Exciter Overhaul

[jallen355]

I guess I'm kind of starting at the end here becuase it's all but finished now. Just need to upholster the bench seat that I redesigned and reconstructed. That and a couple other minor details will be a wrap. I swapped some labor with a friend of mine the other day and he did a really nice job of fitting the carpet which was the last thing standing in the way of me completing the rerigging of her.

I got to test run it yesterday evening before the sun went down. It was a blast out in the lake topping the 1-3 footers over to the Parish Line Canal and back. Here's a few parting shots.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/SeaTrialsMay82008001.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/SeaTrialsMay82008008.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/SeaTrialsMay82008007.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/SeaTrialsMay82008015.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/SeaTrialsMay82008004.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/SeaTrialsMay82008003.jpg

I took lots of pictures along the way of the destruction, rotted wood, etc., as well as, lots of pics of the reconstruction of a new dual stringer system, flooring and transom knees all out of "Cooa Board" which is a fiberglass reinforced polyurethane foam board that will not rot again. The boat is now stronger and lighter than ever and has a "ton" of storage as compared to before. I even add a teak ski locker that I scored on Ebay that for some unknown reason, my boat was never equipped with.

[hotdaddy27]

LOOKS GREAT!!!

Congrats...Looks like the hard work paid off.

[jallen355]

Thanks! It has been alot of work for sure. The bulk of it began on Feb. 6 when the rot removal started. The pics above were taken yesterday after I got it wet for the first time since Feb. 5th.

When I bought the boat, it was an incompleted project. The previous owner had the boat painted and a new wiring harness and some new gauages in it along with a new "single cable" steering setup for the 150 hp. No front seats at all, no carpet and the rest of the upholstery was at least in tact but in need of replacement.

There was a section of floor between the rear seat and the back side of the front seat mounts that had been replaced at some point in the past. Immediately in front of and behind the patch panel, there were a couple of "small" soft spots. Here's what I found when I removed the patch panel that had been installled.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/floorrot1.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/floorrot2.jpg

Notice the pry bar is pushed into a completely rotten single center mounted stringer. It "was" merely a 3/4" piece of plywood that had two or three places along its length where some glue or something tried to hold it in place.

[jallen355]

In the next pic, I had layed the patch panel back in place to have something to work from and began cutting along the perimeter of the floor from the transom all the way to the raised portion of the floor under the fore deck (play pen) which was found to still be solid.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/floorrot3.jpg

The wood I exposed here along with all the remaining wood from the entire floor panel and stringer was loaded into a single garbage can...one "handful" at a time. I'm talking mulch here fella's. It was nasty.

The foam was not (too my surprise) saturated. It came out, for the most part, in complete pieces. I opted NOT to reinstall it, however.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/floorrot4.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/floorrot5.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/floorrot6.jpg

[jallen355]

I should take a minute a explain a few more things here. Remember, this is a synopsis of a restoration in reverse. In the pics above, you will see a full compliment of gauges, a nice sternin' (steering) wheel, fire ext., hot foot, switch panel, and even a 12V aux. power supply (which I finally wired today...lol). All of which I had installed since purchasing the boat last summer and obviously before I began the rot repair.

What you do not see that I have already done prior to this phase is the complete dash re-wiring using the new Mercury harness the previous owner had "kind of" installed, a freshly overhauled 150 hp Merc by my friend Mike (T-Rex....king of the 2-liter) had rebuilt for me after, me in all my "stupity", proceed to destroy on the first run after purchasing the boat and a fresh lower unit that was overhauled by my bud David @Performance Marine around the corner from my house. More on the lower later in this thread....

[jallen355]

The following pics were taken after all of the rotten wood (so I thought) had been removed...... You can see where I stopped removal going forward. The stringer and the raised floor in the "play pen" were still solid and did not deem removal/replacement. Notice, however, that the rear corner flotation boxes and the starboard side battery tray are still in tact. More on them later.....:eyecrazy:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/floorrot7.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/floorrot8.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/floorrot9.jpg

[jallen355]

Here I have begun grinding the hull bottem in preperation for coming back up with the new stuff. There's a few things that I haven't removed yet like the foot throttle, extinguisher, stainless rails under deck and the old stern light holders. At this point I know my coring is solid. The transom was also found to be solid as a rock......knock on wood....pun intended.
:banana:

Sounds like a "walk in the park" right???? :sleep:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside008.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside004.jpg

Here is the new Coosa Board stringer system I fabbed up and have fitted at this point. Notice the drain holes throughout. No water will "sit" in this hull again.

[cmpulse170]

Jallen355 That's a great job you've done.:thumb: I hope my floor resto will go as quickly in the fall/winter of this year. More details please:D

[MateFever]

Excellent work man!!! Truly one of the best looking boats on here and the best looking Exciter I've ever seen.

[jallen355]

Thanks guys, but it's not over yet.

While grinding the hull bottem for adhesion of the upcoming glass work, I "knicked" the bottem edge of the starboard side battery tray a few tmes along the way. Refering back to this pic you can see the starboard battery tray/floatation box assembly befire it was removed.....
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/floorrot3.jpg

Oh, I'd say about the ump-teenth time I hit it with my Dewalt, I got a surprise! The bottem of my freshly ground hull started filling up with WATER!!!! :shakehead: WTF??? The starboard side battery tray/floatation box enclosure had been holding water!!! I stuck my grinder into the edge and held on until she bogged down and begged for mercy....:D I climbed out as the water trickled out. Then, I went inside, showered and jumped in the sack!

The next day, I cut into the port side box and found it to be dry as a bone. Unbelievable!!! Seems like the only way I could figure the water got in was through the stern light fitting topside on the starboard side over the years. Needles to say, I resealed that booger.

Anywhoo, I knew I had no choice but to "86" the battery tray. I'm glad I did. It was nothing more than more "mulch"!! Then I figured I better go ahead and remove the floatation box/foam, too. I started to cut it out and found that the inside wall actually made the transom knee/support and was rotten from the bottem up about 4" so I cut it completely out. It WAS made out of a couple of pieces of 3/4" thick pieces of plywood that was not laminated in glass very well. I'm sure glad I found this rot, too. I'd hate to have my motor drop to the bottem of the river when my transom broke off. I wish I'd have taken a pic at this point, but I was kind of covered up with glass and foam dust and didn't want to trash my camera.

I decided to sand/shape the foam floatation back, saving a good portion of it, and build an enclosure panel out of the coosa board. Here's a pic of the battery tray removed, the transom knee gone and the fabbed up coosa panel shaped and fit into place to fit over the remiaing floatation.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside009.jpg

I this pic, you can see where the transom knee used to be. It had formed the inside most wall of the floataion box. If you look close at the transom, you'll see the "ghost" from where it was originally glassed in.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside010.jpg

[Old Hickory]

Looks really good;:thumb: you'll be thrilled to know I've decided to at least use Coosa on my transom and to patch all of my cut outs. I will probably also use it to rebuild the stern end of the deck. I started putting together all the pics of my transom removal and didn't have time to post em' this weekend. That takes almost as much time as fixin this stuff:D Good job, can't wait to see more.

BTW, how did you set up drainage for the port and starboard side of your stringers? Didn't see any drain holes.(saw the ones running down center line)

Hick

[jallen355]

I think you made a good decision there. Your going to like working with the stuff and the end results you will have.

Your right about the time it takes to document and "tell the story".

That pic of the strigers was when they were being desgined and fitted. They weren't installed at that point. I actually totally encapsulated them in mat during install. The first thing I had to do was to turn them upside down and glasss the bottem edges which was kind of a battle to get all the drain holes, including the drain holes at the very rear bottems where the stringers meet the transom glassed in as smoothly as I could.

At this point I decided to begin glassing what I had. I started with a layer over the transom to seal any spots I might have knocked open with the grinding done during the destruction. I also glass in the coosa panel to close up the remaining foam in the starboard side rear corner.

Another thing I did to help facilitate water leaving the hull was to build up the floor of the bildge right in front of the drain plug hole. It is installed too high off the floor IMHO. A few layers of glass and it is now much better.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside006.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside007.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside013.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside012.jpg

[zstevens]

awesome job looks great !

[jallen355]

Thanks, Zach.

Next stop... "Second Floor"!

[jallen355]

At this point, I've decided to go ahead and install the floor to make it easier to continue on with remaining repairs like building transom knee(s) and removing/modifying the port side flotation box which I figure now is rotten to some extent just as the starboard side was found to be.

With the floor panel cut and shaped to fit the hull from a 1/2" thick piece of coosa board that comes 8' long, (did I mention how easy this stuff is to work with?) I find I need to add a second piece nearly 12" long to complete the floor panel that is close to 9' long from the fore deck to the transom and decide to section it under the rear deck below where the fuel tank will eventually be installed. Hence the extra, double thick bulkhead that was installed towards the rear.

Here is the main floor panel flipped upside down with a single layer of mat laminated to the underside.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside001.jpg

Here is the same panel with the excess mat trimmed around the edges and ready to drop in and laminate in the hull.

Hint: Excess fiberglass can be easily trimmed with a utility knife when it starts to kick but before it completely cures.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside002.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside005.jpg

[jallen355]

The stringers were 5200'd down (which "someone" accidentally deleted the pics from my digi cam)and weighted down in place for 4 days. 5200 takes a solid week to cure in southern heat and humidity, btw. Then they were completely encapsulated in a layer of mat.

The floor was then 5200'd on top of the stringers, clualked around the perimeter w/5200 and weighted down for yet another week. Finally, I was then able to go ahead and laminate the floor panels in with 2 layers of mat on the topside. That makes a minimum of 3 layers of mat encapsulating a 1/2" coosa board floor. This thing is light weight and super tuff.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside015.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside014.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside017.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside016.jpg

[jallen355]

Now with the complete floor installed, I turn my attention to the topside of the floor. The first thing I need to address is the port side flotation box. On the port side box, there was no battery tray installed. The only tray was on the starboard side. I did not understand why it was done this way....both battery and driver on the same side with no other heavy items or offset construction designs to counter the weight inbalance. I will address this in the future.

I decide to cut open the leading/front walls first to expose the flotation inside and to inspect the integrity of the prot side transom knee. The first surprise was that no water leached out when I first cut it open. The second surprise was that the prot side transom knee was perfectly preserved. Again, this was something I did not quite understand as I found upon the restore that the knee had not even been completely encapsulated in glass during it original construction and was in fact "mostly" covered with paint!

Here are pics of the floatation box, in tact, before the floor panel had been installed followed by several pics of the front walls after there removal showing the flotation that I opted to remove and the foam I opted to save all shaped to facilitate another coosa board closure panel. The same as was done on the starboard side. Only difference is I eleceted to not cut out the port sde transom knee as it was "good to go".

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside011.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside030.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside031.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside032.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside033.jpg

In the last two pics, you can really get an idea of where the factory chose to laminate the knees with glass and where they were simply painted. It's amazing to me that even one of them lasted nearly 30 years.

[jallen355]

Next comes the transom knees which the factory had located just outside of where the floor panel met the hull. I used a piece of carboard to make a replica of the remaining port side knee to make 4 pieces total out of the coosa board.

The original knees were 1" thick. I opted for the new knees to be 1.5" thick. On the port side, I simply added one piece of coosa board to the original knee that did not need to be replaced to thicken it and make it match the thickness of the new starboard side knee which was fabricated from 3 pieces of 1/2" coosa board shown below. Notice the bevel to match the hull dead rise on the bottem edge of the knee.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside028.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside029.jpg

[jallen355]

Next, I 5200'd the starboard side transom knee in place and screwed and glue the additional 1/2" thick panel in place on the inside of the existing port side knee. You will also see some misc. pieces of coosa laying around that will become dual battery trays in the future.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside044.jpg

[jallen355]

Now those dual battery trays I mentioned have been constructed and glued in place with more 5200. They are constructed from coosa bulkheads and walls with 1/2" plywood floors that have been resin coated both top and bottem. The only short coming I have found with coosa is it's fastener holding ability. I opted to use wood for the tray bottems so I could screw down battery hold downs. I also resin coated 3 additional wooden blocks and glassed them in place to have something to screw my fuel tank in place. If they ever do rot, they can be easily cut out and replaced as they are above the floor.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside051.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside052.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside054.jpg

[jallen355]

With some guidance and advice from some more knowledgable and experienced than myself, I add some dye to a second coat of resin in the transom area instead of trying to paint it. Here's what I got.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside57.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside56.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside55.jpg

[jallen355]

Now it's time to add some more storage and some structure to mount new aluminum seat pedestals to replace the original plywood boxes that the seats originally bolted to (that were rotted).

I picked up a used teak ski locker w/the aluminum frame off fleabay for $35.00 from a boating salvage yard in "Joisey". This may seem basic to some of you, but this boat was never equipped with one and I am really looking forward to the additional stoagre it will afford.

I also incorporated a pair of 2x10's shaped to fit the contour of the hull and laminated in place to screw the new aluminum swivel pedestals to. These were resin coated, set into a layer of mat and covered with two additional layers of mat. Again, if they ever rot (not likely), they can be easily "shaved" off the floor and replaced.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside024.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside020.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside018.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside019.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside027.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside026.jpg

[jallen355]

With that, the inside structure of the boat is now complete and ready for trim and rerigging. Both of which I will lay out in the near future in hopes of helping or at least giving others ideas and/or inspiration to save another Check from death.

[Old Hickory]

looks really good Jallen :thumb: You said that 3M 5200 takes around a week to cure down in your part of Dixie; which type did you buy? I noticed on the 3M web site there are several types and some have overlap applications w/ differing cure rates. Also, did you just get the tubes or did you purchase the larger bucket as well? Thanks

Hick

[jallen355]

The 5200 I was using came from Home Depot. I was buying the tubes for a caulk gun. They had the blue label. I think they do have a "fast cure" 5200, but nobody local had it. The only place I could find 5200 locally for Boater's World, West Marine, and a local boat dealer. All were priced in the $18.00 a tube range. Home Depot sold the same tubes for $7.99 ea.

I know Boater's world carries the fast cure in the 4200 and I have used it before on my jack plate, but no fast cure 5200.

[Old Hickory]

Thanks:thumb: There were two different blue colored tubes on 3M's site(light blue and dark blue); This one appeared to fit your description of bond and cure time. Is this the one you used?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/caneyforkoutfitters/Mediawebserver.jpg

[jallen355]

I'd say yes. That appears to be it. I'll see if I have an empty tube in my gun still. I think I disposed of them all, however.

Hey, don't forget about the dye in your resin if you haven't already thought to use it. It makes the sanding and grinding easier as you can see your work better. I have another friend who even suggested to mix a little gel in with the resin and dye although I did not try that one.

[LAAllison]

Jamie, that looks real good--some good ideas in your post. My Enchanter is a bit different but still some good ideas. My seat arrangment will be some different but you are right on with the idea to keep water/rot out. Do you have any idea what the repaint was? Was it just cleared? It looks good.

Art



If it's slow it must be an OMC.

[Great East Predictor]

looks awsome :thumb:
is that coosa board expensive? do you know how its strength compares to wood?

[jallen355]

I paid $116.00 for ea. 4x8x1/2" board. I would say it is definately "comparable" in strength to wood and 45% lighter.

Here's a link to the manufacturer's site that should answer alot of your questions better than me.

[Old Hickory]

jallen355,

Don't worry about tryin to find an old tube; I'm pretty sure you were using the Light blue label stuff.

Laminating question...When laminating your sheets together did you use a trowel to apply the 5200? And if you did, what was the notch depth on the trowel? Also, after the lamination was complete, how long did wait before you installed the part? 24, 48hrs, or did you wait untill it was fully cured?

Coosa question.....You used B-20, right?

Was going out today to pick up a few sheets for the transom, but it's raining like cats and dogs; I'll probably hold off untill tomorrow. Untill then it's back to grinding:irked:


GEP,

Coosa claims B-26 is 30% , B-20 is 45% lighter than comparable sheet of ply. Here in Nashville, Advanced Plastics prices are:

B-26 3/4" 4x8 sheet $195
B-26 1/2" 4x8 sheet $183
B-20 1/2" 4x8 sheet $129

looks to be a little more expensive the further you are from the factory:D

Coosa recommends you use B-26 for all structural applications ie; transoms; knees and stringers; and B-20 for decks and floors etc. When I spoke to the guys at Coosa, they wouldn't tell me its stronger than ply, but only that it's comparable or as strong as ply.

Hick

[jallen355]

Not sure about the trowel depth...or should I say...which side of the trowel I used. I was more concerned with coverage than thickness of the 5200 on the knees. The knee that I replace and had constructed was able to cure for at least a week as I recall held together with clamps. The kneee that I simply added one layer a coosa board to thicken it, the oem knee that is, was only allowed to cure for about 24 hrs. before being laminated.

I used B-20 throughout as recommended my Michael down here at Advanced Plastics and the boat repair yard I had originally contacted in reference to using coosa board.

I get a discount at Advanced becuase my neighbor works there. Plus all this free internet advertising for both them and Coos!! :)

[jallen355]

So with the stringers, floor, knees and batt. trays pretty much done, I realize that there is yet another need for resin. Although I have the original side pads in tact, they are in need of new upholstery. Imagine that!! Marine plywood was used to make the backing for them and is still in really good shape, but I feel the need to redesign them slightly to fit my ideas. I did not use marine plywood this time, however. I already had a sheet of 1/2 BC plywood hanging around and decided to remake the panels using it and encapsulate it completely in resin. The pieces could not possibly ever "sit" in water and my boat is garage kept anyway. They should last me a life time having been resin coated.

Anyway, I will lengthen them on both the front and rear edges.

On the front side, to have them terminate closer (within an inch) to the dash panel instead of stopping 3" before the dash.

On the rear, I extended them within an inch of the rear deck. They did stop a couple inches short of that and the rear seatback slipped down behind the side panels and retained the rear seat back in place. I do not think this was the original rear seat configuration.

I also actually shortened the rear bottem edge where the pads "swoop" down. I shortened them to sit on top of the flotation boxes instead of having to "flex" outward to hang down slightly below that level.

Kind of hard to explain, but the end result is quite nice.:cheers

The extra pieces in the pics are actually the battery tray bottems. Remember, this thread is in retrospect!

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside048.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside049.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside045.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside043.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/Floortopside046.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/RexShifter001.jpg

[merc245]

jallen, Heres a few pointers.The foam your using is good for side panels and such. But its not dense enough for seat cushions it will flatten out asap.I know this becuase it happened to me.Need to get commercial grade not retail.We have a factory outlet store call The Foam Factory thats sells the right stuff unfortunitly I didn't know this 3 yrs ago.

And you should put a layer of wool (syenthic) badding between the foam and your vinyl it helps fill in and smooths the cut edges of the foam. Badding is the stuff home quilters use in thier quilts.It comes in rolls in bags and go with the thickest. Its not that exspensive and does make your job look GOOD.

P.S. Don't forget SS Staples.

[jallen355]

Thanks Merc. The side panels and the rear seat base frame are the only pieces I will be upholstering myself. I would not use the foam I got for the side panels in a seat. I wish I had known about the layer of wool though. Not a real big deal though as I did not do anything really fancy and could easily redo them at a later date if the need arises. I did have the upholstery shop sew me up some welting/piping to staple along the edges to help fill any gaps between the backsides of the boards and the hull. They actually came out good.

I did use SS staples. Like $10.00 a box @ the Home Depot :shakehead:

The rear seat will be left to a professional for sure. We have a shop that does all of our upholstery work for the GM dealership I work for. The owner was telling me about the kinds of foam he will be using for the rear seat. He also mentioned using thicker foam in the bottem than the back. I had brought my boat to work this past Monday for the upholstery guy to get a look at what I wanted done. I was hoping he could have just taken the two pieces for the rear seat back to his shop and do them up, but he said he'd need the whole boat to get all the seams and piping to line up right. I'm supposed to drop it off next week. That's cool. It'll be a good time to clean up the garage while it's gone.

[jallen355]

I have pirnted out several pictures I've gathered of rear bench seats to give to the upholstery guy as references. Here is one of Trevor Wolf's boat that mlpeeps had listed for sale end of last year. This is what I hope to have my rear seat look like when complete. Our boats are nearly the same color inside and out.

I would like to find one of the rear cup holder assemblies. My boat did not have this piece. If anyone happens to have one hanging around collecting dust in their garage, I'd be interested in helping you clean up!

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii252/peoplesm/6Small.jpg

[Costa]

Wow what a fantastic job and documentation on the rebuild!!! Even I could understand what you were doing. Fantastic looking boat!!!

[jallen355]

Thanks Costa. Revisiting this thread made me realize that I have not posted the completed interior pictures. I can say the boat is now 99% complete and ready for many many more years of rot free fun!!

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/BackSeat010.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/BackSeat004.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/BackSeat006.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/BackSeat008.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/jallen355/Boating/SeaTrialsMay82008001.jpg

[yellowfiero88]

Stunning workmanship!

[SurfGreenTelecaster]

That is beautiful. :drool: I've always loved your boat.

[Old Hickory]

jallen355,

very nice and very well done:thumb:. What was the ballpark cost of all your upholstery? That is if you don't mind sharing:)

Hick

[jallen355]

Hey Hick,

Only the rear seat was "professionally done". It and the material for the side panels, which includes the piping that they sewed up for me to dress the edges of the side panels, was right at $300.00. The front seats were new "off the shelf" items available every where. With carpet, adhesive and all interior, I am right at $900.00. Not cheap, but it hard to go "all new" for less than that. I had no front seats at all when I purchased the boat.

[Old Hickory]

I appreciate you sharing that; It gives me an idea as what I'll be spending on mine. I'm starting w/ zero interior and will also have to consider the cost of the cuddy.

Hick