1988 seacraft rebuild

[No grave but the Seacraft]

I cut the hole for the front bulkhead hatch and have it sitting in place. I glued the inner and outer sections of the cap to the divinycell core material with thickened epoxy and clamped it in place. You can see the relief cuts I had to make in the outer section. I have a piece to fill the gap above the hatch that still needs to be glued in. The whole thing came together surprisingly easy and exactly how I wanted. I'm really happy with the new lines. Next up will be fiberglassing and filling the low spots then a mountain of sanding and fairing.

[SeaChuck]

nice work , been following for a while and you do stay busy after it

love the pipe clamps on the cap

told the wife ....... see all that stuff in my storage rack does have some future use and I am not a hoarder.

keep the pics coming

[No grave but the Seacraft]

Thanks for the feedback Chuck, it is very much appreciated. It feels like this project is taking so much longer than it has but I know I'm getting close to the finish now. I was out of town for work all this week so progress has been halted but I was able to find an anchor hatch and gutter set from my local boat recycler on my way home today. I've been stopping by every other week or so looking for one but today I finally scored one for $20. I removed the old hardware, coring material and excess glass. I plan on moving the hinges to the long side so it opens to stern. I wanted to keep it centered on the deck so I had to move it back a bit from the bow so that I'll have room to mount a trolling motor in the future. I must say I really lucked out with this one because the crown in the hatch matches the crown in the deck perfectly. I could not have planned it better. I also added a piece of leftover cap material to fill in the space at the bow bulkhead. Tomorrow I will start glassing the deck and gunwale cap to tie it all together.

[No grave but the Seacraft]

I started glassing the deck cap together today. I have 4 layers of 1700 so far. I think another 2 or 3 should raise it to where it needs to be to meet the original cap. After that I will glass the whole thing once again.

[JBASS02]

Looks great. You're getting closer.

Random question is the brown duck in the background a Khaki Campbell?

[No grave but the Seacraft]

Thank you. Yes it is. The white one is a Peking.

[No grave but the Seacraft]

Here is where I'm at now. I added glass the core so it is flush with the existing cap then filled any low spots with thickened epoxy. Lastly, I laid up a layer of stitched 1708 to tie it all together. Once it sets up I will flip the now fully formed cap and add a final layer of 1700 to the underside before screwing and gluing it to the hull permanently.

[No grave but the Seacraft]

In between the sanding and fairing on the cap and console I started cutting holes to accommodate the helm, controls and gauges.

[wattaway2]

Have the same wheel on my helm ! Found it could get slippery when it gets wet tried putting the para cord wrap on it made a world of difference. Good job for a rainy day

[No grave but the Seacraft]

That's the plan and I have a guy for that, thank you. I also forgot about the key and kill switch. It will probably take the place of the troll switch which will be relocated north of the throttle control. I don't have a segue for this but going off the deep end a little, there are the things that keep me up at night. I had an idea for cup holder coolers. In the console I built a space for two cup holders. What I hadn't planned for was the 3 AM thought about how to keep my beer cold in mid July when coozies no longer work. Yes, I could drink faster and when I suggested this idea I was told I'm not drinking fast enough. But what if my cup holder was the same temperature as the cooler I pulled the beer from? These are the things that haunt me when I should be sanding and fairing but I'm finding every reason not to. So, I present to you, the first ever as I know it, center console cup holder cooler. The plumbing will be a nightmare as the cup holders themselves will have to drain the condensation separately from the ice water bath they are sitting in as the cooler itself will have to drain not only completely at the end of the trip but also as the ice melts so that I don't have ice floating near the top of the console while the water at the bottom is getting warm. Again, this is the shit that keeps me up at night.