Narrowing a console for my 20SF
 

Just got done doing my 100 hr service, thought now that I am enjoying the boat instead of grinding on it I'll try to post up some of my encounters during the build process.

***DISCLAIMER*** - I'm not a professional at working with fiberglass or fairing/painting, but I am foolishly persistent enough to work away at about anything until I can make what I had in mind. I'm sure someone better versed in this kind of work could get a much better finished product.

When I picked up my boat, the previous owner gave me the original console with it but it had already been de-rigged and removed. Looking at the size of it out of the boat and the marks on the floor where it had previously been mounted I knew right away it was too big for what I was looking for. I fish quite a bit, a clear floor layout for moving freely around the boat was more of my goal than keeping the boat original or having a lot of space in the console.

I sold the original one on craigslist, and after a lot of searching I realized that unless I made something myself or modified an existing one there really wasn't a model out there that fit the dimensions I was looking for. I started researching methods to cut and narrow a console but there wasn't a lot of information out there, so after a bit of plotting and scheming I went for it. I posted this information up on THT, but I think it belongs here.

This was the original console that came with the boat. Ate up way too much floor space, but was in nice enough shape where a guy came all the way from South Carolina to buy it for his 23' SC restoration, so at least it didn't go to waste.

https://i.imgur.com/FhteY2n.jpg


A few days later, I picked this one up off of craigslist for a little less than I sold the original for, and it also came with a side door already. It was 6" narrower than the original console, and without the built in front seat/cooler was considerably smaller front to back.

https://i.imgur.com/Z47Iayx.jpg

Knowing still that I was looking to go narrower, I cut out templates of all my electronics and started mocking up different layouts until I came to one I liked. I knew I wanted to take around 6" more out of the width in order to get the space I wanted in the boat on either side of the console, so this step kind of confirmed that I could do it and still get a nice clean layout. The irony is the finished layout on the boat now looks nothing like this but it still came out well.

Mock up

https://i.imgur.com/VyVu8M8.jpg


Got my leaning post out, it came from Birdsall who is local here. Used it to mock up the space I wanted between the console and leaning post (didn't get a picture of the mock up of it but the finished product has the leaning post around 2" farther back then this) and also at this point knew that I would cut 1 to 1 1/2" of height off the bottom of the console.

https://i.imgur.com/4LbrsTC.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/WjI7hqo.jpg

Decided I wanted to take the 6" out of the middle so none of my glasswork or fairing had to be close to an edge to make it as easy as possible. Took my time with a 48" straight edge laying out my tape lines for the cuts, the more accurate the cuts the easier the glassing and fairing will be.


Layout done and ready to start cutting

https://i.imgur.com/OmrAwdn.jpg


This is what I use for all my fiberglass cutting, its easy to control and makes really nice cuts in fiberglass with minimal dust and a very small kerf. This tool with the scraper blade on it is my go-to for removing rotten wood off of fiberglass skins when I redid floors and transom.

https://i.imgur.com/QQIzcTh.jpg


Cutting done, this is the piece removed

https://i.imgur.com/ocVfVXK.jpg

Put on my suit and respirator and started grinding and tapering the fiberglass back around 6" from the cut on each side. I used a 4 1/2" angle grinder with a 36 grit disc for this part. There was a 3/4" plastic honeycomb core behind the 2 surfaces where electronics and steering/throttle would be mounted, I cut this back 6" as well.


Grinding mostly done, once I had the 2 sides temporarily joined together I came back and knocked down a handful of spots to make the fiberglass lay better later on.

https://i.imgur.com/JlzQkks.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/vTQPUN9.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/7Izs5hZ.jpg


Clamped the 2 sides lined up as good as I can and took some 2" strips of aluminum and pop riveted them together. I made sure the rivets were spaced far enough from the center of the joint that I could lay up the first few plys, let it kick, drill the rivets out and remove the plates, and then the last layup would cover the rivet holes from the inside. Put packing tape on the outside of the console around the joint so the resin wouldn't come through and make a big mess.


https://i.imgur.com/wVi91VK.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DGfIhoA.jpg

Used 1708 biaxial fabric and epoxy resin. The first 2 plys laid down with the aluminum plates and rivets holding everything in alignment. Let these 2 layers cure and a day or two later drilled out the rivets and removed the plates.

https://i.imgur.com/b2ALI3j.jpg


Scuffed the first layup by hand with 100 grit paper and readied my core material that is replacing what I removed behind where the controls and electronics will go. I used a piece of 3/4" meranti plywood bonded in with thickened epoxy.

https://i.imgur.com/ft8ME95.jpg


Let the thickened epoxy around the core kick just enough that I could wet everything out and put 2 more plys of glass down without messing up the radiuses I made around the core material. Taped over all the rivet holes on the outside of the console to keep resin from squeezing through them and making a mess.

https://i.imgur.com/wFUiF6S.jpg

And we have a console back in 1 piece.

https://i.imgur.com/jCU3Vsc.jpg


Used thickened epoxy to fill the rivet holes from the outside. A quick skim of 3m platinum lightweight filler down the joint and sanded by hand with a 12" foam board and ready for primer.

https://i.imgur.com/kfZDJtI.jpg


I used interlux paints rolled and tipped on the whole boat. I know pretty much nothing about fairing and painting so I used their primer as well in an effort to stick with all the same brand, I think it was epoxy primecote. I did 3 coats of primer with a quick sand between coats.

https://i.imgur.com/JsSiq99.jpg


4 coats of interlux snow white and its ready to start cutting holes to mount everything. Since around this time it was miserable hot outside I cut out and rigged the whole console in my shed where there's A/C and then put in the boat and connected everything.

https://i.imgur.com/Bs8SmKh.jpg

You can work on my boat anytime

Very nice!!!

In the boat with everything mounted. Since this picture I added 2 more cup holders to the top of the console but overall pretty happy with how it turned out. Function-wise, the space it opened up inside the boat is exactly what I wanted. I knew I would end up around 30" wide on the console from the beginning of the planning stages of the boat so I also ordered a "narrow" leaning post from birdsall that is 32" wide and an Engel 65 with a cushion for a seat and storage in front of the console that is 29 7/8" wide.

Since the shape of the top of the gunnels from the console back makes adding more rod holders to them a bit of work I also added a rack also from birdsall to store 4 more rods.

https://i.imgur.com/wFo54RM.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/yZknmDP.jpg

Great job. That looks really nice.

Nice work!!

Very nice work with detailed description of how you accomplished this difficult task. The stock CC's are in my opinion are a bit too wide and I was considering doing the exact same thing for the 20 MA I'm redoing. The only thing I would have done different was grind down the outside as well and glass that seam...you may find the putty cracking over time as the boat gets more and more use.

strick

I agree on going ahead and grinding and putting at least a ply of glass on the outside to tie it all together. Even after going through all this I was still somewhat intimidated by the fairing and final finishing that I wanted to preserve as much of the original gel coat as possible. Now that it?s done I see I was overthinking that. If I had to do it all over again, I would do it how you are saying.

Outstanding!

Now for the story of time and money. This is what I think is lacking on most build posts that I think will be an eye opener to people who are thinking of undertaking similar projects. No tool costs included since I didn?t buy any specifically for this project, but take that into account if you will need to add tools. Again I?m just a guy hacking away at a boat in my backyard, could someone more skilled do it faster and cheaper, I have no doubt.

$350 - New console and entry door, Craigslist
$150 - Fiberglass cloth, resin, filler, and core material. Mixing cups/sticks/brushes (made a much larger buy for the whole boat project, this is an estimate based off of the quantities used)
$40 - sanding discs, sand paper (get 3m/norton/mirka good quality abrasives, they last way longer than the HD or lowes stuff)
$40 - Aluminum & rivets
$150 - filler, primer, paint, acetone, brushes/roller naps

$730 - Total cost of the console to the point of being ready to cut holes and mount accessories. Sold the original console for $400, so was into this for roughly $330 out of pocket.

Time - mocking up, layout cuts and cut it in half - 4 hours
Sanding and prepping for reattaching back together + attempting to get as much fiberglass snow out of my garage as possible - 6 hours
Glassing together, bonding in core, glassing again - 6 hours over a few nights
Filling, fairing, priming, and painting - 10 hours over several nights.

26 hours of time roughly. If you put even a small price on your time this can get expensive quick, but if you valued your time there?s plenty of turn key boats other than a seacraft you could buy. If I had to pay a shop to do this, it would have been done much quicker but the cost would have been out of reach for me.

Man that turned out great! Thanks for the T & M breakdown.

Great write up Jared. Do you have any pics of how you attached the console to the sole? Looks like you avoided screwing into the deck on the outside.

The only picture I have of this is when I was still pulling wires and routing everything, but you get the gist of it. Since none of the joints where the console meets the floor is 90 degrees, more like 80 or so, I welded up some brackets out of 2" x 1/8" aluminum flat stock and bolted the console to the floor from the inside. I didn't want to see/trip over a 1 1/2-2" wide flange and bolt heads on the outside of the console so using this method all you see is a radius of 5200 where the floor and console come together.

There are backing plates under the floor where the console is bolted down. Where the bolts went through sections of the floor that had core material in them instead of solid glass I used a Dremel and removed about a 1" circle of the top skin and core material, leaving the bottom skin in tact. Then I filled this with thickened epoxy to create a hard point and redrilled the bolt holes so tightening down the console didn't just squish the core and eventually come loose. I used 5200 between both faces of the aluminum angle where it touches the fiberglass.

The big pie plate is an access point for where the sending unit in the gas tank is located. With a goal of not seeing any of these plates on the deck I planned for this to end up under the console when I was building the tank. The small pie plate is an afterthought, my arms weren't long enough to reach all the bolts to tighten down the console from the big opening.


https://i.imgur.com/wnkpLHB.jpg

I did the same with my console. But I purchased the aluminum l shaped brackets at Home Depot, drilled the holes and bolted down to th floor and the console. Still have to caulk it but it?s looks good

That description and pic will serve nicely. Thanks..

Very nice work and great write up. I'll add an alternative to using aluminium angle stock to bolt the console to the floor is fiberglass angle stock. I purchased some from McMaster Carr and it worked great.

Or you could make your own. I wanted to get rid of the aluminum angle that holds the gunnel sections in place on my 18. I think this is 8 layers of 1708 with epoxy and it is solid. Made me feel much better about the strength of the things I was doing as a rookie.

Wow!!!!!