Bringing a Grady back to life... comments? suggestions?

[IpswichGrady]

The seller responded to my $200 offer with "the helm is worth $200 and there is $300 aluminum scrap there". The local scrap yard is giving people 40 cents a pound. That tower would have to weigh 750 pounds! I agree with you... not worth the hassle. And my wife would not be happy with another yard ornament.... She's not thrilled with what I got already! (and that pic doesn't include the 1984 VW Vanagon project or the 9' Avon hard bottom elsewhere in the yard!). For once I'll heed the advice.

 

[DennisG01]

To be honest, regardless of whatever scrap is going for, that $500 is a pretty darn fair price. He might have had his reasoning wrong, but it is a very good price. BUT... in response to the main sentiment in your response... yeah, sometimes "you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em"

 

[Fishtales]

It's a little late, but I would have cut the inside of the transom and worked inside out. Just my preference.

 

[IpswichGrady]

It's a little late, but I would have cut the inside of the transom and worked inside out. Just my preference.

That’s what I am doing..... left the hull alone and cut out the inner skin.

Here are a few pics showing my progress. With the weather too cold to glass here in the Boston area I am putting off the transom until spring. Moving now to the electrical work.

Cut the stern deck to gain access

Everything behind was a mess.

Threw it all away... really nothing worth saving

You can see from the color that it was very wet

Here are a couple of youtube videos I took
Example of the pieces I removed and how wet the wood was -----> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXKhtiwsbXk&t=1s
Transom completed as far as I am going until spring -----> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=socteRQbn-w

 

[ROBOSNAIL]

Hate to revive an older thread, but any progress on this?

Looking at more Grady projects.

 

[UCPA111]

I purchased a paneltronics DC electric panel for my restoration. I don't want to run a million wires back to the batteries/switches. So, I ran power forward to my cabin and mounted my paneltronics in it. I ordered from Go2 Marine: SKU 100309 DC 18 position. Model 3204.

I ordered a new switch panel for the dash from NewWire Marine. They did a fantastic job...sized exactly as you want. I mounted my new dash switch panel in place of the old gages. I am replacing my gages with a Mercury Vesselview.

I am pulling all new wiring. I ordered by the foot online. Pacer Group I think.

I used Coosa board for my transom with 1708 biaxial fabric with Chopped Strand on the other side. I used West System 105 epoxy system. It was nice to work with.

Good luck!

 

[ROBOSNAIL]

I used Coosa board for my transom with 1708 biaxial fabric with Chopped Strand on the other side. I used West System 105 epoxy system. It was nice to work with.

Been following your build on YouTube. Looking forward to more vids!

 

[Fishtales]

Your into it now. Don't slow down or give up. Once you address the transom, it should move fast. From an earlier pic, it looked like you removed the transom skin. Glad to see you did it inside out and didn't remove it.

 

[IpswichGrady]

I have been moving along very slowly... but have not stopped ! Unfortunately between the weather and a bad hip I've been dealing with for a few years it has just been slower than I would like.

Here is what I have done...

• purchased the boat (duh)
• removed the old Seadrive (junked it for scrap)
• soft transom so I cut the cap off and the rear inner deck to gain access
• removed the aluminum fuel tank
• removed the old rotten transom wood
• made a new transom and epoxied it in.
• cut back the wet stringers
• fiber glassed in new stringers. couple more to still do
• purchased a Yamaha ox66 225hp with gauges and controls... 560 hours ($2,400)
• new wiring... new battery switches, fuse boxes, everything.
• found an old Grady bracket that I need to go get.

Will need to

• mount the bracket
• put the inner deck back in
• finish up wiring
• install fuel tank
• replace a few odds and ends

I'm still having fun! Doing everything myself so it's slow.

 

[UCPA111]

Thanks for the update. Labor of love for sure!!!

 

[SkunkBoat]

What's with Photobucket?? I guess I need to subscribe to a truly free photo sharing program!

Free photo hosting on www.imgur.com. They make it easy to resize and post by copy /paste BBCode.

 

[dbiscayne]

When you attached your stringers back to the new transom, did you add any additional 'knee' supports? This is definitely recommended since you'll have a bracket putting extra stresses on the transom.