New Project B25!

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Jul 16th, '16, 15:32

So, most of you have no clue who I am, but I have been a lurker for a little bit. I posted a few times (maybe 3 threads?) a long bit ago.

Well, today I joined the Club, offically!

Father (in law, but father works too) set out from Pensacola, FL to Houston Texas Thursday night at 2am to pick up our new project. Arrive home at midnight friday night after a few hiccups with tires and what not.

Anyways, we are excited. I am stoked since this was the exact boat I've been wanting for a very long time. Now the time has come for us to venture out on our build. Now that is in my hands, it's a little surreal to see it and understand how much I have ahead of me. I knew the numbers and time frame before purchasing, it's just kind of for real now! ha. Anyways, I have come with some questions.

The trailer is a nice load right, but it obviously needs some work. We couldn't get the bearings out at the time like we wanted, but we did grease it 3 times throughout the trip and the hubs actually remained rather cool to the touch at gas stops. I will still be going over the trailer thoroughly and replacing alot of things, and even adding brakes to it. I'm not worried about the trailer since I'm a mechanic (on the side) so that is all easy for me. The boat was in rather good shape (for a restoration candidate). No motors, out drives still on there, gas tank pulled (owner said it was still in perfect condition but pulled anyways), I have a 75gal alum tank, and a 45gal auxillary tank both not installed. Everything else is pretty much stripped.

I pulled the few hatches that I could to check the stringers, I didn't see any signs of delamination or anything concerning right away. There were some gouges and holes in the fiberglass where the tanks sit, I think that was from the previous owner removing the gas tank. No worries there, it can be fixed. The boat will be set up with an OB bracket and a single 250-300hp or if I can land a sweet deal on some 115's or 125 or something Id run a twin setup with those.

So, now...my question(s) is:

Where do you start? So far I have:
1) General Cleaning
2) Design (which I think is extremely critical)
3) pulling out all the old wiring and anything removable to start fresh
4) Glassing in all the damn holes that are everywhere from previous owner (mostly on the transom from the trim tabs, transducer etc)
5) Gas tanks?
6) Fabricating live wells/coffin boxes (probably re-fabricating the helm console as well)
7) All new wirings (which would be waiting on the design so we know what to wire for)
8) Bracket for the outboard
9) hooking up motor(s)
10)Bilge pumps
11) paint and gelcoat all the way around?

Also, since were in the design stage now...help us with ideas. What is something you wish you had in your boat, or already have and recommend it?

So far we are planning for a fresh/raw water wash down (which will also work for hooking up a shower head; nothing fancy), a console/cabinet type deal for all the fishing supplies (probably with a little sink on top), a radar (that's kind of standard I guess), I'll be building a livewell that stands up on the transom (or somewhere back there), etc etc

What would you suggest? I'm open for anything from cup holders to a stripper pole ;)

Also, one other thing. The flybridge is rather low on those (about knee level), so you can't really even put your legs under it. Father was talking about raising the height of the flybridge to allow it to sit higher and more comfortably. What are your thoughts on this? He was also thinking about moving it forward a few inches as well.

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Jul 16th, '16, 15:56

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Jul 16th, '16, 15:56

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Jul 16th, '16, 16:28

One more question, what are those 2 peacock valves for in the the cabin? (first picture I think)?

Btw, One of your members, Captbone, was the biggest factor of buying and wanting this boat.

I saw his boat awhile back and was trying to buy it at the time, but the timing was off. But was able to converse with him a bit, and he's a really cool guy. I know I'm going to be hitting him up soon and picking his brain for a few minutes...or hours.

Navatech · Post by **Navatech** » Jul 16th, '16, 16:48

Corey Mason wrote:One more question, what are those 2 peacock valves for in the the cabin? (first picture I think)?

'

Could be several things... Supply (smaller one) and discharge (larger one) for a "throne" (head - toilet)?!... One for AC and the other for a seawater sink?!...

captbone · Post by **captbone** » Jul 16th, '16, 19:54

Congrats!!!!! I know you have been dreaming about this for awhile.

She looks great. I look forward to seeing what you do. Did you decide on a bracket builder? Armstrong get back to you?

Those two petcocks were for the toliet that was mounted in the V berth area. The other hose looks like a drain for anchor locker. Once you clean out all the old wiring, stuff and clean it, it will look like a new boat. My next project will be Flag blue like your hull. I really like the look with Petit Vivid red bottom paint a small white boot strip.

Sounds strange but you need very little buoyance with the bracket. Most people will tell you need buoyance to keep the stern up but you need as much weight aft as possible.

Congrats. Good Luck!

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Jul 16th, '16, 23:00

That's Captbone! If you don't mind, message me your number so I can call you sometime when its good for you.

And, I haven't completely decided, but it probably will be with Armstrong. I'm not going to make one myself. I did email them the other day, but they never even got back to me. I looked just briefly for a phone number, but didn't find one. I'll look more in depth for the number later.

Don't kill me, as I'm sure this may break many hidden rules, but we may actually have this boat a Green Bay Packers theme. My family (all of them crazies) are major Green Bay Packers fans (me too). And considering my father in law and I are going in together on this and it's going to be a family boat...having the boat a GB packer boat seems fitting. So, I'm thinking about having the bottom the same shade of yellow as the GB yellow is, and then the top coat obviously the same shade of green. And then somewhere around the helm, on the green, I'll put a big yellow "G" just like the GB logo...and probably keep the cap white.

If the bottom paint in yellow looks bad, I may just keep it black with a stripe of yellow.

I've got a friend coming tomorrow that is a computer editing guy, so I'll have him snap a few pictures and basically photoshop the paint schemes and see which ones we like.

captbone · Post by **captbone** » Jul 16th, '16, 23:18

I will send you a PM.

I do have to say that Cam25 and Scot are the Bertram 25 experts by a long shot. They have been working on theirs boats for over a combined decade. Be sure to post all of your questions to allow everyone a shot at them.

Looking forward to more pictures.

Congrats. She is a beautiful boat.

Navatech · Post by **Navatech** » Jul 17th, '16, 03:27

Corey Mason wrote:Don't kill me, as I'm sure this may break many hidden rules, but we may actually have this boat a Green Bay Packers theme. My family (all of them crazies) are major Green Bay Packers fans (me too). And considering my father in law and I are going in together on this and it's going to be a family boat...having the boat a GB packer boat seems fitting. So, I'm thinking about having the bottom the same shade of yellow as the GB yellow is, and then the top coat obviously the same shade of green. And then somewhere around the helm, on the green, I'll put a big yellow "G" just like the GB logo...and probably keep the cap white.

AFAIK there are no rules (hidden or otherwise) regarding colors... It's a personal preference and that's it... Personally, it was my plan to do my hull in Fighting Lady Yellow (swatch is from Alexseal):

Click here to see some pictures of the general idea...

Bottom paint would be green antifouling... Decks, cockpit and house would remain white...

The end result would be somewhat like this:

Does that make me a Green Bay Packers fan too?!...

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Jul 17th, '16, 06:26

Nav, this is like "acid stomach green" and i ts not your boat, right?

Navatech · Post by **Navatech** » Jul 17th, '16, 06:49

Yannis wrote:Nav, this is like "acid stomach green" and i ts not your boat, right?

That's not the green I would have chosen... And no, that's not my boat... It's not even a Bertram... Just a picture I found on the web...

scot · Post by **scot** » Jul 17th, '16, 21:10

Cam25 and Scot are the Bertram 25 experts by a long shot. They have been working on theirs boats for over a combined decade.

A decade? time flies when your having fun. My decade of work is going to conclude in the next year, either with a finished usable boat... or a very large fire in the driveway. Moral of the post is; ask someone for advice who has actually FINISHED a B25!

BTW she looks good, just needs a little soap and water clean up :-)

Tony Meola · Post by **Tony Meola** » Jul 17th, '16, 22:45

Do a search for Gert's old 31 when she was painted battleship grey. The hull was grey and focused white. That looked sweet.

In any event, there are enough 25 owners on here to help out.

Joseph Fikentscher · Post by **Joseph Fikentscher** » Jul 18th, '16, 08:55

Wiring pics.

Old

New in progress.

Therre's light at the end of the tunnel! Good luck!

CamB25 · Post by **CamB25** » Jul 18th, '16, 10:00

Congratulations! That looks like a worthy project boat.

scot · Post by **scot** » Jul 18th, '16, 19:03

Corey,

I have been looking over your pictures, thats a very clean boat to start with. The stringer delamination is typically at the bend in the stern area where the stringer transitions into the engine bay, and also mid-ship near the stringer drains (half moons). But if you do find it, it's no big deal. clean & prep the area and lay in multiple layers of 1708 or 1808 and your done. I had 4 areas of delamination that I repaired in an afternoon. I don't think you will find it based on the color of the stringers (darkest green and wet looking). I found glass in that condition in my cabin and after 60 years it was still tacky!! That's an indication that the mix was light with MEKP. This makes the lay up remain flexible and not as susceptible to delamination. The fiberglass box stringers in the boats are why they are still around, way ahead of their time and fantastic structures.

Examine the protruded chines VERY carefully. This is a weak spot on the 25. They crack linearly because the weight of the deck, cabin, flybridge and POB is transferred into the hull sides, and ultimately into the chine, which tends to flex like an accordion. I found fifteen feet of cracking on both sides. I had to remove the gelcoat on the chines and add 4 layers of 1708 to the chines, not fun and a real serious time eater. Cracking is typically mid-ship, extending aft.. not so much forward, as little weight is transferring into the hull forward of the cabin. Mine was not cracked all the way through, only the first exterior cloth layer. I bet that you find the transom coring is still in fairly good condition. The fir plywood Bertram used holds up extremely well.

Pretty boat, good luck.

CamB25 · Post by **CamB25** » Jul 19th, '16, 10:25

I haven't seen the chine cracking issue on my boat, but it is(was) a sport convertible model. My guess is the flybridge models, with the extra superstructure, impart a bending load on the thin hull sides that is carried by the chines...too much weight wiggling too far away from the support points. The deck is bonded to the 2 (or 3) stringers and also to the hull sides. The load is low on the boat and distributed all around the hull, so my guess is that it does not contribute to the chine cracking issue.

Corey,
How will you use the boat? Spend some time working through your use cases before you start hacking away. Every second with a sawzall leads to many hours of work and serious $$$! My plan went from a simple re-power/re-wire/ paint project to a full on reconstruction primarily because I didn't know what I wanted from the boat at the outset.

Good luck!
Cam

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Jul 19th, '16, 10:39

That is a lot of extremely good info Scot, Thank you!

I gave the boat a decent looking over, but I was mostly looking inside at the stringers. I honestly didn't check the chines much at all. I just put the boat in storage (which is less than 2 miles away!!!). In about a week or two I plan on giving it a strong wash and possibly ripping out all of the old wiring. No matter what I plan on using it for, I know I want all the old wiring out and redone myself. Mostly just so I know what I have if I ever have any issues. I figure it's much easier to trouble shoot a problem with something I made, than somebody else's stuff.

Cam,

That's kind of the process we are in now. We are going to give it about a month or two for the "design" stage. We know how we'll use the boat. But now, we want to draw up some designs of what all we want on the boat, the best type of "quality of life" amendments, and anything we should rig up now in case we want something in the future (like ac).

The boat is firstly going to be a fishing boat. That will be the number 1. Secondly, it would be used as a family type cruising boat. Just taking it out to the beach and camping over night, or something like that. For me, I would much rather just enjoy being out on the boat and on the water (and fishing), than some of these people that blast 50mph to the fishing hole, load up in an hour or two on fish, then blast 50mph back home and they are done in 4-5 hours. I think for me, It will be slowly trolling out to the fishing spots, trolling around slowly sight fishing for cobia and whatever else, and then slowly trolling on back home at the end of the day. I would also like to do a couple over night fishing trips...maybe even 2-3 fishing trips.

This reminds me, I think I need a bigger gas tank. I currently have one made that is about 75gallons I was told. Im assuming I probably need to double that.

Also, I noticed this boat doesn't have any coffin boxes? Why in the world is that? With the I/O motors gone, I was planning on using some of that space for and Icebox possibly. But, also, would I be able to cut the deck and put some fish boxes in the starboard and port sides, near the rear deck? Is there anything under there, or even room?

CamB25 · Post by **CamB25** » Jul 19th, '16, 11:32

Corey,

There is very little room below deck outboard of the stringers. I looked at doing fish boxes there, but decided it wasn't worth the effort. I installed floatation foam outboard - see pic A better location might be the current battery area. I am assuming you are moving the batteries. In terms of fuel, I modified the boat to accommodate a 130 gallon tank. This required rebuilding a few of the bulkheads and eliminating most of the center stringer, installing beds, etc. Major work. Your boat might be set up a little differently depending on the year.

CamB25 · Post by **CamB25** » Jul 19th, '16, 11:52

I remember Day 1 of the odyssey!

I think the 25 is more of a day boat. If you are serious about big fishing, fuel range, overnights, fish boxes, accommodations, etc., I would look for a 31 instead. It's not worth the effort to transform the 25 into something it was never designed to do (I know this first hand). All I really needed was an Albury 23, or similar. You can buy a good running 31 for WAY less than you will spend restoring the 25. A basic stock restoration of the 25 will run $100k+ (hiring a firm). Do it yourself and maybe it's $50k in materials. Start customizing and the numbers grow exponentially. It's an expensive hobby.

Cam

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Jul 19th, '16, 12:35

I did think about relocating the batteries.

Would putting them behind the helm be a logical solution? All the wiring would be in there anyways.

A 31' is just out of the question, as well as a 28'. We have what we have, and we'll work with what we have.

I was thinking another solution, could be to just bring an extra gas tank of some sort on board with us whenever we make extremely long hauls (It would probably be once every 2 years, maybe once a year at most).

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Jul 19th, '16, 12:35

How much of the structural integrity was compromised by removing the center stringer?

CamB25 · Post by **CamB25** » Jul 19th, '16, 13:30

Looking closer at your pictures it appears that you have a later model made without the fiberglass center stringer. You could add an auxiliary tank in the cut down area at the helm, or extend your existing tank bed aft into the bilge area.

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Jul 19th, '16, 17:16

Cam, are you referring to underneath the step down?

I do have a 45g auxillary tank that I was planning to use for fresh water. I'm trying to figure out where to place everything. I really want a bigger gas tank (I'd prefer about 150g) and about a 40-50g fresh water, and a decent size coffin (prefer longer than wide/squarish as we have a lot of wahoo around here).

scot · Post by **scot** » Jul 19th, '16, 17:30

I noticed this boat doesn't have any coffin boxes

They had not been invented when that boat was built lol. or least very few builders incorporated them into their designs.

Cam is right about no space outboard of the stringers. I'm still struggling trying to fit fuel in the hull. My advice would be use the boat as close to "as is" as possible. Take in your transom cutouts, add a bracket, re-wire it and go! When you start trying to increase the head room, add more helm height, etc.. it will turn into months if not years of work. I'm currently go backwards in my thought process to see if I can get mine to a useable state sooner. The more time that passes without this boat finished, the simpler my plans are getting.

Removing the center (small 1"x3" wood & glass) stringer on your boat will not effect the boat's strength as relates to using the boat in water. It will however impact your ability to place the boat on blocks for bottom work etc. The bottom can develop flat spots in the keel if blocked without the center stringer (don't ask how I know). The bottom is approximately 3/4" thick in the keel.I have added additional center line structure forward of my engine bay (mines a straight inboard conversion) to create a vertically (center line) reinforced area for blocking the boat during bottom jobs.

NOTE: Just for your info, the COB on that hull is 10' forward of the stern cap.. per Hunt & Associates. So keep your weight additions aft of that measurement (fuel, batts, etc). Your cabin & FB is also really heavy, like 500# so I would be very careful adding weight in that area because single OBs are very light compared to the original power installed in the boats.

captbone · Post by **captbone** » Jul 19th, '16, 21:23

I agree with Cam and Scot. All weight as far aft as possible.

On the old 25bertram.com website we had a guy repower with a single Suzuki on a bracket and he still added lead weight in the rear.

I had a 8D diesel battery against the transom below the outboard.

CamB25 · Post by **CamB25** » Jul 20th, '16, 07:27

Corey Mason wrote:Cam, are you referring to underneath the step down?

I do have a 45g auxillary tank that I was planning to use for fresh water. I'm trying to figure out where to place everything. I really want a bigger gas tank (I'd prefer about 150g) and about a 40-50g fresh water, and a decent size coffin (prefer longer than wide/squarish as we have a lot of wahoo around here).

Corey,

I was referring to the step down area between the seats, not underneath this area...not much room under there. Without ripping out the entire deck (like I did), you will have to work from the leading edge of the tank area aft to the transom. This area has the most useable volume for more stuff, it's aft of the COB, and accessible now. By adding the bracket and an outboard you are freeing up the engine bay area. Maybe you can fab a shelf in there to support an aux fuel tank and a water tank above the bilge pumps and other equipment you need low on the hull. Or move the batteries topside against the transom. Are planning a live well somewhere? Here's another picture of the area. You obviously don't have the fiberglass center stringer, but your layout is similar. We raised my deck 3/4" to "just" clear the tank plumbing.

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Jul 20th, '16, 14:06

OK, that makes sense now.

I'll be putting in a live well most likely at the transom. I've read where some people have actually incorporated it into the actual transom before, and thought that would be cool. But I wonder how much structural integrity is lost that way.

I thought about it over night. I think I'm just going to use whatever space is there for the gas/aux tank. I'll relocate the batteries and just consume the space that is down there for the tanks. And whenever I go on long hauls, I'll find a way to rig up a portable gas tank so it just sits on the deck. As I mentioned, this would be about a once every 2 years kinda deal probably. I was also throwing around the idea of somehow letting the auxillary tank double as a gas tank and freshwater tank. But, I don't think theres anyway to completely get the water out of the tank. There would always be some water left in there, probably at least a gallon. Which, I'm not sure exactly how detrimental that would be if it was extremely seldom and dilluted with 45 gallons of gas, but it seems like a pretty bad idea.

And the engine bay is perfect for a coffin box. I was just hoping to have a longer one as there are alot of bigger (longer) fish around here. We have cobia and wahoo and quite a few others. A wahoo can easily be over 5 feet, and I'm just not sure how that would fit in a small square at the engine bay is. And down here, we are not allowed to cut the fish at all until we get to land, so we can't even cut the fish in half or anything. Major trouble with FWC there. But once again, this could be an easy fix by making a custom cooler that I can strap to the deck of the boat that can be filled with ice and removable. That way we still have a (mostly) un-mutilated boat.

I think these options would provide a nice alternative that would save A LOT of time by having to restructure under the deck. It also keeps the weight in the aft.

CamB25 · Post by **CamB25** » Jul 20th, '16, 14:44

If you can save yourself from modifying the deck, you'll be ahead of the curve. Assuming it isn't rotten now.

A couple of ideas for storage/aux fuel/large fish box:
- There is some space in the V-berth under the cushioned seats that could be used.
- You could make looong seat boxes/benches for the helm seats that stretch back to the gas fill covers, or even farther aft. These might be large enough for the Wahoo/cobia catches. Much easier to build a box off the boat and bolt it in place than to try to adapt the deck surface. The boxes would make good passenger couches. You could make two smaller bait wells - one on each end of the benches
- Make a full width transom seat. You'll have almost 8 feet of ice chest available. We made a start on one for my boat when I was still thinking about using a big bracket.

.02

John Swick · Post by **John Swick** » Jul 20th, '16, 19:48

Last year I was fishing off of St Maarten with some friends on a B31 sportfish (Lee's charters). They had a really cool insulated fish/kill bag (big soft sided cooler bag) that fit across the stern.
Voila !
A fuel bladder in the cockpit step down is a quick an affordable solution to temporary additional fuel requirements.
I hope I just saved you months if not years and thousands of dollars.
Oh yeah....careful about loading up the stern too much.
Good luck with the project.

scot · Post by **scot** » Jul 20th, '16, 20:01

Oh yeah....careful about loading up the stern too much.

John is right. Although most weight should be aft of the COB, much of it can be "AT or around" the COB.. balance it out. The 25's run "bow proud". Your FB is not as bad as an open. My boat had a hard top, twin 6cyl IOs, lots of weight on the stern, yet the PO had concrete bags in the anchor locker. The best balanced boats will have most of the weight JUST AFT of the COB. The inboard V-drive FB 25's are said to be the best riding 25's Bertram built. I think it's because the engines are heavy, and just aft of the COB.

For your build>> 2 auxiliary fuel tanks that are built into side bench seats, located above deck and centered at the COB could solve a lot of issues. Extra fuel, weight where it needs to be and more seating.

John Swick · Post by **John Swick** » Jul 20th, '16, 22:28

I would also try to keep any real weight (fuel, water, batteries, generator, etc) as low in the boat and close to the centre line as possible.
Higher & further outside is going to increase the pitch and roll factor.

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Jul 21st, '16, 00:41

Man, you guys have really hit a lot of home run ideas.

Currently, I'm a big fan of the Marine fuel bladders and the insulated fish bags. I was checking them both out and the prices would probably be what I would pay in supplies to refab the boat design. And it saves me the hassle of the work. My favorite part, is that its not permanent either. The days we are going on long trips for the wahoo, we'll know ahead of time and can just prep the fish bag (and hell, can probably 2 of em for the price). And the 75 gal fuel tank would be plenty for those trips.

The bench seats double as fuel tanks is also kind of a good idea (they could also serve as a large fish box and just make bigger tanks down below). Could make it so the bottom cushion just lifts up. This could be obnoxious if somebody was trying to sit on them though and we keep throwing fish in the cooler. Granted, if I'm throwing fish in there that often, I probably wont mind being a nuisance ha.

Cam, I have thought of a long transom bench seat, but not sure yet. I have kind of been playing with the idea of having long bench seats along each side of the boat. I would like something that's a "fold away". I have fished on many boats that don't have a cushion on the side where it meets your legs (usually at the dang knee), and it hurts rather quickly leaning against the hard structure of the boat. I have since fished on a couple of boats that have a cushion on the inside for your legs...it makes an amazing difference. So, in my mind, I'd like to have a cushion permanently mounted there as the back support, and then find some way to make the bottom of the bench kind of tuck underneath. Will take a little bit of engineering but I think it may be possible.

Cam, what is under the cushions in the vberth? Mine didn't actually have cushions yet, but I don't remember seeing any "hatches" on the top part of the layout. I know there are some openings at the bottom of them, but honestly didn't look much. Is it pretty much all open space below the seats? I would love to utilize that by making hatches under where the cushions would be.

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Jul 21st, '16, 00:56

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCdHBeJnvdE

something kind of like that.

Navatech · Post by **Navatech** » Jul 21st, '16, 02:19

Corey Mason wrote:I have fished on many boats that don't have a cushion on the side where it meets your legs (usually at the dang knee), and it hurts rather quickly leaning against the hard structure of the boat. I have since fished on a couple of boats that have a cushion on the inside for your legs...it makes an amazing difference.

They're called bolsters...

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Jul 21st, '16, 10:24

Thanks.

I'm really weak on my boating lingo. I've had to google several things you guys have mentioned ha.

Navatech · Post by **Navatech** » Jul 21st, '16, 10:34

Corey Mason wrote:Thanks.

I'm really weak on my boating lingo. I've had to google several things you guys have mentioned ha.

NONE of us were born with knowledge... <grin>

Amberjack · Post by **Amberjack** » Jul 21st, '16, 12:37

I'm really weak on my boating lingo. I've had to google several things you guys have mentioned ha.

Don't worry about it Corey, bolster is an upholstery term not a boating term.

Carl · Post by **Carl** » Jul 22nd, '16, 07:03

Did you say you want to carry 40-50 gallons of fresh water?

If your showering on the boat on the hook or someplace that does not have water...yeah, I guess that could be a good idea.
But my .02 is that is alot of water.

I am at the other end of the spectrum...My 31 has a 9 gal tank, I put in as a quick temporary unit and found it works for us. Wash hands, a few dishes, the occasional blender. We don't drink from the tank...or really any boat tank as water tends to develop a funk sitting and cooking in the boat. Even with the 9 gal tank we turn water over often, rinse and flush and will still get that funk. We always have bottled water...on trips, marina has water.

For a rinse when at beach, we have a sun shower, AKA-black water bag with shower hose/head. 3 gal unit is plenty for 4-6 people and multiple "rinses". 5 gal is overkill but we have that one too. We'll even use when fishing to rinse hands.

As to fish boxs...coolers are great, double as seats...some have cushion sets. When you don't need, remove from boat and you have open space.

Real nice looking boat you have.

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Jul 22nd, '16, 08:00

I have 350 liters of water and if I could somehow put 500 more, I would. I use 100 liters per day being alone, mostly shower and washing up. When people (son and friends) live in, then my 350 liter bank lasts 2 days. I wish to find a 12 v water maker that doesnt break down every year...

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Jul 22nd, '16, 09:41

I reckoned it would be a little overkill on the fresh water. But, the tank is already made and came with the boat. That just happens to be the size that it is. Thanks for the compliments

Carl · Post by **Carl** » Jul 22nd, '16, 11:37

Corey Mason wrote:I reckoned it would be a little overkill on the fresh water. But, the tank is already made and came with the boat. That just happens to be the size that it is. Thanks for the compliments

Well then its the perfect size and you'll be glad you have it when you need it!

Carl · Post by **Carl** » Jul 22nd, '16, 11:44

Yannis wrote:I have 350 liters of water and if I could somehow put 500 more, I would. I use 100 liters per day being alone, mostly shower and washing up. When people (son and friends) live in, then my 350 liter bank lasts 2 days. I wish to find a 12 v water maker that doesnt break down every year...

Yannis- depends on what your doing with boat. For me, fresh water in tank is a hand wash, few dishes and stuff for a day out. Once in a blue moon we stay on the hook for more then a day, otherwise we are at a marinas with electric, freshwater hookups, bathrooms and showers...
A day at the beach, a rinse is all we need.

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Jul 22nd, '16, 11:56

Man, I can't wait to get started on this project!

I currently have 2 engines I'm building in my garage (I'm a mechanic on the side). As soon as I get these cars built and running I'm going to get my garage cleaned out and orderly again and then start on the boat. I already have the nissan motor installed, I'm just waiting on a starter to get here (hopefully today). And the dodge I just finished building and as soon as I post this, I will be pulling it off the stand and dumping it in the truck. Hopefully I should have both engines running by tomorrow afternoon, and out of here not long after that!

MarkD · Post by **MarkD** » Jul 22nd, '16, 13:13

Corey:

Just add "clean the custom motorcycle" to the list. Fender is looking a little dusty. You are a man with a lot of projects! I love it.

Mark

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Jul 22nd, '16, 13:36

Ha, I wish just cleaning it was the case! That hadn't ran since I was 17 and though I was invincible until I realized that turn was sharper than I was ;).

Now I'm 26 and the more I learn the more I understand how little I know. That bike doesn't need much work through. Just a rotor, belt, new handlebars, and a thorough tune-up....prob a teardown and inspection maybe.

But for now....boat wins ha.

Yannis · Post by **Yannis** » Jul 22nd, '16, 14:18

Carl,

Do you, or anybody else, know of a RELIABLE 12v water maker?
There are quite a few makes on the market but some technicians told me that all 12v brands work fine for the first year, then they suffer from various illnesses which become so costly to fix that its not worth to install them in the first place.

scot · Post by **scot** » Jul 22nd, '16, 16:11

the more I learn the more I understand how little I know

The beginning of wisdom :-)

Corey Mason · Post by **Corey Mason** » Aug 5th, '16, 18:42

Went out to the boat yesterday to take some pictures of the steering wheels. Somebody called me having trouble getting theirs off, so took some pictures to help them out. Told him it looks like they just spline on the shaft.

Anyways, I did take some pictures of the wood on the flybridge. My concern is that the wood seems to be in very rough condition. What should be done about it? Should I just sand it down as much as I can and glass over it? I have no clue what else to do other than pretty much scrap the entire flybridge and build a new one?

Tony Meola · Post by **Tony Meola** » Aug 5th, '16, 21:57

Cory

It looks like the molding pieces have some rot. If it does, those might be easily replaced. Ant that is not rotted could be faired and glassed.

First determin if it has any soft spots and if so how bad. If not bad those areas can be dug out and faired and glassed also.