Cool, thanks I will check them out.

Been working on buffing off all of the oxidized original finish on the fiberglass. Today I applied the new gel coat to the upper fiberglass. Looks all new and shiny.

With the glue dry on the engine area mounts, I cut and installed the first panel of the new deck.

Wow, Steffin, this is coming along nicely! Would you be able to do a blog post on this project, or would you give me permission to write one up and post after your approval?

Picked up all of the marine carpet today, got it from [url="http://www.rochfordsupply.com/index.asp"]Rochford[/url]supply here in town, they have a nice order system where you can phone in your order and pick it up and pay for it at the will call desk.

Floor is in and sealed around all the edges with silicon caulk. Still lots to do, but need the carpet down to do it.

Woot! - after about a month away from this project due to a family emergency, I am back on operation: A door into ocean. And yes, that is going to be the name of the boat when finished (and one of my favorite SF books). Well the update is that I got the carpet glued to the new floor, and its a good match to the older blue carpet. Started cutting out the side walls. Have one cut out and one of the colors of carpet glued down. its going to be two-tones carpet on the sides. gray on the bottom and blue on the top with teak wood separating the two. Got to go get SS staple to finish it (treated wood will eat galv in time).

This is starting to look incredible. Have you considered doing boat restoration for pay? Or are you happily employed?

also: several of the electronics folks have now turned their hobby into small side businesses.

Pretty busy week in boat hacking.
1. Got the side panels cut out, carpeted, and the Teak sanded & oiled.
2. Rewired the dashboard with new switches.
3. Ran new power wires to the stereo.
4. Added an Accessory 12V outlet near the glove box (charge the cell).
5. Installed all new hoses to the gas tank and a new keyed gas cap/filling mount.
6. Bent and installed a new copper fuel line from the pump to the carb.
7. Sanded and oiled all of the teak yet to be installed.
8. Found I needed a stronger battery to turn the engine (the deep cycle couldn't cut it), so I got a marine starter battery.
9. Got the hydraulic pump remounted in a new location (easier to fill oil reserve)
10. installed new bulge pump. (that actually was harder than most the other ones)
11. Wire wheeled the alum front captain chair mounts.
12. installed new 12" woofers in the front panels and found new speaker screens at ax-man.

As of this morning I found that I DO need to rebuild the carburetor. it is leaking from the base when I pour gas into it to start the motor. So that has to come off, but I already purchased a rebuild kit with all the gaskets.

Hmmm, looks like we have a little leak. Guessing I will also find some gas seeped into the oil if it got past the valves.

Carb is off and disassembled. And no, I didnt lose that little ball. On the plus side, the carb body shows no cracks, so it looks like dried out gaskets. Went to dip the carb parts in my dip cleaner bucket, and none fit, errrrr. (Well it was for motorcycle parts). got to find a metal pan large enough to fit the carb body.

Big weekend in boat hacking. A lot of pieces came together today.

Started the spring with building out a reconfigured seating platform area over the engine. Wanted to keep the same style of large standing platform over the engine, but I wanted a little more room in the seating area. So I opted for 5 less on the platform and moved the bench seat back 5. My plan is the mount a removable fishing seat/post, but I need to find an area close to the mid-line, but not interfere with the engine.

While the paint and glue were drying. I used really fine grit sanding paste along with a sanding sponge and water, took all the oxidized coating on the lower fiberglass. Once that was all off (took quite a while) went back with 2 coats of hard wax. Looks almost like new now.

Need to get some new vinyl to make the bench seat. Then its off to rebuilding the front end.

Shes Alive!! Alive!
Big weekend in boat hacking.
1. Motor purrs like a moose sized kitten. Turns out there was a small air leak between the quadajet carb and the intake manifold. Just enough to slowly make the engine idle slowly increase. Let it run for 10 minutes with water from the garden hose pumped into the water intake.
2. Replaced all the speakers and ran new cable to the stereo. 12' woofer and 6 1/2 midrange-tweeter. Since last fall I only had the front speakers hooked up. now it looks like the stereo has a blown channel. Cant get any output at the head unit fo that channel. So my choice is to get a new head unit (its from 93) or get an amp to run off the output lines. Grrrr
3. Installed hull mounted depth finder and ran the control head to the dash board. Wired it to an open fuse switch. But the battery connector for the dash broke as I was screw it down to the battery, so I have to get a replacement before I can finish.
4. Installed all of the railings and teak wood plates.
5. Cut an access hole to the troublesome 4th row sparkplug. and then installed the deck I finished last week on top of it. Now I can get at the sparkplug just by removing 2 bolts.
6.Installed the new front floor. I ended up replacing the 2 front seats with a standing deck. So now I can mount a central pedestal fishing seat. Now the boat can only carry 5 people instead of 7, but its going to be nice when I take it fishing.
...and now its pouring

Tune up time. Changed oil and worked on wrapping up all the new wiring.

The boat starts pretty well, but runs a little rough. started troubleshooting ignition problems and found a couple of corroded spark plug heads. Figured its time to change the spark plugs and get new spark plug wires as long as I am in there. Ended up also getting a new coil as well. Probably, going to have to pull the distributor cap and sand some contacts, but only after I check all the new wires/plugs work. (dont want to change too much and not be able to pinpoint a problem)