14' Blue Fin Mod

[brentar]

So I started rebuilding my boat. I can't find my picture of my boat pre-tearout of all the materials, but I did find one of it empty with the old paint.

I prepped it with alumiprep, alodine, self-etchine primer, then the inside was sprayed with Interlux pre-Kote. At That point I started fitting the ribs in and the center structure underneath. I used a 3x2 aluminum tube with wood sloped down towards the back. i set the ribs on top of those, and wood in between. My neighbor and I fished the wires through and added grommets. At this point, the main floor section was ready to go in, so we got that in. Then on to the sides. That was quite a bit more challenging. Tough to find enough big blocks of time to make large strides of progress.. At any rate, the framing will be done tomorrow and we will be adding wood/carpet/paint this week. So far, it has taken me a month to get here.

What's left:
pre-kote x 2 on exterior
final paint(inside steel gray, outside navy blue)
wood
mount Tempress seats that match the paint pattern of the boat
wiring
carpet

Here's a few photos, more to come!

 

[nomowork]

Pretty fancy stuff! Must be nice to do that work inside. I did most of my boat work outside in the driveway. Luckily it doesn't rain much here! Keep it up.

 

[LonLB]

Looks like REALLY nice work! =D>

 

[brentar]

here are a few more pictures. Getting close to putting on the wood, carpet, wiring electronics.

We went a little rivet crazy on the building of the front deck, but we have a lot of brackets underneath to keep the aluminum nice and level. A lot of boats I see pre-existing brackets up front, mine didn't have any so we made it work pretty good considering. Very sturdy. Can't wait to get the wood on. The wife is going out of town this week so I am hoping to have it back in the water by Saturday night!!!!

The frame for the hatch up front will be framed tonight, then it's go time on the remaining pieces.

Used a carbide tipped 10" blade for all of the aluminum, worked pretty well. Only had one really bad kick back, luckily no one got hurt but the saw itself. :shock:

Once this boat is done I might put a full description of everything that has been done. definitely gives me an appreciation of boats I never had before.

 

[nomowork]

I think most of the fun is in the building of the project!

Keep it up.

 

[brentar]

Here are some more shots of some of the work we have done so far. Cutting the front deck out now, taking a break.

 

[LonLB]

Anxiously awaiting updates.

Looks like a cool project.

 

[brentar]

getting a littler further now. only 2 panels left to put on. Got everything wired, put in the new depth finder, new inverter and the batteries go in next. My neighbor got the first coat of primer on the exterior with his spray gun. once the panels are in, it's just paint and tying up a few loose ends! The rear seat needs to be mounted, rod storage holders, and some wire cleanup. added in a quick connect/disconnect for the trolling motor. finally the end is in sight. added a few more photos!

 

[brentar]

Ok- getting a little further now. Only items left are the 2 finish coats of paint on the inside/outside of the boat and carpet a removable piece of wood under the front deck hatch. It rides on the ribs, but it's just to store seldom used items underneath. I have a few things to cleanup, but the majority of the hard work is done. Here are a few pics of the inside.

 

[lovedr79]

Looks great