Wellcraft Nova Spyder Destruction/Reconstruction

[26 Spyder]

I am completely rebuilding an '87 Wellcraft Nova Spyder.
I started a thread on OSO but I will bring the progress over here if you guys have interest.
There will be a lot of custom work done to this, including;
* Custom Carbon Fiber Dash, & Other Panels
* Custom Paint & Graphics
* Custom Windscreen
* Custom Engine Hatch
* Custom Blower Vents
* Shaved Rubrail
* Transom Replacement
* Bilge Liner Rebuild
* Cockpit Liner Removal & Installation
* Possible Conversion To Single Engine

This project is being done on a very tight budget so I will be getting very creative on a few things.
I am also new to some of this in-depth glass work and fabrication so it may get comical:biggrinjester:

This boat has not seen water for over 10 years!
The hull is in decent shape. There is the normal dock rash and damage for a 22 year old boat. The structure of the hull is worse than I thought.:(
There are many holes in the topside to be filled and a few stress cracks in the usual places.
Plans are for a shaved smooth finish with a silver base and possibly some blue based graphics.

Again, project details will be posted if you guys have interest.

[glassdave]

By all means post away, we love these kinda threads. You have my info if you need any guidance at all. By the way someone grabbed that hatch extra i had just before Christmas (hell'uva stuffer :D).

As always . . . post lots'a pics.

[26 Spyder]

By the way someone grabbed that hatch extra i had just before Christmas (hell'uva stuffer :D).

Bummer on the hatch:( I was playing with mine yesterday and was thinking it was unusually heavy... I cut it apart and found a waterlogged foam core... Not much left to work with now. Looks like a hatch from scratch now...


By all means post away, we love these kinda threads. You have my info if you need any guidance at all.
As always . . . post lots'a pics.

Cool, when I get a few I will get everyone caught up to where I am now.
Carbon fiber supplies are on the way!
Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction the other day.
The only thing I can't find right now is balsa or foam coring materials.
Any chance the blue styrofoam available at Lowe's would work?
I got some for mockup parts and was going to experiment with it.

[glassdave]

no, the blue foam will not work the poly resin blows right through it. You can get foam and balsa at fiberglast.com. Where did you carbon fiber from?

[26 Spyder]

no, the blue foam will not work the poly resin blows right through it. You can get foam and balsa at fiberglast.com. Where did you carbon fiber from?

Thanks.
The carbon fiber and clear epoxy came from Polymerproducts store on ebay.
Their store is worth checking out, they have tons of information and how too videos in their auctions. Lots of cool stuff!

[old377guy]

I loved the fact that my old Nova was twins - hope its works out that you can keep 'em. May I assume Alpha drives? Good luck. - Jeff

[26 Spyder]

I loved the fact that my old Nova was twins - hope its works out that you can keep 'em. May I assume Alpha drives? Good luck. - Jeff
It did have Alphas and if I stay twins I will go back that way. Looking for a counter rotating drive now... I also have a complete TRS setup sitting here I have considered using.
Still weighing the options and it also depends on what parts I have here when it is going back together.

While I am here I will start posting a few pics. This is how the boat was when I picked it up a few months ago.

[26 Spyder]

Here are a few during the first clean up.

[26 Spyder]

These are after cleaning and ready to make another mess!

[26 Spyder]

This is where I discovered the rotten transom and rotten & cracked bilge liner.
:(
To get the transom out the bilge liner has to come out, to get the bilge liner out the cockpit liner has to come out.. Unless you do a lot of hacking...:ack2:
After some study I discovered to get the cockpit liner out the entire deck had to come off..:boxing_smiley:
But wait.... I was able to make 1 small cut that will be hidden on the cockpit liner and I was able to get it out in 2 pieces without removing the deck!
Fun Fun!

[26 Spyder]

Cockpit liner is out & working on removing bilge liner...

[26 Spyder]

Bilge liner is out and discovered a rotten stringer...
Also between the cabin disassembly and under the liners I found several rodent nests, hope they were gone before the boat came into the shop...:(

[26 Spyder]

A few cabin shots during teardown.. Suprisingly I have all of the factory cabin interior pieces. Very dirty but at least I have patterns to work with.

[26 Spyder]

Finished tearing out cabin.

I have heard many people talking about using Rustoleum in the bilge etc. so I thought I would do some testing here.
It brightened up the cabin, sealed any exposed wood and will leave a good surface for the new carpet etc...
Once fully dried I will do some chemical testing to check its durability with oil & cleaners etc. I will also use it in the storage comaprtmemts under the seats/liners etc.
I was getting depressed about the project getting worse, at least now with the clean painted cabin I have the sense I am getting something positive done!

[26 Spyder]

This is today, I am using cheap foam to mock up the windscreen and playing with hatch ideas. Hatch plan is to be a lightweight raised style with a couple aero scoops. Not that the boat needs it but I like the look.

[26 Spyder]

Side project....
I wanted some custom bilge vents so I decided to make my own. I found a plastic replica of what I wanted so I made a few molds off of it.
This is my first attempt at mold making so don't laugh.:biggrinjester:
After coating the plastic part with PVA I laid a few layers of mat strips overhanging the part, then flipped it over and continued to glass it to the board. After the resin kicked I removed the plastic part. I did this 3 times so I can make 3 parts at a time (or in case I screwed one up).
Then some bondo style filler in the low spots and pin holes.
BTW, don't laugh at my materials selection.. I am using up what I had laying around.

[26 Spyder]

I then tinted some gel and shot a few coats on the part. This made the imperfections much easier to see! More filler and sanding and another few coats of gel. I am now waiting for my mold release wax to show up and I will be ready to start the actual part production.
The carbon fiber dash panel details will be coming in a few days as well. My materials should be here in a day or so!

Since we are caught up with the pictures there won't be so many posts at once... Unless I have a good day and get on a roll!

[old377guy]

way cool; even though it's a mess underneath the cockpit sole, doesn't it feel great to be able to get rid of so much crap and get this boat back to a condition where you know exactly what you have? Another thought, there's bound to be a lot of older (but still strong enough) Volvo drives that are counter-rotating. They should be able to be had for cheap. I used to race against a number of older offshore boats (Magnums and Scarabs) that were running small blocks with Volvos and they were fairly reliable. Keep us posted, I for one just love to see the progress of this project - great job so far. -Jeff

[26 Spyder]

If I ran across something else for a drive I am always open to different things. I have even considered #2s or even a surface drive or 2. But then again, I already have enough parts for the pair of Alphas. Still would like a counter though, but that can come later.
If using the Alphas I have a pair of roller 350s I can easily make 450hp out of. Not too worried about breaking an Alpha since I can build them fairly cheap. Just watching my right hand should keep them alive.
My thought is I can make 900hp cheaper with a pair of SBCs than a single BBC. And more reliable as well.

[old377guy]

If I ran across something else for a drive I am always open to different things. I have even considered #2s or even a surface drive or 2. But then again, I already have enough parts for the pair of Alphas. Still would like a counter though, but that can come later.
If using the Alphas I have a pair of roller 350s I can easily make 450hp out of. Not too worried about breaking an Alpha since I can build them fairly cheap. Just watching my right hand should keep them alive.
My thought is I can make 900hp cheaper with a pair of SBCs than a single BBC. And more reliable as well.

Amen. You might want to check with some folks on the board here but there were some counter- rotating Alpha legs back in the day. They might have just been outboard race division lowers with no reverse, but someone here knows for sure. - Jeff

[inbetween]

Nice project. Keep us posted on progress. We like lots of pics too. Those old Novas are WAY cool.

[26 Spyder]

Amen. You might want to check with some folks on the board here but there were some counter- rotating Alpha legs back in the day. They might have just been outboard race division lowers with no reverse, but someone here knows for sure. - Jeff

I know there are counter rotating Alphas available, I have been watching ebay for them as well. Almost scored a couple but somebody wanted them more than me! I could build one out of a std drive but cheaper to find a used one.
Essentially, it is just different lower internals. The clutch dog and gears where the clutch engages.
Last week I almost bought a pair of Alpha SS drives. They went higher than I wanted to pay. I still should have bought them....:(

[26 Spyder]

Back to the NACA ducts today and some dash panels...

My wax came in for the molds, After waxing the molds a few times and spraying PVA release on them I let them dry overnight. Today I brushed some white gel then laid glass on the molds. After a few hours I was ready to pop the parts off. Once I figured out the trick they came off easily! Air gun helped!
The parts are not perfect but they are what I need to get them grafted onto the hull. The next set should turn out better!

[26 Spyder]

Here is a preview of where they will be going, you should get the idea...
They will be cut down more and glassed in for the smooth look.

[26 Spyder]

My materials finally came in for the carbon fiber dash also!!!
Starting with the gauge panel I wanted to do a test run in case I messed up. Turns out I did ok but I still learned a few things for the next panels.

To keep the cost down I used a 3k plain weave material for the face and black fiberglass cloth to build the thickness. Since it is mainly cosmetic and only has to hold the gauges the strength is fine, it is still overkill for its purpose!
I am using a clear epoxy resin intended for carbon fiber & cosmetic applications but the strength is also superior to other resins.

Layout is done on a piece of glass (mirror) to keep it perfectly flat.
I used wax paper for the release between the part and glass.

[26 Spyder]

First I spread epoxy on the wax paper to the size of the material. Then carefully laid the carbon sheet out making sure it stayed squared up. I let the epoxy soak through, I then laid the black fiberglass mat on the stack and gently rolled out until saturated, applied more epoxy and 2 more layers of mat. I made sure to roll and squeege from the center out to remove excess resin.
Finally another sheet of wax paper and another glass plate.

[26 Spyder]

24 hours later I remove the plates and wax paper. Not too bad for the first try. There were some air bubbles on the carbon fiber side, by looking at my previous pictures I discovered why.
The wax paper made the epoxy fisheye before I got the material down. I have already done another panel and I spread the epoxy a little thicker and did not have the problem.

[phragle]

when we lay up flat carbon like that to make runner stiffeners, start with your flat surface, cover with wax, wax paper etc... lay down your cloth, then resin and squeegee the excess resin off, lay down wax paper another flat piece of whatever and put a lot of weight on it to form compression as it sets up.

[26 Spyder]

Not done yet! After a little trimming into shape we were ready for the next step, making it look pretty!
Step 2 is to lightly sand the panel face (& edges), then lay it out perfectly level. Then you mix another batch of epoxy and pour it on top, let it flow out, touch up a few bubbles and let it sit for another 24 hours.

[26 Spyder]

when we lay up flat carbon like that to make runner stiffeners, start with your flat surface, cover with wax, wax paper etc... lay down your cloth, then resin and squeegee the excess resin off, lay down wax paper another flat piece of whatever and put a lot of weight on it to form compression as it sets up.

Essentially that is what I did with the glass plate on top & bottom.

Here is a pic of the panel with wet epoxy during flow out, I have to wait 23 hours now.....
More pics tomorrow!

[Steve 1]

Carbon Panels I used to make them on a glass plate so I cold see the bottom side and Check alignment and wetout,also RainX is a good release for Glass tables.

[Davidmnc]

Essentially that is what I did with the glass plate on top & bottom.

Here is a pic of the panel with wet epoxy during flow out, I have to wait 23 hours now.....
More pics tomorrow!

Thank you for sharring..........WoW.........I may be learning things!!!!!!!! :huh: It looks great! :sifone:

[26 Spyder]

RainX is a good release for Glass tables.

I will have to give that a try...

[26 Spyder]

Here is a sneak peek of my gauges... Before Livorsi works their magic!
Like I said before, this is a budget project... I scored a set of Gaffrig/Livorsi gauges on ebay, some were in decent shape and some had clouded lenses.
Livorsi will be installing new lenses and rims to my set and make the look like new for a fraction of new cost! I also could have chosen to change the rim color but I stayed white since I already have a white speedo and 2 new tacs.
I will add color with bezels.
I will post pics when they return from Livorsi.

So, any of you with aged looking Gaffrig or Livorsi gauges can get them refurbished without having to buy all new.

[26 Spyder]

Gauge panel ready for gauges. The clear epoxy coating added depth to the carbon fiber. It is also UV protected and will not yellow or crack. I will try several different layouts before I cut the holes.
Now for the switch panels and ignition panel...

I will also be ordering some "silver carbon fiber" which is just aluminized material and some cool colored carbon fiber/kevlar material.

If you are interested in having your dash replaced send me a PM.
I would be more than happy to build a few more.


It looks much better in person. My camera did not get a good pic...

[phragle]

here's the CR alpha, 3 year warrenty covered even if you hit something with it.

http://www.sterndrive.cc/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=147CompleteCR&Category_Code=MercruiserAlphaSterndrive

[old377guy]

that SEI seems to be the answer

[26 Spyder]

I have seen those and installed a few. Not a bad price either. I have a few other reman suppliers as well.
Still looking to save a buck though...

[26 Spyder]

Update on the dash & gauges..

Special thanks to Fred & Todd at Livorsi Marine for their assistance in rebuilding my gauges. They were very detailed and went the extra mile to make sure all of the gauges matched. I had one bad gauge in the lot and they built a new one making sure all of the Logos matched.
I highly recommend their products and services!

Pictured is the 12 year old rebuilt gauges fresh from Livorsi, and soon to be carbon fiber switch panel...
Now I will be working on layout and cutting holes!

[old377guy]

looks great spyder, keep those photos coming - jeff

[26 Spyder]

Finally got around to cutting the gauge holes.....
I covered the panel with a large piece of masking paper to protect it.
Then I could draw out different layouts until I found one I liked.
I screwed the panel to a piece of wood to hold it secure while drilling. The wood gives a solid surface to hold on to and helps guide the hole saws...

The remaining pieces from the cutouts will make neat fender washers!! May use them in the cabin or somethere...

[26 Spyder]

The gauges are mounted. I am sure I will be adjusting them a few times to make sure they are straight.
I set the panel in place to get an idea of the finished product.
There will be a few more gauges in the lower switch panel.

Now I need to update and powdercoat the drive/tab indicator to make it match. It is a new addition to the boat so the dash has been rearranged to make it fit. I also have Kiekhaefer controls to go in place of the old Quicksilver sticks.

[HiZ]

It did have Alphas and if I stay twins I will go back that way. Looking for a counter rotating drive now... I also have a complete TRS setup sitting here I have considered using.
Still weighing the options and it also depends on what parts I have here when it is going back together.

While I am here I will start posting a few pics. This is how the boat was when I picked it up a few months ago.



Not sure if you found a drive yet, however

Stearndrive Engineering has a great product that you could use.
Check them out, they are in FL I think.
I have used 2 of the drives on my last boat and was Very Pleased with the result of the product!!!

[HiZ]

Nice gauge panel, can you post up the new throttle/shift controls when you get a chance.
I have the Quicksilvers on my boat and was thinking of Zero Effort controls this year for sure.

[HiZ]

here's the CR alpha, 3 year warrenty covered even if you hit something with it.

http://www.sterndrive.cc/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=147CompleteCR&Category_Code=MercruiserAlphaSterndrive


This is exactly what I was thinking.
:26:

Great price, great product.

[old377guy]

looking great!!

[HiZ]

I hear there is a windshield for sale on eBay!!!

[SCARAB3DMC]

dude I'm sorry I haven't got back to you.. New job has me traveling alot.. did you sell the vents I wanted ?

[26 Spyder]

I hear there is a windshield for sale on eBay!!!

There is! Looks very similar to the one off of my project...:)


Yes, I still have the vents. Been saving them for you.

[SCARAB3DMC]

sweet how do you want me to pay?:sifone:

[old377guy]

any more recent pix spyder?

[26 Spyder]

any more recent pix spyder?

Not yet, Been busy doing boat shows and getting ready for spring.
I should have some soon.

[old377guy]

great, we look forward to it

[26 Spyder]

Sorry for the lack of progress, My season has picked up and I have been busy working on everybody else's boats..... I will be getting to it soon though! Still been collecting parts.... Might have to pick up a pair of SBC headers soon ;)

[old377guy]

keep us posted

[HiZ]

There is! Looks very similar to the one off of my project...:)


Yes, I still have the vents. Been saving them for you.



Vents! I will stop over tonight to pick them up

[26 Spyder]

Finally, a little progress!

Been working on the hatch and windscreen. I have decided to go with epoxy resin for the project, I like the extended work times and it works with the inexpensive foam core material I already have.

I laid up part of the hatch in the stock location to get the correct curve. I will be adding the side panels to make it raised and aero scoops soon.

The windscreen was rough cut out of foam and bonded to the hull with epoxy resin/paste. Once it is all attached and final shaped I will cover in cloth and tab to the hull.

I also have the supplies to tab the deck and hull so I can cap the boat. progress on that will follow soon (I hope).....

[old377guy]

great to see things moving along - looks super

[Buoy]

Just found this thread today.
Looks like you're doing a great Job!!
Nice choice in a boat also.

I've got my own resto of a 24 Pantera going on.
But I had the problem of no time last summer, and now I have the problem of having moved 1800 miles and no job, so I'm reluctant to spend any money at this time.

Keep posting the progress, we all love this sort of thing!

[Scarab KV]

Hey Derek. Project is com'n along great. I bought the tachs, sync and steering wheel from ya back in Dec

[SCARAB3DMC]

I still need them 2 vents...work looks good

[LaughingCat]

Keep the photos coming. My father has a Nove Spyder than needs lots of attention. Gonna forward this thread to him.

[waterboy222]

keep the pics coming! how did your fairing come out??

[old377guy]

yeah, we need pix

[26 Spyder]

Still working on it when I can... a few updated pics of the windscreen..

Getting ready to tab in the deck to hull as well.

One of you guys had some SBC headers for one of these, shoot me a PM if you still have them.


(lol, dont pay attention to the date on my new camera...)

[old377guy]

that fairing has exactly the right profile

[26 Spyder]

that fairing has exactly the right profile

That was the plan.. I'll try to get some distance shots, it looks better from a distance in the pics.. Hard to see all of the boat lines in the pics I posted..

[HiZ]

Hey, wanted to bring a dead bird to life.
What's going on with this thing!
How did the rustoleum turn out

[Ratickle]

HAven't chatted with him in awhile. Any of you guys on LOTO familiar with the boat?

[HiZ]

HAven't chatted with him in awhile. Any of you guys on LOTO familiar with the boat?'

Right, winter is over!
Anyone see this pig on the water

[Ratickle]

Chatted with him. He ended up doing a couple other projects and didn't get this done.

[HiZ]

Darn it

[Ratickle]

His two other projects are pretty sweet though.

[HiZ]

WHERE?

Search light out........