Given that we enclosed the transom, added a live well in the transom and the bracket, I was curious about how the boat would sit in the water. I put the fuel tank back in the boat and added 100 gallons of water. I put another 40 gallons in the live well and used a drum to simulate the weight of an engine. Once I did all of this, the boat was a bit heavy in the back but not so much that it concerned me. I felt I needed to do this before continuing with the restoration so that I could determine if I could increase the size of the fuel tank and/or relocate the batteries to the front of the boat. The back corner of the boat was about 2" beneath the water but the scuppers were out of the water so I am happy with the results. I have considered a slightly larger fuel tank and based on these results, I think it is possible.
Here are some pics....
I also got a bit deeper into the restoration than I originally planned. Pretty much everything on this boat is being renewed but I could not get the 40 years of salt build-up off of the windshield glass or frame. I have new glass being made and I will have the frame soda blasted and possibly powder coated. This wasn't in the original plan, but now that I've done the work to get it done, I am really excited about having this look better.
