1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

[lil buggy]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

X2 on the Install pics,,, I'm super interested in the placement. I put my window unit in my aft cabin window but I would love to mount by the anchor locker,,, and getting my aft window back.

How did the seacock replacement go?

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

YEA!!!!!!! the seacocks are replaced and I didn't sink the boat!!!!!!!!

The old ones were of a plastic/nylon material. I like these bronze ones much better.

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

Ok...I promised pics of my AC install. As I mentioned, I bought a residential portable unit. It's 8000 BTU and, as Dawg mentioned, it self-ventilates the condensate so it serves as a dehumidifier as well as an AC unit. It is not reverse heat, which some are.

I installed it in a space under and at the front of the V-berth as you can see in the photo below.

It fits flush with the edge of the V-berth and, as you can see, I got lucky with the dimensions as it looks built-in. I did have to remove the casters from the unit to make it short enough to fit under the platform.


You can see in the photo above the "notch" in the V-berth. I'm not sure why that gap was there, but it was clearly intentional. A plywood board spanned the opening and a section of the V-berth cushion was supported by that.

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

In the pic below, you can see the exhaust hose running through the hole I cut.


At the bow end of the V-berth I had to cut another hole up through the V-berth and then into the anchor locker. There wasn't sufficient space inside the storage area below to go straight into the anchor locker.



From there I attached some 4 inch expanding metal dryer vent hose vertically inside the anchor locker to carry the exhaust heat up and out.



Outside, on the bow, I cut a hole and installed this mushroom vent and I attached the 4 inch hose to the underside of it.



The mushroom vent is polished stainless and the cap itself sits on a threaded spindle so that I can spin the cap open for exhaust or dog it down to prevent water from entering. It's made by a company called Ventus.

http://www.jamestowndistributors.co...dwords!6456&keyword=product_ad_11763&type=pla

Not shown in the photos is the insulation that I later installed to surround the vent hoses preventing radiant heat from defeating the cooling from the unit. For that I just bought some duct insulation wrap from Home Depot and duct-taped in on.

Works pretty well, but if I were to do it over, I'd be looking for more BTU's. Something like 10000 to 12000. This 8000 BTU unit is right at its limit.

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

I stole one of chriscraft254's ideas too and added some sound insulation to my hatch covers, as long as I had those off to replace the seacocks.



It's actually a roof repair product you can find at home depot.
http://www.homedepot.com/buy/quick-...d-re-roofing-material-qr625.html#.UEHrn9aPVLc

Nice stuff. Very sticky dense black tar-like material on one side with a heavy-duty reflective foil on the outside. I haven't put it to any serious test yet, but it does seems to quiet the engine sounds some at idle.

 

[lil buggy]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

^^^^^ I keep forgetting to get that stuff! i wana do my engine hatch with it. my firewall has some thick stuff allready.


back to the ac,,, does that compartment get hot?

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

It did, lil buggy, so I insulated the exhaust duct with a fiberglass and foil duct sleave. works better now.

 

[lil buggy]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

Ohh I got ya,,,, I was thinking that you just dumped the air into the anchor locker,,, and vented that space. Good thinking on your part ducting it all the way to the vent,, kudos brother! For a job well done

I would like to follow suit with that one,, so I can claim my aft cabin window back

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

I"m sure you can do it, lil buggy. It seems that the hardest part is to find a portable unit of the right dimensions for the space you might be thinking about. IF you do decide to do it, and the dimensions work, get the most BTU's you can find. The 8000 BTU's that I have is just barely enough when the sun is beating down on the forward deck. The exhaust run on mine is a little longer than I"d like as well, and I think one of the modifications I'll make it to install an in line blower to help boost the exhaust heat flow near the mushroom vent.

 

[lil buggy]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

thanks, mine takes a good while as well, to cool it down in the hot sun(not sure of my btu's though) but it spills hot air into my aft couch area(above deck) and heats it up pretty good.

just for shifts and giggles, whats the dimentions of yours, so i can do some cheap math:facepalm:,,,lol

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

thanks, mine takes a good while as well, to cool it down in the hot sun(not sure of my btu's though) but it spills hot air into my aft couch area(above deck) and heats it up pretty good.

just for shifts and giggles, whats the dimentions of yours, so i can do some cheap math:facepalm:,,,lol

The unit I bought is about 25 1/2" tall by 17 1/2 " wide and you need about 16 inches of depth in order to have room for the exhaust line.

 

[lil buggy]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

Thanks,,, I can see if I can jam it in there somewhere

 

[Globetrottin1]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

What did you do with the original table? I just bought an '88 284 and its table was removed completely.

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

What did you do with the original table? I just bought an '88 284 and its table was removed completely.

I resurfaced the original table, Globetrottin1, with a teak veneer, trimmed out with Mahogany edges and finished with a bar top epoxy coating. I initially tried to cut and create a new table top. It worked out ok, but I needed to beef it up some. Rather than taking the time to do that, I resurfaced the original table.

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

Well.....the boat is put away for the season and cold weather is here. We all know what that means. Boat projects!!!!

I have GOT to prioritize this year.

1. Custom hard top
2. new canvas
3. underwater lights
4. wet sand hull
5. upgrade downrigger wiring
6. install secondary bilge pump
7. Rebuild/replace carburetors
8. Extend swim platform

so much to do so little time...... ;-)

Nuts...I need a new horn too!

 

[lil buggy]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

Hope you had a great thanksgiving, as well as an epic summer. That's a heavy todo list you got for this upgrade season! I'm looking forward to following along.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

Hey Buddy, just catching up. Looks like you have been busy, nice job on the ac unit. Look forward to seeing the hardtop build Any updates on projects in the works? May have to take you up on the fishing invite if I don't get in the water next season, like that would ever happen,lol Happy Holidays to you and the family.

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

Hey Buddy, just catching up. Looks like you have been busy, nice job on the ac unit. Look forward to seeing the hardtop build Any updates on projects in the works? May have to take you up on the fishing invite if I don't get in the water next season, like that would ever happen,lol Happy Holidays to you and the family.

You're welcome any time! I'm internet hunting now for a combo fish-finder/chartplotter to improve my odds of getting on fish.

The Holidays took significant time away from boat upgrades and I haven't accomplished a lot. I bought the horn, a WOLO twin horn called the Persuader. Looks like it will work pretty well.

I did get the wiring for the downriggers upgraded, but it appears that I have an issue with one of the downriggers itself, so I've got to tear that open.

I got a small start wet-sanding, but the weather and holidays closed in on me.

I've bought the secondary bilge pump and began the wiring for it. My intent is to have this function more like a primary bilge pump, coming on first, with the main bilge pump left to handle the bigger problems. I've still got to do the plumbing for it and I want to look at my deck drains. I see that the two forward deck drains drain directly into the bilge rather that out. I remember you made some nice improvements to yours by making them bigger and I may consider doing that too in addition to plumbing them to drain out the thru-hulls. The first thing is to get them to drain out, however.

I haven't pulled the carbs yet. Mine appear to be standard old Rochester 4-barrels. I've had good luck in the past with an Edelbrock 4-brl 600 CFM and have been trying to decide whether to rebuild or replace.

I haven't gotten anywhere with the hard-top "bimini" I'd like to do and that will determine what my new canvas is going to look like. Measuring all the dimensions and getting the bends and curves right in order to build a mold may be beyond my abilities.

I hope your Holidays were more than great!

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

Maybe, just for today, this Forum should be called Boat Resurrection, Building, and Hull Repair.

Happy Easter to all. May God Bless each of you and your families.

 

[BSnB]

Re: 1987 28' Chris-Craft 283 Amerosport

Well...it's Spring (maybe) and the boat was launched this past week.

I delayed the launch, partly because of weather and mainly because I had a few "below the rub rail" items to complete before I got her wet. The projects completed include wet-sanding the entire hull to 1200 grit then a polishing compound and finally a wax and buff. My hat is off to chriscraft254. I had help doing this and it still kicked my butt. The results were great. the gel-coat on these older Chris Crafts really take a shine. I'll try to post up some pictures in the water. I took some while it was up on stands, but without sufficient sunshine they didn't show the full effect.

Next, I removed and re=applied the Starboard boot-stripe. This had become chipped and deteriorated over time. I used vinyl rather than try my unsteady hand at painting it on. We'll see if it holds up.

Thirdly, suited up and took a sander to the bottom paint to smooth it out and scuff it so that a new coat would adhere properly.

Finally, I found an on-line retailer that made up some underwater LED's (blue) that attach to my trim tabs. The price was a little higher than do-it-yourself and doesn't offer the RGB that chriscraft254 has talked about, but I was running out of time and wanted them on before launch. I can't tell you the quality of the LED's. I'm told they're the waterproof style. Each strip is approximately 10" long with the LED's spaced closely together and epoxied into a length of aluminum U-channel that is slightly longer that the LED strip. Holes are drilled in the U-channel at each end for mounting to the trim tab. I mounted these to the back edge of my tabs by drilling aligning holes in the tabs and inserting a small rubber gasket between the tabs and the U-channel before bolting them in place. I ran the wire through some flexible plastic tubing to protect it against wear and left a loop behind the hydraulic cylinder to allow for movement before zip-tying the wire to the cylinder and running the two wires from each up to a single hole centered in the stern and sealed with silicone, for now.