1977 20' CC Project "Real World"

[ledfoot]

So here's the story:
This 1977 20' Sea Craft was a one owner boat when I bought it from my father's neighbor last year. It has hung on davits on the harsh open bay for 31 years. Neighbor Mike split his time between Sarasota FL & Connecticut so this boat was used for maybe 6 months per year, serviced twice yearly every year, and generally well maintained. A brand new 150 Yamaha was installed in 1990 and probably has under 300 hours. It literally runs like brand new.

My wife, my two young children (2 & 5) and myself just moved back to FL after many years in southern California & a few in Detroit. The boat has been patiently awaiting our arrival for the last year or so. We are back & settled in and the weather is great so it's time for a few upgrades to the 'ol girl.

You may have seen the other thread I opened recently about a through-hull drain cracking the bottom of the hull:
http://www.classicseacraft.com/forum...b=5&o=&fpart=1
This will fill you in on the structural issues with the boat. I am currently concentrating on updating the rest of the boat in a very "real world" manner. By that I mean I am not tearing the boat apart and doing a concours restoration. It's lucky to have have known the boat for 25 of my 36 years, and that I know for a fact has never sat in the water overnight. The floor is rock solid, though I will be checking into the condition of the transom, as there are some holes where the old motor was that weren't filled properly. The fuel tank was replaced a while back and there are no suspicious odors so I will let that sleeping dog lie for now.

The main focus is to make the boat safe for my family, and have a few modern amenities like GPS, stereo, working VHF and whatnot. Conveniences like cupholders and some dry storage are high on the list as well. I am not big into fishing, so that will not be a huge focus of the refresh.

I have watched these forums as well as ClassicMako & the HullTruth for many years and as I am starting on this project I have to say I feel like I've done this stuff before after reading about it for so long. I want to post the progress so that others like me might be inspired or just learn from my mistakes.

Here's where we started:


some ancient hardware:

after a little cleanup (with the ORIGINAL garage kept bimini top up):


You can see the boat in more detail at my website:
http://homepage.mac.com/ledfoot/boat...oAlbum120.html

[ledfoot]

OK with the history lesson out of the way, here are the plans for updates:

If you saw the other post, it will be obvious that patching the hole in the hull due to the flexing between the base of the in-floor livewell and the hull is priority # 1. I have not decided whether to do this repair myself as it seems like I should try a little less critical 'glassing project before trusting myself with the hull bottom.

Second on the list is to replace the old bilge pump & wiring with 2 new pumps. One is a Rule 750 with a built-in switch. This now resides as low & deep as I could get it and will serve to evacuate normal water from the bilge. The second pump is a Rule 1500 mounted next to a Sensa-switch electronic pump switch on a wedge shaped piece of pressure treated wood, raised up from the level of the small pump a good 3 inches. The PT has 3 coats of epoxy resin and is glued to the hull with an epoxy filler-type material I got from Fiberglass Services in Sarasota. I had to cut a new hole in the port side of the hullside to accommodate the larger pump's output hose. I have run new wires neatly to the dual battery setup, and to the new negative buss bar I installed near the batteries.

A bunch of pavers piled on my resin-coated wood block. You can also see the thru-hull for the old livewell pump. I may use this for a raw water washdown pump in the future. For now I plugged it with a 3/4" brass pipe plug just to be safe.


The new thru-hull for the 1500gph pump:


The boat already had a dual battery setup, but they were just laying under the starboard hatch next to the engine well. I added these hold-downs:


The new Perko battery switch reinstalled in the same place as the old one, after cleaning the battery cables & smearing everything with dialectric grease (of course nothing is tidied up in these pix don't worry I'll clean up the wiring). New fuel filter too:


Some other projects this week:
Install Garmin 498 GPS/Fishfinder and transducer. I scored this baby on Craigslist last week!
Add a Jensen CD player in a waterproof case, 2 speakers in the console sides and 2 removable enclosed speakers under the shelf in the console.
Install & wire up the second bilge pump
Mount pos & neg buss bars in the console up by the gauges
replace old itchy bare fiberglass antenna with a smooth glass new VHF antenna
add a 12v power receptacle (cig lighter)

I also ordered some "bling"; a couple of blue led coutesy lights and an Edson-style steering wheel with turning knob
http://www.innovativelight.com/4-led...6_11488_3.cfm#
http://www.discountmarinesupplies.co...NING_KNOB.html

That's it for now...will update as time allows.

[zach]

Just a thought, but you might want to consider moving the batteries forward, instead of both of them in the stern starboard quarter. As you probably know, the boat is a tad stern heavy to begin with and that will help with the balance.

Keep the posts coming.

[ledfoot]

Frustrating day today, nothing seemed to go right. Did manage to get the pump & switch mounted. The seacock lever was in the way initially and it took some trial & error to get it free, cleaned up, and turned around.

First I pre wired what I could & tie wrapped, and installed the bilge hose:


Then I mounted the pump & switch:


From the top with the smaller pump:


Still a lot of clean up to do in the bilge & clean up the 5200. Rough day upside down in the bilge but still it's progress...

[CaptLloyd]

I like your additude, "Don't fix it unless it's broken".

Obviously, the live well thru-hull needs to be addressed, looks like you're taking care of any suspect wiring, and if the transom is sound, you're good to go!

Since you have children, I have a suggestion. Have cushions made for the casting platform, and add a spray dodger. The kids will enjoy the boat more if they have somewhere to get out of the elements.



My family loves it!

Keep up the good work, and get out there and enjoy it!!

Lloyd

[dcobbett]

ledfoot,

I know I'm spending your money, but I second the recommendation of moving the batterys forward, plus I'd consider a larger set of pumps and making sure the rear hatches and splash well are sealed properly so there is no way water can easily get into the bilge if you get pooped. I'd also add a high water alarm in the bilge to your to-do/wish list.

[ledfoot]

Thanks for the comments!

I am seriously reconsidering going ahead and moving the batteries forward. I'll keep you posted.

Capt Lloyd: Thanks for the suggestion! I will definitely do the dodger thing. I already have the ORIGINAL bow cushions that have been garaged for 30 years and are still in good shape. How much $$ was your dodger? It has to be custom made, no?

I see you have a bracket on your boat, is that a Hermco and did you have to raise the floor? Do you get a lot of water up through the scuppers? Did it change the handling?

dcobbett: Why do I need more than 2250gph of pumping power? Just curious I thought that was enough. I don't fish offshore and the boat never spends a night in the water.

OK, a lot of progress the last few days, I'll try to post more pix soon. I scored a SeaStar hydraulic steering unit on Craigslist for $400, and installed most of that setup today with the help of a mechanic (he was there doing my annual service on the Yamaha). The new Edson-style steering wheel looks bitchin'.

I had a wiring issue when I re-installed the batteries but a little investigation turned out theat one of my negative battery leads was hanging where I couldn't see it. Problem solved and everything works.

Installed the GPS, works great and snaked the transducer cable up with the hydraulic lines. Still have to install the transducer.

Here are some pix from a couple days ago, the negative buss on the inside of the transom, and a starboard step I installed over some old antenna holes.

[Old'sCool]

While you're in there.....Another item on my list is a bilge pump "on" indicator light on the console. While running you see the light you know a pump is on.

[ledfoot]

OK making some real progress now. Had a very skilled mechanic (Tony's Mobile Marine) over to the house today to perform the annual service on the 1990 Yamaha 150. It is a pleasure to pay for something when you can sit there and watch it get done right. I learned a lot (I haven't worked on 2-stokes much) and it was a good thing I serviced the motor now. The impeller was shot, half the plugs were rusty and none of the lower unit bolts would come off with out heat and a gentle hand turning those bolts without snapping the heads off. Replaced the water pump, gear oil, fuel pump diaphrams, fuel filter, and adjusted the idle.

Best of all Tony helped me install the hydraulic steering. It went very smoothly considering I picked the unit up from Craigslist. I am thrilled with the new helm & steering wheel. Anyway, on to the pix; excuse the mess nothing is cleaned up these are "in progress" shots:
SeaStar steering:



New Seachoice steering wheel, plus you can see that I mounted my other Craigslist find, the Garmin 498 GPS/Plotter:


You can see the discoloration from the torch used to remove the bolts from the gearcase:


I still need to secure this boot; Tony removed all of the cables, lines etc...from the motor to feed into the new boot:


I removed the old transducer and will be filling the 4 holes properly, will install the new one next week (outta town this weekend). Bad news that hole in the transom where the ducer cable came thru-there is no core left just soaked, rotten wood. Transom time!!


Electrical: These are the busses I installed behind the gauge panel. All of the positive wires are in-line fused for now. I am considering a new panel from ScottC on the Mako forums:


Installed this 12V plug in this crappy old piece of wood. I may put another ScottC panel here in the future:


Under the dash I installed an older Jensen CD player I used to have in my 24' Blackfin, into a water resistant case. Still works great so in she goes (real-world, remember!). The speakers were in the old boat too, mounted them under the tray, they thumbscrew into their metal bracket mounts so I left some extra speaker wire if I want to pull them out and face them toward us on the beach:


Till next time...

[ledfoot]

A quick update:

My 19 year old Yamaha 150 is still running perfectly and we had another great summer with the kids. We used the boat almost every weekend, and it has never failed us. The only issue in the last 6 months was a failed trim pump, fixed that & moved on.

I wanted you guys to see the incredible handiwork of a guy called Scott Cambia, he runs Vector Imaging and produces custom-designed dash panels. He can design the layout if you want, in my case I sent him an Illustrator file with the design I wanted and he created 2 panels for me. I couldn't be happier with the results, check them out:
Before:

After: