bertram31.com

It's time to declare victory. I have a short punch list, but the heavy lifting is finished. Evinrude steering crapped out on me last week so the boat is pulled for repairs. Also getting the boot stripe painted.

Shout Outs!

Thank you to all the Bertram 25 and Bertram 31 board members! Your support and encouragement throughout the years has been invaluable!

Thank you to Jared Houghtalen - Surveyor - https://jhhmarineservices.com/. Great person to work with, and he took some excellent photos of the boat a couple of weeks ago:
https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/Ey ... o4v3zFrXBI

Thank you to Craig Jeno and team at High Tide Canvas http://www.hightidecanvas.com/ for the amazing upholstery and canvas pieces!

Thank you to Stuart Foreman, RC, and Jorge of High Speed Welding https://www.highspeedweld.com/ for the great pipe work!

Thank you to Adam Meyer for working me through the insurance jungle! https://maritimeinsuranceinternational. ... dam-meyer/

Thank you to John, Patrick, Jeff and the team at Worton Creek Marina for painting my prep! - http://wortoncreek.com/

Thank you to Beau Johnson of Johnson Custom Boats - https://www.johnsoncustomboats.com/ for helping with structural work and design!

Finally, Thank you to my wife, Patti, for putting up with this project for 11+ years!

Woo Hoooo!

I'd need more than 11 years to get my boat to look anywhere near as good as yours if I even could. It looks amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cam,

She's a thing of beauty!!!

Thank you Cam for sharing this amazing project with us.

Cam it must be nice to sit back and relax sometimes and that is also the smart route to take just pick up phone and call somebody to help the project. i had to look at myself in the mirror project after project trying to think a better way . except paint the hull sides myself and my son did the entire 31 project and invented new methods . Capt Patrick gave me the heads up on the use of epoxy and resin.quite a few on this board also help with props and cons of the project so i hope the brothers have also help you complete this beautiful Bertram.

Cam

You came a long way. You hung in there, and now you can enjoy your efforts. Good Luck and enjoy her. You deserve it, great job.

Absolutely spectacular. Well done Cam. Try putting that alongside a Scout or other brand new center console..... We have a winner.

Well done good and faithful steward! She is a work of art, Cam!

My skills in English are not adequate to describe my awe. Well done Cam, enjoy!

Congratulations. She turned out exceptional. Thanks for letting us follow along.

Cam, we are the stewards of the boats we have the pleasure of calling our own for a few years in our lives. Not all owners leave the vessel in better shape than when they got it - you have done more than that. Great job!

That is a beautiful boat. I remember a thread a few years ago when you were ready to throw in the towel, so great to see the final result. If Bertram was paying attention they would bring you on as a consultant to roll out the 25 CC based upon this design work and I have no doubt it would more than hold it's own with any other CC of similar size being produced right now. Congratulations on a beautiful build. I hope you're back in the water soon to enjoy her.

CR

fantastic work

Incredible work. Congratulations. Hope to see her on the Bay

So I heard you're ready to sell her and take on a new project...



All the shout outs your giving, I sure they would be proud to use your boat to demonstrate their little piece of work in that build.

Doing all the work you did is one thing...but pulling the right people together to complete the project to your vision, at your standards...that is a major task all to itself.

Great job! I'm happy for you. I hope you and yours enjoy her for many years!

I picked up the boat from dealer #2 yesterday. 5 months down with the steering issue. 2 months were spent getting jerked around by dealer #1 (1 hour away). Dealer #2 was great, but a 6 hour round trip. Evinrude eventually authorized the replacement of the entire midsection bracket with a new, 2020 unit. The new units are supposed to be bullet proof. I'll get it wet this weekend.

After 3 deaths in the family, one round of the COVID disease and a broken boat, I'm ready for 2020 to end.

Spectacular vessel!!!

Cam,

That is not a list of items I would like to deal with, hopefully this year will go better for you.

Thanks. Things got a bit better yesterday. I put my long johns on and took the Bertram out for a ride. Yes. I wore more than long johns! 45 deg F

52 mile round trip, 20 mph average, 3.1 mpg, topped out about 45 mph. She rides high in the water near the top end and steering gets a bit squirrely. She seems to be happiest cruising at 30 - 33 mph, 4200 - 4500 rpm.

I have 2 months left on the Evinrude warranty. I'm trying to find any remaining weak spots!!!

Cam,
It's been an incredible journey for you and you forged that Bertram into a masterpiece. I wish you tons of enjoyment with her and I'm sure it will turn many heads to come!

30-33mph = 26-28.7kts

I will be psyched if I can cruise in that range, I'm starting to think a 300HP is a luxury and I might be able to get by with a 250HP motor. on the other hand I'll be happy if I can cruise at a solid 24kts and have quite a bit more left available if I want to use it on a FAC day.

As for long johns and 45 degrees? We'll see the long Johns part but not the 45 degree part for quite some time. We got stir crazy and went up to the White Mountains in NH and climbed Mt Willard in the snow 2 weekends ago. Thankfully folks had already done the trail in snowshoes as the snow was up over my knees any time we had to step off the trail to let others pass. Was 17 degrees and windy when not in the woods, Gaiters and Microspikes were a must.
Crawford Notch Station
https://photos.app.goo.gl/imd9VfxiGnc1aHxQ9
Mt Willard on the left, the trail to the top starts a little past the end of where you can see the road.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/B8oQgbdXdseMFk9m7
No pics from the top, my camera had froze about 1/2 up and I didn't carry my cell phone

Now that's a winter hike! Makes me cold just looking at the pictures!

250 hp should be fine if you watch your weight. I'm still light in the stern by 200 - 400 lbs. I had 80 gallons of fuel on board, but no passengers (wimps!).

I'm still trying to crack the code on the jackplate and engine trim. I had the shop lower the engine to the top hole to see if I could get some measurable effect from the jackplate...not much. An inch or two up seems to work fine with 12% trim on the engine. I forgot to trial the Evinrude auto trim feature yesterday, so the jury is out. My prop has vents that I want to play with as well to see if I can optimize the hole shot. No complaints, just playing around.

The boat rides like a cloud floating across the sky. Smoooooth. No shakes, shimmies, or rattles, but I do hit a resonance frequency or two in the upper ranges of the engine rpm that makes something in my engine fill areas rattle.

Beautiful work!

Cam it turned out amazing!! It must feel so good to Good to be out on her after all the blood sweat and tears. I followed you along your journey great work!!