Project 'Bad Habits' Build

[ComfortZone]

Lol, I personally think its cool, my uncle has his hard top made of tinted/clear plexiglass, or some kind of plastic..........BUUUTTT...................

doing this you make some compromises which you may or may not be concerned with....

first is strength, you wouldnt be able to just chuck the traps or gear up there with no concern,

limits mounting space for toys

welcomes new place for cabin leaks

and a hardtop is just as useful for keeping you out of the sun as it is keeping you dry...sometimes it is real nice to get into some shade

If it were my build i wouldn't do it

 

[Finished Business]

haha yaaaa...........you are probably right, not sure what I was schmokin' at lunch.. maybe I briefly mistook it for a luxury cabin cruiser, not a fishing machine!

...back to the project at hand, and not crazy mods....ordering some cabin material in the coming week or so, with a welder coming by to quote the work early next week...ball is rolling, look out below!!

 

[GypsyKing]

FB - Awesome project!!!!

I own a couple waterjet cutting machines if you need any help cutting the cabin plates etc... All I would need is your mock up templates to match. PM if you interested and we can set something up.. Obviously no charge, some beer always works. We can easily do it in a couple hours one night..


Cheers,
Sean

 

[Finished Business]

P
m


sent!!

 

[casper5280]

Heres a quick cheap top for your boat. might even use it for parts http://www.usedvictoria.com/classified-ad/hardtop-with-windows_17302572.

 

[Finished Business]

That looks to be a pretty near representation of my body lines!! all for the cost of window glass too...but Im not to one do things twice so alloy it must be!

Onto progression...ordered my floor and cabin material today. all marine grade aluminum, the list is as follows, for those interested in what it will take. These are pre-cut lengths.

Roof - 6' x 6ft x 1/8" (the sheet came in 6x10, so I will have 4' extra to use for seat boxes, raised roof extension, w.h.y)
Sides - 4' x 16' x 1/8"
Frame:
1" x 1" x 1/8" wall, square tubing (100ft + 20ft extra)
Cabin and floor mount:
1.5" x 1.5" x 3/16" wall, angle iron (14' + 6' extra)
Rod Holders:
2" Round Tubing (20')


Floor:

3/16" checker plate - 2 sheets cut into 3 sections in an area totaling 12' x 7'

Upper Cabin and Cockpit Gunnels:
Spare materail from Floor sections, formed into 6" x 1.5" gunnels

There will be a few other odds and ends, electronics box in cabin, seat boxes...but that should be about it. Should be at the shop for thursday where I will begin cutting and designing prior to gluing it all together with the welder.

Material was around $2.50/pound, give or take. In the market of $15-1800 all said and done.

-FB-

 

[Sculpin]

That looks to be a pretty near representation of my body lines!! all for the cost of window glass too...but Im not to one do things twice so alloy it must be!

Onto progression...ordered my floor and cabin material today. all marine grade aluminum, the list is as follows, for those interested in what it will take. These are pre-cut lengths.

Roof - 6' x 6ft x 1/8" (the sheet came in 6x10, so I will have 4' extra to use for seat boxes, raised roof extension, w.h.y)
Sides - 4' x 16' x 1/8"
Frame:
1" x 1" x 1/8" wall, square tubing (100ft + 20ft extra)
Cabin and floor mount:
1.5" x 1.5" x 3/16" wall, angle iron (14' + 6' extra)
Rod Holders:
2" Round Tubing (20')


Floor:

3/16" checker plate - 2 sheets cut into 3 sections in an area totaling 12' x 7'

Upper Cabin and Cockpit Gunnels:
Spare materail from Floor sections, formed into 6" x 1.5" gunnels

There will be a few other odds and ends, electronics box in cabin, seat boxes...but that should be about it. Should be at the shop for thursday where I will begin cutting and designing prior to gluing it all together with the welder.

Material was around $2.50/pound, give or take. In the market of $15-1800 all said and done.

-FB-

Sounds all great there Nick. I sure hope you went at least with 5052 grade on the checker plate and cabin plate. I know most of the tubing and shapes are all 6061 or 6063 so you are fine there. Where did you end up buying the material from? Just curious.

Look into sand blasting that checker plate. You would blow Chap's (from AAB) mind if you did lol. Might cost 100 bucks but worth it IMHO. Raw checker plate can be slippery on a fish boat. Can't wait to see your progression. You are really going at it and I admire that big time (like my sig line) lol.

Cheers,
John

 

[Finished Business]

haha ya John, still thinnking about that option...theres a marine blaster just down the roads, a quick shot blast might be in the cards!

sent you a PM.. and yup floor and cabin are 5052 and frame 6061.

I was thinking about painting the exterior cabin in a white rhino-lining (or similar) product....thoughts on this?

 

[Finished Business]

Had my first major setback/disappointment... once I cleaned everything up and got some light into all the nooks and crannys, I've found the lower corner on the starboard side of my transom has rot. The boat is alloy but the rigidity in the transom comes from 1.5" (3/4" double laminated) Marine plywood. Theres roughly a square foot that has rotted so it looks like I will be seperating the leg and transom assembly and replacing the transom wood...

not too happy about it but happy I found it before going further.

Will post a few pics or a link of the transom disassembly..

 

[Sculpin]

Had my first major setback/disappointment... once I cleaned everything up and got some light into all the nooks and crannys, I've found the lower corner on the starboard side of my transom has rot. The boat is alloy but the rigidity in the transom comes from 1.5" (3/4" double laminated) Marine plywood. Theres roughly a square foot that has rotted so it looks like I will be seperating the leg and transom assembly and replacing the transom wood...

not too happy about it but happy I found it before going further.

Will post a few pics or a link of the transom disassembly..

There is an upside to these major restorations in that you really do become intimate with your mistress.

I think it's a good call replacing it FB. Might as well nip it in the butt now.

 

[Finished Business]

gotta agree there....learning ALOT as I go.

One big thing is yes owning a boat can be expensive, but if you neglect the motor in that equation there really is not much too them aside from a shell and a few guts like wires and lines. It will be good to know exactly what is going wrong when something does, as every connection will have had my hands on them. As well, I can install back up systems where I feel it may be necessary, that the MFG may have opted not to install, in places easily accessable at all times.

The transom replacement will just add to the sense of reliability on the water. Not a big deal now that everything is out.

 

[high tide]

As said earlier ........ DO A POD you won't be disappointed.

HT

 

[Finished Business]

So with the help of ComfortZone we were able to tackle the rotted transom today. It went so quickly, a few hours tops, that I forgot to take pics as we went along. The transom assembly came apart quite easy, it is a mercruiser alpha 2 setup and to disconnect we simply

-remove (4) 12-point 3/8" bolts that attached Y-Pipe to transom assembly.
-disconnect hydraulic steering arm
-remove (8) 5/8" nuts mating the assembly the gimble housing
-disconnect any grounds/remaing wires from housing and transom
-split assembly from housing using a prybar

and done!

Once all the components and hardware was removed from the transom, because of the desgin of the patented Crestliner kicker pocket, we had to cut the old wood out, leaving a third of the original wood transom (which has no rot, thank god) mounted in behind the kicker pocket and structural transom support.
In the next couple days I plan on replacing the wood and adding extra bolts to help further reinforce the seam in the first layer of transom wood.

To help limit this from happening again, I am going to have the very rear section of my floor that meets the transom (now ALU floor) bent up a few degrees so that water runs off the floor infront of the transom, rather than right against it. As well since there is not much room for water to bail into the bilge area from the sides of the boat, I am going to silicone the floor sealed, so that any water can only drain into the engine bay, where I will be adding 2 high volume (750GPH) bilge pumps.

Not a project I looked forward to in replacing the transom but with the help of a good buddy -CZ- we were able to take care of this headache rather quickly. I did snap a couple of shots after the assembly was removed and the wood cut out which I will post in the morrow.

New cabin and flooring should be arriving by noon....just over 600 lbs total. For my own curiousity I am going to weigh my floor once cut to see where the volume of the wieght is. My guess is around 300 on the floor 200 on the cabin and 100 scrap/extra material.

-FB-

 

[Finished Business]

Couple pics to fullfill my post...

-gutted transom
-cleaned and pressure washed bilge area

 

[Finished Business]

I feel like I'm slacking off if this thread makes it to page two!

Back to the top! lol

Put the new transom in. 2pc of 1/2" laminated together, with a 3/4" piece laminated ontop of that giving a total transom thickness of 1.5".

Can finally get back to installing pumps and putting in the floor...fun stuff!!

 

[Sculpin]

I feel like I'm slacking off if this thread makes it to page two!

Back to the top! lol

Put the new transom in. 2pc of 1/2" laminated together, with a 3/4" piece laminated ontop of that giving a total transom thickness of 1.5".

Can finally get back to installing pumps and putting in the floor...fun stuff!!

Hey FB. Did you seal the wood with something like epoxy?

 

[trendsetter]

Nice work man! Did you apply any water proofing sealant or resin to the transom wood?

Also, it's a little late now but make sure the plywood is not pressure treated as the chemicals in it will react with aluminum and cause pitting and corrosion.

Cheers.

 

[Finished Business]

The face of the wood has not been sealed yet, the rear face is handsomely glued to the transom with sikaflex.

I was surprised the original transom had no sealants applied, other than what I guess was over-spray from when the boat was painted.

I was thinking of just sealing the wood with resin or epoxy, but I have another Idea I wanted to throw out there....

I have extra aluminum sheet. I was thinking of cutting it to fit the lower half of the transom, and glueing and screwing it too the transom. Then I would seal the seems where the floor meets the transom. That way there is absolutely no way water can contact the wood transom itself, before it bails into the engine bay and pumped out by the bilges.

I think that makes sense....thoughts on that? I think it would then last forever more-or-less as the wood would be wrapped in aluminum sheet...

More aluminum?? Scuplin may be on board with this one...haha

 

[Sangster21]

From the keyhole, it looks like you have a mercruiser outdrive. Check to make sure you have the appropriate thickness to the transom. I believe the specs call for thickness between 2 and 2-1/4 inches. If the thickness is off, you will have issues installing your outdrive. The aluminmum plate would look sharp, but I think it would be a good idea to seal the transom wood with a couple of coats of epoxy to be sure.
Alan

 

[Sculpin]

I would do both. Seal it with some epoxy resin then put the aluminum sheet on. Then again I would have welded a vertical structural aluminum stringer system with major structural channels or something for the outdrive then clad the whole thing in with a sheet of 1/4" plate on the inside LOL!