Got the gas out of the shop this weekend and took it to a friend of mine who is in the fuel business. He had a tank for waste fuel.
Thanks to got2go for meeting me early Saturday morning to give me a hand with fuel transfer to get it into the back of the truck.
Both tanks now out for good.
Got the rear bulkhead cut out.
Obvious to me now how these boats weigh so much. This bulkhead must weigh 30lbs. Oh… and it was SOLID after 33+ years!
Cut the below deck live well liner out next.
May find another use for this, so keeping it for now.
Wide open bilge now. Plan to make a valve/pump access between the new fuel tank and raised live well so accessing the bilge from the splash well is no longer needed.
Got some PlasDeck samples also.
Good news. After beating one of the samples as hard as possible with a 16oz bank sinker the sinker’s point was flattened but there was absolutely no damage to the deck sample. Really impressed with this stuff and think I will use it.
New transom also showing livewell top in the rear of the cockpit (but I will narrow it’s footprint up- see below)
Overhead shot of the boat’s layout now (this is another person’s boat that has an upper control station)
New transom layout
New cockpit fish boxes and narrowed up raised transom livewell
The brown areas in the last pic will have the plasdeck synthetic teak on them. The rest of the interior will be white. Nonskid white will be on the forward seating, gunnels and casting deck.
why no glass it all up and add bracket it will add all kinds of space and ride better I did it on my 25’ Downeaster pilot house and was amazed at all the extra room and ride!
Have been told by several people that a bracket on these boats under 28ft is a bad idea. The rocker area on makos is already pretty far back, which is why they are somewhat dry relatively. Putting the motor farther back on a bracket without extending the running surface backward will make the bow too light and screw the ride up I’m afraid. Some boats work, but on this narrow 25 I don’t want to risk it for the sake of the cockpit space.
I agree with that reasoning, Phin. It is seldom a good idea to add a bracket to a boat not designed for it. It moves the center of gravity too far aft and it won’t balance properly. That boat is long and lean and would be way out of trim.
Very nice work! You’ve almost got the hard part finished
… … … went to town on the boat this week. I will have more pictures tonight.
I went and did a little along with them yesterday.
Got the base of the new console cut away from the big deck plug I got with the console.
Then we cut the front seat off the console. After cutting this front section out, the console is about 10 inches longer than the original console.
Plan on making a front access for the console, and once that’s built up, they will cut the deck plug/base in the front to match up so the base that used to be needed for the front seating on the console is gone.
So the deck will be cut down where the plug will fit in to have a step down under the console so people can stand up inside it. We plan to bond the console base section with inner liner to the deck and stringers. Thought I may as well cut the deck flat now so we can trace out the footprint of the new portion of deck that will get bonded to the surrounding old deck.
Also got the lips from the two old bulkheads cut a little more so they can be ground down easier.
Aft
Forward
The remaining pipe is the drain out of the big below deck for
Are you going to somehow insulate the fishboxes…?? The one in the cockpit on my scout sucks, and the ice doesn’t hold long. I’m trying to improve that situation. Also put the biggest pump you can get to empty those things.
Are you going to somehow insulate the fishboxes…?? The one in the cockpit on my scout sucks, and the ice doesn’t hold long. I’m trying to improve that situation. Also put the biggest pump you can get to empty those things.
The problem is I don’t have much space if I insulate them. They’re going to essentially be kill boxes for tuna and dolphin. I will try to make them as long as possible and have a removable baffle system so that I don’t have to try to cool so much air just for a few fish.
I may make liners out of 1/4" PVC glued up, but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t really give me all that much R value. I’ve thought about this quite a bit, and still haven’t decided. The space is just too tight to get much in there. I don’t really want spray foam unless it’s closed cell, so maybe I could do 1/4" PVC sheet for liners with foam shot in between the stringers and hull to go around the liners…
1/4" PVC liner with 1/4" closed cell neoprene glued to the back is another idea I had. Can get neoprene scraps and PVC sheet pretty cheap.
Glassing up liners is too much weight added IMO for it to outweigh the benefits.
Like I said, these are just going to be kill boxes and hold lead for bottom fishing and stuff like that otherwise. The main ice hold will be the below deck forepeak in the front, and they hold ice very well in these old Mako’s.
I have also toyed with the idea of refrigerating a box, but I cannot decide which box to do it to. Probably the forepeak up front- again- with a removable partition so I am not wasting power/ice trying to keep space cool that doesn’t matter.
Oh… boxes will have a 1 or 1 1/4" outlet with macerator plus a ball valve bypass to go straight out of a drain thru hull in case the macerator goes out while on the water.
My drain system is going to get a lot of thought as well. Won’t be anything ordinary…
Broke out the old rigging tubes and attacked foam (removed it)
Decided I’ve got to have my livewell in the most accessible place. Still lots of deck space freed up vs before.
Cut out the deck where I could put the console base with interior liner down lower so get measurements for new fuel tank and better outline how much old deck has to be cut out to glass the console base to the existing deck and stringers.
Deck is solid for the most part
This small section felt like the core was bad
yep
foam gone from this area that was solid with it
More foam mining
Barely started and already a big pile of foam gold mined out
