I've been talking about showing my 13 ft Gheenoe some love for a while. Now I have a second boat so I'm taking the 'noe out of commission to spruce it up. I was hoping to start this project back in February but I ended up putting it on hold to do a woodwork project for the wife.

The hull was built in '98. I bought it in March of '15 from a guy who brought it to TX from Florida. It think he bought it used from someone in Florida. I hauled it to Florida and back on a trip last summer so it's definitely covered some ground.

The boat's been fished hard and was the ideal starter boat to get out into the marsh at a reasonable price. The motor I have is a simple tiller 2 stroke 8 hp and there aren't really any maintenance items on the hull so it's been very easy to use and maintain.

Shortly after I got the boat, I added a grab bar so I could run standing up and installed a small gps so I didn't get lost in the marsh. The only real maintenance I did was a little bit of glass work to patch some holes in the benches from where there were rotating seat posts earlier, and patch a soft spot in the bow where I found an oyster bed at full throttle.

The plan for the build:

• Cut out both benches and storage box
• Add a false floor down the center of the boat
• Add a front deck with space for a 3 gallon gas tank, install a couple rod tubes on each side and pour expanding foam in the rest of the space.
• Re-install the grab bar in the center of the boat and come up with a battery storage box. I want to make the electrical neat and tidy this time unlike the hodgepodge I did on the first go.
• Install a rear deck with a big hatch for life jackets and safety gear. Leave a cutout that will make a bilge i can put my pump in and pour flotation foam in the rest.
• Paint the inside of the hull. I'm probably going to go with Rustoleum topside sand color. I used rustoleum topside on the seat patches to get an idea of how it would hold up and it's been solid.
• Fair the outside of the hull and patch the dings and oyster scrapes. I'll probably end up putting down a new layer of glass along the center of the boat because it's pretty scraped up.
• Paint the outside or take it somewhere to get sprayed. Thinking about a bright seafoam color.
• Install a manual jack plate to help me run a little shallower. I've been keeping an eye out for a deal on a 2 stroke 9.9 but the 8 that I have has been a solid little motor so I'm not in any rush to upgrade.

Here's some builds of other 13' Gheenoes that i'm using for inspiration to give y'all a feel for what I'm trying to accomplish.






I got it stripped down this weekend. Next step is to start removing the benches and getting everything sanded down.













I have epoxy resin, 6 oz glass, and fumed silica to make filler. I've used a nose/mouth respirator in the past and then safety glasses for my eyes, but I'm thinking about going to a full face respirator because my glasses always fog up. I'll probably get a couple of tyvek suits also to try and keep the itch down some.

Still undecided on wood vs composite. Probably going to go with 3/8" marine grade plywood, but I may change my mind last minute and get a composite like coosa.

I'm also going to do a couple corings in the transom to see if it needs to be re-done. If I hang a heavier motor off a jack plate the transom will probably need some reinforcement.

I'm sure that once I get into the meat of the fiberglass work, I'm going to have some questions. I know a couple of y'all on here have build and/or restored boats, so if you have any suggestions I'd be happy to hear them.

Edit - hope the build goes smoother than my attempt to get images posted right

It's been a while since I updated this thing. I'm making slow progress because of a mix of fishing and trouble getting a free-time window to line up with good fiberglassing weather.

False floor (sole) is in. I pre-glassed both sides of 1/4" marine ply with 6 oz glass. It deflects some once it gets a little longer than a 2 ft span, but is plenty stiff for spanning the 12" center drain in the floor.

The floor is bedded down to the hull with fumed silica thickened epoxy resin. Once everything cured, it was very noticeable when lifting the hull that the floor helped stiffen up the longitudinal rigidity. After a rough attempt at sanding the fumed silica thickened epoxy, I'm waiting on some fairing filler (much easier to sand). Once that's in, I'll get the false floor seams with the hull flush and then add one last layer of glass over the whole bottom of the inside of the hull.



Next up is front bulkheads and a front casting deck. I'm sticking with 1/4" marine ply with 6 oz fiberglass cloth on both sides to try and keep weight down. This means my deck spans will be a little flimsy, so I'm going to glass in a pultruded fiberglass c-channel under the center of the deck to stiffen things up. The fiberglass c-channel should limit my deck deflections without adding as much weight as a thicker plywood panel would.

One of the traditional methods for reducing deflections on thin / light laminations is to camber them so you get increased compression resistance like an eggshell. If the fiberglass channels don't work like they think they will, I'll probably end up going the cambered route.

After the front deck is in and helps stiffen up the hull beamwise, I'm going to move on to the rear deck and transom. I'm hoping to be able to keep the outermost fiberglass layer on the transom so I don't have to fight any hull warp while I re-build the stern. From what I've read on other gheenoe restorations, it's about 50/50 whether you can get the existing wood out of the transom and salvage the outer layer of glass.

I'm still not 100% set on new transom material. I'll probably end up going with a couple layers of 1/2" ply but I am tempted to go composite on the transom since I plan to have a few through hull bolts and hardware pieces.

Finally feel like I'm making headway. Front bulkheads are filetted and tabbed in. Front deck lacks paint in the interior of the hatches, flotation foam, pvc rod tubes, and bonding the top of the deck.

Made a small hatch in the front half of the deck and an open compartment for a fuel tank in the back half.









Cutting the bulkheads to the hull contour was a pain and I didn't do that great of a job. Should have gotten a contouring tool.

Used zip locks with a corner cutout to install thickened resin for the fillets cake batter style. Much better than trying to apply with a spreader.

Finally got the trolling motor installed on the panga. It ended up taking longer than I planned because my initial plan of bolting it to the gunnel did not work out. I had to build a cap for the bow to mount it and ended up redoing my cleat and nav light. The bow cap bulkhead has an onboard charging plug, and a battery tender trolling motor plug so the TM can be quickly removed.



Also had to build a tray in the bow storage hatch to keep the batteries secure. The batteries are AGM batteries which should handle the bouncing in the bow a little better than regular lead acid deep cycles.


Some before/after photos.
Her birth in Mexico:


Maiden Voyage:


Today:



After some fishing time, I'll finally get back to work on the gheenoe.