Weather Day Stuff

I was supposed to fish today on a Cabo but due to a front that is pushed until tomorrow.  This is the redneck/yatchy fusion deck look.  The Teak deck hatches were is bad shape.  So bad that the4 slines that held the planks together and the upper third of the planks were worn away.  So I cleaned what was left up and add pressure treated inlay where the former splines used to reside.  The are hot wax treated also.  These are study enough for me but some of my 300 plus pound pushing seven feet tall anglers will likely challenge them.  I will either have to add plywood/fiberglass backing or just build new hatches.  These would make interesting end tables.  They look different because the old fastener holes were more rotted on on one than the other.  \

Because of the rain my transom plywood got put on hold.  I have cut the rough pattern out which will need some trimming then I can glass the two sheets together to get them ready for the installation.  This is left over aka salvaged exterior plywood used for concrete forming.  I will have to plane down both side and add a bunch of screw holes so the resin can penetrate when I form the tramsom wood to match the boat's curved transom.  The way the hull is designed the curved transom sets the engine back about 4 inches.  It will be a bit of a bear to insert the wood, but I think it should work out well.

This is probably one of the most butt ugly welds you will ever see.  In all of my construction experience I never learned to weld.  This is my first attempt with one of those cheap 115 volt stick welders that everyone tends to cuss.  The weld is butt ugly because the welder doesn't have the butt for the job.  I am going to have to increase the leads on the little welder to 4 AWG and get a little more serious grounding clamp and electrode holder.  Then I should be able to make butt ugly welds that have enough penetration to hold.  At least that is what the general internet chatter consensus seems to be.  This particular talent is something that I will need for the boat trailer.  Then with the V-20 running and a trailer I can launch closer to some of the more interesting back country fishing areas.

The motor is still up in New Jersey so should anyone in that area be planning on heading south with room for a 90 hp Johnson I am sure we can work something out.  If not I have a neighbor than can bring it down in November along with some Venison.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

 Tight lines,

 Capt. Dallas

Teak

This is some of the Teak trim off the V-20.  Note the round spot where the finish washer protected the wood.

\

There is a mount of wood about 1/8 inch tall around the old holes.

Using a handy-dandy hand held 3 1/4 inch surface planner on the lower setting, Tah Dah! now the mounds are gone and the trim ready for sanding.

Add a little hot wax and elbow grease and you have Teak that kinda looks like Teak again.

That whole process took about 1 hour with breaks, cost one emergency candle and enough propane to cook a couple of burgers.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

 Tight lines,

 Capt. Dallas

Mo' Crab Trap Chic

Since the winds are up and the offshore fishing sucks anyway, I piddled with the V-20 some more.

I added some Crab Trap Chic to the cabin bulkhead.  The supports are Cypress and the slats PT trap lumber, both hot waxed.  Hot waxing is about the oldest method of finishing wood that there is after hand rubbing with fat/oil.  New Cypress and PT just aren't what they used to be, so they need something to protect them.  Hot wax should be about as good as anything else and the price is right.  The other grab rail/window support is installed and the forward hatch in the cabin has a new cover.  I ordered stainless fasteners on Ebay so most of the trim work is on hold until that gets in.

Getting a motor shipped down from the North Country is going to cost twice as much as it should since I am in the Keys where over-night mail takes a week to 10 days.  I will have to ponder that situation for a while.  In the mean time I have the plywood for the transom to cut out and if we can find the glass mat I will probably have that in over the weekend.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

 Tight lines,

 Capt. Dallas

Plastic Saddle Tanks

The main reason I can get the V20 up and running cheap are the plastic saddle fuel tanks.  The tanks are strapped in on both side with nylon strapping with plywood to prevent the straps from rubbling through the tanks.  Looks pretty nasty if you are not a fan of 30 years old plastic and plywood.

I re-worked one of the cover panels used to conceal the tank and protect them from UV. The trim on the bottom is just pressure treated lumber used to make lobster traps.  If the original teak is salvageable, I will trim the rest in teak, if not more trap lumber.

The starboard cover panel needs a bit more elbow grease, but should clean up nicely.  The fiberglass panels will not win any design awards but are functional and easy to clean.

What is interesting is that these saddle tanks are the main reason that I can get this project done so cheaply.  If there were metal below deck tanks, the deck would probably have to come out adding a lot of time and a considerable amount of money to the project.  As it is, the 30 plus year old deck is very solid and just needs a little patching.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success. Tight lines, Capt. Dallas

Po Boy Boat Repair

I spoke to Chicago Joe the other day and told him that I didn't expect the V20 refurbishing to cost all that much.  The hull itself is only $500 and a 2 cycle outboard from that era should be less than $1000 bucks.  It is the odds and ends that drive your budget the wrong way.  So here is a quick example of how not to break the budget.

These are pieces of the old swim platform that was falling apart.  I cut them to length, drilled them for mounting and adjusted the bend angle a touch to make new windshield supports.

There ya go.  A windshield support that doubles as a grab rail.  The old ones broke most likely because people were using them as grab rails and they were not made strong enough for that.

That is what the windshield looks like now.  I will install the other side brace after I finish the port side cabin bulkhead.  That is going to be mainly cypress since that is what I have laying around.  In the future I may lose the windshield in favor of Eisenglass, but for now I will just fix what is there in case there is some V20 boating nostalgia guy out there that wants one.

For electronics I am only going to buy a good quality depth sounder.  I have a VHF and will use my hand held GPS.  Batteries, steering cable, Coast Guard equipment and a 4-blade prop will probably be the largest "other" expenses.

Now there is plenty of other stuff I could do, but that won't really improve the fishability of the boat. In case you are wondering, the boat came with a Bimini top that I can re-stitch and adjust the mounting a bit.  Glass mat and resin for the transom has been donated by the boat salvager since he would like me to get her done soon so he has someone to call in case of a tow job.

I told Joe I should get the V20 running for less than $3000 so that is the target.  Totally doable as long as I avoid West Marine "sales".

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

 Tight lines,

 Capt. Dallas

Not Fishing so Some Wellcraft Stuff

Today was supposed to be a grouper fishing expedition however, thanks to the remarkable solvent properties of ethanol, we are doing boat maintenance stuff and watching youtube Mr. Fix-It videos. Fonz has injector/VST filter issues since his boat sits for a long time between uses.  Yamaha 4-cylinder outboard motors have 6 fuel filters under the cowling.  One filter/water separator that is easy to get to, four injector filters that are fairly easy to get to and one VST filter that is an absolute bitch to get to.  The VST filter is a fine mesh metal screen type filter which should never clog if the separate boat fuel filter/separator and engine fuel filter/water separator are properly maintained as the Fonz's filters were.  Time and ethanol tend to complicate boat maintenance.

Back to the Wellcraft.   Wellcraft was not designed for staying in the water.  The two deck boxes and cuddy step down will collect rain water like crazy and eventually sink the boat. So  one part of the project will be to convert the Wellcraft to a self bailing cockpit.  That just means making some spiffy looking hatch covers with good gaskets to seal things up properly and installing a dam under the splash well to reduce water flow into the bilge.  There will also need to be deck drains or scuppers installed which will require a little research before I commit to any design.  I may end up designing my own.

Before investing too much time and money I washed the boat which is about the only way to really get familiar with one.  Since the boat is an antique, born in 1976, the gelcoat has a lot of oxidation.  There are plenty of products on the market that help shine an old boat back up.

One is 303 Aerospace Protectant.  At $16 bucks or more as quart, it is pretty pricy

Another is Favor spray furniture polish.  At about a buck a can it is inexpensive and does a fine job of cleaning/sealing gelcoat.  It is easy to apply and you can almost hear the old gelcoat sucking it up. Since there is not a lot of information available on how well Favor works on things other than wood furniture, the Wellcraft will be a test case, but try it sometime instead of Armour All or 303 on rubber or plastic to see what you think.

The Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

 Tight lines,

 Capt. Dallas

The Wellcraft Project

Every transom I have rebuilt I did after removing the boat cap and floor since all that was pretty much trashed.  The V20 though has a solid enough floor and the cap is not in bad shape.  So instead of ripping the boat a part I am going to slide in a new transom core from the top.  The original transom core was only 1 inch thick and nearly completely turned to powder so I just vacuumed out most of the old stuff.

As I said the floor is in pretty good shape and the boat has saddle tanks instead of a below floor gas tank which is a pretty nice way to do things.  I think this old gal will be a pretty Bay/Reef boat after I am done.

Marathon in the Florida Keys should be your next fishing vacation destination. Join us for charter fishing, fishing guide trips or our fishing 101 so you can fish on your own with better success.

 Tight lines,

 Capt. Dallas