|
Click on photos for larger view.
|
Looking good !!
|
Now its Miller Time !
|
It's back in the garage and the deck battens are installed.
|
The deck has been covered with fir plywood sheeting. This will be covered with mahogany ply which will
hide all the screw heads.
|
The mahogany ply has been epoxied to the deck. Light and dark stain is applied to simulate
different boards. The right side is done, the left is not yet stained. The simulated caulking
lines will hide the transition between the two stains.
|
Automotive stick-on pin stripes are added to simulate caulking lines. This was very easy,
fast and inexpensive. I think it turned out looking great. You can judge it
with the finished photos at the end. Epoxy is then applied over top to protect them.
They will also be covered with varnish. The 4 coats of varnish give the white stripes
a slight yellow tint that makes them look very authentic.
|
Time to take it out for a test float to measure the location of the waterline for
painting. Getting it onto the trailer was quite a job but we didn't bust anything.
|
The motor is installed to give it the correct weight and balance to make the waterline.
The engine is a 1985 3.8L OMC V6 which produces 170 HP. It was taken from
a boat I bought specifically for parts. The donor boat was a 24' cuddy
cabin. The owner had the engine overhauled and it worked great but the
outdrive unit then busted. He got frustrated and sold the boat with no
outdrive and no trailer for $2400. I got the engine, steering, gauges,
throttle, bilge pump, bilge blower and all electrical wiring. I then
sold the hull for $200. I think it was a good deal.
|
My wife is helping to install the engine and providing moral support while doing
a bit of fork lift operating.
|
Well at least it didnt sink. Now back to the garage.
|
More decking complete. The engine was originally equipped with an outdrive. I removed
it and installed an inline Velvet Drive 1:1 transmission with a 13 degree
strut. The drilling of the strut hole can be tricky but it went very well. Many
people align the engine to the shaft. This seems crazy to me. I mounted the
engine first since it is the hardest thing to adjust. I then drilled the hole since it has
quite a bit of extra room for alignment. I then mounted the prop shaft to the engine
and installed the strut last using thickened epoxy to shim it to perfect alignment.
|
A couple of coats of varnish have been applied. The water line that I
measured when it was floating is painted below the tape.
|
My kids decided to give me some encouragement. They wrote this on our telephone
message board at home.
|
Stuffing box installed.
|
A view of the rear deck.
|
This shows the transmission coupling, the safety collar on the prop shaft, the stuffing box,
the exhaust hose routing and the custom built shift lever linkage. The shift cable
is not yet attached. Since I was using the 14' cables I got from my donor boat I had
to route them and make them work. This was quite a challenge.
|
