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Update
(1/1/05)
 As
a kid growing up in the Caribbean. (St. Croix) I used to hang around on
the docks downtown and watch the big sport fishing boats come in and
unload their catch of Marlin, Sailfish, and Sharks. The sound of those
big, growling diesels and the spectacle of the giant towers and
outriggers was nothing short of awe inspiring to a young white boy on
the docks.. Boats had names like Bertram, Egg Harbor, Chris Craft, and,
Hatteras. Drooling over those boats left such an impression on me that
eventually I ended up here with over twenty years in the boat business.
Here are a couple pictures from St.Croix. You just don't see boats like
this on Lake Travis. (probably due to a shortage of Blue Marlin), until
now. Call me crazy if you want (It won't be the first time) but I am
bringing a full blown "BATTLE WAGON"
completely dressed out with Detroit Diesel's, Outriggers, and a Tuna
Tower that would give Amelia Earhardt a nosebleed, to Lake Travis.
I give you
"Special Project # 4"! This 1986 Chris Craft 42 Sport fish
popped up during my Hurricane boat search and my eyes popped out of my
head! To say this thing needs a little TLC is an understatement, but it
is the "real McCoy". The boat has been acquired and fresh
engines have been located. The challenge now is to get it torn down for
shipping. This is not going to be a small job. The tower will have to be
completely removed and possibly sectioned for shipping. It is a wide
load by itself. The bridge will also have to come off. This boat will be
over 15' tall without the tower. At this point At this point I am hoping
to have the disassembled boat here by early Feb. I will update the site
as things progress. This is a big one........ It's going to take
some hard work to reel it in.
Update
(2/1/05)
 After
three weeks plus of arranging things on the phone the Chris Craft
finally arrives at Eriksen Marine. It is 52' outside and raining. Four
and a half hours later The bridge is on the ground. The tower is on the
ground. The engines and the upper helm station are inside the shop and
the boat is on stands. We were soaked but the boat is finally here. The
yard in Florida wanted to charge triple the going rate to tear the boat
down and storage on top of that. I was very relieved to get the boat out
of there. The transport guys did a great job tearing the boat down and
managed to get the whole thing on one truck plug two 2,800 lbs engines!
(one in the escort truck) I would recommend these guys to anyone. They
did a great job. I was told by several other companies that this boat
would take two trucks. They also tore is down for exactly what I
predicted it would cost.
These Deroit
Diesel's are gigantic. Since the engines in the boat had been reduced
to what I would call "a basket case", I found two freshly
rebuild 671TIB Johnson and Towers Detroits that were pulled out of a
48ft Custom Sportfish that was getting a 200k+ refit that included two
brand new electronic Cummins engines. the work order for the rebuilds
was quite impressive. All new pistons and cylinders. Brand new heads!
Rebuilt turbos, hoses, etc. Very complete. The total bill on the rebuild
job $35,000.00. They have only have 300hrs on them since it was done in
late 2003. These engines are pretty amazing themselves. They are
Supercharged, Intercooled, and Turbocharged. All three! These particular
ones were "hopped up" by Johnson and Towers. I expect they
will get that Chris Craft up on the step without breaking a sweat. Now
for my next trick, we have to figure out how to get those bad boys
through the door and into the boat. The go under the floor inside the
cabin.
No problem!
Our fiberglass guy Rick just broke out some saws and cut the entire back
wall of the cabin out! Access problem solved. We may make that wall
removable for future serviceability.
Update (2/10/05)
 Lot's
of progress. The old engines are out. This was a large step. the bilge
was so full of oil and black filth that there was no way to work in
there at all. We cleaned it up so we could get in there and pull the dead
engines out. One look at the generator and it was quickly decided that it
needed to come out too. that is one sad looking generator. We were
amazed when we hooked it up to a battery and a can of diesel. Not only
did it run but it made power! Some parts of that generator were so
rusted that they were unrecognizable. The engine ran so well that we
decided to go ahead and refurb this generator instead of replace it. A
new engine tray and some new electrical and service parts and it should
be good to go.
The entire boat had been painted
at some point in it's life. The prep job was so poor that the paint was
falling off all over the boat. The finish was so bad that it was just as
well. We were able to actually remove the paint from the entire hull
with a razorblade. It just peeled off in sheets. We will repaint the
entire boat with Imron. "pepsi white" This is a brilliant
white with a slight bluish tint. The helm station has already been
prepped and has the first coat.
Update
(3/1/05)
 Lot's
of progress! The bridge helm station is painted and ready for
installation of new hardware. The generator has been stripped and
painted. It is also getting a complete new (re-wound) armature and
stator. The bilge has been scrubbed out and cleaned. (Although you could
never tell it by looking at it) Rotten platforms for the generator and
the two large engine batteries have been chiseled out and replaced with
new wood and glass. I removed all the gauges from the dash panel and
sent it off to be refinished and re-labled. Also the oil pan for one of
the new engines had been damaged either coming out of the other boat or
in transport. We lifted that engine and replaced the pan with a new one.
all of the thru-hulls have now been removed from the hull bottom and
will be replaced/re-bedded. Fiberglass work on the flybridge is well
under way and it should be getting it's Imron paint soon. We are also
wet sanding the large, thick and heavy Lexan door. It is cracked and
crazed from years of sun, but the damage appears to be on the surface.
So far it looks like it will clean up.
Update
(3/18/05)
 It's
all about the bridge. The paint job on the bridge is complete all the
way down to the black strip and the gold leaf trim. After trimming out
the doorways on the helm station and install the teak trim back on the
top of the station, it was time to put some stuff back up on the boat.
The helm station was set up on the roof and then the bridge. Pretty
touchy operation. We had to set the bridge on blocks up on the roof and
then pull the blocks and set it down, just in the right place. In the
meantime we finished cleaning the bilge and gave it a coat of white
"Bilgecoat paint". Compare this photo to earlier ones of the
bilge. These two events are turning points in the project. It is
starting to look like it could really come together in time. I am hoping
for a birthday cruise on June 13. Ambitious, but we are making lots of
progress fast and I am starting to get fewer "raised eyebrow"
comments about how crazy this all is. Now we can start some rigging work
and actually start assembling some things. The next big step will be
setting engines in.
Update
(4/9/05)
 Here
is where we are as of today. The
driving station for the tower is painted, has it's new controls, rebuilt
helm and new steering wheel installed and is up on the tower. I finally
found someone willing and able to make a new dash panel out of black
aluminum to replace the o.e.m. plastic one. The large plastic vents on
the hullsides crumbled when we took them off. I am having new ones
fabricated out of polished stainless steel. The upholstery for the
bridge, tower, and cockpit coamings is done and delivered. A
sportfishing
boat is not a sport fishing boat without a fighting chair. The original
one had been removed before I bought the boat. Thanks to some diligent
searching on e-bay, the perfect chair was found and it arrived this
week. You don't see too many fighting chairs on Lake Travis! I sure I
will find some alternative uses for the chair beyond it being a
conversation piece. I have never seen this boat with the outriggers up
(even in the pictures from the keys). I wasn't even sure if I had all
the pieces. So today we decided to put them up and see what we had. Oh
yea! That is what I am talking about. Now it is starting to look like
what it is instead of just some old boat. I am dying to see it with the
tower up. Before we can put that up we have to put the engines and the
back wall in. We have a long way to go still.
Update
( 5/3/05)
 If
your Dupont stock went up in April, it's because we painted the hull of
the Chris Craft. Many many gallons of white, black, and clear Imron
found a new home on the hull and cabin. The whole boat is painted now
except for the deck and gunwales. Due to the amount of traffic on the
deck we will save that for later. The tower now has new canvas on the
"Bimini" and the "hardtop". We are stripping and
painting the engines Mercury "phantom black". This way, touch
up paint will always be handy when they get worked on later. The
generator is re-assembled, bench/floor tested and set back in the
boat.
During
the painting of the deck a freak event almost caused a total loss of the
boat. At some point in it's life someone installed mirrors under the
bar. The painters were staying late to finish spraying the cabin house
and they noticed what looked like overspray coming out of the cabin but
when they stopped spraying it kept coming out. When one of the painters
walked around to see what was going on, he found the cabin floor
smoking and almost in flames!! They doused the floor with water and got
the smoldering to stop. There were no chemicals anywhere near this area.
What had happened was the slightly warped mirror was catching the late
afternoon sun through the open back wall and focused it in one spot on
the floor until it was hot enough to start burning. In the pictures you
can see the burned spot on the floor and the place on the bar where the
mirror was. (It was tacky anyway). Scary..... Especially when I have
already seen another noble project reduced to ashes very quickly by just
such a freak event. The picture of the burning boat is of that boat not
mine. I guess April was my lucky month. At this point I estimate that we
are not quite halfway through the project.
My
hope is that the next update will show the engines going in.
Update
(6/10/05)
 Repeat
after me slowly, "sloooowwwlllyyyyy...". That it how the Chris
Craft is coming along this month. My June 13th cruise might be in '06!
With the summer season in full swing it is really getting difficult to
keep this project moving along at what was a pretty brisk pace.
Customer's boats must come first. I am going to have to move the target
completion date back by two or three months. On top of the normal summer
rush we have some large "customer pay" jobs that are going to
take every resource we have to get done in a timely fashion. I will
adjust the process on the Chris Craft accordingly and take advantage of
the extra time to take some parts of the boat to a higher level.
I have been getting lots
of feedback on this project. Thanks for the comments! Here is what we
have done since the last update.
All four cutlass bearings
have been replaced. Since this was a salt water boat and has 2"
diameter shafts I brought a guy in with a hydraulic puller to press them
out. The paint on the entire hull has now been sanded and buffed. This
was two weeks of work by itself. There is an awful lot of surface area
there. It shines like a mirror. I think the Imron paint was good choice.
New opening ports are also now installed.
The anchor windlass is
here. We had a polished stainless steel plate made to act as a platform
for it to mount to the deck. The original windlass was missing and there
were holes all over the place. The original also had exposed wiring. Our
installation will hide all of that below the deck.
Right now the interior of
the boat is a complete disaster, but I have plans for it too. The bar
top, kitchen counter, bait station top, and both bathroom sinks will be
tossed. The counter tops will be replaced with granite and all four
sinks will be new under-mount sinks that will be blended into the
countertops. I went to the granite yard and picked out the material for
the tops. White and black for the bait station. The dark brown one that
has hints of blue will be the bar top and kitchen counter. The tan and
gold one will be for the head and v-berth sinks. Fixtures are ordered
and the patterns for the tops are made. In the bilge, new thru-hulsl and
strainers are installed. New water heater, battery charger, and a/c pump
are in the process of being installed.
After two months of
waiting, my aluminum dash panel is finally done! The machine shop did a
beautiful job. Our fiberglass guys finalized the trim and paint work and
the new black VDO gauges look great in it. Compare this dash to the
original in the 03/01 update.
Even though the engines
are still on the floor of the shop and the June launch date has become a
joke, writing this update has actually reminded me how much we did do
this month. The boat really has come a long way. Also, as the job comes
along we have been adding to the list and the final product looks like
it will keep getting better and better. The same thing happened with the
Porsche project. It cost twice as much and took four times as long as I
had planned, but it turned out better than I dared imagine. There was a
stage about halfway through that project were it was getting hard to
picture it ever getting completed. That experience has prepared me for
this one. I knew the frustrating stage would come and go. It is here,
but I was expecting it. I can still visualize the finished product. This
is going to be one damn fine boat.
Update
(7/6/05)
 Two
big things. Engines and counters.
We had a customer come in who made the mistake of mentioning that he was
a mobile diesel mechanic that specialized in Detroit Diesels. He was
looking at buying one of our boats. I said "you're hired!" We
are gas engine guys and these Detroits are a little different that what
we are used to seeing. They were supposedly freshly rebuilt, with only
300 hrs on them since a very complete overhaul. However, due to timing,
distance, and shipping reasons I bought them sight unseen and had never
even heard them run. They have been here sitting on the floor for six
months. Diesel man "Lee" checked them over, adjusted the
valves, and ran the racks on them. Then came the fun part. We ran them
both on the ground. Now that was a testosterone festival like I have
never seen before. We run engines on the ground all the time but nothing
like this. The sound was unreal.
The best part was running them
wide open throttle to check the governor setting. The throttle response
on these engines was unbelievable. They are snappy! I have included some
mpegs of the engines being test run on the ground for you here. I kept
them short to keep file size down. The computer just can't reproduce
that sound though.
I was very glad to find out that
the engines were indeed perfect and I did o.k. buying them sight unseen.
(I was very nervous about that) We replaced some questionable hoses,
changed fluids and filters. There was nothing left to do to them but put
'em in the boat. So we did!
Earlier we had transferred the
engine mounts from the old Covington 671's but the front mounts were
different. I suspected that we would end up having to make some new
brackets to make things like up once we got them in the boat. Amazingly,
that turned out not to be a problem. However we did have another
problem. When we pulled the old engines out, they were mostly
disassembled. These engines are completely dressed out, (Turbos/exhaust/heads
etc) When we tried to put them in the boat, they would not go through
the hole! You would think that cutting the entire back wall out of the
cabin would be enough, but it was not. Since the engines had already
been tested and tuned I really did not want to take them apart. After
fighting the first one for several hours, and finally getting it in
place, we cut yet another large hole to get the second one in.
Preliminary alignment has been made on both. Now the back wall can
finally go back in.
While all this was going on the
granite countertops were being made. The day after the engines went in,
the countertop guys arrived to install the new granite. Well, two of
them did not fit right and actually the colors didn't look very good
once they were in the boat. Since they were going to have make new ones
anyway, I changed all of them to the same color (black and white-luna
pearl) and all the sinks to stainless. When they came back out with
these, the look was much better.
Meanwhile rigging in the bilge
continues and now the wall can be re-installed. Once the wall is in I
can put the tower on! Then we can start hooking up controls etc. That
will be the fun part. Considering this is our busiest time of the year
and all of our mechanics were booked solid, I am very pleased with what
we got done this go round.
Update
(7/13/05)
 The
engines are finally lined up. The starboard one had to come back out to
clearance a stringer "jeez.". Now we can finally put the wall
back in and put the tower on. Since I have had the boat here for six
months I have been dying to see the superstructure put together. I have
only seen pictures of the boat assembled. Up until now this boat has
been scattered all over Eriksen Marine and only I know what it is really
going to look like when it is all together.
We also started mounting the
windlass. With the Texas summer heat, we have 100' temps in the
afternoon. As soon as we put the back wall in the temperature inside the
boat went up to a point where you can barely stay inside for more than a
few minutes at a time. I got a portable A/C unit that we have set up
inside so we can keep going. Check out the pictures I took from the top
of the tower. What a view that will be out on the water! The pictures
really speak for themselves on this update. Wow...Some serious hardware
on that bad boy.
Update
(7/30/05)
 Now
that we are on the downhill slide of summer, those pesky customers can
leave us alone so we
can finish the Chris Craft. (Just kidding of course) We managed to
salvage the 1" thick Lexan cabin door. It was so cracked from the
sun you barely see through it. Removing about a ¼ inch of material from
the outside of it and polishing it, brought the door back to looking
like new.
We also filled all the screw holes
in the cockpit, finished in the back wall and painted the aft end of the
cabin and the cockpit area (except for the cockpit floor). We also
mounted the overhead electronic boxes on the bridge.
We found some problems with the
rudders. The upper support had rusted off of one of them and it had
dropped down almost an inch. I did some studying on this. According to
multiple studies done by numerous boating safety commissions, boats like
this one experience reduced responsiveness to helm input when both
rudders have fallen out of the boat. It’s a good thing I am not in
Florida. If that rudder fell out down there it could whack a Manatee
right on it’s forehead.
I know what happens when your
rudder suddenly goes away. I friend and I were racing each other in 12ft
sailboats years ago. I tacked over, pulled up behind him, grabbed his
rudder and un-clipped it off the back of his boat then sailed off with
it in my hands. The boats were Holder 12’s. You can’t drop the sail
when you are out on the water in one of those because it slides over the
top of the mast. He went spinning around in circles completely out of
control. You should have seen the look on his face! After a few minutes
of that, I sailed back up and clipped his rudder back on. He was glad to
have it back.
Speaking of going ‘round in
circles, I have been flip/flopping about the lower station. I was going
to take it out and make that the "media corner" for TV/stereo.
I already have it halfway out. Plus, as long as this is job taking I may
be taking my first ride in the sleet and snow. The lower station stays.
I found a better spot for the TV anyway. Three driving stations on a 42’
boat. Hopefully that is enough.
Update
(9/06/05)
 Chris
Craft update 09/06/05
Sorry it has been while since the last update.
We had a huge repair job that was in it’s final stages and we had to
focus on getting it wrapped up and delivered. Never the less progress
has been made on our favorite fresh water marlin hunter.
Some parts that were ordered months ago are
finally finding their way into the boat.
I am almost ashamed to admit that I spent over
$1,500.00 for four faucets that are going into a boat, but look how cool
they are! There is also a chrome/bar sink version for the bait station.
(maybe we will have to spread some Grey Poupon on the bait) The galley
sink gets a black Moen faucet with the built in sprayer. Of course, we
are replacing most of the water lines as we go.
Now the next big project is the electrical
system. BIG CHANGES HERE.
- The battery switches
along with an assortment of mismatched breakers and fuses were
randomly mounted on a piece of plywood located right in the lowest
part of the bilge between the engines. That way if water rises in
the bilge the primary electrical distribution point for the boat is
the very first thing to go under water. Also if you want to turn on
or off one of those switches or reset a breaker the carpet in the
salon would have to come up and a large section of the cabin floor
has to be lifted out before you can even get near that plywood
board. After lots of searching on e-bay, I stumbled across a brand
new, pre-made battery switch panel. It had four extra heavy duty
battery switches, plus the breakers for three bilge pumps and a
large windlass breaker. All of this pre-wired and labeled on an
aluminum panel. While searching for a better location for this new
panel, I found the perfect spot. Right in the middle of the galley
floor there is a storage compartment with a hatch that lifts up. The
aft side of that compartment opens up right into the engine
compartment. We mounted the panel right there and began running all
new battery cables. It looks great and is extremely easy to get to.
- This boat has three
air conditioners and is powered by two 30 amp, 110volt shore power
cords. I used to own a boat that had three a/c units and 30 amp
cords. In the heat of summer that just doesn’t work. When you have
all three units running, the water heater on, TV on, and someone
trying to cook, two 30 amp cords just don’t provide enough current
to do all that. The solution is to convert the boat to 50amp 220volt
service. Thanks to OHM’s law, when you increase voltage, current
draw goes down. Replacing the a/c units and water heater with 220
volt units and changing the shore power inlet to a singe 50amp inlet
actually leaves more reserve current available to power the rest of
the boat. It also will reduce electric bill at the dock since the
220 units use less current. Of course this means we will have to do
some significant rewiring of the shore power system and re-configure
the generator. This leads us to……..
- The A/C and DC panels
in the boat are both serviceable but dated. The A/C panel was
located in a lower cabinet in the galley and the DC panel in the
salon. You would have to literally get down on your knees in the
galley floor to start the gen set and transfer the power over. Since
this panel was going to have to be re-configured anyway, I decided
to do away with them both and have a new, updated panel custom made
that is pre-wired for the new 110/220 system that the boat will now
have. The folks at Paneltronics build most of the OEM panels for the
major boat builders in the industry. They will also build one-off
custom panels for situations like this. You can actually go online
and spec out a complete panel on their website. This includes all
the labeling, indicators, and the amperage of each breaker. It took
several hours to do and about a month to have built, but I now have
a complete, pre wired panel custom made for my boat and the
equipment that is in it. It is mounted in an aluminum frame and is
hinged for ease of future upgrades and serviceability. It also has
digital displays for voltage and current draw, 12v, 110, and 220
Nice…… By the way, we are a Paneltronics dealer. If you want one
of these (and you will after you see mine) we can help you put it
together. We have just started mounting it to the wall and will
begin the wiring process. This step will start to bring the boat to
life as equipment in the boat will start to actually work.
- What good is a
fishing boat without a large flat screen TV and a home theater
system? Of course those breakers are already labeled and loaded in
my panel. The starboard wall in the salon had and assortment of
vents, storage lids, and old half removed equipment in it. The
number of random holes in the wall meant that the wall had to be
replaced. TV etc. will be flush mounted in the new wall. That will
be a much later update. Once again I am very surprised at what had
actually been done once I write this update. It always seems like we
didn’t accomplish much until I sit down and write this and them I
go "wow"……
- Wow………
Update
(1/15/06)
 The
Chris Craft project has been "on holiday" with rest of us for
a bit, but we are back on track now.
The prototype for the
stainless steel hull side vents was given to me to test fit on the hull.
It was an exact fit in place of the old/crumbling plastic vent. Perfect!
Now they will make the vent for the other side, weld them from the back
side and get the electro-polished. If anyone out there with a 422 want a
set of these made I can give you the number of the place that made these
for me. Everything they do is CAD engineered and laser cut. Now that
they have done mine they should be able to duplicate another set
quickly.
This month we are
focusing on some of the less glamorous parts of the job. All of the fuel
lines are being pulled out and replaced. The oil lines to the Oil
Exchanger system are now hooked up. We are completely gutting the
exhaust system and replacing all of it but the two mufflers. Those
things are GIANT. The pictures really don't show it. Also, the DAHL fuel
filters that came with the new engines are mounted and plumbed in.
You can also see some of
the progress we have made on re-wiring the boat. Boats like this have a
way of accumulating misc. wiring from old equipment that had been
removed/replaced but the old wires don't get pulled out. This boat
should be almost completely re-wired by the time we are done. About the
only thing we are keeping are the original engines wiring harness. We
also pressure checked the fuel tanks and are replacing the wood
structure and hold downs for the tanks.
Since I have become a two
boat owner I have put this boat up for sale. It is with mixed feelings
that I do so. The other boat is a 460 Sea Ray. While it does not make my
heat pound like this boat does, I have to admit that it is a more
appropriate boat for the lake. Plus it fits in a covered slip. I am
ashamed to admit it but waiting for over one year to have a boat to run
wore me out. The good news is that I can take my time finishing this
boat and still see it through without rushing it into the water. I am
also going to continue doing it like it will be my boat because if
someone makes me an offer on the Sea Ray that I can't refuse, this will
still be my boat. I can see why so many project boats never get
finished. I would not suggest doing one without having another boat to
use while you are doing it.
Update
(11/15/06)
 Lots
of changes!
Well, the debate about selling the Sea Ray 460 or the Chris Craft 422
was settled by selling them both! I am currently shopping for a new
boat. I should have my head examined... The good news is the gentleman
who bout the Chris Craft is going to have us complete the job for him.
That is a great deal. I get to finish the boat and he pays the bills.
Actually he got a great deal on the boat and when it is all over, he
should have the nicest 422 out there at a great price.
I had the boat up
on e-bay and that was an adventure. We have had great success selling
refurbished generators on e-bay, so I thought I would try and sell the
boat there. The
first listing was yanked with over 50k in bids because e-bay didn't like
something in my title line. When I re-listed it none of the original
bidders came back. However the boat quickly generated a new batch of
buyers.
Several flew in to see it. When
the second auction ran out the winner was a fellow from Boston. He had
is own boat sold and it was to close the day after the auction ran out.
Guess what? His sale fell through. Guess what happened next mine did
too. He could not pay for the boat. It is a shame because he knew what
the boat was and really wanted it. Actually, he had a Bertram 46 at one
time and his dock neighbor had a 422. He said that he preferred the 422
because it ran better and was more stable than his Bertram. Ever since
then he has been waiting for a nice 422 to appear, but then he cold not
pay or it. Then after three weeks of hassling with e-bay, one of my dock
neighbors steps up and writes a check for it! Ok.... ? Wow. He owns a
marina on the coast and will put the boat down there to fish out of when
he is down there.
So, work has resumed! So far, we
have finished the exterior striping, sanded and buffed the hull, and
installed the Chris Craft logos. We also started replacing the
insulation in the engine compartment. (that really looks nice) then
yesterday we finished wiring in the generator and we now have it running
and making power in the boat. It starts and stops from the control panel
and powers up both the 220 and 115 banks on the new shore power panel.
We are just getting started on this thing again but look for the updates
to resume and we can all watch this boat come together!
Update
(12/30/06)
 Ever
seen a 2007 Chris Craft 422 Commander? That is what this boat is going
to look like inside. The new owner is taking the interior way beyond
what even I was going to do. We completely gutted everything! All of the
headliner was pulled out. All of the vinyl and wall coverings removed
and the whole interior basically done from scratch. All of the wood had
been refinished with a sprayed on glossy clear coat. Several areas in
the bow now have new matching wood sections where vinyl and carpet was
before. The new vinyl and headliner is the same material used in the
owner's 2006 500 Sea Ray. It really does update the look of the boat.
The real wood in this boat really sets it off. The old lighting fixtures
have all been removed and new cabin lighting is flushed into the new
headliner structure.
The head was also
completely stripped. Wood and painted surfaces have all been
re-finished. These pictures say it all.
Update
(1/ 23/07)
 An
engine starts and runs in the boat! Today the port engine started off
the boats batteries, exhausted through the boats exhaust, ran off the
boats fuel tank, and turned on and off from the boat's panel. It has
been months since I heard one of these babies run and it sounds as sweet
as ever. It is
very encouraging to see it come to life in the boat. The exhaust system
posed some challenges but we found a good way to route the exhaust that
will also help to prevent possible water ingestion during a hard back
down. Right now it is all done with hose but the curved section will
later be replaced with a stainless "U". Those Detroits are
just amazing. They start in less than half a rotation. There is
absolutely nothing that sounds like a 2 cycle Detroit! Check out the
video..
The wood crew has moved into the
salon and they are stripping, refinishing, and repairing all the walls.
VIDEO
Update (8/23/07)
 It has been months
since I have had a chance to update this but this project has certainly
not been sitting idle! A lot has been accomplished so this one
will be a bit long.
The fresh water
tanks and holding tanks have both been replaced. All the plumbing for
both systems is new. The sinks are all working, shower and new sump pump
is working. A new head is installed and is functional. New
switches, relays, and a new macerator pump are also installed.
A complete new
headliner is framed and installed. New vinyl wall coverings are on and
ready to be trimmed out.
New cabin lighting
system and new wall switches are installed and functioning. New cook
top,microwave and fridge are mounted and trimmed in.
A hammered copper
backsplash was made for the cook top area.
New cherry laminate
is on the cabin walls and cabinet doors. Other interior surfaces are
stained and clear coated to match. Cabinet interiors are cleaned and
painted.
Three brand new 220v
a/c units are installed and operational.
Both upper and lower
dash panels are loaded with gauges and switches. They are in the boat,
wired and fully functional. Both engines start and stop from both
stations. All instrumentation is functional including transmission
pressure gauges which the boat did not have before. The engines are
running off the boat's own fuel tanks and pumping water through the new
strainers and sea cocks. Throttle and shift controls for the lower
station are connected with new cables and new cables are also run for
the bridge and tower stations.
A new valance for
the main cabin has been fabricated, covered, and installed.
The interior of this
boat is going to be phenomenal! All that remains on the inside is
some minor trim work and the flooring. The sliding main cabin
windows are being cut out and one piece acrylic windows will be
installed to update the look of the outside of the main cabin. This is a
very time consuming job but will look great when it is
done. A fiberglass block has been mounted in the anchor locker to hold
the windlass relay box. The boat originally only had foot switches for
the windlass but will now have foot switches plus rocker switches at
both stations.
Finishing the
windlass, cabin windows, control cables, exhaust clamps, and fuel fill
hoses are next, along with more interior trim and touch up. This
description only barely covers what has been done on this boat since the
last update. It has really come a long way. I will try to keep these
coming more frequently as we get closer to putting it in the water and
to start sea trials.
Update (3/10/08)
 This
is going to be a very condensed update! Four months plus of high
intensity work have been put into this boat since the last update and it
really shows. A new Fiberglass frame for the upper dash panel is made
and installed. A new venturi windscreen had been fabricated and
installed. One piece side windows for the cabin are installed. Fuel
tanks have been flushed and cleaned. Correct tachs and senders are
installed. All engine instrumentation is connected and working at both
stations. Emergency engine shutdown cables are installed. The lower
transom door is on. Trim tabs and anchor windlass are operational. A/C
units are tested and operational. Teak is being installed on the cockpit
coamings.
Update (3/12/08)
 And
the big news is it's first Sea Trial! After three years she is in the
water and running strong! No smoke, 2,450rpm on both sides and over
26mph without even trying. It runs a little bow high so I expect it to
perform even better when we run it again with the operational trim tabs.
That is one good looking boat on the water. Kinda makes me with it was
still mine. Certainly a sight to see on an inland lake in the middle of
Texas. Great performance, acceleration, and what an awesome sound it
makes. Gotta love it. Three stations with mechanical controls were way
too stiff and had a terrible feel. We will pull all those out and
install a Microcommander system before the next sea trail.
Original Invoice (Part 1) |
Original Invoice (Part 2) |
Original Slick Sheet |
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