Boat reno & the pay off for hard work

[SlowPoke]

First off I'd like to thank everybody that kept me fishing while my boat was under reconstruction.

MrEh, percher, icefisherman, jjcanoe, memart, the guy that picked me up hitchhiking at the end of the pier and I'm probably forgetting a few more. It's been a while.

That leads me to my second point. If you guys weren't so generous with your fishing invitations, maybe I would have been finished long ago! You bunch of !

 

On with the reno...

I had the boat for a few years telling people where is was okay to seat and safe to stand. It was time to do something about it.

 

Some 'before' pictures

 

The helm patch

 

Clutter

 

Wasted space between the Tsunami seat and casting deck

 

Ummm, a biopsy?

 

"Doc, is it serious?"

 

"Im sorry sir, we'll have to remove it."

 

My interns

 

 

Casting deck removed

 

Vinyl removed, plywood soaked

 

Plywood removed

 

Floatation foam soaked

 

At this point I thought there was no point in putting a new floor over soaked foam. It added a substantial amount of work and cost to the job but I feel a lot better for having done it properly.

 

I bumped into Goran wearing his forklift suit. Thanks again for the aluminium bud, you were able to save me a few bucks and right around the corner from where I got the marine plywood. It was a productive trip!

 

New 1/4"x2" aluminium bracing for the floor support

 

Preping the floor. Yes that's a circular saw. Horrendous noise when cutting but it does the job

 

The easy part is done. 3/16" sheet aluminium over the 1/4" braces. Necessary for two reasons; just the sheet over stringers would have been too flimbsy and I needed to make up some thickness for the 5/8" factory plywood where it met the rear/sides/casting deck.

 

Measure once, cut it properly the first time

 

Cutout and bracing for the new built in 19 gallon gas tank

 

Gas tank fitting

 

Incorporating the orignal hardware was tough but I didn't want to go without the original structure. The front wall of the original casting deck was installed crooked and riveted through the hull on the each side. I wasn't about to make new holes in the hull to fix it so I had to compensate with every single measurement to create the new casting deck.

 

The photo above and this one below shows the opening for the gas tank and how much I extend the casting deck. About 30". It doesn't leave much room for feet at the Tsunami seat!

 

Bracing the orignal front wall and creating the new front wall with 2x2x1/4" aluminium angle. Plenty strong!

 

Fitting the last hatch. Hatch handles courtasy of percher, thanks again bud!

 

The finished product on the maiden voyage. You can see the front of the gas tank exposed. That will have a removeable panel as soon as I hook up the fuel guage. In the mean time, I marked the tank at 25L incraments.

 

The view from the helm

 

On to the maiden voyage.

 

I tried hard to find someone to help me bail or paddle of needed but strangely, no takers; I went solo. Putzed around the house almost noon and left for LSC. The truck needed gas and so did the boat. I went 8km out of my way to cash in on $.94/l. It was $1.03 in London. Okay, nine cents doesn't seem like a lot but when the truck needs 160L and the new tank in the boat needs 75L... it was worth the 8km detour!

 

Launched at 1:30ish,, tied up and parked the truck. I came back to see the boat was still floating. That's a good sign! The motor fired right up after sitting all of last year and a short test run in the driveway in June. Everything worked well with the hose run but in the water, it wouldn't pee for me! I took a couple of short blasts waiting for it to warm up but it never got warm enough to pee. Oh well, kicker time. It ran great all day.

 

I spent about 4 hours sun tanning. I tried all my 'expert' muskie tactics; lighting a smoke, eating lunch, making phone calls... nothing would entice a hit. Then I employed the secret weapon, making up leaders... it never fails! Until now.

 

Around 6:10PM I was feeling dejected and pondering picking up the lines and do a short blast on the main motor towards shore. At 6:11PM zzziiinnnngggggg, what a rip! It peeled off 60' in an instant with the kicker still running. I killed the motor and reached for the net. I didn't get my hand quite on the net and zzziiinnnggg another 40' rip followed by some acrobatics. The net can wait. I could see from the jumps this fish ate the 10" bait sideways, looking like a hammerhead shark but instead, a face full of hooks! I don't have a lot of solo muskie handling experience so being extremely well hooked was a good thing!

 

It felt what I think a 50 would feel like but I knew it was well short. This fish was a maniac all the way into the net.

 

I had to cut two barbs, one on each of the front two hooks. I didn't want to mess around trying to save a hook after that battle. Even cutting it free, it still took probably 10 minutes to revive this one and it never came out the water!

 

I wasn't sure this one was going to make it but eventually it righted itself and swam out of the net. My favourite lure (MrEh and anybody else that has seen my musky box will know which one) was bent and tattered and missing two barbs. I threw it back in anyway because the missing barbs were the top ones so it looked like a two barb frog hook. Having drifted off significantly, I regained my route and within yards of the first hit came the second! Hit like a freight train but settled down fairly quick. Until it got to the boat and submarined under! Not just a little bit, it caught the line on the starboard side! Fortunately I was able to untangle and net 'er without too much trouble. I didn't bother with pictures, I just held it to the side of the boat for a reference and measure after release. This one was a quick revival but I had to remove the front two hooks completely from my favourite bait.

 

I thought about sending it back out with just the tail hook but I didn't. I regret it now, that would have made a good story if I hooked into another! I put it away for the night and floated around for a few more minutes before picking up the lines and heading in. A couple short blasts on the main motor and kicker the rest of the way.

 

It could have been a bummer day but those two 43"-45"ers turnied it around for me. Next on the "to-do" list for the boat is installing new switches, gauges, VHF, AM/FM, interior and compartment lighting, removeable rear casting deck. At least all these jobs won't keep me off the water, just doing a little bit at a time. Oh, and fix the main motor!

[lew]

The boats coming along great Brian and I was hoping you were taking pictures of the job. It's good to see the progress in action. Your putting alot of effort into it but it'll be awesome when your done.

 

I always liked the lay-out of that boat and now it'll be even better.

 

As for the motor not peeing it could be as simple as a little spider nest in the discharge tube. Run the motor with the muffs on again and push a small stiff wire into the tube and if there's anything there it'll break it free. Exact same thing happened on my new Yamaha the 1st time I put it in the lake. Takes about 5 seconds to fix it up.

 

And congrats on the fish too, a good way to start off with the re-vamped boat.

Edited August 2, 2010 by lew

[Roy]

Brian, you know that I'm a tiller guy but if I was to want something else, it would be a center console. I've always liked your boat but you've done a super job getting it rebuilt. As for your motor having urinary problems, my last motor used to do that once in a while and the best thing I found to clear it up was an 18" length of .080" lawn trimmer cord. Stuff it down the hole as it's running....

Keep up the good work. She's looking super!

[corvette1]

sweet job i see you had help congrats

[dave524]

Looking good, I had the 80's vintage Sylvan centre console 18' Rodmaster, very similar boat. Like the fuel tank up front, mine was always a little heavy in the rear with the starting battery, fuel tank, starting battery, V4 Johnson and 9.9 kicker all at the back, especially when 2 guys were setting riggers the water was close to the top of the spashwell. That fibreglass console with the stainless wheel sure is a lot nicer than the vinyl covered plywood one and plastic wheel the Sylvan had. Love the vinyl flooring and covering too, Sylvan carpetted everything back then, even the gunwales, looked good in the showroom but after a dozen years decided it was not the brightest idea. Again, very nice and well thought out rerig.

[scugpg]

Wow buddy looks great! Glad to see you getting her out on the water.

[danbouck]

Looks Great, some fine craftsmanship!

[limeyangler]

Brian....you need to hitchhike up here and help me with my boat! Then i'll take ya fishing

[John]

Awesome job Brian, I love those centre consoles.

[John]

Brian, you know that I'm a tiller guy but if I was to want something else, it would be a center console. I've always liked your boat but you've done a super job getting it rebuilt. As for your motor having urinary problems, my last motor used to do that once in a while and the best thing I found to clear it up was an 18" length of .080" lawn trimmer cord. Stuff it down the hole as it's running....

Keep up the good work. She's looking super!

 

You're bringing tears to my eyes Roy!

[PERCHER]

Brian the boat turned out GREAT! Super job.And far as getting you out on the water.It was my pleasure.There is always a seat in my boat for a good Buddy.Buddy.

Dan

[Bly]

Awesome Brian, was wondering how the job was going! Nice fish also

[splashhopper]

great job

 

Now I know who to call to help me with a leak in my "new to me" tinnie

[lunkerbasshunter]

what a great reno!!!! congrats!

 

cheers!

[SRT8 smoker craft]

Nicely done and looks great were did you get the vinyl from I would love to do the floor in my starcraft with that vinyl.

[fish-miester]

you sir are a pro! thats a beauty job !

[Mattones]

Great work!!!

[Handlebarz]

Sorry I could not make it to be the camera man for ya Brian I did get a lot of stuff built here so next trip you have to stop in and yes that boat is looking great I am very sorry for taking you away from it all last season.Congrats on two nice skies and yes you should have changed the hooks and got it back out I don't know why you would not want to run what is working I think you have spent to many days on Lake O this season

BTW you should have come over to dads there was a extra T bone cooked with no one to eat it

[Joey]

That looks really good Brian, well done.

 

Nice fish too.

 

Joey

[Dutch]

That some great looking work! All the more satisfying that you did it yourself.

 

Congrats on the maiden voyage.

[Pigeontroller]

Looks great Brian!

[Pigeontroller]

Oh yeah, and nice fishies!

[Rattletrap2]

Beautiful looking workmanship on the refurb!

Of course, the fish are nice too!

[jjcanoe]

after seeing the great work Brian did to his when I was over on Friday, it inspired me to rip up the casting deck on mine and straighten out the wiring as well as fix the storage compartment door on mine Friday evening, I think I would have much rather been out on LSC Sunday than be climbing up Brocks monument with a bunch of kids on Sunday LOL We'll put yours to good use when I get back from holidays. Nice job!!

 

jjcanoe

[SlowPoke]

Thanks for all the great compliments; they really are appreciated!

I'm happy with the outcome and will enjoy the extra real estate and storage! Would I do it again? Not with aluminium. It was costly and really time consuming with the extra bracing and all that drilling and tapping. I didn't tally the cost of aluminium rivits, stainless steel truss screws and ny-lock nuts but it would be in the neighbourhood of $250. I'm glad I did it but I won't realize the benefit of never having to do it again, I won't live long enough!

 

As for the motor not peeing it could be as simple as a little spider nest in the discharge tube. Run the motor with the muffs on again and push a small stiff wire into the tube and if there's anything there it'll break it free. Exact same thing happened on my new Yamaha the 1st time I put it in the lake. Takes about 5 seconds to fix it up.

 

When I ran the motor in the driveway this June it was slow to start peeing so I did just that. I think the impeller is shot and I was able to coax it with the assistance of hose pressure. I'm going to replace the impeller this week. If that solves the problem, great! If not, it was overdue for replacing anyway.

 

 

Nicely done and looks great were did you get the vinyl from I would love to do the floor in my starcraft with that vinyl.

It's a special order from Home Depot and takes 7-10 days to get in. It's made by Ducan and the style is Dek-Master. The colour is West Coast Grey. The material and colour are 100% match to the original vinyl. How lucky is that??

I don't remember the price off hand but somewhere in the neighbourhood of $10-$12/ per running foot at 72" wide. It's very easy to work with; cuts nice, stretches for curves etc. I used 3M Super77 spray glue. In hindsite, using the Ducan adhesive may have been cheaper. I used 4 cans at $12+ each.

There are several colours, patterns and thicknesses available:

http://www.ducan.com/vinyl-sundeck/color-samples.php

 

BTW you should have come over to dads there was a extra T bone cooked with no one to eat it

Did you call? email? text? send a smoke signal? Nooooooooooo!

You remind of those guys that say "You should have told me you were buying a widget, I know a guy giving one away!"

Just a little late there pal!