14.5' Espadon Restoration/Mod

[Alex_C]

Re: 14.5' Espadon Restoration/Mod

Trailer buttoned up, bunks are placed just for looks - I will get their positioning locked in once the boat's painted and on the trailer. Weather is looking good today, I will get out there and paint the boat once the hangover from last night's pigroast/kegger settles down!

 

[Alex_C]

Re: 14.5' Espadon Restoration/Mod

Got the primer on. Wanted to paint but the can said wait 24 hrs for the primer to dry. I will get at it tomorrow early and get a couple coats on.

Thank science for Ibuprofen.

 

[Alex_C]

Re: 14.5' Espadon Restoration/Mod

I am planning on putting the gas tank and the battery at the back of the boat. However, with the old setup there was a lot (so #%$@ much) of weight at the front of the boat including the driver since the wheel was up there, and I seem to remember having the motor trimmed down almost all the way. I will have 15' of heavy steel chain and a 30 lb. river anchor up front, as well as a seat, rope and chain storage, a hatch and the deck/frame to keep things balanced. I think that a test run before I run all the wiring and lock in the battery location might be a good idea, and I'll keep the decking loose in case plans change. I hope I can keep the battery in the back for shorter wire runs, and ease of access but we'll see.

If anything it will be an excuse to splash this thing sooner than later.

List of what's left to do:

- Finish painting hull exterior
- Get boat back on trailer and adjust bunks, fore keel roller
- Install lots and lots of floatation foam
- Mount hatches and figure out latches for the hatches I made myself
- Build gunwale braces from 1/8" plate aluminum (x4). These will also act as mounting spots for rods etc.
- Build anchor and anchor roller (this one isn't as pressing since I only need it when fishing the river).
- Build speaker boxes to fit under fore gunwale braces.
- Build small console for switch panel and stereo
- Install seat mounts on fore and aft decks
- 4th and final top coat of spar on decking with anti-slip crud added.
- Install all decking and trim to cover my poor carpentry skills
- Secure battery and gas tank
- Mount motor
- Touch up interior paint where needed.
- Install stereo/speakers/wiring/lights/bilge pump etc.
- Make a tiller handle extension.
- Drink a beer, have a smoke.
- Get the damn thing in the water and see how many leaks it has.

 

[Alex_C]

Re: 14.5' Espadon Restoration/Mod

Got the first coat of paint on the boat and the 4th and final coat of spar on the decking with the anti slip stuff added today.

 

[Alex_C]

Re: 14.5' Espadon Restoration/Mod

If anyone is wondering on what I did for paint:

I sanded the hull down after wire brushing all the oxidization off, cleaned with soapy hot water, rinsed and dried, washed with lacquer thinner and then applied the Gluvit. When I applied the second coat, I skimmed the areas that would see a lot of wear with a thin coat since this stuff is designed to bond to aluminum. I then sanded the runs out with 80 grit and applied a coat of self etching primer. As soon as that flashed off I applied a coat of Rustoleum oil-based primer. I waited overnight until it was dry and then did the first coat as you see in the pictures. I used Rustoleum oil-based grey and yellow. I will lightly scuff it tomorrow with 220 grit and then apply the second and final coat. I will try to roll it on thick, unless anyone thinks I am better off with 3 thin coats vs one thin and one thick. I normally would do 3, but I am rolling it on and I want to get it flipped and on the trailer by the end of the week. If the weather forecast is correct, I won't have the weather to get 3 coats in and a full day to cure before Friday. Thoughts?

 

[Alex_C]

Re: 14.5' Espadon Restoration/Mod

Lots of progress since the last post. Have been working a ton, and the weather hasn't really been cooperating, but I have managed to find the time here and there. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, if anyone has any questions I'll be happy to answer!

 

[Alex_C]

Re: 14.5' Espadon Restoration/Mod

More!

 

[Alex_C]

Re: 14.5' Espadon Restoration/Mod

Even more!!

 

[Alex_C]

Re: 14.5' Espadon Restoration/Mod

By the way, the interior paint looks rough from all the fitting of the decks. I will scuff it with a scotch-brite and do a second coat once everything is installed. Planned on doing it this way, but even so, the scratched paint bugs the crap out of me!

 

[Alex_C]

Re: 14.5' Espadon Restoration/Mod

Have been working out of town frequently this month but have had some time to work on the boat. The list is getting shorter and I feel I only have a couple more days on it. I'll take even more pictures tomorrow to show the latest progress, but here are a couple.

I mocked up the motors to check clearance with the bimini, as well as to check the weight distribution of the boat on the trailer. With the weight pulled off the front and the added weight of the battery in the rear, I had to move the trailer axle back. I took the motors off and moved the axle back about a foot, so that the bunks extended right to the transom like they should. Right now with the motors off it is a bit tongue heavy, but I am confident that with them on the tongue weight should be in a good spot.

I also built a console for the stereo and switch panel out of 3/4" ply. I used thicker ply so I wouldn't have to mess around with adding a bunch of support to make sturdy, and so I would have something to screw into to mount the wiring components. I am using an 80A waterproof breaker/switch as my main switch and a positive and negative buss bar to run power from. All wiring is marine grade and all connections are made with marine grade crimps and sealed using glue-lined heat shrink. I have 2 LED bars on a single switch for the fore and aft storage, a 12V outlet, the stereo on a switch and the bilge pump. Everything is accessible by a 6" inspection port that allows access to everything. I planned it out so I can charge my battery by clipping the charger on to the positive and negative buss bars.

Next I built small speaker boxes for the 6.5" speakers. They sound pretty good, but the small enclosure size really limits volume and low bass. I am going to add a port to them made of PVC tubing, and should be able to fit a big enough port to tune them down to about 80Hz. Not ideal but a good compromise vs. cutting in to new aluminum or building huge boxes.

I installed the console and sealed everything with 4200. I allowed for some drainage at the bottom, but everything else is sealed. Might be a pain to take apart, but hopefully that won't have to happen any time soon