1995 Chaparral 2550 SX Refit and Restoration

drewm3i

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
298
After repairing the trailer, we launched the boat on the Little Bay De Noc again (it had been launched and kept on a mooring prior to the Pictured Rocks trip, but was removed when a massive storm with forecasted 70-75 MPH wind gusts moved through) and headed across Green Bay to Washington Island--a wonderful destination and one of the neatest places I've ever been to via boat.

We got a late start because of the trailer and various ongoing boat projects (I won't stop until this boat is basically brand new, so never I guess). The run across Green Bay was A SLOG...out in the "bay," we saw a consistent 3-5' following sea with 6' and 7' waves sprinkled in. There was probably an occasional 8' as well. The boat did well as always and never stuffed past the rub rail. Of course I was constantly working the wheel, throttle, and tabs...talk about a workout, but we maintained a steady 22-25 MPH.

We got to Washington Island late at dusk, after the restaurant at the marina had closed down the kitchen, but someone was nice enough to give us a ride into town and back. We ate at a local dive bar and the locals were "colorful" to say the least. The next day we borrowed a truck at the marina and explored town, stopping at Red Cup Coffee, a bookstore next door, and a wonderful replica Nordic Church. After eating lunch at a local outdoor burger joint that advertised: "We are not fast, we are good. If you want fast, go to Chicago.", we headed around the island to dive a shipwreck, but the water was too murky. We then hopped over to the other side of the nearby Rock Island for a swim. In contrast to the day prior, the Lake was flat calm and simply serene. It is so odd that two diametrically opposed days can be juxtaposed next to one another like these two days were. I think the reason for the change was the reversal in the wind direction, which nullified the fetch.

Red Cup Coffee...NO WIFI!





The Starvike, a Nordic Church Replica.


























https://ibb.co/BqYfFgn
The builder's toolbelt. Apparently he hung them up here and then died one evening and never finished the church and they've been hanging there ever since as a testament to his work. Amazing really.







 

drewm3i

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
298
Around the church, were these ethereal trails with nautical-themed Bible verses strewn about.





















Shipyard Marina...Highly recommend! The only functioning marina on the island and its a good one with good people. For example, their gas pump was down and so they allowed us to borrow a work truck again and gave us Jerry cans to get pump gas! How many marinas would do that in more "civilized" places?!







After swimming at Rock Island we headed back to Gladstone to retrieve the boat and pack up and head home. Washington Island ended up being the crown jewel of the trip and I can't wait to go back!





 

drewm3i

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
298
Made this video from our trip to launch a new YouTube channel dedicated to boating related content.

 

drewm3i

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
298
I will update this thread with some more of last year's projects and stuff that I was recently working on, when I get back up there in a few weeks time. Did some resealing and rubrail repairs, added a new Fusion stereo system with some nice 6x9 speakers, etc.

Nonetheless, I think we are going a different direction in our boating lives for the time being so she's tentatively for sale up in the UP of Michigan.
 

drewm3i

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
298
Time for an update:

We have finished the hull/deck joint, rubrail, gelcoat, and a myriad of other miscellaneous repairs. Soul Rebel has now splashed three times--for three different trips--in 2025. The first time was a short day hop with family, then a longer, ~35 NM crossing from Manistique, MI to Beaver Island in the middle of Lake Michigan where we explored for five days/four nights--and now, I write this from Munising, MI, where we just splashed for another 4-5 day adventure to close out the season.

All in all, it has been a trying few years but we have persevered. The boat has been continually upgraded and improved and we are torn on what's next for her: we just acquired--via an unbelievable steal of a deal--a very nice 1992 Hunter Legend 37.5 sailboat to live on; we also have cruising ambitions so we will see what's in store there, but in 2025 it was time to finish and button up the Soul Rebel saga that drew on for almost two years (since her last trip and splash in 2023 following the windshield repair).

I will post some pictures below, but we made this short film for our YT Channel (which includes some pictures of the hull/deck joint and rubrail repair about midway):

 

drewm3i

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
298
Before the trip, I had done some gelcoat repairs on the engine box (since I had leftover gelcoat in the factory color from Spectrum), but unfortunately on our shakedown cruise a seat cushion with damaged trim and shoddy rusty staples gouged the fresh repairs. Thus I decided do design and fabricate some engine box protectors out of PVC corner trim. After adding the protectors, I have since fixed the offending cushion trim; I also widened the hold for the aged and yellowed fire port to install a new one:



















I had to countersink these holes so they would sit flush.









Finished--see the new fire port as well:



Cushion project (need to get a picture of the finished product, but it looks great!):
 
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drewm3i

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
298
Another project I did in the last year, was replacing the woeful 6.5" Kenwood speakers that I installed back in 2020, with some 6"x9" three-way ones from Polk; I also replaced the Kenwood stereo with a Fusion RA-70 and the results have been fantastic!: we can finally hear music over the engine at cruise. I did have to widen the holes in the vinyl/marine plywood with a jigsaw and clean up the edges with a staple gun:



Another project I did was fixing the captain's seat pedestal which was uncharacteristically wobbly on our trip to Beaver Island wherein we encountered some choppy, 2-3' seas coming back. Well, come to find out the pedestal had worn out at the base and welds at the mounting point (where the seat's swivel base mounts) had broken welds. I did not spend a dime on this repair and used some JB Weld on the broken welds: time will tell how this holds up, but so far so good. I fixed the base with four stainless steel sheet metal screws; I also used this opportunity to seal the seat-base deck penetrations with butyl tape.











Finished:



 

drewm3i

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
298
Con't:

Another small project I did last year was to replace the warped aluminum piano hinge on the deck storage hatch with a proper robust stainless one:

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Further, here are pictures of the (completed) rehabbed cushion:

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Here is the other cockpit speakers (had to be mounted in horizontal orientation due to integrated speaker baffles that Chap used):

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And the Fusion RA-70 mounted in the cabin (use phone as remote via Bluetooth):

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