25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

[archbuilder]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

lol I might have to get one of those for the pontoon!

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

When did they start selling that type of lite at the Home Depot???? LOL

 

[Last Mohican]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

When did they start selling that type of lite at the Home Depot???? LOL

I know right. I was surprised to see it. They also had the ones with the colored lenses and LED inside the rotating ball. I guess they have them in for the holidays. it was in the lighting section though.

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

Actually I was talking about the can shaped one. LOL

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

I have finally gotten through your Ambassador thread and I gotta say...WOW! Beautiful boat, great lines, awesome work...

Those seats look amazing!

Just going through thread after thread in this great forum, can't wait to start on your Rebel thread...

Best Regards,
GT1M

 

[Last Mohican]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

Thanks GT

 

[Last Mohican]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

Got a few more parts today. I scored an original hydraulic trim for the Jacuzzi YJ. It's a crazy story how I got it. Someone on PerformanceBoats.com posted pics of a boat he was thinking about buying. I noticed it had a YJ with hydraulic trim. The guy decided not to buy the boat so he gave me the number to the person selling it. I am in TX the boat was in CA. I contacted the seller (Robert) and asked if he would sell just the trim off the boat. He agreed to sell but would not pull the parts and ship them for me.

I posted on Performance Boats again looking for someone to pull the parts and ship them. I actually found another member (Daniel) from AZ that was going to be within 2 miles of the boat in CA but he was pulling a trailer and could not park close enough to pull the parts for me. I finally convinced Robert to pull the parts and take them to Daniel. Daniel hauled the parts back home to AZ and boxed them up and shipped them to me.

It was quite a logistical nightmare but FedEx showed up today and I finally have my YJ hydraulic trim system!! I'm stoked.

Back surgery went very well. Recovery is going good but it is a slow process. I am on light duty for at least the next month probably more. Hopefully recovery continues to go well and I can get back to work on the Ambassador before summer gets here. All this nice weather and stack of parts is driving me crazy.

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

Hey Matt glad to hear the surgery went well. That stack of parts will be waiting on you....looking forward to the updates!

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

Hope you and yours are having a wonderful Holiday Season...
Glad to hear you are on the road to recovery...Don't stare yourself into craziness looking at those parts, concentrate on getting yourself back into top form so you can enjoy installing and using all those parts...
As always, Best Regards,
Gus

 

[Last Mohican]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

Good News/Bad News/Maybe OK???

The ram has a bad seal so it leaks

Good - The cylinder walls are in great shape.

Bad - The seals are hosed (Not that bad though since Tom @ JBP has them)

Maybe OK - The ram has some corrosion. I think this may be OK though since the hydraulic seal is right on the end of the ram. Where the ram is corroded is outside the hydraulic pressure area so it really has no bearing on the seal.

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

My limited experience with hydraulics leads me to believe that if the seals don't ride on the corroded area, there would be no worry of pressure loss. If however any part of the sealing surface is jeopardized by a less than smooth surface, the pressure holding capacity would be compromised.
By what you described, I too, do not see a problem once you install new wiper seals...

 

[Last Mohican]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

I made a new windshield for her today. I had my old broken windshield as a form. One of my customers has a router table so I traced the old windshield on paper, scanned it and then cut it with the router table. To bend it I cut my old broken windshield into 3 pieces. I clamped one end of the old windshield to the back the new piece. I then heated the new piece with my heat gun until it was pliable enough to form to the old piece. Repeated the same procedure for the other side and then the middle. Worked like a champ. It is not perfect but it looks good enough for this ride.

(Clickable Thumbs)

 

[Last Mohican]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

Finally got a chance to sit down and put this thing back together.

Really not much to rebuilding it. Here are the parts laid out in order:



And a video of the ram in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW06-VyyAp4&list=HL1332548189&feature=mh_lolz

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

Glad to see you still banging around, hope your back is getting better...

Nice job on hydraulic ram...looks and sounds like it is working perfectly.

 

[Last Mohican]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

Thanks GT. Back is doing well. Not 100% yet but getting close.

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

Hey Matt, glad to see someone is making progress! Nice work, I've been up to my eyeballs in work at the lake place. Hope I get to take a ride in her this summer!

 

[Last Mohican]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

No problem on the ride Bobby. We need to pick a date and lake for the GTG. Our summer is filling up pretty quickly with events.

 

[Last Mohican]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

Had a pin hole in one of the fuel tanks. I took it to centennial Radiator in Dallas for repair. This is a 7.5' long 30 gal tank. It ended up being $85 out the door. That included cleaning, testing, repairing and retest after the repair. Money well spent IMO. It had a couple of pin holes in a bottom seam. All is bueno now. My back is doing very well after the surgery. Time to get the tank installed and the seats in the Ambassador.

This place has been in business since the 30's. They repair aluminum tanks on 18 wheelers. 2 thumbs up for http://centennialradiator.com/

 

[GT1000000]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

Glad to hear about the excellent tank repair, but even happier to hear your back is doing real well and the Ambassador is getting ready to be wet!

Best Regards,
Gus

 

[Last Mohican]

Re: 25' 1976 Sleek Craft Ambassador Project

Thanks. Glad to be back at it and pretty much pain free!