23 floor job
 

My fuel tank finally gave up the ghost. After draining 80 gals. of fuel it was time to remove the tank. Good thing the floor was already wasted. Decided to farm out the heavy fiberglass stuff, since all i have done is some minor ding repair on surfboards. Attached are some photos before and after the journey began.

Got to love the "YO-MAMA" power plant!

Gotta love the dudes fishing team, fish tremble at the sound of my name!!! And doing what pud dreams !!! Lol
get that rag done dude so we can get back to diving !!!!! Your transducer is waiting for you here !!!

looks good! Wish mine was that quick!

The YOMAMA has never failed to get me home! But it knows how to put the hurt on the gas tank. Attached are some more pics of the progress. New 140 gal. tank is in. Floor may be going in tomorrow. It got held up because of the aluminum backing plates to support the T-Top have to be glassed on to the underside of the floor. The Cobia were chewing last Saturday and the phins are on the way. Still alot of work to do, hopefully it will be ready for bug season.

Got a buddy with a 23 Seacraft he wants to restore. I called him yesterday and told him i wanted to cut the last 4 feet off of it and make mine a 27 footer. Anybody have any thoughts on that? Better yet has anybody done it? If not, why not?

You talking about Murray??? I would do it Dude !!! You would be the ginnie pig for what could be a bad to the bone 27Ft. Sea Raft........ LOL

Brand, i need to come get the transducer from you and yes Murray said i could have his seacraft. A 27 seacraft sounds killer, but nobody else has given their 2 cents about if it is worth doing or not. As far as the transducer goes, 1kw or 2 kw, mmmmmmm. If i don't use the 2kw one, i'll at least figure out the best way to mount it in your boat. i agree, when it gets done we need to go bust some bugs.

I would not try to add length to the hull, unless your going to add a foot of beam too :)

Shine,
Do you think the boat wouldn't perform correctly? It would be enough work to add the 4 feet of length. Adding a foot of beam would be more work than it is worth.

OK my one glass guy got back from vacation and they got the T-Top backing plates laminated to the underside of the floor along with some other prep work. Looks like the floor will be set in soon. Except for the prospect of additional cash hemorrhaging from the wallet, i am getting a little excited about the progress. More pics to come.

"Except for the prospect of additional cash hemorrhaging from the wallet"

Yep....that's how you can tell your working on a boat!!!....or an airplane, race car, or other such bad "man habits"!! :) :D

Floor is in. Next several layers of glass on the top.

True that DonV. When i took the boat apart, i took everything and put it in my race car trailer and buried the car. That way i cannot work on it until the boat is put back together.
Question/Looking for an opinion: Currently i have a Furuno FCV-292 color sounder with a 1kw transducer in the bottom of my boat. Thinking to upgrade to a 2kw. i primarily fish and dive from Port Canaveral/Sebastian Inlet area. Although all the fishery management boneheads have declared all the bottom dwelling species of fish extinct in our area, i was hoping maybe to start doing a little more bottom fishing if they ever open anything back up. Should i upgrade to the 2kw unit or leave it as is?

Shot...when I was upgrading my electronics I went "up" to the 1kw system versus a 600w system. I never even thought about anything more powerful. My Raymarine works fine with the B-164 Airmar transducer, I don't think I want to go any higher and melt the hull of my ol clunker. :)

Went to the glass shop today and the floor was glassed on top. Three layers of 1.5 oz. i brought the Airmar 2kw transducer up there and they said an extra 8 bills to remove the 1kw transducer without damaging it and reinstalling the 2kw flush mounted to the bottom. Another 2 bills for the testing the 2 kw unit from airmar. Not sure if i want to drop another marine unit for this. Anyone want to school me about breaking out the cash or going conservative? i'm thinking about renaming the boat from Made2Slay to Fishkill Cliff. Oh and by the way, i forgot to take pictures of the glass work. Hopefully i will have more pics to post tomorrow, but for now just before the glass.

Here are some pics of the floor after glass. Body work on the console is coming along as well. Also, set the new 2kw transducer next to the existing 1kw one. i'm not sure i'm going to install it. It may become the next winter project.

Dude Please !!!!!! That big Transducer is going to sink that SINK CRAFT.....LOL.. I would not put the 2 KW in if I were you.. Talked to Murray today he said it's a waist of time and MONEY$$$$$$$$$, just give it back and I will sell it and put in one like yours in my rag, a small hole 1kw is all we need.

Today the floor and hatches got the first coat of gel with traction control. Console is starting to look good too. After further research, i think i will stick with the 1kw transducer for now.

Where is the Porta- Potty going Dude ???? Looks Great !! Makes me want to Bring the Banana over to Alan's after your is out........

Floor got second layer of gel and webbing on Friday. Body work on console is finished, it will probably get painted tomorrow, hopefully. Starting to look good.

Blue Vein Looking SWEEEEEET !!!!

wow! i love the blue! I just may have to get your guy to gel coat my floor. That is sweet! Even better with a little orange

Yeah, i was thinking Gator Blue and Orange myself. Then i thought when i go to sell it the only tire kickers i would get would be Criminole fans! Console is in the boat. Next step is to screw it down and glass it in. Hopefully next week that will happen. They put my boat on the back burner for a Wellcraft. That is just plain wrong.

Blue Vein Bling looking good!

Alright the glass guys finished the Wellcrap today so they are ready to jump back on the Made2Slay! But while they were waiting for glass to kick they got my console glued and screwed. Only problem is they put it in backwards! Psyche! They also have it prepped to glass on the inside. So they are taking a much deserved day off tomorrow to go fishing. So by the end of the week hopefully they will finish glassing and gel coating the console in. i am a little upset about two things. One is it is starting to look a little to shiny and good to me, so now i'm going to have to sand and buff the rest of the boat. Which means i'll have to start washing all the fish blood off of it as well, no more hose and go! Two, i'm in it for a full 5 boating units now. This is starting to hurt, it must be part of the devil's curse on mankind. i need to get on some government boater welfare program so i can get some free taxpayer monies to finance this madness. Or maybe we can get a grant for re-furbishing classic American fishing boats. Either way why should we have to pay! Dude out! Oh and by the way check out my buddy Dandubs 20 footer, it is starting to look real nice. i just hope he isn't feeling the pain as bad as myself.

rigging tubes
 

Boat looks great-quick question-on your original coffin lid did the rigging tubes come up inside the coffin lid or were they outside the coffin lid, adjacent to the inside wall of the console, on the actual floor of the boat, but inside the console. Thanks for your response.

They were exactly where he has the PVC on this boat. They were not part of the access panels.

Sullivan21, GodsReel is correct. The rigging tubes did not come up inside the coffin lid. There was actually only one 3" tube down the starboard side, but it didn't have a 90 degree fitting coming up out of the deck. I added those. The floor just had a rectangular opening on the outside floor, so the coffin lid doesn't have any holes. Check out the destruction photos. My glass guys talked me into doing away with the coffin lid and making the floor one piece to add strength. i have a large T-top and e-box, combined with the fact that i usually have a lot of dive tanks on board. The guys i tend to fish with can crack some serious concrete, so my boat gets used to say the least. i added a second 2" rigging tube down the port side to free up the other tube and for future use. i was thinking to see if anyone was interested in the coffin lids, as i don't need them. i should probably put them in the 'for sale' section of this forum.

Thanks guys-great info and pictures.

So seriously, does anyone want to chine in on my thought of adding 4 feet to the back of this boat?

Give it a try, The guys on classic Mako have done it a few times with good success. I think it would be cool with a euro style transom like something similar to ones like they put on the newer boats today. Long as you get the center of gravity right and make sure it is done correctly I think it would be ok to do. Lots of unknowns but it has been done before on many other boats. If i would do it I would make sure the stringers were extended all the way threw the new section and make it strong as possible. This would be a large project to take on but I think it would make for a fun project. The worse thing that could happen is it might ride like crap but I think you will be surprised and it might preform better than expected.

not a good idea for a whole lot of reasons. You might want to read a couple of books on hull design to completely understand why.

You have one of the best small offshore fishing boat hulls there is, dont try to re-design it ;)

Shine is probably right, the boat will not ride well as the proven factor design. I would like to see some one do this modification just so I could see how it turns out. I have thought about making a euro transom for my 23' cc but would only go back about 30 inches or so. This would be similar to a bracket but would be all one piece and made to the boat with stringers extended all the way to the rear of the extension. Anything over 2' feet or so would probably cause some issues. I think that the bracket would give the motor cleaner water for the prop but the euro would give the boat a better span over the water with the extra length being used vs out of the water with the bracket. The 4' you mention would be too much with the narrow beam but if you wanted to still do a length mod I would go shorter if you wanted to attempt still doing this. I am afraid to do this myself and you would make a nice guinea pig but there seems to be many more cons than pros but if it worked out well you would have one cool rig! There is just to many ways for it to go wrong for me to try it with out someone else first doing it. It may not work as well on a seacraft as it did on the makos that have been done. Also the guys that have done this clam it to be great but hard to go by their opinion. They might be bias and if you think about it they might not talk crap about their work if it turn out to ride like crap. You might be better off looking for a 27' seacraft super fish. Not many out there but you know that it would ride like a dream.

thanks shine and flyingfrizzle for the input. i'll have to take a look at the classic Mako guys that have extended their boat. i definitely wouldn't want to do it if wouldn't ride as good or better. i'm just looking for a little more room. With 4 divers and a bubble watcher and 12 tanks on board, it starts to get a little cramped on the 23. If Potter would have just designed a 26, that would have been perfect for what i'm doing. Even 2 feet would add a lot of room, but if i figured on cutting the back of my buddies boat, i may as well add 4 feet. i was also thinking to just put my transom back on the donor boat and turn it back into a 19.5 footer. i wonder how that would ride? And the 27SF is sweet alright, that might even stress my Cummins in my truck. The 27SF is just a little big for a trailer.

I don't know and wouldn't want to do the work just to find out, but why do most people think it's okay to completely screw up the boat's intended design with a bracket? I imagine you could get 4 feet by adding 2-3 feet of running surface and 1-2 feet of bracket surface. One great hull made better by adding 2 feet comes to mind: Formula 233 to Seavee/Whitewater 25. Nobody is going to argue that the original rides better than it's stretched cousin.

I would give some thought to center of mass and stringer stiffness and strength before I grafted on 4 feet. The 23 isn't considered wide, and as a 27, it certainly wouldn't be.

There are a few 25 footers around. (Not stretched 23s) They are cuddys, but they can have a bit of floor out back if you don't litter the space with chairs. But either option- 23 stretched, or a 25 with it's 26 degree deadrise, would likely roll at rest. Which might not be great for a dive platform, but maybe good for getting there?

Well it has been a while since the last post. It isn't that I haven't been working on the boat, but been too busy to post any pics. To bring everyone back up to speed, the following has been completed. T-Top/outriggers/antennas installed. E-box installed, just need to re-terminate two wires and install bottom machine. Console and new windshield installed. Most of the wiring under console has been completed. Need to install 21 gallon freshwater tank and battery box. Sweet, bad to the bone dive ladder has been installed and I would guess it would load test a four hundred pound fat boy easy. Fired the YoMAMA up after 15 months. It idled a little rough, but after an overdose of SeaFoam she is running much better. Anyone want to donate their gas sipping outboard to the cause? Still need to install the leaning post, fix some wiring to the trim tab pump, and plumb the bait well. She is getting closer, wish it was already finished!

A few more pics and I almost forgot, I need to paint the engine cowling!

Sweet Dude !!! Hurry up sportsman is right around the corner.......