TOPIC: Manta Ray progress

When I bought the boat a few months ago I expected to be runnin' laps by now. With the delays in our neighbors estate sale in MI we decided to start our move Brazil early. Getting things ready has really slowed progress on the boat. Now I'm just tring to get it ready to transport. We have been thinking of taking the Ray to Brazil now.

Anyway here are some pics of the top deck before and ruffed in. There are still parts tacked in place and floating on the top. I'm working on the hull ruff in. When the hull is ruffed in I'll test fit the top and tack the floating pieces in place. When the ruff-in phase is complete the next phase will be to prep, another round of pics, then the finish phase when all is painted. Materials used are expanded PVC and MAS epoxy with additives. I've never been good at taking pics as I go but I'm trying.

Bow View


Port bow forward brace


Port dash corner


Port dash corner 1


Aft cockpit


Port aft cockpit corner


Port aft cockpit corner & fin brace


Port aft deck backer brace


SRBD splashwell


STDB rear cockpit corner

Nice work!

Brazil South America?

What's the PVC pipe for? Structure?

Frank

i believe the piping is for the wires. nice idea. my wires are held up under the gunnels with gorilla tape.lol

Boy Ron, if it is, I don't want to be fishing stuff through those! I had a hard enough time with mine, and wished I had used larger diameter pipe!

Frank

Thanx for the complement Frank. The pipe on the bow and along the cockpit are for wire/cable chases. Ron's right it would be tough to get control cable thru the 1" pipe. Lucky me, the gas n go control will be mounted in the floor console.

Yep, Brazil S. America...town of Saco da Ribeira. There is a large fresh water res about 1 hour away. My wifes family has a beach house 15 min away. There are no there are sport fishing charters running. In Brazil you can count the number of saltwater fishing charters on one hand. The fishing is great but not world class. It's a short run north to the Rio de Janeiro tournaments. A little further north in Bahia, Jan & Fab the bite is on for world class marlin, swordfish, tuna etc.

Wow! Very slick, best of luck down there. Heck, I'd just like to visit!

Frank

katfin,fantastic work,its going to be a beauty.

Thanx all. The wood was pretty much gone. You can see in the pics the wood surface, corners and ends were not completely sealed with resin. Another thing I found was air spaces between the wood and fiberglass. Moisture from the wood or water that leaks in will gather in these voids starting the rot.

I've worked with expanded PVC sheet for about 15 years. It is so much nicer to work with vs plywood. It's also 30% lighter than marine plywood, more stable and stronger.

I had hoped to get the hull glued up last weekend, mother nature had other plans. Should get her glued up this weekend. Taking a break from packing, thought I'ld post some hull before pics.

After removing the top deck I was removing leaves from the bow. The port side bow storage deck had rotted and collapesed. Tossing the handfuls of leaves on the driveway one handful hit the ground with a loud pop...sounded like a light bulb. When I looked back in the hole saw this.

There were 5 eggs in different stages of rot, lots of broked shell mixed in the mud at the bottom...almost farm fresh 8^)

This held a 2x4 block for the bow eye.

Some dranage issues in the bow void.

Backer board for the cable steering

Control mount stbd

Transom

cat, looks like your manta had the notch cut in transom also. mine doesn't have the weep holes in the front crossmember. maybe i should drill a few. ron

I think the transom on mine is taller then the others I've seen. It measures 17 1/2" at centerline and 20" at the sponson(21" including pad). The notch you refer to was for a piece of lumber to fit that was molded into the top deck spaning the splashwell. 4 large wood screws connected the top to the transom, you can see 2 screws cut off in the notch. The other 2 screws went thru plastic inserts on the schoulders of the notch, and all wrapped with glass mat nailed in place (same as trim nails used on the trim) then resin & gel coated.

Another thing I've noticed on mine but not other Manta Rays. It has wedge shaped pads in the aft end of the stringers below the transom.


I'll be filling the void under the bow storage deck with foam and put an end to the distillary.

vuyosevich wrote:

cat, looks like your manta had the notch cut in transom also. mine doesn't have the weep holes in the front crossmember. maybe i should drill a few. ron

Ron, I think that would be a capital idea!

Frank

CAT*FIN*k wrote:

I think the transom on mine is taller then the others I've seen. It measures 17 1/2" at centerline and 20" at the sponson(21" including pad). The notch you refer to was for a piece of lumber to fit that was molded into the top deck spaning the splashwell. 4 large wood screws connected the top to the transom, you can see 2 screws cut off in the notch. The other 2 screws went thru plastic inserts on the schoulders of the notch, and all wrapped with glass mat nailed in place (same as trim nails used on the trim) then resin & gel coated.

Another thing I've noticed on mine but not other Manta Rays. It has wedge shaped pads in the aft end of the stringers below the transom.

I'll be filling the void under the bow storage deck with foam and put an end to the distillary.

It looks like those "pads" would have been added post production to keep the bow down.

Probably another "fix" that will rob you of some performance.

I would try it without them.

What are you planning to power with and what will be your intended use?

cc1000 wrote:

CAT*FIN*k wrote:

I think the transom on mine is taller then the others I've seen. It measures 17 1/2" at centerline and 20" at the sponson(21" including pad). The notch you refer to was for a piece of lumber to fit that was molded into the top deck spaning the splashwell. 4 large wood screws connected the top to the transom, you can see 2 screws cut off in the notch. The other 2 screws went thru plastic inserts on the schoulders of the notch, and all wrapped with glass mat nailed in place (same as trim nails used on the trim) then resin & gel coated.

Another thing I've noticed on mine but not other Manta Rays. It has wedge shaped pads in the aft end of the stringers below the transom.

I'll be filling the void under the bow storage deck with foam and put an end to the distillary.

It looks like those "pads" would have been added post production to keep the bow down.

Probably another "fix" that will rob you of some performance.

I would try it without them.

What are you planning to power with and what will be your intended use?

the piece of lumber over the transom was added post production. probably to get the motor up higher.my measurements are 15"center at the notch (in my transom..cut out post production)and 17 1/2 at the sponsons. i would love to know how raising it worked out and if it was raised after the wedge pads were added. would you have the previous owners name and phone # by chance. ron

No history on the boat other than it came from south Texas. It was a little tricky cutting the top off at the transom with out making a mess of it. I stripsearched all the pieces looking for a number that might have been covered. It really looked as if the modification was done when the top was installed. Also there where no holes from a motor mounted lower, there were 2 sets of motor mount holes above the crossbrace, 1 set (lower) looked unused. The lumber piece was in the same condition as the crossmember.

The pad in the pic was ground off the other had holes punched in it, both from the accident. I did a little digging after the pic and they seem to be inlayed into the stringers. The wood is old, soft and will be replaced with PVC.

It came rigged with most of a `61 Merc 700 short and port side rideguide steering. Holes were drilled on the stbd side for steering but looked never used, covered with plate. Plan to stick with the port helm and install the control in a center consol. For power have a `63 Merc 1000 long ready to go an a `62 700 long needs paint & decals. Also have an extra `63 1000 power head, would like to build a short racer to try. I'll do the transom height the same as it was. Also plan to redo the pads, easier to grind off than install later.

my motor bolt holes are about 1" below the crossmember. no holes above it. don't know why the transom was notched out. my guess is that it cavitated badly. ron

I was reading over the brochures for the Manta Ray...I'm thinkin' I gotsa `62 MRP15. The Blue Book lists 5 Manta Ray models with 20" transoms.

Mine has a 20" transom that looked to be done at the factory. On mine all the holes were drilled for stbd helm & control but had no sign of anything ever mounted. The port side is where helm & controls had been mounted for a very long time. I assumed the "P" in MRP & MSP was for port side helm like the runabout shown in `62 brochure.

With a 10% higher list price for the "P", seems there would be more involved than installing the helm port side. Mine also has a plate on the outside transom below the transom plate. It covers the upper part of the tunnel, would add downforce to the bow while the plate is in the water. On plane it would be out of the water and looks as it would direct water spray to the prop and pickup. On the bottom of the hull at transom there are wedge shaped pads that look to be installed when the boat was built. I was wondering if the "P" might have been for a performance package?

Progess has been slow workin' uner the coconut trees. Daily cloud bursts and tripple diget heat index at 7:00am. Things are movin' along tho. This morning I took the chance to pour the foam in the bow void. All went well 3 minutes after mixing the foam it was to be fully expanded, per label. There was a little foam peekin' out all around the edge. I was rather proud, took the gloves off, went inside an grabed a cold soda and a trash bag then went back outside. The deck, with 200 lbs of lead bars on top had lifted over 6"! I had bailed & measured the rain water out of the bow almost daily the pasted couple weeks and knew the volume.


I did get thing cleaned up and sealed the deck edges before the rain started this afternoon.


The transom is all ruffed in now.

Gittin' the gas tanks in place.

Love the tanks. Really cool.

Nice project! Those gas tanks are really cool, Mike

Sweet tanks, remind me of the old "Moon" style tanks we used to run on the dune buggys. Are those vented?

katfink,could you send a couple of pics as it is now,im on dial up ,it will take me forever to see them here,just send them in the email without an attachment,im haveing trouble downloading in a email,much thanks john.p.s. im very interested in this post.

Thanx guys. My knees, back and shoulders insisted on fixed tanks. I've always liked the Mooneyes tanks but the price is out of this world. Picked these up on ebay, new good quality, 5 gal. each, fit the space better, tank/cap/straps for the price of the Mooneyes straps only. The tanks DO NOT come vented, but I'll connect to vented caps mounted to the rear deck for filling from either side. Also may add a couple vents out the transom.

John, sent ya an email. I also have pics posted in an album on Nickle City with thumbnails. Thanx for lookin' www.nicklecityclassics.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=9489138