B28 flybridge to express conversion

[cmccool]

I thought I would share some photos of my B28 flybridge to express conversion - still a work in progress but needed to go fishing.

As I have arthritis in my hip and the doctor says no to climbing stairs, I decided to remove my flybridge - the bonus is that an express is a much better fishing platform for salmon and halibut which is what we have here on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

So, after scratching my head for a month, I removed the flybridge, cut it into 11 pieces, and put it back together to act as a windscreen to hide the wiring for my instruments which I mounted on the roof. I also repowered with Mercruiser 5.7 with DTS and Smartcraft guages which allowed me to use electronic controls at the new location instead of having to run cables.

I raised the deck over the engines by 4" to allow room for the engines, and the side benefit of that was much increased visibility from my new station.

I added an Atlantic Towers hardop over my new steering station and will have an enclosure for that area made this winter.

Cliff

[Mikey]

Love to put my hardtop on it.
Nice conversion.

[Tommy]

Cliff,

Very nice conversion. My first experience on a Bertram was a 31' Express Cruiser, and you can't beat the layout for the duel-task of driving the boat and fishing. Thanks for sharing the photos of your succesful project. By the way, you live in a beautiful part of the world which my family thoroughly enjoyed when we visited a few years back.

Tommy

[randall]

very clever!!

[In Memory Walter K]

Very nicely done! Now get your hips replaced and you'll really start enjoying life! Take it from someone who was scared stiff to do it, but boy, I can't tell you how much improved my life has been. It took a painful week at Tropic Star with Uncle Vic and the gang that made me decide I didn't want to live that way any more. Feel free to contact me for any input you may want, You won't be sorry. I sure as hell wish I had done it earlier! Walter

[Matt29]

Cliff,

I love the innovative idea. I also have a B28 and I am working on redoing the cockpit area. I like the open look that you have back there without those fiberglass panels. Can you please post a pic of the stbd side of your cockpit? How did you work around or relocate the aft bilge discharge and the fuel fill on the stbd side? Nice work, thanks.

Matt

[cmccool]

Thanks for all the kind words - I really do appreciate it.

Matt - attached are a couple of photos of starboard side. I just continued my panel until it was just beyond the fuel filler hose. The port side went the same distance so they matched. Because of the way my seat bases are attached, I had to put my frp panels on the outside of the coaming, instead of sliding behind it - but the purpose of my redo was to go fishing, not take her to a boat show.

As far as my stern bilge pump is concerned - stock location on my thru-hull was below deck height, so it wasn't an issue.

I also got rid of my ugly, moldy, stained headliner in the cabin and replaced it with frp. Easy to do and what a difference.

Because we get 12 feet of rain a year and a typical morning in August is 55 degrees and foggy, an inside steering station is a major bonus. Unfortunately you have to be anorexic to use the stock B28 lower station. My solution was to tear out the bulkhead and bench seats and put in a decent helm chair. Coincidentally, the bench seat from my flybridge fit perfectly in the remaining space. If we get hungry, we can just put a couple of chairs around the cooler on the cockpit, which might happen twice a year so it is not a big deal.

My winter project will be to pretty everything up.

Cliff

[Matt29]

Very interesting cockpit layout. I like alot, getting ideas. Thanks for the pics and good luck!

Thanks,
Matt

[jspiezio]

Now that I see it, I think that the B28 actually looks nicer as an express. Good work.