Narrowing a console for my 20SF

[Jared]

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.

[Bikecop1]

Great job. That looks really nice.

[77SceptreOB]

Nice work!!

[uncleboo]

Outstanding!

[Jared]

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.