23 floor job

[spiritdude]

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.

[Sullivan21]

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.

[GodsReel]

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

[spiritdude]

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.

[Sullivan21]

Thanks guys-great info and pictures.

[spiritdude]

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

[flyingfrizzle]

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.

[shine]

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

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

[flyingfrizzle]

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.

[spiritdude]

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.