There's always the slight chance of a cold snap again by the end of April, but I couldn't resist. I'll re-winterize if I've got to, but I think we're good. Hoping to practice at the boat ramp a few times on weekdays in the coming weeks.
Washed and waxed the boat today, got the trim limit switch and trim sender set (trim up button works now!), and since the 15 day forecast shows a low of about 39F for my area, I decided to de-winterize. It's so nice to hear that rumble again:
Your shop vac filter will clog in no time at all. You'll need to get a dust cyclone attachment to keep from having to stop to clean the filter every minute ot two. I bought one called a Dust Deputy. I also got a long (13 ft?) hose for my shop vac and a remote controlled outlet to plug the shop...
Angle grinder with 40 grit flap discs. I bought cheap Amazon discs (about $1.50 each) and went through 3 or 4 10-packs on my 19ft hull. You'll want to do this grinding outdoors and cover as much of yourself in Tyvek / goggles / respirator / etc. to protect yourself. I did mine indoors and...
My 10-pin switches are for my nav/anchor lights and my trim tabs. They are DPDT on-off-on switches with backlighting, hence all the wires. You can see the details here:
https://newwiremarine.com/product/nav-anc-rocker-switch-contura-v/
Thanks! Hoping to enjoy the fruits of my labor this summer. It just shows that any old joe with enough time and money can restore a boat...especially with the help of the intelligence housed on this forum.
You'll be nickel and dime'd till the end. It's always like that.
Good visual on the fuel hose too. Mine weren't that bad, but I was very glad I replaced them, as they were original to my boat.
Have you checked your timing?
Don't rule the carb out. You could have some trash that got moved around while it was running good.
Do you have a water/fuel separator? If so, pull it off and pour the contents into a clear glass. How does it look?
Being that you're new to this, you're probably going to waste some material due to learning curve and over-use. You may end up needing 25+ gallons of resin. For my 19 ft boat restoration, I used about 35 yards of 50" wide 1708 (including wasted material). It all really depends on what your...
Check my thread out starting here for pictures of what I did. I used four 2x4's between the cap and hull, then built a frame to set that on. I had 7 friends come over and the 8 of us each grabbed the end of a 2x4 and walked the cap off the boat and onto the stand. It sat like that in my back...
Can't tell from the pic - maybe it has an exhaust tube instead of a bellows? The exhaust tube won't be connected to the drive until the drive is lowered.
Try blowing a string through with compressed air. If you get that through you can tie/tape it to the hose and pull it through. Or if you can get a fish tape, use that.
I found that 3 coats of gelcoat took a LOT of the mat texture out (more than I was expecting), but it's still visible. As stated, you'll need to fair and sand if you want to fully get rid of the texture and have a totally smooth finish.
