50 Year Old Boat Restoration - Solar + Electric Conversion Ep.1

Visit: www.dealdash.com/RCTEST and use Promo Code RCTEST for $10 of free bid!
Restoring this 1972 Boston Whaler Super Sport 13' to eventually convert to electric and use for long range solar powered camping missions and stuff like that.
Big thanks to Renogy for sponsoring the solar panels and charge controller: www.renogy.com #renogy
Thanks to Duck Battery for providing a 12S8P LION pack: www.duckbatter...
Thanks to Aolithium for the 12V100AH LIfePO4 batteries: aolithium.com/...
Thanks to Snapmaker for the Laser cutter/ CNC/ 3D printer: snapmaker.com/...
Join my discord server to talk about building stuff: / discord
Support rctestflight: / danielriley

[@morkovija]

nothing more relaxing than watching somebody else doing all the hard work x)

[@Renzsu]

A whole summer's worth of work done in under an hour, if only real life could be like that :)

[@lukkkie]

lol yes, even more so when you know the kind of work and definitely glad you're not the one doing it

[@dong8822]

@@Renzsu lllll

[@TheFPVmechanic]

Lol until you want to build one yourself

[@moretrash4you]

Probably gives you anxiety watching at 1.5x

[@firefighterfarmer]

Being an old man, I love seeing younger smarter people using their brains and hands to make so many awesome projects. I have been following and watching for quite some time and really love the engineering and technical aspects of this channel. Not to mention I absolutely chuckle with the quirkiness of all of your comments and what seems like a great group of guys living their best life. Can't wait to see the second and further episodes. Great work and keep it up!!!

[@henrymontero4470]

Dude as someone who works on boats regularly. Your fiberglass work was fantastic on this whaler, very few guys go as far as you did to remove all the old gel coat and repairs. Here's some tips encase you plan on doing anything similar again: to make it easier to laminate large pieces of 1708 biaxial matt you want to place the matt (chops strand side up) on a table wrapped in saran wrap or plastic sheeting to avoid destroying the table. Then pre-impregnate the matt with epoxy or poly and wet it out until transparent, removing any excess epoxy. Transfer the wetted out matt onto the repair area and lay it on and roll it out using a regular paint nap roller you can buy at home depot. Make sure the hardware you put on the rub rails was actually stainless steel, Anything else and your going to regret it. and for sealant, you should def go heavy on sealant, Best ones being 3m 5200 brands. Fantastic job with the skiff!

[@SeanHodgins]

You have a lot of patience. Day 2 I would have gone out to buy an aluminum jon boat, but I'm guessing the "unsinkable-ness" was a driving factor for this repair.

[@sharonbraselton4302]

buy ektrc seadoo 36 mw 19 mioe rabge 48 kw 23 molevrage jet drive

[@HolyOllie]

1 hour of pure goodness?? is it christmas already?

[@P8FPV]

😁🤙

[@alexfpv9891]

I would like to like your comment multiple times, couldn't agree more

[@Singlephase]

After recently doing half-assed repairs on my kids little sailboat, I can appreciate the effort & time you have put into the hull of that boat. Great job :)

[@sharonbraselton4302]

sell it get mone upgrade j88 solar ekrrc 7.5 kw batery 22.5 moklevrabfe

[@christopherleveck6835]

Yeah I got the perfect motor for your boat. I have several of them actually you're more than welcome to one. They're 48 volt 20 horsepower can be run on 96 volt for 40 horsepower made by Advanced DC. They are dual shaft and actually are perfect for mounting in an outboard motor. Removing the gas engine and keeping the lower Drive Unit diesel bolt right in. Jamie from Mythbusters used one to power a jet drive. There's another guy on KZbin that use the same Motors for a ski boat that he can actually ski behind. Anyway they're brand new. If you want to mess with one let me know.

[@Horus2Osiris]

Excellent!

[@BeThatStudent331]

NICE

[@JH-tc3yu]

Skip the outboard lower unit, lose tons of power and energy to the bevel gears turning in oil + extra maintenance. Just get a stuffing box or dripless carbon seal and straight shaft it

[@Alfiepowers]

Do all seven motors run on one boat

[@christopherleveck6835]

@@JH-tc3yu if it were my boat that's what I would do. But with these particular Motors they are dual shaft and the one end of the shaft is the same as used by most outboard motors for driving the accessories. Makes for a nice conversion but I agree with what you're saying. I just didn't think he was going to want to go through the effort it would take to drill through the hull and make that work. There's a video on KZbin of Jamie from Mythbusters using my motor the exact same thing on a 40 horsepower jet drive and it's pretty amazing. And there's another guy that did the exact same thing on a 20 horsepower lower Drive and he pulls water skiers with it. He's also on youtube.

[@philips0904]

I also have a 1972 Boston Whaler 13! Mine was converted to the sourpuss layout by the previous owner. My gelcoat is just as bad but the hull is in relatively good condition. I started sanding and scraping on it a year ago but I'm now thinking about sand or soda blasting it. I've just been using it like it is for now. It's still a fun little boat!

[@szpl]

I'm not an expert but i was thinking given the complicated geometry... would not be easier to just pay for sandblasting it at a shop ?

[@duckbatterysystems2493]

Excellent job on the restoration, the before and after is wild! Really excited to see how our battery performs on the finished boat!

[@isaiahhiggins]

agreed, and thanks for supporting this legend

[@duckbatterysystems2493]

@@isaiahhiggins We are happy to! Really excited to see what he gets up to with all that power 😈

[@GeirGunnarss]

Thank you so much for showing support in action and not just encouragement.

[@ryang656]

I can’t believe how much work you did on this. Many people dream of doing this but no many actually do it. I’m extremely impressed. Nice work!

[@willcookmakeup]

Awww this brings back great memories. I had an old BW when I was in middle and high school I would take across the harbor to my friends house. Was faster than driving. I miss living right on the water. This was cool to see it electrified

[@lone6597]

I've never enjoyed a long youtube video with a B story before. this was damn well executed. absolute banger

[@Burbsi]

Your patience and commitment to this project had me in such awe, i could not stop watching. Also the storytelling showing the struggles made it feel more real than many other projects i've seen on YT. Oh boy! and this isn't even supposed to be the "fun" part with teaching all the fancy electronics to swim!

[@CharlieFrky]

It's so amazing seeing someone restore a boat on KZbin THE PROPER way, thank you for not cutting corners :) made my day watching this

[@trentsmith8497]

This is one of the best KZbin videos I’ve seen in forever. I’m a southern electrical engineer. And I can tell you guys are way over my head. But cooking a pig and just being real is refreshing

[@hamishburnettbrowne9811]

great work! the only thing i didn't like was how you used silicone for sealing bolt and screw holes. I live on a 42-foot electric sailboat and I have found that it's usually worth taking the extra time to over drilling the holes and then fill them with epoxy then drill the needed hole size through the epoxy. in other words drill fill drill. seeing as you just put in so much hard dusty work and time on the fibreglass and gel coat it would be sad to lose the seal with that silicon and end up with a soggy foam core.

[@sharonbraselton4302]

buy 425 soolar ektrc sail boart

[@Leprechaun2702]

your place looks like such a fun place, its just filled with people who make cool stuff

[@tyler558806]

omg this video was simply amazing. I was glued the entire video start to finish. When you said it probably would've been worth it to just buy a more expensive boat, I could see that. However, just looking at that boat and knowing that you did all the restoration is something money just can't buy. Considering what it looked like when you got it, the finished boat looks simply perfect! Phenomenal job and awesome video!

[@tkskagen]

Best built boat EVER! Especially if used for Fishing/Cruising in the Puget Sound around the "Narrows Bridge". My brother's and I had a 17 footer, but due to lack of use (children) we chose to sell it... As I reside 5 minutes to a Boat Launch in Manchester, I really wish I had one again for fishing and leisure!

[@mjodr]

After also having bought a boat with a bunch of fiberglass work needed this video was a good reminder of stuff I don't like doing.

[@meadowsz5390]

The vibes are ridiculous and immaculate. You did a great job!

[@JamesHarton]

Having restored my own boat once - I don't envy you Daniel!

[@iplop]

I love how you followed the structure of found footage horror films like Cloverfield for this video. 😂 Horror story line (boat); interspersed with fun time clips (hog roast) Edit: I've always troweled on/skimmed gel coat I kidd, great job on the boat. I've worked on several similar boat restoration projects. Never again.

[@FowlerAskew]

For anyone interested in epoxy filler and fairing compound for building stuff, the Tech Ingredients channel has a video comparing properties of epoxy with a lot of different fillers including the glass microballoons, but also with stuff like basalt fibers, silicon carbide, graphite aluminum powder, and titanium coated diamonds

[@DatBlueHusky]

the photos at the beginning where it was cut and still floating, i remember back early 2000's seeing those pics and it bought memories back

[@chrisbennett9391]

Love your videos, but really disappointed to see an add for Deal Dash. Auction sites like that are nothing but a scam.

[@leibmenter2331]

I love how you used the storyline of a one-day hog experience and worked it into a months-long boat build. Messes with the timing in a really cool way.

[@balazsszamaranszky8499]

As a Slovakian, I appreciate you mentioned our tractors. :)

[@OGchickentnt]

Damn its like you do all the random little things I think of doing but don’t have the time/resources! 100% my favorite subscription

[@MbanziSD]

Love the random interjections: "then some lady with a dog distracted us", "check out my tree of clamps", etc

[@StevenIngram]

It's amazing to consider what this boat has become and how far its traveled since you got it. :)

[@jamiedubs8582]

I love your ideas and plans, and then you do so crazy stuff..

[@Franksey180]

Awesome commitment and result. Watched this video start to finish, nice job Daniel.

[@TaberBucknell]

That was an impressive example of fibreglass repair! Gelcoat is a little intimidating to work with ... but you just forged ahead with it. Congratulations on the successful, and great looking, restoration.

[@DjBass2Bass]

Dang, if you're doing something, you're doing it right. Felt like watching Walther White reparing his crawlspace, but with more pig smoking experience in between the scenes. Loved the whole thing ! Also learned a lot regarding buying my own boat next year... thanks for this awesome video!

[@DingleFlop]

Ahhh yes, the legendary "Subaru without-back" Glad it could make an appearance in this video!

[@sharonbraselton4302]

buy ektrc subru car

[@Starborn3000]

i love videos like these! you need to upscale it, the possibilities are endless! great build!!!

[@MarkTizzy]

You’re going to have those same clamps when your 75. Nice collection!!

[@Jonathan.D]

There is a tool called a gelcoat peeler or paint shaver. It's a lot like a rotary planer for wood. You can remove everything in one pass. It's a major time saver. Also, you needed to use a moister meter to check the moister level before reapplying the gelcoat. The moisture will cause the gelcoat to bubble and eventually peel off. You did a great job getting those small areas prepped as well. Amazing job as always!

[@Nevir202]

LOL at the counterweights on the pig spit, instead of just spitting it through the center!

[@Kevin_Aus]

I sanded and repainted a bicycle frame and didn't really think that it was worth the effort. This is madness !! Insane amount of work. As usual though the time, parts, materials, etc.. end up costing 5x more than if you just bought a better thing in the first place.

[@ericensley2427]

Deal dash... really.... that is a scam site... so disappointed you are plugging them :(.

[@jafizzle95]

Immensely satisfying. Love these long videos from you.

[@Fierofreak01]

Nothing short of impressive! I admire your perseverance in getting it done!

[@kevchef]

Absolutely awesome video, I should of gone to bed half n hour ago, but i stayed up to see the completion on the restoration. I knew nothing about fiberglassing before this. I reckon i could build a surfboard now!

[@OwenBuckingham11]

The cut backs to the pig are hilarious 😂

[@HalfMonty11]

aww man, I think my lengthy comment got auto flagged because I used a certain word to describe deal dash. It's not a good company, just by reading the copy they paid you for, they are using your credibility and reputation to spread lies. They make money off each bid so saying something "sold for $33" really means it cost for $1980 + $33 once you count up the cost of all the bids. I would maybe be careful about who you let be a sponsor as your reputation and credibility is what is at stake.

[@BVLVI]

I own 4 boats. 37ft Trimaran 16ft speed boat 13ft jetboat 10ft Rib So You did well. I even learned some stuff about gel coating. My family and I lived on our Tri during the pandemic and the 1 thing I found to be extremely important was.... SOLAR!! put it everywhere you can!! It's really amazing! I would recommend making a solar bimini.

[@sethbergman3320]

I’m unsubscribing knowing that you support DealDash

[@docink6175]

I screamed when he threw that head away!!!! That was a helluva lotta work but it came out SMOKIN!!! I'm looking forward to the autonomous voyage

[@lowsafetystandards7245]

Amazing as always! You should try those STRIP disks instead of the flap or flat/sander disks, I bought one after seeing the cool kids using it and it does not dissappoint (on any material)

[@DrWaddles]

Great video - loved the boatwork and the pig roast was fun to see!

[@14Mew]

The RCTF Electro-Whale! This is an awesome Project, and I'm excited to see the next parts of this.

[@michaelamos2336]

Best boat in my opinion once sitting in the front yard and to sitting at the shop I've keep all that wood that's on that boat that's all wrecked up and water logged all the brass fittings and keep all that

[@sUASNews]

Oh wonderful, this is going to be a great trip with songs!

[@dronefootage2778]

17:28 so funny to see the metal debris going right onto the pig.

[@vincei4252]

Boat looks great. Kudos for all the hard work on the boat even though I wasn't the one doing the work I kinda lost the will to live several times. The pig looked kinda dodgy. Says the guy with a whole goat in a freezer ....

[@SaltyMcBoatFace]

I've restored allot of boats over the years, going past the gelcoat is always nerve racking but it's the only way to get rid of the bad bits most of the time, if i had a dollar for every hour I've spent sanding i could afford to pay someone else to do it 🤣 , seriously though nice job man you clearly did your research, can't wait to see it finished

[@Doge5600]

Your friend has taste. He made a smoker from a 55 gallon oil drum and owns a squarebody. just a good ol' boy.

[@bambusgamer]

I love the sound of your cam zooming

[@Studio23Media]

I love how you include things like the pig subplot or Collin's lift technique. 🤣 The only thing missing was a song!

[@newt2010]

I just bought an old fishing boat about the same size that you’re working on and I am going to be fixing it and looks like I’m gonna be running into the same issues that you did. So thank you so much for the video and it gives me a little insight on what I will have to be doing. I will start in the spring. I will be using the surface finisher from Harbor freight that I mentioned in an earlier comment. Hopefully it works well and doesn’t cause more problems than I already have.

[@TheJPomp]

I just watched an hour long boat restoration video. Officially old.

[@ThePimp4dawin]

Great content! The primary storyline alongside the hog party subplot.. A lot of work went into this and it shows! Great stuff.

[@garetkonigsfeld2]

I think I just Puked in my mouth when the car washing dance thing happened. But the boat and pig are comming along nicely.

[@1958indyfan]

Those cheap bargain boats sound like such a good deal, right up until the time you start working on them.

[@OceanicGyogō]

Awesome build 👏 You should have used a belt sander when sanding the corners would have been easier

[@Nyquil98]

I have a canoe I bought for $60, it's in similarly horrible shape. This video was super helpful, I wasn't really sure where to start and was kind of afraid to waste money on supplies I might not need. Now seeing how bad this boat was, I think I might have a chance at making a decent canoe out of it yet. Might also try roasting a pig in an oil drum now...

[@HowToSpacic]

Once this thing is done we need to see Daniel do another long distance cruise again

[@ryanpauloneeyed9669]

Beautiful restoration. Great video 👍

[@WeAreTeamChaos]

You did a fantastic job at redoing that haul.

[@MontisTube]

That is the enormous amount of work done! Well done!

[@theafro]

Y'know that ain't just a boat, if you squint a bit and use a little imagination, it's an aircraft carrier! Autonomous deck-landing trials coming 2023!

[@mikedoingmikethings702]

For a really smart guy, you guys really failed on that pig hahaha ow well, you fed a bunch of people and no complaints right? hahaha That's a lot of work, great job man!

[@FilosophicalPharmer]

You’re doing a hull of a great job! 👍🏼

[@snjert8406]

This guy can make a 50 minute video restoring a boat hull and keep my ADHD ass entertained all the way through. I love your videos.

[@nutzach1457]

Have you considered making a canopy using the solar panels instead of hanging the panels off the side?

[@grahammales]

That's what I was going to suggest. Something like a bimini top. It would allow the boat to keep a narrow beam and would provide some shade from the sun.

[@Heshhion]

I really hope this vid pays for the restoration.. It was awesome to watch :)

[@velthraytor6179]

In my line of work we use a high build marine epoxy primer, once cured we machine down to about 600p. And for paint we use a aliphatic assisted linear 2k polyurethane, it flattens out really well and has very high resistance to chemicals and abrasion. Ideal for boats and aircraft It's a bit more tedious compared to gel coat, but I do find it's a better option, especially if your looking for a low orange peel Finnish.

[@i1uvpreppyxo887]

Nice video... a couple of suggestions. 1) Where you had trouble getting the glass cloth to conform to the radius, you might have made fillets from thickened epoxy along those corners 2) this project would have been a good candidate for vinylester... about midway between polyester resin and epoxy in terms of price.. but much more waterproof than polyester. Would have halved your resin cost I think 3) the fairing compound you used under the new fibreglass... better to use the more structurally strong epoxy thickened with cabosil (and milled fibres if you want) for strength. Fairing compound is really for the final surface. 4) peel ply is very inexpensive and would have given your fibreglass repairs a perfect surface without sanding for secondary bonding while at the same time stopping amine blush. 5) gel coat wasn't the best choice for final coat... a 2-pack paint (or flow coat) would have ben better and cured better 6) finally some of the repairs you dammed up would have been better done by building up small layers of glass. Despite all that a good and very patient job.

[@DMarko22]

That piglet had a rough time over there 😄

[@Zackfed96]

1 hour from rctestflight?? This is awesome!

[@bigboatben]

Great video! And a natural progression in your boat addiction!

[@Cameron_Mind]

You know what sounds like a cool rctestflight video? Permanently airborne drones: Similar to the can a Rc car go 100,000 scale models, it would it cool to get 2-3 drones, set up a wireless charging pad, and then have them doing a flight path 24/7 split between the three. Kinda like a personalized drone convoy, which honestly would be sick to see somewhere like a fancy apple store or Tesla store. Could be used for permanent advertising(v cool!

[@taisto2188]

When drilling holes in the hull for screws / bolts, best practice is to over-drill the hole, use a dremel to remove additional couple millimeters of foam (to give a hard shell to bond to), fill the hole with thickened epoxy, let it cure, then re-drill the hole at the correct diameter, and place a donut of Butyl putty around the opening so that putting the bolt in compresses the butyl and pushes it into the hole. Just drilling a hole and putting a little silicone around the hole as you did will surely begin to let water into the foam and begin failing within a few years. Especially for things like the bow-eye which will be under higher pulling loads from various directions, the silicone will flex and fail pretty quickly. You did sooooo much work, it's worth re-doing your fasterners to make sure it doesn't fail again for a long time.

[@pavolslab7831]

31:54 Slovakian tractor 😂😂 I'm from Slovakia & hearing that made me laugh 😂

[@PsychoKiller250]

The pig sub-plot was great

[@donochetti2177]

This was really good and the hog b plot ingenious! Lookin foward to next episode!!

[@HAMlLTON]

Pro tip: If the cloth strips are cut on the bias it is much easier to for around curves. This mean they are cut 45 degrees from the perpendicular mesh weave.

[@pohukai3216]

nice job. I've been looking to do something like this but i'm struggling for a work place to do it. I don't really want to sell the camper i built to make room for it, so I'll probably just need to live vicariously through this project. I'm looking forward to seeing how you 3d printed the brushless motors. Maybe I can adopt that to my kayak? hmmm

[@thewatersavior]

Feels like a good episode to take a break to build a sandblaster ;-)

[@BenPortmanlewes]

That was a lot of work! Think I'd have roasted the pig in it! Looking forward to the next episode.

[@nomanslad2785]

Man that amount of work!

[@belekjenkins2308]

And once again a video of your has kept me up way to late. Very enjoyable, thanks for sharing, I'm excited to see where this project goes.

[@yoshinoyajones8924]

As an old surfer and later board maker just a sug for the next time wet the project first then lay the cloth down epoxy holds it in place and it wets way easier and more adhesian to the substrate anyhoo dig the vids and ideas. Oh yah, my Phill friend said stick to take out and leave those pore piggies to the proffesionals. Hahahaha

[@stephenweston2973]

Was going to say about wetting it out... Then lay glass.. And finish wetting

[@spik330]

next time try to get a "Total Boat" sponsorship, that would cut down on your epoxy cost. Also you can use epoxy paint and you can get some pretty thick cotes on. Epoxy paint also has the added benefit that you don't need to sand the glass smooth because you will be adding a mill or 2 of epoxy.

[@dennishudson9723]

We have one of those Boston whalers on our search and rescue team that we have had forever and the damn thing is unsinkable lol I am talking about using it in water where you’re scraping across the tops of signs and sometimes light poles, etc.. I love that boat even though it’s starting to look like it shouldn’t float anymore lol. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve had to ram that thing hard against something to be able to get a stranded person in it. We have had that the boat completely flooded and it’s still floats.

[@dennishudson9723]

Also, I’m just starting to watch the video so I don’t know if you ran across this yet, but they sit real low in the water when you have any kind of weight in them which is nice for getting somebody over the side but bad when you’re in swift water

[@dennishudson9723]

And I just got to the part where you talk about them being unsinkable lol. Guess I should wait longer.

[@rmdcade1717]

This had an A and B plot like a prime-time procedural show. We're in a new era

[@tomdrohan3706]

Dude, your Whaler came out great! I love your quality and meticulous work Daniel. Tom

[@PoPo-li2cf]

I love the pig updates😂