Catch Up, new to me 20 ft Double Eagle

[seachicken]

Hello all, figured I'd post up an introduction even though I have posted a couple times. My name is Mark, I live Nanaimo and I have a boat problem. Lurked on and off for years without signing up looking at fishing stuff mostly. Wife was bugging me to upgrade to a bigger boat (great isn't she?) but was constantly sending me links to 20-25 year old trophys and Campions that I wasn't too interested in and felt overpriced. She sent me a link to this boat for sale and I happened to be working away from home within a few km's when it was posted for sale. It was a few thousand $ over my comfort but again my wonderful wife made me go. A couple knowledgeable coworkers pushed me too. Looked at it that afternoon, said yes and took it on the water and handed over a cheque the next day. It's a touch bigger than I was thinking bud damn, I'll get over it I think. We have a cabin on Decourcy Island which is our primary reason for having a boat and wanted something that can handle a little more weather so we can use the cabin more but this will certainly get us fishing a lot more too. Anyway, just got the boat back home from Sea Tops in Nanaimo, they did a great job on the slope back and I'm stoked to get some more work done to prep it for mooring. Previous owner did a ton of work to this hull, new stringers, floor, transom and obviously the pod, finished up almost 2 years ago and did a great job. New fuel tank, electronics and hydraulic steering etc. Unsure of age of the hull as the transom is covered up with new plywood and glass, PO didn't know if it had an S/N or not. Surveyor loved it which was reassuring as I had layed in bed awake allllll night worried he'd find something wrong. Power is a 2003 Yamaha 225 (with exhaust fixed) and a 2007 Yamaha 8 kicked. I'm totally new to this level of boat awesomeness, hopefully you guys can help me out with some rookie questions as they come up. I need to finish resealing the hard top and windshields first off, however there was not a drop of water on the dash after sitting out in this rain (probably got some pushed though on the tow home though) and no sealant around the base of the windshield frames as I had started cleaning it up before taking it to Sea Tops.

 

[Bifmalibu]

nice boat.

 

[DuroBoat]

Hello all, figured I'd post up an introduction even though I have posted a couple times. My name is Mark, I live Nanaimo and I have a boat problem. Lurked on and off for years without signing up looking at fishing stuff mostly. Wife was bugging me to upgrade to a bigger boat (great isn't she?) but was constantly sending me links to 20-25 year old trophys and Campions that I wasn't too interested in and felt overpriced. She sent me a link to this boat for sale and I happened to be working away from home within a few km's when it was posted for sale. It was a few thousand $ over my comfort but again my wonderful wife made me go. A couple knowledgeable coworkers pushed me too. Looked at it that afternoon, said yes and took it on the water and handed over a cheque the next day. It's a touch bigger than I was thinking bud damn, I'll get over it I think. We have a cabin on Decourcy Island which is our primary reason for having a boat and wanted something that can handle a little more weather so we can use the cabin more but this will certainly get us fishing a lot more too. Anyway, just got the boat back home from Sea Tops in Nanaimo, they did a great job on the slope back and I'm stoked to get some more work done to prep it for mooring. Previous owner did a ton of work to this hull, new stringers, floor, transom and obviously the pod, finished up almost 2 years ago and did a great job. New fuel tank, electronics and hydraulic steering etc. Unsure of age of the hull as the transom is covered up with new plywood and glass, PO didn't know if it had an S/N or not. Surveyor loved it which was reassuring as I had layed in bed awake allllll night worried he'd find something wrong. Power is a 2003 Yamaha 225 (with exhaust fixed) and a 2007 Yamaha 8 kicked. I'm totally new to this level of boat awesomeness, hopefully you guys can help me out with some rookie questions as they come up. I need to finish resealing the hard top and windshields first off, however there was not a drop of water on the dash after sitting out in this rain (probably got some pushed though on the tow home though) and no sealant around the base of the windshield frames as I had started cleaning it up before taking it to Sea Tops.

We need interior pictures please!

 

[seachicken]

nice boat.

Thanks.

We need interior pictures please!

Uh, I'll work on that. I brought it home today though, took off the new slope back, tarped it up and lifted the top to work on sealing it up better. It's a total mess right now.

 

[Oscar162]

Looks great! I don't know what you are into it for, but given the cost of materials and hours I'm into mine for... you got a great deal if all of the improvements were done correctly. I see the top has been raised... would love to see what else the PO did on the inside. A great choice for your needs, congrats!

 

[seachicken]

Looks great! I don't know what you are into it for, but given the cost of materials and hours I'm into mine for... you got a great deal if all of the improvements were done correctly. I see the top has been raised... would love to see what else the PO did on the inside. A great choice for your needs, congrats!

Thanks, I do think we scored a great deal on it. I feel like the glass work was well done and the guy has a lot of experience. During the work he moved the cutty bulkhead aft for extra room in the cutty which also created a huge dashboard. Most boats I've fished in I've found the small dash gets cluttered up so I do like this one. Hard top mounting on this could have been a little better but I'm working on that. I'm not sure how it was originally but I've heard all about T bolts and I think I see how they go in the bottom of the channel but the new structure is too thick to use those now. The raised top is definitely nice.

 

[salmonkiller01]

On the bottom frame to hull use a good bead of sikka flex, it will creat a solid bond and keep water out. On my hourston that is what I did to mount the hard top to windows and it was waterproof and solid.

 

[Oscar162]

I ended up using long stainless carriage bolts, they fit in that track under the side windows. That and some 5200 and it’s permanent. Drilled holes all the way thru, then epoxied pvc sleeves to accept carriage bolts. Hope that makes sense

 

[seachicken]

On the bottom frame to hull use a good bead of sikka flex, it will creat a solid bond and keep water out. On my hourston that is what I did to mount the hard top to windows and it was waterproof and solid.

Thanks, that's what I was planning however there's a change in height on the sides, there was 1/4" strips of cedar in there, I removed them and got some Starboard. Will seal that down and then seal the hard top to it.

 

[seachicken]

I ended up using long stainless carriage bolts, they fit in that track under the side windows. That and some 5200 and it’s permanent. Drilled holes all the way thru, then epoxied pvc sleeves to accept carriage bolts. Hope that makes sense

Thanks, yes makes sense. PO put some bolts through already, I'll just reuse them at this point. Which reminds me, I need to buy more that are all the same instead of the random "which style of screw head is deep down in that window channel?"

 

[Rain City]

Thanks, that's what I was planning however there's a change in height on the sides, there was 1/4" strips of cedar in there, I removed them and got some Starboard. Will seal that down and then seal the hard top to it.

I thought most things don't stick to starboard.

 

[seachicken]

I thought most things don't stick to starboard.

Hmmmm, I was wondering about that as I typed it... Suggestions beside the cedar strips that were there before?

 

[Bifmalibu]

Might want to use PVC board rather than starboard for adhesion purposes. Or maybe Aluminum?

 

[seachicken]

Might want to use PVC board rather than starboard for adhesion purposes. Or maybe Aluminum?

Ok thanks, aluminum was one of the options that came to mind. I'm much more of a metal guy than composite

 

[seachicken]

Ok, finally things have calmed down a bit and I got some time today to work on the boat finally and the weather somewhat cooperated. I had been picking away and made some nuts to go in the track on the hardtop. I was going to make "T" bolts but they would have to go through 1.75" of flange plus have some thread for a nut and that long would be awkward lowering the top when it's just shored up on a 2x4. Today I epoxied in 8 pieces of aluminum tube through the flange and filled in the old holes. I roughed up the aluminum tube with some 80 grit and a file first to get good adhesion. Hopefully I'll get the top bolted down before I have to go back to work Monday. Sorry, it's hard to see the nut in the channel in the second picture but it fits pretty good.

 

[seachicken]

Alright, I'm finally back at it now that I'm home from working in Oz and the weather is decent. I didn't get a bunch of pictures but got a few and I have at least one question...

I got kicker mounting lag screws re-sealed as one of them needed at least 1/2 turn to snug it up, removed both and used a generous amount of sika flex on them for reinstall. Honestly I'd like to rework completely to have the mount bolts above the water line, one step at a time.

Sealed up the PVC strips I added to shim under the sides of the hard top to replace the wood.

Added a plate with a simple tie off I fabricated to back up the bow tie ubolt as the nuts were sucking down into the old glassed in wood spacer inside and the anchor rope had been tied off to a piece of 5/16" rope tied under a second nut and stack of ever increasing in diameter washers. I know the anchor rope shouldn't have to take a huge load there, just tidying 2 things up at once.

This leads me to the windlass which is where my question is... Between the windlass and anchor roller channel there's a crack in the top deck. Below deck is an aluminum plate backing up most of the windlass and roller channel hardware (sorry no pictures tonight). I'm not sure if this was a "fix" already and I'm going to be unpleasantly surprised if I remove it and find more problems. At this point we would like to just get the boat in the water, I feel like I can somewhat deal with it in the water unlike some of the other things. Going forward though is it wise to just weld on a plate to the aft end of the roller channel to reinforce underneath the windlass or fabricate a new roller channel that extends under the windlass (same idea) or pull it all and fix the fiberglass on the top side of the deck? I feel that adding the strength of 1/8" stainless steel between the windlass and the roller will be better regardless. I'm a lot more experienced fixing metal than fiberglass but I can do it. Please let me know what you think.

 

[seachicken]

Well **** I was thinking I was on the short strokes here and hoping to get this boat in the water tomorrow but while I was changing the leg oil milkshake (vent screw was loose) I looked up and noticed 2 broken bolts mounting the trim assembly. Other side has 1 with enough to get vice grips on and it won't budge. This is disheartening, makes me want to just pour a whisky and call it a day. I have welders, TIG and MIG I just need to work up the courage to do it. I'm not usually welding nuts on around stuff like this, usually rusty steel. Is this something common? If it was one I'd probably just leave it. It's a 2003 Yamaha 225.

 

[seachicken]

Well 2 came out with vice grips, makes me feel better. Waiting for Parker marine to let me know if they have any in stock. Any other recommendations for hardware in Nanaimo?

 

[tannerc]

harbour chandler, Raider Hansen

 

[seachicken]

harbour chandler, Raider Hansen

Thanks, those were my initial thoughts for back up plans. Just thought industrial bolts might not be as good? Or might be better?