Front Bulkhead installed

super nice job !

looking real nice, like the large accesses in the rear. Oh yea, nice trout by the way. I have been wanting to get down that way and do some trout fishing. May head down there after Christmas and wet a line maybe if I can find time.

As you know, some manufacturers close the dang boats up. Cant get to the bilge pumps, or even see the bilge. I think that a lot of the issue with sinking Seacrafts were that it was impossible to do a good job wiring and plumbing replacemen pumps and switches. On my old 18, I think there was only an 8 x 14 inch or so access panel in the splash well. It was screwed down so you could not look in the bilge anywhere. Now how do you put in a new pump with one hand in that tiny access? I just took out the in deck live well ( saws all, grinder-there was a a huge blob of potter putty holding the dang thing in-it came out in pieces and the had to grind/chisel the potter putty). I then was able to put in 2 bilge setups properly.

In the boat in this thread, the rear most hole serves as the access to pumps, thru hulls, and some wiring and other stuff at the gunnels (coming from the console, fuel tank). The more forward hull is an insulated icebox, so there is no access to the hull. That is to say the divnycell is above the hull, with bilge water running under it.

As for the trout, those are from October. The large trout are gone somewhere and we have spikes now.

Leaning post
 

I forgot to take pictures of the jig when we made the leaning post. The only hard part was the curvature we made on the jig. We cut 5 curved pieces for the jig from 3/4 inch ply. We took the 40 inch long divinycell h 80 panel and cut longitudinal grooves about a 1/4 inch apart to allow bendage. We bent it over the jig putting screws into the 5 curved areas. we went from behind and put cabo in the slots we made to help it stay that way. We let it dry. We took the screws out from the three center jigs and the foam stayed there. We then glassed the outside curved area with 17 oz, leaving about 2 inches on the ends of the two outer curved pieces of the jig. After drying we removed the piece and it was solid. We have done this a lot lately, putting screws on the outside and not glassing over them. Later we will tape that raw foam since its on the end. Or cut it off. We then did he straightforward box assembly and put two layers of 17 oz all over. We put some reinforcements of coosa (the gray pieces inside).

More Leaning Post
 

So we wanted to make an insert under the leaning post seat. (later pic).
So we used the curvature of the leaning post as a jig for the seat. In about the only place we used wood, we glued up some "wiggle" wood. It was massively heavy. So I cut out inserts and replaced with divinycell, before glassing in. Pictures show the initial glue up (the white stuff is peel ply before removal). Then the piece on the console down and then tilted. We did glue in a strip of white oak 1 x1 inch to screw the piano hinge into when we get there. Last picture is the storage tray that goes under the seat. I had made it from another project and it fit perfectly with a little cutting and glassing. More picts to follow.

We glassed in the box, did some fairing and sprayed a little superbuild. Then I made a rod and cup holder from some recycled teak from an old yacht. It just dry fitted and only have a couple of coats of epoxy on the teak. The 15 degree rod holders were slightly tricky. I made a jig of 15 degrees and made the holes on the drill press. Then used the hole in the 1 inch teak to guide the hole saw cut through the foam. Worked out well.

Glassing in Transom facia
 

Finally glassed in transom baitwell and front. Shown here is after a single skim coat of putty to fill the weave and sanding.

There will be a removable foot kick about 2 inches behind. This is to allow access to mount the engine bracket. The access on starboard will be for the fuel filter and other wiring etc. Not sure on the right yet.

The teak looks great, but the epoxy will turn white from UV exposure, unless you put some varnish over it to protect it. I understand that can happen virtually overnight, so probably a good idea to add another coat of varnish annually to avoid surprises!

We always put several coats of varnish or in this case Alexseal clear coat. Waiting for several other pieces of brightwork to get caught up before we spray it. Got a bunch of pics to post shortly. Been negligent.


Here's a cooler I made for a CCA NC raffle. Made a bunch of these over the year-very popular. Used Divinycell for foam. I made the box first marine ply, using a little tape inside. Then glued in the foam. One layer of biaxial 17 oz (no matt) and finish glass for the inside. The top is cedar. Corners are reclaimed teak. Epoxied, then alexseal clear coat.