1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

[Shife]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

My go-to lure is a Rapala jointed minnow, size 11, color firetiger. I go through a couple of them every year. Pike and bass both seem to love it. The body on them ends up shredded after a while. I've also had good luck catching just about everything on Mimic Minnows with spinners attached. If they aren't biting I'll start by switching to a 1/8oz Mimic and work my way up from there.

 

[Shife]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

Just finished putting all new seals in gearcase and replaced gasket between powerhead and motor leg that was spraying water all over the place.

Work starts on building a custom aluminum T-top on Wednesday. All the materials for the frame are in. Just need to order Sunbrella, batten stock, grommets, and lacing.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

Work starts on building a custom aluminum T-top on Wednesday. All the materials for the frame are in. Just need to order Sunbrella, batten stock, grommets, and lacing.

That sounds like a cool project. Keep us updated.

 

[Shife]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

I sure will. I'm interested to find what my total $ will be for this. An off the shelf basic T-top usually runs at least $1k. Not having to pay for the tubing will save me a ton.

My materials cost so far:

36' of 1.5'' .064 wall 6061 T6 tubing: $0.00
28' of 1'' .125 wall 6061 T6 tubing: $0.00
12'' of 4'' wide 1/4'' stock to cut into mounting feet: $0.00
Mounting hardware: $20.00

Stuff I still need (estimated):

Sunbrella canvas (grey): $60.00
Brass grommets: $20.00
Batten stock: $40.00
Batten sockets: $10.00
100' of 1/4'' Spectra line: $30.00
Rocket launchers (4): $100.00
Paint (white): $20.00
Primer (zinc chromate) $10.00
Overhead box for radio: $35.00
Lifejacket T-Bag: $30.00
4' AM/FM antenna: $50.00
Folding LED Masthead light: $50.00

I guessing that fully outfitted I'll probably have about $450.00 into this. We shall see. I'm saving $300.00 on the 1.5'' tubing and $270.00 on the 1'' tubing so if I had to actually factor those in the savings would really only add up to a few hundred dollars. In reality doing this as a DIY will only save the labor costs as a DIY'er won't likely get pricing breaks on the tubing, fabrics, etc.

 

[Shife]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

The upper hoop of the top is mitered and tig'd together. Was hoping to get a lot more done, but I'll take what I can get. A good friend is being kind enough to use his equipment and help tig the tubing together. Hopefully we can get more of it done Friday. Once it starts to look like something more than a 72 inch aluminum square, I'll get some pictures up.

 

[Shife]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

Picture time...

New seals for gear case

Attaching forward uprights to top:

 

[Shife]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

Laying out bolt pattern on mounting feet for top:

Drilled mounting feet:

I need to get the boat over to my friends house before we can get any more done to the T top frame. Hopefully we can finish up the cutting and welding of the rear supports and bracing on Sunday. I'm hoping to have it painted and ready to start stitching the fabric top by next weekend.

 

[Triton II]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

Your T-top is looking good... Nice alloy work.

TII

 

[Shife]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

Cross bracing is wrapping up. Tomorrow we will fit it to the boat and measure for the aft supports. Then we'll weld the mounting feet on and it will be ready to prep and paint. The sunbrella canvas, grommets, thread, folding LED masthead light, and other hardware has been ordered and should start to trickle in next week. Once that is done I'll order the antenna and rocket launchers. I still need to scrounge up some batten stock as well.

 

[Shife]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

The welding is done and the top is now bolted to the boat. The painting will have to wait, as I am going to get some round stock and machine a tilting system that will fit into the tubes and allow it to lay down in a parallelogram fashion. The tubes will need to be cut and more welding done, so I would have to paint it all over again.

 

[Shife]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

Mounted to boat:

Back home waiting for the rest of the parts to show up:

I just have to wait for the accessories to start showing up. I'll probably wait a month or two before adding the tilt setup. Should have the rest of the project wrapped up within the next two weeks.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

Looks great!

 

[Buckeyedude]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

very cool, i gotta tell ya, your light idea is way cooler than what i had in mind for mine! The t-top is gonna be pretty sweet! Keep up the good work!

 

[Shife]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

Canvas, masthead light, and grommets are in. I need to send back most of the grommets as they are brass plated and not solid brass as advertised. Thread is still on back order and I need to make a trip down to Detroit for the batten stock. I'll make the bracket for the masthead light at work tomorrow and mount it so I feel like I'm making some progress on this thing.

 

[Shife]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

Bent up a quick and dirty bracket for the masthead light out of some scrap:

The new masthead light, LED of course, sits at least a foot higher over my stern mounted Atwood LED masthead. Glare should no longer be a bit of an issue, even on the front casting deck.

The new masthead light is from Seasense and the quality is not even close to the Attwood, but I didn't feel like spending another $80 on a masthead light. I'll keep the Attwood onboard as an emergency spare. I'll also be adding permanent LED navigation sidelights and my removable pole mounted bow lights will also get stowed as a backup.

I get a bit Walter Sobchak when it comes to navigational lighting: "Doesn't anybody give a #@$% about the #$^$#@ rules!" If you can't be bothered to learn and use proper lighting, stay off the water at night.

 

[Shife]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

The rest of the materials are still slowly coming in. I had a chance to do some 'testing' in the rather high winds we had a couple of days ago and a few changes are now in order due to the potential for instability/windage issues. As this type of boat is rather light and relies on the hull form alone for stability, the canvas could cause the boat to list dangerously in high winds. It would be extremely irresponsible and reckless of me to add a fixed top with no provision for quickly reducing its harmful windage. So...

I am now making a folding frame for the canvas that will bolt to the top of the upper hoop. This will be made out of 3/4'' square tubing. It will be hinged in the center and the front half will fold onto the back allowing the canvas to be bunched up and tied similar to a bimini top. The canvas will attach using awning track and bolt rope at the front and rear. The sides will be snugged using webbing strap and buckles. The fiberglass bows will still be used to give it shape. The only real change will be that instead of being lashed to the upper hoop, it will be attached to a folding frame.

 

[Shife]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

Folding frame for canvas is finished:

Folded:

Bolt rope track:

Hinge:

 

[Shife]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

Mounted to boat:

The fiberglass battens are still not in. They should hopefully get here Monday so I can start sewing up the canvas.

 

[Shife]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

Battens are here, but I have to take off for Carlisle PA tomorrow for a last minute business trip. Boat will have to wait.

 

[Triton II]

Re: 1987 Blue Fin S170 Rebuild

Looking great Shife. Looking forward to seeing the cloth on top!

TII