. Wait, there's a foot of snow blocking access to the door. Get out the shovels. Now this door doesn't want to open, blocked in by snow and frozen ice runoff from the roof. Persistence, persistence. This simple process which should take a matter of minutes takes us the better part of our Wednesday night session.

Worn fork lift tires are certainly not made for snow. We clear away enough snow to maneuver and push the old fork through the ice patches til fork is aligned directly over lifting ring. We doubled a stout double braid nylon line as a harness and hoisted her up slow and steady.

As the hours grow late and freezing cold has long since taken all feeling from our fingers, the fork lift is powered down, the sound of the tunes blaring once again dominate the warehouse. The old Evinrude is snugly lying atop a pallet.

What's First To Go?

TJ and I assembled on our first night of action with the big question, "where to start?" Let's start at the top. This console needs to go. Not as bad as we thought, unzip all the deck screws from the decaying teak trim ring- done.


Unhook steering cables- check

Throttle control box- got it

Now how do we squeeze the fork lift between these boats to pull this thing off?- to which TJ politely motions to me- which if vocalized would sound something like "out of the way little man." From the squatting deadlift position he gives a heave. It's cold in this place, unheated warehouse in January. New England weather gave us a hell of a time just getting the front door open with the iced over snow drift blocking the way. As TJ heaves you can see every breath, the seal clings momentarily and then pops as ancient adhesive goop parts (undoubtedly 5200). The console begins to clear the deck. Taking the cue I join in - this is actually pretty light once it's unstuck. We walk the boxy console to the transom to unship it.





Suddenly this boat seems a whole lot bigger. Now for the engine.

Clear the Decks for Action

After a harrowing extraction from the woods of Cape Cod, the Mako 19 now sits happy and dry in the workshop. The tarp retired, it's time to clear the decks of all debris. It's amazing how much stuff one can conceivably store under the tarp of a 19 ft boat. "Hey, I remember this mooring rig, man I really could've used that last year." "Oh cool, my old Craftsman ratchet." "Hey Dad will be happy I recovered his best shovel." Slowly the detritus of lawn debris and nameless objects is cleared away revealing what resembles a boat deck.











With the decks clear, the Jolly Tinker once again reclaims her identity from storage bin to boat. In this new light, our motivation begins to gather way.