bertram31.com

After some of the posts here, like Jimmy's, JP's, Mikey's, Gert's, Buju, and Bob's, to name a few, I was hesitant to post pics. of my winter project. Their work is so far out of my league that I'm left thinking "crap, I could never do that," and, as was put in a post awhile ago, "damn, my boat just got uglier." However, I decided that I'd post up some pics. for the less-accomplished among us. I'm hoping my pics will be confidence boosting, leaving the less-accomplished thinking, "wow, that guy has no skills" and "my boat looks pretty good compared that." Happy Thanksgiving.

I'm going to redo the helm at some point before or during spring. For now, the aft deck is off to see what lies beneath. The rudder ports will come out and be rebedded, she'll get new deck supports and rudder boxes, and a few things cleaned up. As of yesterday, here's how she looked (yeah, I know, I suck at photography too). Two mufflers per side? I love these boats. A couple of hours with my makita, and she's apart. I love this site too. Looking at everybody's posts does inspire me to workoin my boat, and they're so helpful when I'm trying to figure stuff out. Thanks.

Looks good enough from here… Assuming these are the "before" pictures ;-)

What hardware do you have there?!… DD's?!…

I'm one of the .. less accomplished too ! I simply can't figure out how Ghert and the others do it !
That's why I decided to not compare my work to that of those experts in the sandbox. I also decided that I can still be happy with this lesser quality.
So far I demolished the dinette and the forward hanging locker and am in the process of building it back; only this time a smaller locker and a bigger couch - alongside the stb side. I will then destroy the galley and push it all the way back to earn the extra space, as I will move everything around in the head to allow for a spacious shower. Let alone the solar panels and the new water tanks. I have to be ready by next spring.
I wish I could one day find out how to post pics.

I wish I could one day find out how to post pics.

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John,
Don't ever sell yourself short.
We all have various levels of expertise. What we lack as individuals, the gang here will help fill in.

Take your time and remember the tear apart and prep is 80% of the work.

Go for it John......just roll up yer sleeves an jump right in.....just like your doing

The fun is in the chase......and ultimate satisfaction comes in the first ride (and all the other rides too)

Keep us up to date with pics....lots of um


hb

John are you kidding me, your interior pictures of your other 31 has been in my thoughts as one of the nicer done and completed. And your smaller bertram with the console work is great too! Keep on chugg'n with that pride and stewardship driving you to the end!

Hey, Neighbor,
Remember Dreamsicle was in my stewardship seven years before she splashed and I did several jobs over. As a good friend is want to say, "We do it right 'cause we do it twice."
Sheer habit has made it good. What? I've been doing this kind of stuff all my life. Some of my early work really sucked but I was too stubborn or dumb to quit and so got better.
Give me a call sometime, we can get our heads together. When I was at the bottom of the pit (too long a list and my health was giving me a fit) Mean Mike drove down to see if he could help. He's not really that mean, but don't tell him. After several hours together I had a plan, some advice, and a warning to get off my butt and get on with it. Seemed to work. I'm ninety percent complete and have only fifty percent to go.

Thanks for the encouragement. I did some of this before on the Anna E., thinking I'd keep her forever, and then sold her to help pay for kids' college. Didn't expect to go at it again, but I missed having a B31 too much. Got a lot done today. Nice weather.

John you do good work Annie C interior was really nice. The work on the B20 was neat and clean. Don't sell your self short.

John I am here to second Bruce.you have to sit back and think sometimes and sometimes you will pull the hair out of your head.we took two cummins engine /gears sitting on skids and mounted in the boat (in a engine jig prepared boat ) in three hours however if I hold a spray gun with imron paint ;it is a mass of runs and orange peel just cannot get the hang of it too fast,too slow,pressure wrong ,material to heavy ,so I sand and sand. You cannot win them all don't let it bother you just keep trying.

John

Keep at it. I bet you can get her looking pretty good and make her better than when she rolled out of the factory. Just think positive.

John, just dig in your heels and keep at it, no matter what. I am a firm believer in what I lack in talent I make up for with sheer stubborn determination. Like Bob Lico said you get runs you sand it off and do it again. Keep the pics coming. BH

John look at the total project then draw it and inquire here.i walk away and come back with better idea.you can look at another 31 with innovations and then add to it.case in point this is the new cockpit sole .i look and look and then said to myself what the hell do I need that out off place access hatch that covers return fuel in diesel fuel tank!! Connect return with coast guard blue SS reinforced hose all threaded bronze fitting and you can access fittings due to huge hatches.this is a example of walk away and come back . All Coosa good for a thousand years . Takes the same effort to do it all wrong or wrong material.

Crows Nest is mostly back together. The first post above is where she started. Here's some of the stuff I took out. This is an upright rudder support



Deck supports:




I made the deck and rudder supports out of 1" mahogany. I didn't redesign anything. I basically copied what was in there with bigger, stronger, newer stuff. Here's what I wound up with:




The filter mount was plywood that was pretty compromised. I made that out of mahogany also. I screwed up and mounted the filters too far apart. I can barely get the filters out now that the deck is on. I realized this part way through, but a remount is going to have to wait. I'm out of time and she needs to go back in the water.


The exhaust system had a number of broken/rusted hose clamps. I re-arranged the exhaust a little, and double clamped with these.


Here's how she looks now underneath. She's a lot stronger and a lot neater underneath.

John,

She looks great, time to button her up and catch some rockfish.

Wow, John see looks great. Nice work. Like JK said get fishing and cruising.

John, nice job and you will be back in the water soon enough. Two mufflers per side? BH

Thanks. She's almost ready to go back in.

Bob- The blue things behind the mufflers in the back are either mufflers or surge protector things. They were on there, so I left them on there. She's pretty quiet for a diesel boat.

John nice to see all threaded fitting and correct coast guard blue hose ,no hose clamps on fuel and you can forget vacuum or air leaks forever . Go start close it up and put her in to the wind