[KenB]

The leaning post and livewell was a hoot. In order to make a mold for the live well, I piled some trailer tires, covered them with plastic drop cloth, and then added mat plus 3 layers of 1708. I would advise against this; I ended up doing a lot of grinding. I was planning to use my 55 gallon trash can as a mold, but the can was busy being used as a trash can. I scored and bent 1/4 ply to make the back of the post. This was such a pain in the butt that I popped a mold of the shape so I don't ever have to do it again, even though I never plan to make another leaning post livewell for a seacraft. I have the cushion from an old arigoni post that will go on top.

I used mat and vinylester over 1/2 ply for most of the surfaces. At the time, vinylester was $30/gallon and epoxy was around $70/gallon. BUT, vinylester is now $50/gallon, and I found some good epoxy (SC110 is $730 for 15 gallons), so I would suggest using epoxy and 6 oz, in the future. After all my posts about painting boats over the years, after finally roll-and-tipping awlgrip, Im a big fan. I guess my advice is when you think you are done sanding and faring, just do one more round. Also, safety first.

The livewell is foamed in to the back and the base support. The base that it's epoxied to is bolted to the deck with two engine bolts... I don't want a 500 lbs 'water cannon ball' rolling around the deck. The inside of the livewell got painted with the last of my tohatsu lower unit spray paint. Hope the baits feel at home. I am not looking forward to plumbing the livewell. After all this work to redo this old hull, pumping hundreds of gallons of saltwater on board seems a little risky.