Previously known as SS Minnow

[Rick Jester]

Here is what she looked like in the advertisement on Craigslist.



Here is what she looks like now




Seems like it is crazy hot or raining everyday

[Rick Jester]

The first thing I did was to take the engines out and 1 of the outdrives the other was missing.



No Image of the engines. They were 120's. I then cut the keyhole larger to accept the newer style outdrive.


After cutting the keyholes larger I had a lot of water coming out of the cut It was then I noticed this.


It appears a thin piece of wood put into the layup and mostly rotted away.

[Rick Jester]

I peeled the inner skin off and the plywood looked to be in excellent condition.

I tried to dry the plywood with heat lamps


But was unsuccessful. Video link
https://photos.app.goo.gl/F1nxqv7phYHr3WjB7

[PeterPalmieri]

So far so good

[Rick Jester]

Could not find any pictures for this part

I replaced the transom plywood with Coosa Bluewater, 1708 and West System epoxy

I then went on to replace the gunnels and front deck with Coosa and epoxy. I cut off the top layer of fiberglass removed the balsa core and epoxied down Coosa. I then epoxied the old top layer back down and then a layer of 1708 on top.



Forgot to put plastic under the cinderblock here


I then faired the deck and primed it. Waiting for it to cool down and stop raining to finish painting

[Rick Jester]

I need to order a new fuel tank. But I have a problem. Not really a problem, but confusion. My current tank states it is 32 US Gallons. That appears to be rather small for this size boat. I spoke with someone and they said the Bertram 25 tank was around 80 gallons and Bertram wouldn't make a special size that small. I took measurements and I can put a 125-gallon tank in its place. The 125-gallon tank is about the same size as the 32-gallon tank. Do fiberglass tanks have large baffles in them?

[Tony Meola]

Rick

They have baffles but they would not be that big to shrink it down to 32 gallons. Bertram in the early days did make a add on tank that could be ordered and added later. An old friend of ours who had a 67 31, added a 50 gallon tank that was designed and sold by Bertram to fit between the engines.

I wonder if this was a second tank to increase range. Maybe the larger one went bad and they ripped it out and left this one in place.

[Rawleigh]

For some reason I cannot get the pictures to open on my computer.

[Craig Mac]

cant open the pics as well

[Rick Jester]

I am still learning. I have google photos and I am using the BBcode link. Can everyone see this picture? Was anyone able to see the other photos? I can see them, but maybe it has something to do with permissions.

[Tommy]

Yes, this last picture of your 25 Express on blocks in your driveway looks great. I could not see any of the other pics. Thanks for sharing.

[neil]

We replaced our fuel tank with one gallons be sure to put fills on both sides

[Tony Meola]

Rick

I can see the last one, not the others.

[ktm_2000]

I've had the best luck posting links to my google photos

in google, click sharing icon on the top area on the photo, it creates a link for anyone to access then come into this site and share as an insert url