Another classic Mainship Flybridge recore!

[Centropristis]

I am taking the advice from Boomerang and finally getting around to posting about our flybridge recore. We have a 1978 MKI that we purchased in 2021. My wife and I are almost finished with our crazy undertaking of replacing the flybridge core this past offseason. We are itching to get the boat in the water as July is fast approaching in our short boating season in Massachusetts. It has been a ton of work. In the beginning, it was cold and itchy, then it was hot and itchy, then a mad rush to fiberglass in the heat/sun, more itching and sweating with the sanding and fairing. Today we competed the final gel coat layers. We still have to put the console back on, then sand and prep for the nonskid areas. The end is in sight!! I have read and re-read Boomerang’s blog that his wife put together for the work that they did on Yellowbird. It gave me the confidence to tackle this job….although we didn’t quite document it the way that they did. It will not be a perfect job, but as they said, WE did it, it is our work.

 

[Centropristis]

More pictures.

 

[Centropristis]

More pictures.

 

[rgano]

I am taking the advice from Boomerang and finally getting around to posting about our flybridge recore. We have a 1978 MKI that we purchased in 2021. My wife and I are almost finished with our crazy undertaking of replacing the flybridge core this past offseason. We are itching to get the boat in the water as July is fast approaching in our short boating season in Massachusetts. It has been a ton of work. In the beginning, it was cold and itchy, then it was hot and itchy, then a mad rush to fiberglass in the heat/sun, more itching and sweating with the sanding and fairing. Today we competed the final gel coat layers. We still have to put the console back on, then sand and prep for the nonskid areas. The end is in sight!! I have read and re-read Boomerang’s blog that his wife put together for the work that they did on Yellowbird. It gave me the confidence to tackle this job….although we didn’t quite document it the way that they did. It will not be a perfect job, but as they said, WE did it, it is our work.

We are all proud to know you!

 

[Delta Riverat]

Nice job!

Makes me tired just looking at it, way beyond my skillset -

 

[Comodave]

Congrats on the great work you have done.

 

[SIBERNUT]

WOW! Still married ? That's a keeper !
On FG work- get a cheap box fan & always work upwind. COLD shower after closes pores, then go warm.
Friend was body shop manager. White shirt, did a lot of Corvette work. Wife washed shirt with other whites, like her bra's. Her uh, parts swole up & itched for days. Bad JUJU........

 

[Gdavid]

Looks great, I can imagine you are ready for a break from itching.

My fly bridge was re-cored years ago under a previous owner but they didn't do a great job resealing hardware. I already have a couple soft spots and will have to redo it all eventually.

 

[ABfish]

Impressive work. Thanks for posting.

 

[armando]

You can be proud!
it's excellent work

 

[POINTDOG]

Finish product looks great. Did you use a combination of plywood and nidacore to recore like boomerang did?

 

[Centropristis]

Thanks. We used scrimmed and scored foam core (airex?). Areas that were going to be through bolted we cored with coosa/penske board. In the middle of more recore work. This time it’s the cockpit. I will probably start a new thread for that soon. Lots of other winter projects too, rewiring lower helm area, v-berth refit, new hatch lens, remove and reseal all glass on front windshield. Busy, busy.

 

[ancora]

Was this due to failure by the manufacturer or was it due to the boats being shipped without hardware and left to the dealers to install?

 

[Centropristis]

While I am sure there were some flaws during the build process and some shortcomings with the materials chosen, keep in mind that this is a nearly 50 year old boat. I think years of previous owner mods and lack of maintenance also contributed to wet core issues.

 

[boomerang]

Bravo, my friend! The undertaking is a big one but not so big it can't be done DIY. You'll have the satisfaction of knowing it will give you many years of use and you'll know every inch of your boat. Plus you've saved a ton of $$. Now, when you tool up into a marina, you wont arrive in just any old boat; you'll arrive in something YOU rebuilt and can genuinely be proud of and brag about. There's so much to love about those classic 34's. There's one in need of some TLC here in the marina where we're docked for the winter and sometimes I find myself looking at it dreaming what I would do if I had it. I've always felt the 34's were like a piece of clay where the owner is the sculptor and can turn it into anything they want.

 

[jleonard]

Congrats on doing the dirty job!
What I would like to know is how much resin did you use?
I didn’t tear as much out when I did mine, but I used just short of 8 gallons.
Then we removed probably 2 of those when we re-ground the crown.

 

[Centropristis]

We used just over 15 gallons of vinylester resin. One layer of 3/4oz mat under the foam core. Then mat, 1708, mat, 1708, and mat for the top skin. Used more for odds and ends like peanut butter to bod core into the perimeter, fix small imperfections, and make our own fairing mix. I’m so glad it’s done. We are going to try and reuse the top skin for the cockpit recore. Hopefully it will cut down on the fairing.