[mrobertson]

Any idea how you are laying out the console area, baitwells, seating, etc yet?

We are light tackle fisherman so i'm not 100% sure we will have a baitwell on the boat. If we do, it will probably be built into the leaning post. Other than that, simple inside design...........the console is from a 22 Judge. It will get an Atlantic Towers hard top (already purchased) and some kind of leaning post.....and that's about it.

I'm going to keep the console clean, just the gauges switches, and controls. I'm thinking all the electronics will get flush mounted in the T-Top electronics box.

All of that is just ideas though.......we are pretty winging it, finding our way as we go.

 

[mrobertson]

Primed and almost ready

Over the past 2 months i have learned the meaning of the phrase "If it were easy, everyone would do it". This is the point where you really question yourself asking "Is it really worth it?"

I won't bore you with a bunch of pictures and descriptions. What i will describe to you is that at this point we have at least 100 man hours invested in glasswork, fairing, and sanding the inside of this boat. I spent the easter weekend in the shop.

Our first order of business was to get rid of the ridiculous amounts of dust on everything. Here's the old girl outside at the hose getting a bath

here you can see the 1 millions holes i have filled and faired

washing her our

The weather was nice yesterday and this is kind of a "guide" coat, so we decided to spray outside. Getting her all taped off :

The point behind this primer is that new fiberglass work needs to be sealed to help with water intrusion. We decided to use AWLGRIP 545 Epoxy Primer as a base/sealant for all the work we've done :

The directions tell you to give it a thin coat and then re-coat heavy after 30 - 45 mins. Here we are after the first coat

My Old man spraying the edge that gets covered by the rub rail

Here we are after 2 coats of AWLGRIP 545 EPOXY PRIMER

Hahah - dad admiring his work ;

So from here we have a few pin holes to fill and sand out. Then the boat will get another 2 - 3 coats of a white primer called UNDERCOATER. Our topcoat is going to be petit easypoxy in white. Non skid is going to be a light sand color of a product called DURABAK.

We have all materials to finish the boat. I really hope that sometime in june we are hauling her off to get a motor hung on the back. The next update should show her in white.

Tight Lines

-Mike

 

[pkeating]

Thanks so much for the updates. I have enjoyed your progress and can't wait to see her on the water. You are going to have a lot of strangers pulling up alongside to see her up close. Congrats.

Pat

 

[Weber]

Looks really good!

 

[flycatcher]

Just a thought, but consider off-white, beige or pale gray inside. White is beautiful, but in bright sunlight it will blind you like bright headlights at night.

 

[v20fishnboy]

looking good, i really like the sea foam, cant wait to see the finished product.. so did you ever decide on what she's gonna be powered by?

 

[paxfish]

What type of spray gun are you using and how is the clean up with the 2 part stuff?

If you have any Awlgrip left over, lemme know - I have a canoe to spray

 

[mrobertson]

Just a thought, but consider off-white, beige or pale gray inside. White is beautiful, but in bright sunlight it will blind you like bright headlights at night.

The deck and the tops of the gunnels are going to be a sand colored non skid called DURABAK. Only the sides and the trim work will show the white.

so did you ever decide on what she's gonna be powered by?

99% sure it will be either a Zuke or Yamaha 4 stroke.......250 or 300 depending on price and availability.

What type of spray gun are you using and how is the clean up with the 2 part stuff?

If you have any Awlgrip left over, lemme know - I have a canoe to spray

To spray primers we've been using an HVLP gun with a 1.7 mm tip. It does a little better with the thicker stuff. For topcoats we used an HVLP gun with a 1.4mm tip. Every paint/primer sprays differently so you have to spend a little time adjusting the gun before you actually spray. I had to spray that awlgrip primer at about 50 psi to get it to spray properly.

I've already sprayed all the awlgrip i bought

 

[drewzim]

250 or 300? No, no, no!!!

Need to throw one of these on the back of that thing :yes::yes:))

http://www.seven-marine.com/motors/

 

[mrobertson]

All coming together

The last 10 days or so have been pretty exciting for me. This is a huge update.

A week ago last Friday, i found a VERY good deal on a Raymarine E120. I contemplated it for a day. I never really wanted a Raymarine, but for the price it would be the most unit i would ever get for that amount of money. So - i couldn't turn it down. It is the standard E120, not the new E120W.

New in Box

This thing is like a small TV

Comparison next to my HDS-7

A while back my dad and i were talking about leaning posts. He's kind of particular and really didn't want a traditional aluminum leaning post with a cooler underneath it. Dad wanted something with some tackle storage and a cooler built into it. We reached out to NAUTICAL DESIGNS and put together a semi-custom leaning post. It takes like 2 months for them to build it and it just so happened that it arrived last week via freight to my dads shop. BTW - they did a GREAT job packing it and there was no way it could have been damaged.

This is a fiberglass hand built leaning post

Folding Foot Rest

The seat folds forward and underneath is a built in cooler. It looks small in the picture but there is plenty of room to put your food and drinks for the day in it. It has a drain and drains out the back of the post and onto the deck.

Across the back are storage drawers for anything you might want to store in there.

On the left side is a door that has some little shelves to cram stuff in there

Right side has a door with 2 of those hanging lure racks so you can hang plugs or any other lures with hooks.

We also got the backrest with 4 gold LEE rod holders

Over the last 2 weeks both Dad and I have been calling dealers about engines. We've looked at Etec, Suzuki, and Yamaha. I don't really have an answer for why we didn't like the Etec. It's a great motor and i have been on 2 different boats with them, both times they were impressive engines. I guess the amount of bashing they get is what steered us away. Suzuki - is what i really wanted. IMO they are the engine that gets the least amount of bashing on forums. However - right now a 30" shaft engine is VERY hard to find. Yamaha - the old tried and true. Neither Dad or I would complain about owning a yamaha. However, like the suzuki the 30" shaft models are VERY tough to find. SO - we got prices from dealers all over Delmarva. Our search led us to GOOTEES MARINE in Golden Hill. Nick Gootee just happened to have a brand new Yamaha F250 30" Shaft in stock. This engine is the original F250 ( i think 3.3 liter V-6). We worked a deal with Nick and he was happy to accomodate. So on Thursday of last week, Dad and I went to Gootees to put down a deposit on our brand new Yamaha F-250. We went with the command link fly by wire throttle/shift package, 2 command link smart gauges, stainless prop, and a new sea star hydraulic steering package.

I am stoked to say that we now have a powerplant for our 23 Seacraft

Nick let us take home the Control Box and Gauges to configure the console the way we wanted.

Because of the weight of the Raymarine, we needed to glass in some coring into the front face of the console in order to flush mount.

Plywood getting glued in :

I laid glass over it to seal it up, but i forgot to take a picture. I'll paint it up all nice and pretty so it looks good. I also glassed in a piece on the left side to mount battery switches, bus bars, etc.

We cut the holes in the bow for the pop up bow light and pop up cleat.

DOWN

UP

For the inside of the boat we are going with PETIT EASYPOXY in white. That product needs a special primer called UNDERCOATER. While i was there for the weekend, we went ahead and sanded the gray epoxy primer and shot 3-4 coats of undercoater on the inside.

Gray primer sanded :

White Undercoater :

Sorry for the lack of pics of the undercoater project. It was so warm out we needed to move quickly. The deck and gunnels are getting non-skid with DURABAK in a sand color, so it does not need undercoater.

We made the deal with NICK to have the boat over there in the next 2 months to install the engine. From here i need to find some time to sand the undercoater and spray the top coat, then non skid. After that we will drop the console and start rigging. We have ordered the rub rail and we need a couple of other small things to finish up the boat.

Basically, it's all coming together.............and im pretty excited about it.

Tight Lines

-Mike Robertson

 

[JimRockfish]

You should be excited. One awesome boat and exceptional work.

 

[Capt. John Deering]

an update is available for the ray 120. you can also borrow the update disk with a $40 deposit. the disks are hard to find.

i think its version 5.04. go to raymarine site for more info.

 

[FishOn!]

That is awesome! You are doing it right. I know it is a ton of work but when it is all done you will have a lifetime boat that you built exactly how you wanted it. Every time you go on the water you will have that satisfaction.

 

[mrobertson]

Quick update here with some really terrible pictures. Over the last week or so we've been able to get some work done. We have sprayed our finish coat on the inside of the boat. Overall she's got 2 coats of epoxy high build primer, 3 coats of white undercoater, and 3 coats of finish coat. What we went with is Petit Easypoxy in a semi-gloss white to help with the glare some.

It's not a super duper shine, but it is a nice finish with some shine to it.

After the paint hardened we have now started putting her back together.

Taped off and painted under where the console is going to sit

Painted under the lip of the cockpit hatch, hatch installed with 5200 and thru bolted.

We had to do a little thinking about how to mount the leaning post to the deck. It's basically a giant fiberglass box with a flat bottom. What we came up with are a couple of 1/2" marine ply "mounting pads" glassed to the floor. This will give us a good level base and also will keep the screws out of the deck to decrease the chance of water intrusion.

Mounting pads cut out and testing how they will fit/look

Pads glued into place with thickened epoxy, weighed down to let it cure up.

weight removed about to get glassed down

The leaning post will completely cover the mounting pads so you will not see them after it's installed. I think it was a pretty good idea on how to fasten the post to the boat.

The washdown pump is already mounted and pre-wired. We ran the hose and installed a stainless steel nozzle on the back bulkhead of the boat.

Lee Rod holders flush mounted to the gunnel theres a set going straight out the back, and 2 mounted forward pointing 30 degrees out from the boat.

We got these stainless strakes to mount on the boat so the lines don't run the topsides.

Also got the bow pop up cleat mounted. Thru bolted with a 3/4 plywood backing plate glassed in, so it's not going anywhere

Sorry for the lack of and terrible pictures. It's getting hot out and the last thing on my mind is taking pictures. We have started taping off anything and i hope this weekend we will be able to get our non skid applied. That should really change the look of the boat. Maybe if there's time we will install the new taco rub rail, not sure. This is all the fun part of the project so i'm having a good time with it.

Still need to get batteries, a few miscellaneous wiring items, and a console door. Other than that, we have what we need to finish her up.

-Mike

 

[granpafish jr.]

Mike- great thread. Love seeing the boat coming together. Can't wait to see her on the water.



-Andy

 

[flycatcher]

Mike, I've been following your rebuild for quite a while. Very impressive indeed. I hope that your sense of satisfaction with what you've done here is at least half of what I would expect it to be. If I were in your shoes, my biggest fear would be that actually running her was anticlimatic compared to the satisfaction of completing each step of the overhaul. You and your dad have really done special here on so many levels. Best of luck, and thanks for keeping us posted.

 

[mrobertson]

Non Skid Applied

Lately i feel like all i do is work on boats, i don't even fish anymore. That feeling is getting closer and closer to ending though. I was able to sneak off over the holiday weekend and dodge the beach traffic to get in some hours on the boat with my old man.

First up we needed to install the transom cap. My dad had this made at the machine shop. I think it is 3/8" plate aluminum that was cut/bent/welded. It fit nicely over the transom and we countersunk the heads and through bolted it for a nice clean fit.

Transom Cap Installed

Here you can see how heavy duty it is

We got some new stainless hinges for the rear compartment lids so we went ahead and thru bolted them and installed them on the boat. They came out pretty sharp looking!!!

The main focus of the trip was to apply our non skid. We wanted a little color contrast, something that's wasn't pure white. I was hoping the color would have been a little darker, but it came out pretty nice.

We used frogtape to do most of the taping. This stuff is great, no bleed through but it isn't the "stickiest" tape i've ever seen. We used a variation of .75", 1", and 2" tape to get the job done

It's not cheap, but it works out well

For the actual non skid, we used this product, Durabak

Durabak is basically a bedliner type material. It lays down thick and produces a rubbery type feel. It comes in many different colors and they add a UV additive to help with the fading. Only time will tell if it holds up.

here's the website to read more about it.

http://www.nonslipcoating.com/

They provide you with a couple of texturized rollers to apply the material. It's a really rough, porous roller that kind of pulls it up to make a nice texture.

All in all i'd say it took us a good 4-5 hours to tape everything off.

Rolling out the material can get pretty messy. Once it gets on you, wipe it off quick or it needs to wear off. We did a fairly good job of keeping it off the boat. I won't say it didn't end up in a few places we didn't want it though.

First coat

We bought 2 gallons of material and that netted us 3 coats on the deck and 2 on the gunnels. You cannot let this stuff cure before pulling the tape. You wait about an hour between coats and after that last coat, wait a few minutes and get the tape off.

Fortunately - we got some nice clean lines and it came out pretty good.

The pictures make it look a little "yellow". It's actually more of a light cream color. It looks pretty sharp against the white and with the hull color. I kind of wanted it to be a little darker, but i'm happy with the end result. Supposedly for touch up it adheres to itself, so you can touch up as needed. Alot of guys over at classic mako have used it. It wasn't the cheapest solution, and probably not the best, but i think it will work and last for a while. I am a little nervous about keeping it clean though.

If the stars align just right, i might be installing the rub rail on friday. I think that will really tie everything together and finally make it look like a useable boat again. I think by the end of June we will be hauling her off for that Yammie 250 to be installed!!!!

Tight lines

-Mike

 

[pkeating]

When you get her on the water, you are going to have people coming at your from every direction to get a closer look. I will be one of them. Thanks for the update.

Pat

 

[mrobertson]

I had some time the end of last week to get down and work on the boat. Just about the last "big" project to do was install the rub rail. We went with a TACO rubrail with a white insert to add a little color contrast. I wanted to have a 3rd person to help, but just couldn't make it work so dad and i went at it together. It was a tough and lengthy ordeal but we got it wrapped up.

I removed the rubrail on another boat one time and when i went to put it back on it was a couple of feet too short. It will shrink up on you with heat/cold variances and it also gets very stiff and hard to work with. So what we did was heat it up in boiling water. That softens the rubber and allows you to stretch it and its much easier to work with.

Before we even started, we heated the rubrail in a giant pot of hot water.

You have to find the center of the rail (i think we bought 60 feet) then start from the bow and work your way back.

We ran a bead of black 5200 down the rail and it got screwed with stainless screws to the boat.

The only chance you have to break it around a 90 degree corner is to heat it up. We used a heat gun to help make it bend a little

Starboard side done - screwed and glued

Working our way down the port side

Heated and bent around the port side corner

We had to play around with the insert to get it installed. It was a bear. At first we thought, just push it in and work it around the boat.....WRONG.

This way does not work

We had to heat the insert in hot water to make it plyable. They lay it out around the boat. Use a heat gun to keep it plyable and work it in with your thumb and the palm of your hand. It was not a pleasant experience i can tell you that much. It took us a while, but we got er done.

Once you get it all installed they give you end caps to install on each side.

My old man drillin some holes

End cap installed

I worked on a couple of other things while i was there. We are not going to be re-installed the bow rail on this boat, because we mostly light tackle fish. However, we did re-install the recessed hand rail on the inside of the boat.

It's a stainless rail that was on the boat when we got it. I cleaned it up a little and we dropped it back on the boat, 5200 and thru bolted it in place

We also mounted the battery trays to the deck and pulled some wiring and battery cable. We are going with a 3 battery setup and we bought a 1/0 battery cable to run from the back of the boat to the batteries, which are going under the console.

Dad screwing one of the battery trays down under where the console will sit.

You can see the battery cable and some of the wiring that has begun

I might be able to sneak off this weekend to cut some holes in the console and mount the gauges, raymarine unit, and basically configure how the dash will be finished. Meanwhile, my dad has been working a little bit on the wiring. So we are moving along nicely. Just about all that's left is the wiring, setting the console and leaning post in the boat, and then it's off to get some power. The goal is to get the boat to gootees around 4th of July Weekend and hope that they get her rigged up before vacation in early august.

Tight Lines

-Mike

 

[Shawn Kimbro]

You're getting close, man. I can't wait to see her on the water. Who knew a rub rail was such a PITA? Looks good though and I completely understand going with the big wide rubber, mostly 'cause I can't drive!