Defender spray-on bedliner with non-skid additive. I thinned it with a little reducer and rolled it on. Basically, I made my own Kiwi-Grip. A one gallon kit costs about $110 and I only used 2 quarts.

Made some custom starboard step pads for the cap.

Finally got back on her yesterday and this morning. Filled a bunch of screw holes in the console and then started to work on making the plug for the old access doors on the top of the console. I plan on flush mounting the gps/fishfinder, vhf, and stereo for a more modern look.

Finished off the fiberglass, faired it in, and gave it a quick shot of primer to reveal low spots. All out of fairing material so calling it a day.

I just acquired a Seacraft console but mine does not have the same config yours has.
Mine does not have a big "box" on top like yours, but I plan to close up the dash and flush mount the electronics.

Thinking of placing a hatch in the front above the seat to better get to the electronics etc..
It get covered up by the backrest anyways.

My console is a custom one that was installed by the original owner.

Story goes that he was a guide down in the keys and built the boat how he wanted it after getting the bare hull from Mr. Potter as one of the two Master angler hulls that were not included in the sale of the company in 1979. Whether that is true or not, I have no idea.

made a nice little placard to hold the new switch panel. Hope to paint the console early next week and then start the actual rewiring process

I like.......a lot!!!!!! Sweet.

Took a couple of weeks off from working on her to house hunt with my wife plus the rains did not cooperate.

Neighbor finished raising the legs on the t-top 4 inches for me. Now starting to sand and spray with self-etching primer to get it ready to paint.

Also, finishing up the prep work on the center console so that I can shoot that in the next couple of days.

Worked on the console yesterday and got it ready for paint. Got up early this morning and got it done before it got too hot to allow the paint to flow.

Peeled the tape and paper and I am pretty pleased with the results. Now I guess I need to make a new rear door for it as well. The old door was just made from 1/8" plywood and it is delaminating.

Decided since I felt like I was on a roll, to keep going. Painted the t-top today as well. Hope to put it on the boat tomorrow. Trying to decide if I want to fabricate a hardtop for it or just throw a quickie canvas on it...

FWIW - I used spray-on bed liner paint for the t-top frame. This way, if it gets scratched, I can simply touch it up with a shot of spray paint.

Oh boy, NOW I feel like I am making progress!

Damn that thing is looking Sharp!

Michael.

did you do the paint? If so you sir are a talented CSC obsessed as most here!!!

No matter it is beautiful/great.

Ed

Ed,

Yes, I did all of the paint myself. Thanks for the compliment :D

Being a sign guy, I decided to make a quick (temporary) cover for the t-top

Nice!

Installed all new rod holders, my custom step pads and the new pop-up cleats in the bow today. Also, finished installing the deck hatches and the coming pads. She is starting to come back together...

Started wiring up the new switch panel. Discovered the bilge pump is strong as all get out - I installed the plugs and then turned the hose on full blast into the bilge to make sure the float switch worked properly. Not only did it work properly but the hose could not keep up at all filling the bilge. The secondary manual pump worked well too.

Also, started the engine for the first time in months and she fired right up. Ran nice and smooth and the tell tale was peeing like a race horse :)

Today, I confirmed my Sea Tow membership is still valid, soooo, might just have to give her a splash tomorrow - it's my birthday tomorrow so this would be a Happy B-Day to me :D

Well...well...well...Happy Birthday and have fun!!!! :)

Thanks, finished wiring up the new Switch panel tonight so I think my son and I are going to give it a go in the morning

Slight change of plans, going to head out tomorrow morning instead...

Happy Birthday Bro!

well, managed to drop her in the water on Sunday. Did not make it much past the boat ramp, however. The hydraulic steering decided to leak once I started to turn it under a load. Before too long, no helm control at all! :(

Luckily, the Live Bait guy saw me and gave me a tow back to the ramp so I did not have to sit around waiting for Sea Tow.

Also, discovered that the carbs need a rebuild as there was no power under a load at all - wold not go over 1500 rpm. Guess I will be busy with that stuff this week. Shooting for a second effort on Friday or Saturday

Also, when I was putting her back on the trailer, another 20' Master Angler was dropping in! He had a brand new Yamaha 150 4-stroke on the back - less than two week sold. He was loving it. He had pulled of an old Johnson from the back and was very pleased with t he Yamaha and said his payments were only $200/month for the engine. hmmm....

He commented on the splash well and how much he wished his had something like that :)

In the spirit of being a good neighbor, I gave him the chum and sardines I had just bought since clearly I was not going to use them and I don't think my wife would appreciate me putting them in our freezer at home

1500?
 

I looked a bit and did not find what power is on the transom, the motor sounds like it was in safe mode. Verify that b-4 you start w/carbs. Your ride looks great.

Sucks to have the steering go out on the maiden voyage, best of luck.

Ed

She has a 1987 Yamaha 175 on the back. No alarm sounding at all. FWIW - she is peeing like a race horse, so I don't think it is a temperature thing. Plenty of oil in the tank too.

Well, had a marine mechanic buddy of mine swing by yesterday to see what was going on with it.

Good news/bad news

Good News - It is not the carbs or a random safe mode issue and he did a compression check while he was at it - 120+ on all 6 cylinders :)

Bad news - looks like the power pack. Seems like this is a hard to find part for a 1986 outboard at this point. He is going to try and get me pricing on one later today. From what I am seeing online however, they can run about $500 for the part alone. Combine that with the cost of resealing the hydraulic steering and it will be $800-1000 to "fix" this engine and at that point, it may still need the carb work. Do I want to put that much money into a 32 year old outboard?

old OB
 

My motor is a 1995 OMC and I do most of the work myself, for one K it may be worth a gamble ( in just over 4 yrs. I put at least 2 K into it ). But have owned since new. Really your call, if there is $$ for new power good, if not buying used has a lot of danger as well.


Best of luck

Ed

Yeah, I may just roll the dice and fix it. My goal all along was to use it this summer and over the winter months, save up and repower. I need to get out on the water :)

Well, crap. Tried to get the motor going with a "new" cdi and it turns out the one on it is less than a year old and basically brand new. So, I don't think that is the problem.

Then, I decided to pull of the swim ladder and sell it since it was useless to me. Pulled it off and removed the mounting brackets and that was when curiosity got the better of me...I figured since I was going to have to patch the holes anyways, I may as well take a look at the transom by using a hole saw to cut out a small section of the fiberglass. :eek: Bad idea but guess I am glad I did before I hung a new(er) motor on the back. The wood is like wet sawdust :mad:

SO, time to pull off the old Yamaha and get busy replacing the transom. Unless I can seriously bust some ass over the next few weeks, I guess my summer is shot :(

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Eventful couple of weeks for me.

On July 24th, we closed on our new house in Port Saint Lucie

On July 30th, the movers moved out big stuff in to the bi house

On August 6th, I had a pretty major heart attack and subsequent live saving surgery.

Now, I have to relax and wait for the doctor to tell me when I can get back to doing things. Not allowed to pick up anything heavier than a gallon of milk. Not allowed to drive. Basically, not allowed to do anything. This sucks but I guess it is better thN pushing up daisies.

Trying to decide if I should just pay to have the transom or wait and do it myself. Thought about selling her for the past couple of days but realized it would not be worth much and I would really lose my ass. I just want to get on the water again and enjoy the second chance at life the EMT'S and Doctors have given me.

First off, sorry to hear of the health issues and congrats on not being dead! lol. Don't sell it. You'll instantly regret it. If you are well enough to use the boat, then just throw down some dough and get it done! I'm getting lazy in my old age, and am finding that its just nice to go boating instead of work on boats.

I have been working on restoring a 20' for a number of years. Just this year I bought a fully operational 20' sceptre with 175 optimax and I have to say I've had a great summer on the boat that would have otherwise been spend itching while working on the other one. Life is too short. Fix the boat and go boating!

Damnit man just saw ya saturday!!

I agree, fix the one youve got.

Heres to a speedy recovery

I have pretty much decided to keep her. If I can find somebody reasonable to repair the transom that can also do it in a timely manner, I will go that route. Been verbally quoted 4k for coosa rebuild and 3500 for plywood. Both said it would be about a month
Seems kind of high to me.

Is that what the going rate is for this type of job? Also, seems like a long time for something that can probably be done in less than a week...

Hey Topflite-
Real sorry about your situation man- but you are still here, thank the Lord for that. Moved to PSL huh. I grew up in White City. My dad had a precast concrete business on the site where the fireworks store on US1 is. Used to run a very much used 14' Lyman from White City Park to PSL. Skied there too, until my mom say me trying to pick oranges off the trees and knew there were gators. So started skiing in salt water near FT Pierce inlet.

Pending the money situation I think I would want the boat ready to use when my health was restored instead of working on it. And that's from a guy who would rather work on a boat or car than the house or worse yet the yard!

Here's wishing you a speedy recovery.

Glad they put you back together. Since it seems like both you and the boat might be able to go out together in a few weeks, it seems like paying a 'boat doc' would be a good use of time & money. Otherwise you would not get to start it until after your docs clear you and then you would discover that any 1 week job on your own boat blows up into several weeks and, at an unreasonable $3-5/hr for your time, will cost the same.