Project Flatty

If you’ve been around the site since forever you will recall my beloved 13 whaler “Flatty”. I’ve caught a million fish on her. When I was a pre-teen my family had one just like it. This isn’t the same, but I bought it from a guy in Daytona I think in 2010. A couple years ago I decided to do a full “resto-mod” to it. Basically, I’m making it into a flats boat layout with a simple design but front and back casting decks. I should also add, I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, but I like to figger things out so I’m having fun learning. If you have any ideas on doing something similar, look up Chris Morejohn on microskiff.com and read everything he has written, trust me. I also do most of my work looking at a computer screen so this is a good way to work with my hands. I’m enjoying it a lot, but it’s taking me forever! Instead of a full build thread, here are some progress pics to date.

Starting point


The only way to get rid of the gel coat crazing is to just remove it. All of it. This part of the project was not so fun…




I chose to add a few layers of glass to the outside, since grinding the gel coat ended up thinning the glass a bit. I felt better beefing it up a little bit. I’m using epoxy instead of poly resin.

Glass sanded. The awkward handles on the transom were going to be a PIA, so I just filled them in :slight_smile:

This is pretty up to date. I’m fairing the outer hull now.

Next steps will be to finish fairing the outside, then apply one or two coats of primer. I was gonna take the outside all the way to final Alexseal paint, but I changed my mind and will flip her and finish the inside first then will do the final paint all at once.

It’s not a good time of year for working on the boat but I’m chipping away a few hours a weekend. It will be so cool and rewarding when its done. I can’t wait. It keeps me motivated to keep going. I might die before I finish it :slight_smile:

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This was one of the most memorable fish caught on Flatty back in the day.

Super cool project.
Definitely can’t be nothing nice about doing that in 100° heat.

Subscribed.

Exciting project thread!

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Is it going to be tiller, side console?

That’s cool Dave. The best thing is, you are doing it for fun so no pressure to be in a hurry. I redid the inside of a fiberglass jon boat several years ago, paint, Kiwigrip, built a small deck on the bow with storage. It now sits covered in my garage. May trade it to a contractor that wants it for some work.

Keep us posted.

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Tiller. Keep it simple.

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I probably should have put this in the Projects tab but I didn’t realize there is one!

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Will keep an eye on this. Love the rebuild topics.

Cracker Larry would love this as well.

NN

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Funny Glenn, I thought the same thing when I read this post. That dude knew boat building.

Are you going to keep it like the original config plus platforms?

No, Ricky. I’m going to have some fun with the inside. Consider the inside a blank slate :slightly_smiling_face:

It will be somewhat inspired by what High & Dry Boatworks is doing on the old Navy base (see below). I visited them and they were super helpful to me, a random walk-in with tons of questions.

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That’s slick. I dig the poling platform.

No this deserves its own thread.
Super cool

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I started itching just reading this thread… haha

Really cool build, I think you’ll fall in love with it again all over once it’s done, too! Thanks for the progress pics, looking forward to seeing it on the river before too long as well. Good stuff

Yeah Dave, good stuff indeed, and worrh th of its own thread too IMO.

My son has been big in offshore since age 12 or so, now 52, he wants to come inshore, so I am going to send him to see you and Ralph at your store toward the fall.

Best of luck, and be careful, please we need you around for many more years of advice, and fun stories, like we used to have Chris V. at Charleston Marine.

Thanks guys. I gotta say, I’m glad that CF.com has been brought back from ICU. This new forum software is really easy to use and it sure is nice hearing from the old guard. I started CF.com in 2006 and I know a lot of y’all have been here a lot longer. I forgot to add the real up to date pics (Below) which are progress on knocking off the high spots on the fairing. It’s already looking pretty good IMO. I’m not gonna really get into the long board until I’m mostly there with power tools on slow rpms. What looks like streaks on the transom are just where I ran the shop vac, its actually very smooth.


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Good luck @Optiker! To do it right you have take your time so I hope you get plenty of time to work on it. I hope to be able to do a Glasstron dual console with a 1980 115 Merc. I grew up fishing out of one with a good neighbor.

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Update time. With the cooler weather I’m making a lot of progress.

Very satisfying to finally get some primer on. I was very pleasantly surprised with how good it looked. I was concerned it would look like crap :slight_smile:


Next, I drilled hardware holes oversize and filled with thickened epoxy, then drilled out again. This keeps water from getting into the foam and also provides some resistance to crushing when tightening the hardware. For now, the holes will remain until the inside work is done. Note that I did not use the classic whaler hardware as it sucks IMO! This is a resto-mod anyway…


Added guide coat and have it 90% sanded. Got my paint from Hanckel now and after a bit more sanding next step will be 2 coats paint, final sand, then final paint.

Will update on the paint progress soon. I’m looking forward to seeing her all shiny :slight_smile:

Then will be time to flip her over and start on the inside. That is going to be fun, I’m looking forward to it.

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Good tip on back feeling the hole…
No better feeling than riding around in something that you completely redone yourself.