My Post 42 (Kinda Long...Sorry)

The salon floor is plywood faced in a teak and holly veneer. It looks nice enough but it's not the "real deal" (solid teak T&G with holly strips.) If I were doing it today I would probably look hard at laminate flooring options. It would be more durable and there are a lot of choices. I would think laminate would be easier to work with than templating out of 4'X8' sheets. I've seen some really beautiful laminate floors in some of the boats I've worked on.

IR

Thanks Aviator. A bit of both - fishing in the gulf and sunset cruises around town. Also used to watch fireworks on the 4th and the Christmas Boat Parade in December. But mostly "boating time" is working on the endless to-do list......

scooperfl, I did start before the sport fish market tanked but I also bought it right at the time (could have bought her even cheaper later) and paid half what the PO was asking. The boat was in running order - I closed on her and brought from the east coast to the west coast of FL without any incident. That's the the fork in the road right there - and it sounds like you are at a similar junction.

Mine has been a cash proposition and I'm a working man so I do everything myself that I possibly can and pay as I go. That is why it has taken me so long to get where I am. If I had paid someone to do all the work I have done I would be so hoplessly upside down in the boat it would be unthinkable. I'm in the marine trades business so I buy everything at wholesale which has helped. But I stopped keeping track of expenses a few years back.....

After I started down the path with this project I read an article written by surveyor David Pascoe where he stated that 35 feet was the practical limit for an owner to undertake a boat renovation project on their own and he may be right. There have been times when I have thought I would have been smarter to have purchased a bare hull and deck and started from there! Nevertheless, 42 feet is a big boat to renovate by yourself in your spare time.

If your Dad's old 42 is in good running order you may want to just maintain that and enjoy it. Would I do it again? Short answer: No. I'm afraid at the end of the project (whenever that may be) I will still own a 1976 Post 42 and it will be valued accordingly. There's not much left that dates from 1976 except the hull, deck and engine blocks but the Blue Book, ABIOS Book, etc. doesn't really care. I have learned a lot and I do love the old girl. She gets admiring looks on the water and the occasional thumbs up. She can be wet. She can be squirrely in a quartering sea. But she's sturdy and stout and built to last.

IR

Upon reflection I should point out that although I wouldn't do it again I am glad I did it once. This is one of those major chapters of a person's life that contributes to defining their life and who they are. My father had a 32 foot bluewater sailboat in the backyard of his midwestern home for five years while he did a major renovation prior to his retirement. So I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree afterall. Or perhaps an acorn is a better analogy 'cause you gotta be nuts to do this.......

Boats are not "practical" things so we probably should not even use that word around them....

There is a wood toe rail around the bow that has been sealed and painted. The covering boards are teak as well and were pretty worn when I got her so they have been filled, faired and painted as well. New teak covering boards would look awesome but are not in my budget.

The headliner is a beaded pine panel sold at Home Depot! Comes in 4' X 8' sheets and is about 1/4" thick. The galley and staterooms have a vinyl headliner. I had to tear out the headliner in the salon area and decided to try this approach. I still need to trim out the seams - plan has been to have some mahogany milled into long battens and screw in with brass screws. It's on "The List"......

IR

Thanks w-b, and welcome to the forum. Glad you like what you see but believe me when I tell you there are plenty of things that don't look so great. I choose not to post pictures of those.......

scooperfl, I had fiberglass batting placed between vertical battens and all covered with what I'm pretty sure was nylon screen material. I removed it all but kept the vertical battens. I used Soundown insulation - 1" foam, lead layer, 1" foam, 2" thick total. This was cut and placed in between the battens. The visible surface is Soundown perforated aluminum sheet with a black backing fabric. The seams were trimmed using a white plastic batten material I found in Home Depot (good 'ol Home Depot) and screwed in place using SS #8 screws and trim washers. This "system" was used on hull sides, forward bulkhead and overhead surfaces in the engine room. Keep in mind I had completely gutted the engine room at this point so I had nothing in the way - no wiring, no plumbing, no batteries, no A/C equipment, etc. This would be considerably more difficult to do with all the usual stuff in there.

My exhaust is still the straight wet exhaust with no waterlift muffler. I love the sound of 2-stroke Detroits in the morning!

IR

It was rather difficult in all honesty. I had removed the ladder to the flybridge so it was not in the way and I had to remove the glass from the window opening. The aft bulkhead was plywood and was delaminating and had moisture throughout. I cut and chisled away layers of wood until I was back to dry material. If the bulkhead was 1" thick I probably was down to less than 1/4" of wood by the time I finished removing the bad material. But I did not completely remove the bulkhead as that would have exposed the cabinet inside and I didn't want to disturb the door frame, etc. I bought several sheets (4'X8') of 4MM marine plywood (okume) and started building out the bulkhead using WEST system epoxy and the plywood until I was back to the original thickness. This was very time consuming - I would screw a layer of wood in place and remove the screws after the epoxy set up, fill the screw holes, sand it down and do another layer. I was at it for many weeks as I recall. When I had built it out to the original thickness I put a layer of 6 oz. cloth over the top and then filled and faired until satisfied. I had a new piece of laminated glass made, set it in place (bedded in a commercial glazing sealant) and painted it out to match the rest.

I am happy with the result even if a very critical eye can see slight imperfections in the finish. I know structurally is is very strong and very watertight. The damage to the original traces back to Post's construction methods. There were bronze fasteners screwed vertically through the flybridge deck and into the top of the bulkhead. When water migrated into the flybridge deck core (the repair of which was a much more involved project) it found it's way into the bulkhead through the fasteners. Water allowed to enter the endgrain of plywood will produce delamination as we all know.

IR

I did not take any pictures of that project. At the time I didn't think there would be any interest in it and I was just trying to get the work done. Looking back I wish I had taken a lot more photos of all the various things I've done but I guess I was always too focused on the work at hand to stop and get out the camera, etc.

brock71, I don't know if it's a certainty but you need to look very carefully for soft spots in the flybridge deck and the aft bulkhead. My boat is a 1976 but unless Post construction methods changed considerably by 1978 I would expect to see the same cleat stock used to secure the shroud and helm to the deck. That attachment method as well as screwing in railings, etc. invite water into the balsa core. My aft bulkhead is plywood and there were bronze screws from the flybridge deck into the end grain of the bulkhead and those gave water a path into the plywood.

As for stringers the good news is Post was ahead of the game back in the day - no wood. My stringers are all fiberglass box beams. The engine beds are wood block ups lagged into the stringers but the stringers themselves are all glass. This was one of the things I liked about the old Post. Rotted wood stringers are often the death blow to an old boat. The cost to replace them far exceeds the value of the hull.

Look carefully at the shelves that support the rudder bearing blocks and the steering cylinder. The drainage system on the cockpit lockers are poorly designed and water can easily find it's way onto the shelves, which are typically wood. Mine were pretty badly damaged from water intrusion and were replaced.

Don't be overly put off - all old boats have issues (new boats have issues for that matter.) Just keep a balanced perspective and decide for yourself what you can fix yourself, what you can just live with and what you will have to pay someone to do for you. These are great old boats with nice lines and worth the effort (up to a point!)

Good luck!

IR