1987 Guardian 17 Rebuild

Repair or modification of Boston Whaler boats, their engines, trailers, and gear
chicagodiver
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon May 08, 2017 11:27 pm

1987 Guardian 17 Rebuild

Postby chicagodiver » Mon May 08, 2017 11:54 pm

I [have] never posted here and just joined the site five minutes ago. However, I have been reading and gathering information from all the forums here. So thank you to all that post and let others like me learn so much about these boats.

I acquired a beat up government used Guardian 17. It was water-logged, stored with water on deck with exposed screw holes. Banged into too many docks, it was cracked at many places. This boat was super heavy and powered by a tired Mercury 60 FOURSTROKE.

The 60-HP was just enough to get her on plane with myself, dive gear, tools , and 12-gallons of fuel (total 520-lbs) using a 13-pitch propeller that [allowed the engine to accelerate to] 6,000-RPM [and move the boat at] 22-MPH per GPS.

Over the winter I planned to get rid of the water logged foam, repower, and repair cracks and holes.

I started with cutting the floor board with a circular saw.
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chicagodiver
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon May 08, 2017 11:27 pm

Re: 1987 17ft Guardian rebuild

Postby chicagodiver » Tue May 09, 2017 12:17 am

As you can see from the [images above] the foam looked like apples. In the beginning I chiseled away and took small chunks out. I tried saw jaw sections out. I have [read] people on the forum say soggy foam delaminates. Indeed, they were right. You can see the green hull, and most foam--once near the hull--came off easily.

Water was everywhere but the foam was not completely saturated. Some looked like apples and another area very light and dry. I later changed techniques because I read on the forum someone was using a wire wheel. I tried that but also about a 2-inch drill attachment used to bore a hole, not a circular ring hole cutter but with a blade in the middle to bore a hole. This worked the best for me.

I did finish the project and launched the boat today with a brand new 90-HP. I will try to post more pics next time. Project was time consuming and very tiring, but today's sea trial made it worth all the effort.

jimh
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Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
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Re: 1987 Guardian 17 Rebuild

Postby jimh » Tue May 09, 2017 8:56 am

Did you keep a record of the total weight of the watery foam that you removed from the interior of the hull?

chicagodiver
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon May 08, 2017 11:27 pm

Re: 1987 Guardian 17 Rebuild

Postby chicagodiver » Tue May 09, 2017 11:15 am

Not a perfect record because the facility threw out two bags full of wet foam before i was able to weight them. In all I filled nine trash bags. Some bags were lighter than others. I estimate 300-lbs at the low end. I understand thats about 36-gallons of water. I drilled a dozen holes at first and saw a couple gallons come out right away--the foam doesn't release water very easily. Once I confirmed water was inside, that is when i decided to cut it open. Will post more pics.

jimh
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Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
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Re: 1987 Guardian 17 Rebuild

Postby jimh » Tue May 09, 2017 1:24 pm

Thanks for the estimate of 300-lbs (or more) as the weight of wet foam that was removed from your GUARDIAN 17 boat.

According to the 2004 Commercial and Government Products division catalogue, the hull weight of a GUARDIAN 17 was 1,100-lbs. If the hull was holding over 300-lbs of water, then the increase in hull weight would have been 300/1100 x 100 = 27.2-percent. Considering the GUARDIAN 17 was already a bit on the heavy side compared to a 17 STANDARD recreational hull at 850-lbs (according to a 1999 catalogue), then your GUARDIAN 17 with at least 1,400-lbs hull weight must have been about 550-lbs heavier than a similar recreational boat. That's a lot of extra weight to carry around in a 17-foot boat with only a 60-HP engine.

quickenberger
Posts: 90
Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2017 8:48 pm

Re: 1987 Guardian 17 Rebuild

Postby quickenberger » Tue May 09, 2017 5:11 pm

Very neat. I am interested in seeing the pictures. Cudos for taking on a big project and finishing it. My 19ft Sentry was bought from a government auction and had been banged up a bit. When decommissioned they drilled a hole completely through the fuel tank and through the fiberglass cavity. Probably best since I decided to replace with new and found a lot of corrosion.
Love to see some pics.

chicagodiver
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon May 08, 2017 11:27 pm

Re: 1987 Guardian 17 Rebuild

Postby chicagodiver » Tue May 09, 2017 10:02 pm

Jimh, thats good info, i didnt realize rec 17 were that much lighter than commercial version. I did find pics of those repairs done on the lower edges of the boat, where owner posted pics of the foam inside. Similar gashes and damages were all over this boat but due to its thicker fiberglass, no foam was visible. Anyways i better shrink some pics and post them.

chicagodiver
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon May 08, 2017 11:27 pm

Re: 1987 Guardian 17 Rebuild

Postby chicagodiver » Tue May 09, 2017 10:32 pm

This was the hardest part, used an 18in extension bit for a drill and on top of that attached a circular bit. It ripped up the foam into small chunks then the hole i was working on is quickly filled with these chunks. Which then had to be vacuumed out.

quickenberger, have you done an similar rebuild on your 19 sentry? If stories are just similar, I can just skip the narrative and post only pics! way easier!

anyways, this boat had no stringers but there was a 3/4 square wooden beams running from side to side. Had a tunnel midship. This tunnel houses all the cables and wires from CC to stern. Tube was aluminum covered in thin layer of fiberglass. and only in certain areas did the tube connect to the V section of the hull.

So I dug from bow to stern only in the middle V section. Bow was very wet as bow ring hole was way bigger than the hardware and each wave was probably pushing water into the hull. About 2ft of it were totally soaked foam then it eased up. Another very wet spot of the area in front of CC, there were 6 large hole for a lag screw that held a metal tool box. Since I need the deck space for diving gear I god rid of the metal tool box. Under the screw holes were lots of saturated foam. Foam also felt like it peeled off the fiberglass and in other areas the foam were still tightly held on. The deepest part of the cavity is just around 9 inches so spaces are tight!
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chicagodiver
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon May 08, 2017 11:27 pm

Re: 1987 Guardian 17 Rebuild

Postby chicagodiver » Tue May 09, 2017 10:42 pm

Once I had bored all the way on either side, I left a fan on one end for weeks! plywood were totally soaked so I wanted that to dry... I also think the plywood can hold alot of water. Tow bar mounting holes were also all filled.

By this time all other works were also happening. I did one thing at a time and spent many hrs. all new wiring, switches, fuse box, bilge etc etc etc. One 30 year old part that is probably original is still in this picture. It later on bites me hard during my initial sea trial.....
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quickenberger
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Re: 1987 Guardian 17 Rebuild

Postby quickenberger » Wed May 10, 2017 11:22 am

Chicagediver; Directly below the hole drilled in the fuel tank and aft of that was the only places I found wet foam. I did pull the wet wood out of the transom so that allowed access to dig a tunnel and inspect for water.
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This photo shows refilling the inspection hole with 4 lb density urethane foam when it is starting to expand.
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The deck lid was wet and would not dry out so I ground the fiberglass off of the underside, made lengthwise cuts and let sit for about a month in the shop where I work.
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quickenberger
Posts: 90
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Re: 1987 Guardian 17 Rebuild

Postby quickenberger » Wed May 10, 2017 11:26 am

This shows the vacuum bag compressing the glass, as well as holding the deck flat against the concrete.
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Finished product:
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chicagodiver
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon May 08, 2017 11:27 pm

Re: 1987 Guardian 17 Rebuild

Postby chicagodiver » Wed May 10, 2017 11:52 am

Wow thats a hell of a rebuild too! great feature to be able to pull the deck off in one piece like that. Many years ago i used to work on marine rescue unit where our fleet of boats were 22 guardians. That boat had a deck screwed down too. This 17 guardian.... is like 2 halves glued together and no screws holding the floor. So i dont know of a easier way to get at the foam... how were you able to fill the tunnel u dug out? And i wish i saw how you moulded the deck using the vacuum! I didnt employ such genius tactics...

I will post pics of how i foamed when i return home. I raised the stern via forklift and poured bow cavities, and raised bow to pour stern etc. Lots of moving the boat around.

quickenberger
Posts: 90
Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2017 8:48 pm

Re: 1987 Guardian 17 Rebuild

Postby quickenberger » Wed May 10, 2017 12:15 pm

What I will do is start a build thread so that I'm not hijacking this one.