SRowells Fletcher Arrowsport 155 GTO

[Eeyore]

Sorry guys I know that the forum is already cluttered with golfs but this should prove do be something a bit different...

Ive got a few catamarans which I sail across the country so Im used to all this being on the water malarky! RYA dinghy instructor so Ive got my PB2!

The boat itself is what is a Fletcher ArrowSport 155 limited edition and has the grey striped livery.



First a bit of history. The boat was found pretty much abandoned locally after its owner had been moved to Australia. And as you can see from the pictures it was in a pretty bad state.




The boat was then redone and a picture of the rebuild...



A 70Hp Evinrude was then purchased however not long after there was an accident where the previous owner came out sailing with us one night. Planning to take friends out after sailing he left it to them to launch the boat. However they launched it with the bung in the top drain section instead of the bottom of the hull. Doh! Fortunately another speedboat tied onto the side of it to stop it from properly sinking. Electrics were damaged and the engine was partially submerged. Anyway after insurance claims and buying another boat a second boat was not needed and thus I am now the new owner.



Anyway after buying a shit sailing dinghy in the past I decided I should strip everything out and check everything! and yes those are 106 seats D: When I picked up the boat I asked 'So the struts and and floor definitely arent rotten?' 'No They arent'. So carpet out.... floor up and oh what?




Yep the previous owner had just put non marine ply down over the original floor which isnt in great condition and was absolutely soaked. Classic! They had also used rubber flooring instead of carpet which meant that the water was locked in and had been sitting there for months on end and would never dry out... Note that the struts are softwood and of the many screws I removed only 2 were stainless steel! D:

So here is the boat completely stripped out!




In the last few days the floor has dried out but bits are still damp and rotten. So here comes the question. Should I be cutting it all out (with a drill cutting disc?) and replacing the entire thing? Or just patching up the rotten areas?

And all of this is still the hull not to mention the half submerged engine! Dont know much about marine engines but new sparks and the air box will be being refitted tomorrow and my flush muffs arrived today. Ill start it up tomorrow and see how it runs just on idle. Hopefully internal corrosion will be minimal and the engine isnt ruined!

So far I have bought a new battery, 5Kg of Polyester Resin and hardner, fibreglass tape, gel coat filler. Still to buy is marine ply, marine battery box, battery quick release terminals, lots of carpet. Seats from the peugeot 306 im breaking will be going in until I can find something more suitable!

So thats it! In my eyes probably a very foolish buy however im enjoying the project so far and improving skills etc and I look forward to the rest of it (excluding the engine D!

[Matt]

Looks like a good project. If it was me I'd cut all the rot out and replace everything to be fair. Do the job once and all

[mark_airey]

Interesting project, as above, if its worth doing then its worth doing properly! needs clones and a 40mm drop though

[Foxy-jim]

Wow that's something different! Cut the lot out and do it again! Good luck!

[Eeyore]

I think I will cut out the majoirty of the centre section of the floor. like it goes pretty much the length of the boat but it seems to be ok at the front and the back is protected a bit more. Im not looking forward to seeing what its like under the floor though :/ Also the engine is the major problem here. I can do everything I want to the boat and the floor etc and make it all nice but if the engine doesnt work Ill have to lob it all on ebay! A old 70hp outboard is 2k+ and is simply money i dont have! Hopefully we can get this working. Even pistons and main bearings seem cheap! The boat place quoted a grand to fix the engine when the previous owner took it to them for the insurance company to see. But as it is quite specialist I am presuming that its at least £200 for them to be bothered to look at an engine, probably about £100 in parts and then a billion pounds an hour. If i put in my own time and buy the parts I need then it should be good to go Im meeting Toms306 in ipswich later to get marine ply for a new floor from B&Q and then to buy battery terminals from halfords. once we are back then we will attack the engine!

[Eeyore]

Right today I met up with Tom in Ipswich and we used his trade card to get some quick release battery terminals for the boat. We also bought some cheap brushes from B&Q for fibreglassing but unfortunately B&Q had everything but, perspex/acrylic, marine ply and cutting discs!

We got back after a good motorway blast, fitted the battery terminals and tried to star the engine. it turned over but wouldnt fire. We then did some car things which resulted in my engine bay being covered in power steering fluid because i completely removed the pipe and forgot to put it back on...

dad got back and brought some 2 stroke oil. battery on the boat had died because its just the old one from the 1.4. Battery out of the 1.8 and hooked up. More petrol in the tank, 2 stroke oil this time too andafter a bit of bulb squeezing it started first time!

Very loud and very smokey but it was still running on all cylinders! 1.3L 3 cylinder 2 stroke so pretty standard for it to be smokey and loud. Had a chat with Ned and apparently he sprayed the inside of the block with oil to stop corrosion over winter so that explains why it was so smokey!

Going to check dimensions and see what i can get out of each bit of wood and then ill be ordering the wood, leather, staples, carpet and all the other toys tomorrow. The £200 audio system might have to wait for a bit!

[Foxy-jim]

Good work mate! Glad the engine fired up!

[Eeyore]

Good work mate! Glad the engine fired up!

so am i! its such a relief! hopefully the smoke will die down as it burns out the oil in the cylinders and gets the 2 stroke oil into itself. We didnt have much (any) when we fired it when tom was over! :nope:

Anyway it runs and I cant afford to pay the £1200 the local place wanted to check it out and service it. Hopefully it will run better in the water and ill just have to make sure the first time out i go out with Ned in his speedboat to rescue me if needed!

[Jonny81191]

Good project, PM me if you need any advice, I've done a couple of yachts, one was in similar condition to what you've got there!

When you replace the floor, instead of using wooden struts, make some from big fiberglass sail battens and glass them into place. If you get it right, it'll never rot!

[Eeyore]

had the engine running a bit more today and its starting first time! Still sounds dodgey but its a massive ancient two stroke. Found the drill cutting disc so floor will be cut out tomorrow!

[nauest]

Guilty as charged I have to admit I did totally bodge the new interior, that said you have got shit lot of boat for what you paid!

Have you seen the price of marine grade ply!! That was outdoor heavy duty though, mistake was using rubber so it never dried...

Yuh I went to seamark deliberately and I knew their extortionate quotes would write off the boat!

Look forward to seeing another speedboat out on the water!

[Eeyore]

Guilty as charged I have to admit I did totally bodge the new interior, that said you have got shit lot of boat for what you paid!

Have you seen the price of marine grade ply!! That was outdoor heavy duty though, mistake was using rubber so it never dried...

Yuh I went to seamark deliberately and I knew their extortionate quotes would write off the boat!

Look forward to seeing another speedboat out on the water!

You bodger! Marine ply is like £50 delivered for 2440mm x 1440mm

[nauest]

Yuh, well expensive! : P (Well a lot to spend on a free boat!)

[Eeyore]

hmmm Im doing things properly this time! Apart from the 306 interior but... thats temporary...

[nauest]

What you going to replace it with?

[nauest]

Jonny looks like he could be some help, using fiber struts would be awesome if you can source them!

Nice car BTW Jonny!

[Eeyore]

Well it wont need floor struts when im done because im replacing the original floor not just wacking a second floor on top! Going to keep the ski locker and make 3 doors in it so you can put things in!

[nauest]

Originally it had sit on top lids, and you will always need a floor, it always had a second floor.

[Eeyore]

the carpet between the ski pole and the original floor suggests otherwise D: Like why would you put carpet between those two if there was another floor on top?

[nauest]

look at the original Fletcher brochure

[Eeyore]

Anyway today.... I got the disc cutter on the drill and set about cutting out the floor. Took a few hours but got the majority of it out. From the front cupboard forwards is absolutely fine so i didnt cut anything out from the dash forwards. The dash backwards on the otherhand...




Noticed the back was very damp so thought i better keep cutting and see what it was like... then came the shocking moment...



so thought i better keep cutting... wtf the entire space between the stringers at the back was full to the brim on both sides!



anyway a bit of sponging later and all the water was out to reveal some very clean fibreglass. Whats good is that the stringers are properly coated in fibreglass so are still rock solid and dont need replacing! The foam doesnt seem to have soaked up the water and should dry out in the next couple of days now that it exposed! So this is how i left it today as it was getting dark...



So yep. Basically im just going to strip out all of the transom and re do it. The transom itself is sound as it has been properly coated. So yeh im quite shocked at what i found but im also quite happy knowing ive got a bit more of a challenge and a chance to put more time and my mark on the boat!

Once its finished I hope that the previous owner (Ned / nauest) is really jealous

[nauest]

I would be if my new boat wasn't so nice

By the way the reason Srowel has is that it was what that car world would call a Cat C write off.

It sank.

[Eeyore]

I would be if my new boat wasn't so nice

By the way the reason Srowel has is that it was what that car world would call a Cat C write off.

It sank.

it half sank and it was a write off because you took it to the most expensive place possible so you could get a payout for a better boat lol.

So Ned why did my boat half sink? Going to fast around a corner? Massive hole caused by driving into a tanker? Or did somebody just forget to put the bung in?

[Poodle]

That is a bit of a "i came off at the nurburgring... because the wheel bolts weren't done up properly" kind of story.

Looks like a good project though fella, looks like you'd be best off replacing the whole lot behind the dash tbh. As jonny says, get some fibreglass battens and do it properly, last forever with minimum maintenance like that.

[Eeyore]

Yep im pretty much replacing everything behind the dash however I have to disagree with Ned and yourself here. There shouldnt be a need for battens. Like this is the original floor I have cut out....



that was a pic before i cut it out btw. I beleive that that is infact the original floor because it had the ski pole mounted to it and there was carpet between it and the ski pole thus the entire area must have been carpeted making it the floor!

Also by adding battens it blocks all access to the ski locker so why would fletcher build a ski locker and then make it completely unusable by putting in a second floor?



A second floor just seems silly as between the two floors it will just be a place for water and damp to sit! Correct me if im wrong but Im pretty sure there should only be one floor with doors to access the ski lockers?

[nauest]

Few things to clear up, I had leant the boat to a freind, for the first and last time!!

Also it sank completely Sam! We only got it back up as the tide was falling. People on the beach said only the nose was visible!

[Eeyore]

Few things to clear up, I had leant the boat to a freind, for the first and last time!!

Also it sank completely Sam! We only got it back up as the tide was falling. People on the beach said only the nose was visible!

exactly it half sank

[Eeyore]

Here we go! Doing it properly getting 2 sheets of 12mm and 6mm marine ply from Jewsons. 70 quid total and the staff came out of the shop to see it haha and then one of them offered to buy it off me!



and this is an old pic but as you can see its looking a lot drier than before! Im going to put the floor in and then drill holes and put expanding foam under the floor to fill some of the gaps. The back section is going to have some hatch covers so i can still get access without taking the floor up!

[ginge191]

Do you enjoy being surrounded by sea-men and salty fluids?? hifty:

Nice boat though, get it down to the island mate

[procta]

coming on there fella! been nearly 20 years since i was in a speed boat.