Final Fairing and Sanding of the Pilot House and Cabin
The cabin and pilot house were faired, sanded and glassed. I faired and sanded again to the point you see in the picture above. It will then be faired and sanded at least one more time and then primed for the final paint.
The outside is now at the point where the amount of effort put into finishing will be reflected in the overall quality of the project. In other words, it's the little things that separate a good finish from a great one.
I've got a lot of time and effort invested and even though I'm anxious to get in the water, I will spend the time necessary to make sure the finish is professional quality. But man, is it tedious...
The boat next to me vacated and the one next to that left for a trip, so I took advantage of the extra room to get some full sideview pictures.
You get a good feel for how the pilot house and cabin blend into the sweep of the bow and the lines in the back. You also get a good view of the coaming.
Radar Post and Handrails
Handrails are cut out and sized.
Rails will also be fitted to the top of the pilot house.
Radar post is sized and fitted out.
Post was epoxied to the top of the roof and followed up with biax tape.
Three layers were glued with the center piece narrower. This allowed a channel to run the radar cable down through the post into the pilot house.
Radar antenna fitted up.
Another view of the radar.
Sure is going to be nice having radar running at night...
The last pieces for the outside of the boat were the hand rails and the radar post. I built the handrails out of teak by first making a template out of 1/2" ply and then transfering it to the teak stock. On my first try I used my router to round over the edges. When I shattered one of the legs I decided that the better way to do it was to cut out the shape and round over the edges with my electric sander and by hand. Worked a lot better and was a lot less exciting...
The radar post was fabricated out of three pieces of 1 x 3 solid oak. I ripped the center piece about an inch narrower than the outside pieces and glued them up. This was to form a channel to thread my radar cable through creating a neat, clean installation. I then glassed the joints with biax tape and covered it with 10 oz glass cloth.
I cut the angle of the post to match the angle of the windshield and mounted it on the roof at a point that allowed it to blend in with the lines of the windshield. It looks clean and the overall height of 12" should help the range performance of the radar unit.
The actual mounting table was canted downward about 4 degrees to compensate for the upward angle of the bow while the boat is on plane. This way the radar will be able to see what is relatively close in front of the boat. That's the purpose of having radar for me- collision avoidance at night.
The Seats and Helm Are Fitted Out
The helm and dash were expanded to create more room and storage.
Laying out the location of the seats.
Pedestal height was set with the chair at the lowest height setting. I can now go up 3" from there.
View of the side panels.
Fitting out the passenger side.
Overall height and location was determined to maximize vision and comfort.
Mariner Pilot Seats. Six inches of travel back and forth and three inches up and down.
Cut out for storage space.
Dash is laid out. Cubby holes are designed to hold misc. small items. A face plate will cover each of these compartments.
Binnacle mount for throttle assembly.
The helm and seat pedestals were laid out and fitted. My original intention was to have the pedestals go all the way to the back of the pilot house, but when I did the actual mock up, it just didn't look or feel right. They were just too big.
I shortened them up to 18" and set the height by mounting the chair and sitting in it at various height settings. I wanted to be able to use the seat at it's lowest setting as a lean post when driving standing-up and while sitting, I wanted to be able to be as high as possible without hitting my head on the ceiling- mission accomplished. I will be able to drive the boat while sitting and have the same visibility as if I were standing.
The shortened pedestals also allow me to utilize the space behind for ice chests which will then double as seats and the cutouts in the side allow for storage.
The helm was redesigned to allow for more room for storage and mounting of electronics. I decided to make a mirror image of the helm on the passenger side after looking at what Bobby Wartmen was doing with the Mako he is rebuilding. www.classicmako.com/projects/xshark.
That's the beauty of the internet- shared knowledge and ideas. Thanks Bobby... . This space will have a door on the front and shelves inside.
The Boat Goes On The Trailer
The boat went on the trailer this week- another milestone and that much closer to completion. The whole thing went really smooth. We jacked the back up and then used the block and tackle to raise the boat to the height necessary to get it on the trailer.
I got a real deal on the trailer. Paid $200 for it and spent another $400 or so to get it sanded, painted and fixed up. We had to weld a replacement 3" tube, extend the tongue, and put on a new coupler. But other than that, it had been used only in fresh water so everything was in good condition.
My buddies at work took care of the trailer for me. They took everthing apart, welded the new pieces on, sanded and painted inside and out and put it all back together. They did an outstanding job and I really appreciated it. Thanks Rai and Mickey (guess who's going fishing with me...).
