# Turning the ugliest boat in Costa Rica into an Awesome 28 foot Center Console Diesel!



## SailFishCostaRica

Well, been down here a while and I've redone a couple of boats that I charter, including my favorite the old gamefisherman, but the last year I've been stuck rebuilding other people's boats here. So two weeks back, i saw this ugly boat in the boat yard and decided it's time I do one of my own! This has to be the ugliest boat I've ever seen, but I just really thought it just had a nice looking hull, this takes some serious imagination, but we'll see if I'm right  Here's the ugly sucker when i bought her:










Yeah, it was en evil person that put all that ugly on that pretty hull, so right away I (and my best friend Harold) got out the 6 inch disks and put on some trash bags and cut the top off and then flipped her over!










We also sanded her down and found several spots where there was no glass and just bondo. That's what the glass strips are all about. So after all the cutting and sanding, we sprayed some Gel Coat on her to see what she looked like painted up:










And here's another angle:










Not bad Ehh ??  But, it only measured out to 25 feet, and my smallest boat in my fleet is a 28 footer, so we needed an extra 3 foot. I'm not a Naval Architect by any means, but we will just figure it out as we go here.... So we put some Wax and PVA on the last three feet and put a couple of layers of 1708 on her!










And here's another shot:


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## SailFishCostaRica

So here's what it looked like after we dismolded the 3 foot extension, cut off the transom and put in on the back. We also added a tunnel while it was on the table after we dis molded it, I forgot to take pictures, but you can see the tunnel there. Then we stuck the thing on the back of the boat and did some Micro Spere's and Gelcoat and came up with this:










And here's another angle:










Now was the time for the big decision. Up to this point I had always thought we were just going to use the boat. But after some thought, I decided that the original hull was just not done very well, and we instead are going to use this creation as a MOLD to build another couple of boats at least. I really like the way this hull is looking, but it was done with all 18 and 24 OZ roven, with thick mat between every layer and it was heavy. Since I'm going to do all the topside with corecell, it would be dumb to have a heavy hull with a light top, so we decided instead of doing too much finish work, we were going to just spray some gelcoat thick, do a little bit of long boarding and then throw on the Wax and PVA and just make sure it's a good finished boat that doesn't weigh 10,000 pounds... So here's the shots of my bud harold throwing some GelCoat getting her ready to be copied:


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## SailFishCostaRica

Here's a before and after:



















And here is the end of two weeks of Hard Work!

We are going to go with 4 layers of 1708 on the bottom and 3 on the sides. That's kind of thin, but on the inside we are going to use alot of bulkheads all in corecell, and then the corecell floor, and I think with all the tie-in's we'll end up with 5/6 layers on the bottom and then the floor will help support the hull. We are going with a cummins 210B series engine in the center, so we need to make her light if we want a 20+ knot cruise at 5.5 GPH.

The idea is to make a boat that doesn't burn fuel and gets out to the fishing grounds cheap but fast, and the hope is to offer $600-650 full day offshore trips with food drinks included for up to 5 people.

This is where we ended up, putting on the PVA/Wax tomorrow early early and we'll see if I can get the thing laid up by tomorrow, we've got about 5-6 good friends coming over to paint some cloth...and if not we'll get her done Wednesday....more pictures coming soon,


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## Pocketfisherman

Love these threads....keep it coming!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Will Do!


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## Im Headed South

Pocketfisherman said:


> Love these threads....keep it coming!


Agree 100%, good luck with the build.


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## welder

Labor of LOVE, these threads are way cool.
Keep the build pics coming.


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## muney pit

Always wondered how working on a project like that would be and if the location is more of a battle than the actual work. Ia most everything found locally or do you have to wait for an order? Are things like glass, resin, engines, etc... more in the states or do they cost more there?


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## hog_down

welder said:


> Labor of LOVE, these threads are way cool.
> Keep the build pics coming.


What he said!


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## ctcrop

That is a very cool project! Keep the pics & updates coming


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## dlbpjb

Like others have sad, what a cool project!


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## offshorebound

Man I thought I had a big project!! Looking good.


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## SailFishCostaRica

muney pit said:


> Always wondered how working on a project like that would be and if the location is more of a battle than the actual work. Ia most everything found locally or do you have to wait for an order? Are things like glass, resin, engines, etc... more in the states or do they cost more there?


Not anymore for me. For the last 7 years I have just spent so much time in the shop, working on mine or working on other people's stuff, that you start to get a really good feel of where to get everthing. Now on this project, as soon as the word got out we were building a new one, the glass and resin people started showing up everyday offering me discounts if I buy from them and not the competitor and so far I haven't had to import anything and everything has been delivered right to the shop.

On the motors, I have been collecting cummins since I got here and now we have 4 extra motors, so that's covered, there is a cummins Brazilian dealer here as well, so all the rebuild kits for the 210B's are acutally cheaper here than the US (only 800 bucks for the full gasket, piston and bearing kit, all Cummins OEM no aftermarket). The only thing I'll really need to import would be things like the tranny, gauges, and electronics, which are all available here, but cheaper in the US.

The shop I work out is also like a salvage yard, so we can find all the little parts for cheap. Just picked up a nice SS rudder for 40 bucks, and even overpaying the guys here to help comes out to stupid cheap. We paid double asking price for the 6 guys we are using today to put on the cloth and resin to make the new hull, and I'll have less than 300 dollars in labor to lay up the whole hull..


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## PopArcher

Nice job Cappy....
Now, just a little trim work....lol


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## SailFishCostaRica

offshorebound said:


> Man I thought I had a big project!! Looking good.


yeah, but we're going to take it slow and easy, one of those things where while I'm having fun we'll hit it everyday, and if I get burned out it might sit for a week...


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## bboswell

super cool project!!


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## muney pit

Wow, great info sailfish. Thanks alot. Good luck with the boat. Cant wait to see it as you go


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## Saltwater Soul

*Cummins*

I had a 26' Shamrock with the 210 Cummins in it. Not sure what your beam is but this boat was 8' and was dragging a keel through the water as well.

Anyway, I could count on almost exactly 3 nmpg in almost any condition in that boat with cruise from 20 to 24 knots pretty easy. Top end was 29 knots if I was a little light.

Good luck -- sounds like a fun project.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Saltwater Soul said:


> I had a 26' Shamrock with the 210 Cummins in it. Not sure what your beam is but this boat was 8' and was dragging a keel through the water as well.
> 
> Anyway, I could count on almost exactly 3 nmpg in almost any condition in that boat with cruise from 20 to 24 knots pretty easy. Top end was 29 knots if I was a little light.
> 
> Good luck -- sounds like a fun project.


Ha, I was looking at a 26 Shamrock here with a 210, and then there is another one in the fleet as well that's not for sale. Seem like pretty good boats, I'd probably take the keel off, but I hear they are really economical.

This one has a 7.5 foot beam, so it should be pretty similar. And the core cell should keep it light..


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## SailFishCostaRica

Got the first clone laid up today, all the fiberglass is drying as I type! We ended up putting on 330 pounds of resin and 280 pounds of 1708 so the hull should weigh in at right at 610 pounds. The ratio we were looking for was 46 percent weight biaxle to 54 percent resin according to the vendor so we were right on.

Forgot to take pictures today, I'll get some pictures tomorrow,


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## SailFishCostaRica

Here's some pictures of the very first Quepos 28 (That's what we're going to call the boats off this mold) as it sits on the mold. This was 4 layers on the bottom of 1708 and 3 on the sides. It didn't turn out perfect, but I'm sure it'll float. We used a isothalic (that's in Spanish, i don't know the English word for it) Polyester resin, I would have used VinylEster, but there wasn't time to import it and there is none in country. We had a little trouble with the resin from the local supplier, it was really thick so we had to make a big table the same length as the boat and we wet the 1708 down on the table with the inside part up and then went over it with the metal roller to wet it out good from the inside, and then we rolled it back onto the cardboard tubes they sell the glass on and then unrolled the tubes onto the mold. If the resin had been thinner, it would have been a lot less work, but we eventually got it all on there. Once we got started, we just decided to tough it out...


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## SailFishCostaRica

Since we did this the wrong way as a Male Mold, we are going to have to fill in all the weave that you can see with Micro Sphere's and a Gel Coat mixture. To put it on kind of thick and try to knock out the big stuff, we decided to mix a big bucket of the stuff and put it on with a brush. Here's Harold painting the microshperes on the boat with the paint brush:



















Funny story, I had to drive to the capital to pick up this huge bag of Micro Spheres and I got pulled over on the way home with a huge bag of white powder in the passenger seat of my Tacoma  I showed him the receipt, and I guess he figured if it was the "other powder" commonly moved through the area, it would be worth way too much and let me go! Here's the big bag of white powder I drove across the country with, and on a side note, this was first thing that wasn't delivered directly to the shop:


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## SailFishCostaRica

Then comes the best part, a 2 by 4 with some 36 grit. The first one was a picture I shot while I was supposed to be sanding, and the second picture was just too corny so i had to post it as well. I joking asked Harold to pose with the board, I didn't think he'd do it...


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## SailFishCostaRica

Not much to post, we've been sanding this weekend and week. Lots of white powder! I think we might be able to shoot some GelCoat by the end of the week, and then I'm going to take a video of the demold process. It's my first, but the guy Harold I'm working with has done lots of pangas and says it's going to be easy...we'll see...


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## snapperlicious

Nice work!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Not too much to show, but here are this week's pictures. We are just fairing out the hull, each time it looks a little better. Didn't turn out too bad, there aren't any places with super thick microspheres, mostly just defects and pinholes and such. Should spray GelCoat by the end of the week, here's a couple of fairing pictures!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Well, we got her painted. We sprayed on about 3 gallons of Gelcoat mixed with 2 gallons of Estrene to thin it out to go through the gun. We got four coats on the bottom which is good enough, tomorrow we are going to 100 grit the bottom so that when we are ready to bottom paint it we won't have to sand it upside down. Then Monday we are going to pull the molds apart. Some wise people on here have PM'd me letting me know it'll probably be pretty flimsy when I get it apart, so we are going to have to do a lot of bracing before we put in the bulkheads. I was overall happy with how the hull turned out, the border was a little rough, but we have to sand all that down anyways to put on the top side. Going to setup the Go Pro and the Nikon to take some video of us pulling this thing apart Monday. The idea is we are going to use a water hose and float the mold off of the hull while it's right side up. Supposed to be easy, I'll post the video win or lose so if it doesn't work at least it'll be worth a good laugh


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## SailFishCostaRica

Well, i think this proves I'm more ghetto than talented...but here's the video of us taking the Hull off of the mold. Keep in mind we are in a fairly remote area of Costa Rica, and there are no cranes or anything that normal SANE people would use to demold boats. All I have are some friends and some homeless people that looked hungry 






The idea was pretty simple, flipping the boat over demolded a little bit of it, so I stuck a water hose in there between the two and floated the mold inside the new hull. It took a while, but worked great. This happened early this week, but it took me until now to figure out Imovie!

The hull didn't hold it's shape 100 percent, so we built a quick cradle with a tape measure and some 2X4's to keep it straight and it did straighten up nicely. Today we fiberglassed in some stringers and the lower motor support area. Really happy with the finished product, but the process was Iffy







Will hopefully post more pictures tomorrow of where we made it this week.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Busy Week. So Monday we took the hull apart, and we were left with this deformed hull. It took us a while to figure out what was going on, but it ended up being that the floor of the shop was curved and that's why the point of the boat points up. The glass looked good and solid though.




























But like everything in construction, it's nothing that a tape measure, a shovel and some 2 by 4's can't fix.


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## SailFishCostaRica

So we moved the hull out of the cover and dug some holes and partially buried some 2 by 4's. We then made a cradle to put the hull in and everything straightened out nicely!




























On the last picture, you can see one of the side projects where we took a 5 inch PVC and wrapped it with 4 layers of 1708 to make the exhaust pipe. We are waiting on the CoreCell to get here, they are saying by the end of next week, so we are trying to build everything that we can in the mean time. I wish I had taken more pictures of the hull with the braces on it, the lines came out nice.


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## SailFishCostaRica

With the hull straight, we decided to put the motor mounts / mini stringers. I didn't want to put in some super big stringers because we are going to put in alot of corecell bulkheads, but I wanted something to help the hull out where the motor was going to be mounted. We built the non wood parts by just making a one layer of 1708 on the table and cutting it into 6 inch strips and using some bondo (with extra activator to dry fast) to make boxes attached to the floor. Then we got out the filet knife and made a nice 1 inch filet with Cabosil (which was grey, some offbrand I'm sure?) and then used that as a mold to put on 4 layers of 1708. We still have to put some holes in it so that it doesn't hold water (at the bottom so water will flow to the bilge if any goes down there). Not the prettiest, but it'll work, and it'll give the hull a little more thickness where the motor goes. We are still going to clean this up and close the end, but that's where we got today and I shot some pictures.




























I shot this right before we hid this beautiful wood. This is some amazing Iron Wood we are using to mount the motor. This is a purple version of CocoBolo called Nazereno in Spanish, or Purple Heart Wood in English. It's bright purple and has the best grain swirls, like most things that are really cool, the picture doesn't do it justice. We chose it because it is one of the hardest woods here and it doesn't rot. That is where we are going to bolt on the stainless part of the motor support table, I'd explain it, but pretty soon I'll just post pictures of it finished and that will be easier! Here's is a cool article on the Purple Heart wood we used:
http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-...s/purpleheart/










This afternoon after this picture, we put the boat up on a trailer and Monday we are going to float it with some drums of water for the motor to see where the floor goes


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## SailFishCostaRica

Well, today we loaded her up on a trailer! What a difference the stringers made, it was a lot more stable and didn't want to deform like when we first demolded it. But we still hand loaded it onto the trailer with three guys, so it isn't very heavy.










While I had the boat on the trailer, I took some better pictures of the cradle we made, nothing too complex, we buried some two by fours and then got out some string and a level and the three two by fours that are horizontal are all the same height and level. The sides of the cradle we did after the boat was on top using a tape measure on the upper border. The hull wants to "open" so we measured the original hull which was alot thicker and not as flexible. We put a board across in the middle and then lifted the chimes with the small pieces. I am terrible at explaining, but look at the picture 










So we get it in the water and it drafted about an inch and a half, with just the hull.










So then we put three drums of water in the boat where the motor will be going. Filled it up with salt water. Three drums weights about 1300ish pounds, the same as the motor. And we are putting in a 40 gallon tank which weighs about 240 pounds full so I put two friends where the tank will be. Here's us putting in the water and then the photo of all the weight where it goes. It floated really level.



















And then we got a piece of fiberglass and marked out 7 inches and put the bottom mark in the water and then marked the hull all the way around with the other and we have our waterline.



















We spent the rest of the afternoon putting it back on the cradle and getting it level. Tomorrow we are going to put some glass around the inside of the boat where the floor will go, then next we are going to start doing birdcages for the bulkheads!


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## WildCard07

Looking good


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## SailFishCostaRica

WildCard07 said:


> Looking good


Thanks! I'm excited and having a blast, can't wait until Friday when the CoreCell gets in and we can start building bulkheads and the floor!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Still waiting on the corecell to get in, but I managed to find enought scraps to make the border around the edge where the floor will sit. This is also what i'm going to use to make my birdcages which we start tomorrow, more pictures of that tomorrow. The boat is going to live on a mooring, so I made the floor a hair higher than I would have if it was going in the marina so that water doesn't come in through the back scuppers at night when there are waves, and then I also put quite a bit of fall from the front to the back so that if a bunch of people go up front, I won't have a little pond up there  We also roughly put the floor to the bathroom in. Still have to clean that up, but I found a 1 inch divinycell that a friend had so we glassed it and stuck it where the bathroom floor will be. More pics tomorrow maybe.



















And then with a little time on our hands and now knowing where the floor goes, we put the tube in the muffler that will go out the back and we are going to finish the muffler up tomorrow. The floor will sit on the top of the muffler and it will be the same height as the bulkheads on top.


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## offshorebound

Looking Good! I don't know about you but the guy doing fiberglass work with no shoes on has to be a soldier!!! I'm getting all itchy scratchy just looking at the picture. Lol


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## SailFishCostaRica

offshorebound said:


> Looking Good! I don't know about you but the guy doing fiberglass work with no shoes on has to be a soldier!!! I'm getting all itchy scratchy just looking at the picture. Lol


Yeah, completely a soldier and i wouldn't even attempt to do this without friends like him around! He works on different boats here, and him being without a boat during these months was a major factor in us starting the project early. I was going to start this build in November when we start the season, but Harold needed to eat  We may have to take a month off in September, nobody comes down because school is starting up, but we'll see if I can keep a trickle of charters going to pay the help!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Here's an inside view of the muffler. This was before we finished up the glass on the tubes, they are just stuck on there with cabosil and resin in the picture. We got those glassed in and the middle wall glassed in after the photo. On the top, we are going to do the top half at a time, like the left half and then the right half, so in the middle we can tie the top to the partition with at least one layer of 1708. We got it cut down to floor height though so it fits right under the floor nicely. I did make a mistake, I wasn't there when they stuck the tubes in to the sides (where the air enters and leaves the muffler), I would have liked to see them about 3-4 inches deeper, but it didn't happen and I don't think it makes that much difference. If I get some noise on the transom, that's why, but it's kind of fun to experiment, I know it'll knock down 90 percent of the noise either way.










And then spent the rest of the morning building birdcages! Birdcages are 2 inches strips of 5/16 plywood that we use to make a pattern so we can cut out the corecell when it gets here. We are sticking it together with a nail gun, which is not OSHA friendly, but you can also use a staple gun, and I've seen some people use hot glue, although that would be painfully slow. Hopefully by the end of the day we will have the rest of the birdcages done and the muffler stuck to the floor, and I'll stick up some more pictures later!




























We are going to do bulkheads at 24 inch centers, that's what we did on the gamefisherman and my other 28 footer, and those floors are very stout, so I'm sticking with it! I don't know if anybody saw this from my other post, but here is the strength of 1/2 inch corecell with 1 layer of 1708 on each side. This was placed perfectly between the bulkheads on top of a hatch opening on my other 28 foot boat:










The motor weighs about 1300 pounds plus the transmission, so if it'll hold that, we should be alright walking around on it!


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## yellowskeeter

nice!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Not much to show from today, we finished the birdcages and took them out. This was a lot of work, but we knocked it out in a day and a couple of hours.










And then we went ahead and finished the muffler and stuck it down to the hull and cut the hole in the back. i like solid exhausts because the hoses always scare me  We stil have to flush the tile pipe up to the transom, but he have it glassed in from the inside with a double 1708. We will grind it flush tomorrow with a 36 grit 4.5 grinder and then put some cabosil and put a 1708 on the outside.


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## RLwhaler

Loving this thread...great work!:brew2:


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## Whipray

this is a really fun thread to follow. "ad hoc" boat building FTW


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## ATE_UP_FISHERMAN

I like it.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Whipray said:


> this is a really fun thread to follow. "ad hoc" boat building FTW


What does FTW stand for?


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## Whipray

For The Win!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Ahh, I tried to look it up but there were like 200 different FTW's.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Well, today is Friday the day my box of 24 sheets of corecell was supposed to come in, but not to my surprise, it's not here yet. So we are kind of stuck with nothing to do, the next thing on the list are the bulkheads, and the birdcages are ready to go, we just need the foam.

SO, to try to get ahead a bit, we decided to do the worst job imaginable! My big friend Harold, and another guy in the shop, went ahead and sanded the whole inside of the hull with 36 grit sandpaper on the 4.5 grinder. That way we can just stick in the bulkheads and glass them to the floor quickly and everything will be sanded and ready to go. So today, i took the day OFF! and the guys spent 10 hours with grinders in hand making fine white powder!!!! The hull cleaned up well though, these will probably be the last photos for a while, when my foam gets out of customs we'll have these bulkheads in quick though!


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## ossnap

Just discovered this thread. Really cool project. Looking forward to following the progress.


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## SailFishCostaRica

ossnap said:


> Just discovered this thread. Really cool project. Looking forward to following the progress.


Hopefully have more to post soon, but just got word from the shipping company my foam will be here Friday, they have said that for the last two weeks, but as soon as i get some materials we are going to finish this boat!


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## Mt. Houston Marine

*This is great !!!!!*

*If I bring beer can I help :brew2::bounce::brew2::bounce:*

*Danny T.*


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## SailFishCostaRica

Mt. Houston Marine said:


> *This is great !!!!!*
> 
> *If I bring beer can I help :brew2::bounce::brew2::bounce:*
> 
> *Danny T.*


You want to come sand some glass, I'll buy the beer :brew2:


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## SailFishCostaRica

Christmas has arrived here in Quepos! Full box of Corecell, only a little over 2 months on a boat to get here, but today was a good day! And we hit the ground running, cutting out all the bulkheads and glassing 4 of them!

Yes sir, I'll take a box of that one!



















Sorry, i get so excited seeing the foam come in. This was several months of saving, I was so depressed when i used up the last piece of my foam last year, and gettting more in today really made today a good day!

Here's us taking the bird cages and tracing out the bulkheads on the foam. When we do this, we always trace outside a little bit. That makes the foam bigger than where it goes. Then we try to put the foam in place, and mark with a construction pencil where it touches first. Then with a little 32 grit and a wood block, sand down the line where it touched and stick it back in, and repeat and repeat until we get a tight fit. After the thing fits, then we are glassing them, 2 1708's on each side. Usually you leave a 6 inch section on the bottom of the blukheads that only has one 1708 and it gets the 2nd 1708 when you tie it in, but I'm going to bulk these up a little bit as I've been making everything light and I want these to be indestructable. Here's us tracing the birdcages onto the foam:


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## SailFishCostaRica

And here are the four bulkheads we glassed. We glassed two layers of 1708 on one side with light catalyst, then flipped them over on the table while still wet, which is heavily waxed formica over plywood, and then glassed the other side with two more 1708's. They are going to be very solid. I got a little too excited today, and as you can see it's very dark by the time we got these glassed and I'm worn out! Today was a full 5Am to 8PM work day, if you can call this work...


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## WildCard07

Good work man. Keep it coming. Can't wait to see her finished.


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## wiznut

Looking great! Can't wait to get down there next week and do some fishing! If you need something small brought down there when I come, just let me know.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Here's the Costa Rican version of post cure! It was a scorcher out there, I'm super burned, worse than when I fish with no sunscreen! These things sat in the sun from about 8 to 4, and they were so hot you could barely handle them, but the resin dried up soo much it felt like we put paraffin in the resin and it wasn't even sticky anymore. Probably unnecessary, but it's free.










And then we got out the grinder and 36 grit and carefully cleaned them all up.










And then we rough fit them in the boat. They are pretty close, will have to tweak them a little, but we'll have them in Monday.



















On one of the bulkheads, we had a little spot that de-laminated so we decided for the other bulkheads we are going to do the double mold thing. We have four bulkheads done, I think we are putting in 7 or 8, so it'll be pretty stout. The bulkheads are super light, maybe 30-35 pounds each, so 7 is maybe 220 pounds which isn't that much for the supporting structure for the hull. Here is our "double mold", we ended up putting about double the weight on it and it will dry for 24 hours before we demold it.










I need to start getting into the vacuum pumps. That would make a little bit better laminates, but we're in low season right now and I'm broke


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## jorgepease

SailFishCostaRica said:


> I need to start getting into the vacuum pumps. That would make a little bit better laminates, but we're in low season right now and I'm broke


Cool build!

I bought 2 used Welch pumps on ebay for $600 each. One of them was good to go the other needed a new electric motor, cost me $100. The pumps sold new for 2k-4k. Not much to go wrong with them and easy to rebuild.

Good luck to you


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## SailFishCostaRica

jorgepease said:


> Cool build!
> 
> I bought 2 used Welch pumps on ebay for $600 each. One of them was good to go the other needed a new electric motor, cost me $100. The pumps sold new for 2k-4k. Not much to go wrong with them and easy to rebuild.
> 
> Good luck to you


I'll eventually get there. But for now we have old Banana railroad wheels and an extra sheet of plywood!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Pretty busy day today. We started off by putting nice 1 inch filets on every bulkhead I have in the boat using resin thickened with cabosil. I'm not super neat, we try to be, so in the picture, that was after Harold sanded the filets a bit.










And then we went ahead and did two layers of 1708 to tie them to the floor. After this had dried, there was no movement whatsoever in the hull, there wasn't too much after the mini stringers, but this firmed everything up really nicely. We have 2 builheads glassed in and we ran out of glass, so tomorrow late in the day we are getting another roll in. We still have to build one more bulkhead on the table, and then there are some longitudal ones that we are going to put next to the motor and then a box up front under the floor to store things in, so more pics coming soon!


















Also, somebody had a scale at the shop today, i thought the bulkheads weighed around 35 pounds each, but apparently they are just big and awkward, because the biggest one tipped the scale at 16.5 pounds. So 7 of those is probably a little more than 100 pounds, so this is working out to be very light and hopefully worth all the expensive materials!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Got the last bulkhead in the boat and we made the cabosil filet. Then we went ahead and made the walls that go next to the motor and put those in place as well with the cabosil. It was getting dark, so we're going to go ahead and do all the glass to hold the last bulkhead and motor walls tomorrow. Here's a couple of pictures of all the bulkheads finally in place!


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## ReefBuster

Looking great...


Clint
SaltyCulture

"embrace your wild"


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## SailFishCostaRica

Got the bulkheads cut off. We started using a Saw Z all, but they only had cheap chinese blades at the hardward store, and the first blade melted from the friction off of the foam. So we ended up cutting it off with a 4.5 metal cutting wheel and then using a 2 X 4 and some 36 grit to get it down to the line. We marked everything using the rim of the floor as a guide, we took our time and got the rim pretty level, and then just shot a string line across, marked it and chopped it.




























I also went ahead and made the deck hatch frames. When we cut the foam for the floor, this will go underneath so that we can make 1 inch hatches that sit in the frame. I used to use lots of the plastic hatches, but I get tired of buying them every year as they are super fragile. The corecell hatches don't break.










And then who says you can't learn everything on the internet. i got this trick off of the hull truth, this is how we figured out the crown that we are going to put on the back two bulkheads. We have 2 inches on the transom floor support, and 1.5 inches on the first bulkhead in the back and .75 inches on the second from the back bulkhead. That way when the mate filets the fish in the back, the water will run to the sides quick and out the scuppers. The circle trick is how you figure out the crown of the floor.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Ok, here's a midday update  This last week we installed all the chases where the hoses/electrical will go. Probably could have been a little neater, but we are kind of excited about putting in floor. We also knocked most of the holes where the water will drain out of the bulkheads, i think we still have two left, but I have to get another bit as the hole saw died. Here are some pictures of the plumbing for all the cables/hoses:



















And then here are the first two pieces of floor. These go right next to the motor. There is still some welding i need to do in the back for the rudder and piston, so we are going to do the front part of the boat which is easier. It'll feel nice to get some of the floor in there. The hatches still need some finish work, but we've done several and they look pretty good when we get them finished up. I used to use plastic hatches, but with lots of trips with drunk customers, I need some bulletproof hatches so they don't break. The hatch itself will be 1 inch corecell and they sit in there pretty deep so we don't have problems with them moving or coming up when you don't want them to.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Well, we got some of the floor down. The two strips of floor by the motor we had stuck down yesterday with cabosil and then today we glassed the edges. We did a 12 inch strip on those, 6 on the floor and 6 on the wall to hold the pieces down. And then we sanded it off flush to wrap another 12 incher into the motor compartment and the bathroom to tie everything together nicely.



















The front had a weird angle on it, I don't know that we did that on purpose, but we are going to build a wrap around bench up there, so you won't see the front of the floor anyways, up by the nose. But because of the angle we couldn't build that on the table, we had to glass just the bottom on the table, and then glass the top in place, and then I put another 10 inch strip around the edge for a little more strength. Got a nice resin burn on the face from that one, lots of vapor, but we got it done.



















And then for some reason, we didn't make the little piece of floot that connects the sides to the front, so we are put those on the table to glass in tomorrow.










I think tomorrow we are going to cut the foam for the console also, maybe start glassing those pieces so we can get the console in place in a day or two. It's starting to look more like a boat!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Here's some pictures I shot yesterday. It's center console time! Building the console has got to be the most fun part of building a center console boat, it's such an important part it's even the boat's first name  Before I post the pictures, i have to make a disclaimer. We are grinding glass alot, and instead of throwing our clothes in the washing machine every day and getting glass on the rest of our clothes, we go to this used clothing store, and gets big sacks of clothes for a couple of bucks and then throw them away. The bag is getting empty, and today Harol got stuck with a women's shirt  so that is why he's dressed like that! I had on a terrible shirt as well, but I edited myself out of the pictures!!!

Ok on to business! Here is the first drawing of the console.










I copied this off of my other 28 foot boat. We cut it out and mounted it in the boat, but I thought is was a little too tall.










So we took off 4 inches and then we decided to put a small step on the motor side so the captain can sit on the motor box and have somewhere to prop us his feet. We came up with this:










Satisfied with the design, we made a copy of it and then figured out how wide the motor box was going to be. We then cut out a ton of panels at the width of the console, one for every different face, and labeled them, for example here is number 5:










Then we made two more tables to glass on, because its a lot of pieces and glassed both sides with one layer of 1708 and they are drying right now. With the console moving forward, we went ahead and installed more of the back floor, we had already glassed the underside of this part, and since there is a little crown, we have to glass the top side in place. Here the newest section of floor:


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## SailFishCostaRica

Crappy day yesterday, we had all the console pieces laid out on the table, the day before, and yesterday we were supposed to put them together, but the resin decided not to dry. We put the pieces out in the sun yesterday and by the end of the day they were drying but still not ready to unmold. Today will be the third day on the table, we're hoping another day in the sun will get them ready to come off the table, but we'll see.



















So with nothing to do on the console, we just spent all day trying to figure out the design of the front benchs. Here's what we came up with.


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## SailFishCostaRica

We had previously finished the two sides of the console though, and then we made two of the pieces to connect the console, so while the rest is on the table drying, we figured we'd put together what we have. We put boards in the corners to hold it in place while we let two small tie ins of glass dry. The boards will come out when we are done. Here's what we have got so far today:





































That's the mate on my 32 footer that thinks he's a surfer. We'll see if he's still smiling after we make him sand glass all day long with the grinder 



















As soon as this dries we're going to yank out the lumber, and hopefully late in the day the other pieces will dry and we can finish our console!!!


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## ctcrop

This is a very nice build. Can't wait to see the motor going in!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Had a nice super hot hour out there today with no clouds from 12 to 1, and finally the resin kicked on most of the pieces. There were a couple of spots where it wasn't drying so we just cut those sections off and cleaned in with thinner, and put all the bad places on the outside and we'll cover them with a 1708 when we do the corners. Very productive day though, i've always wanted to build a center console out of corecell, today was the most fun I've had in the shop to date. The whole console like it is now without the corner glass tie ins weighs about 30 pounds, my console on my 31 ocean master weighs about 250 pounds, so we have taken out a ton of weight! I got carried away on the pictures, i had the camera in my pocket all day.

We used these 2X4's to square everything up, and stuck everything together with cabosil and PE resin. Here's the 2X4 guides in place for the first two sections:










And then we stuck the two sections on:










And then we stuck the big board on top of the front piece, and to keep it lined up we put in three screws from the bottom while it dried. The front also had the slightest bow to it, so we straightened that up as well with some 2X4's










And here is Harol trimming up the "whisky plank" of our console










And here's the finished product. Not bad for two days worth of work (and three days of drying time on the table for bad resin!  )



















Tomorrow we still have to glass all the corners and cut out the door to the bathroom. I'm thinking of using the cut out for the door as the door itself, we were going to do a teak door, but the corecell door would last longer and be lighter so I think that's the route we are going to take. I hope to have this thing glassed into the boat by tommorrow night, and maybe start on the front bench?


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## SailFishCostaRica

ctcrop said:


> This is a very nice build. Can't wait to see the motor going in!


That'll be a while. I plan on starting the motor build on Sept 1 when i run out of sandpaper money...


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## Pocketfisherman

What is the "Whiskey Plank", I have never heard that before.


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## Hooked

I love following these threads and your work is really great. I learn something from each one about the overall process.

Never thought I would have a contribution to one though. However, a thought regarding the footrest. You may want to consider having it angle some so when you're sitting your feet will be more comfortable.
My apologies for coming in after-the-fact as I hadn't checked in for several days.


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## Andy777

Really cool. Thanks!


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## StangGang

Pocketfisherman said:


> What is the "Whiskey Plank", I have never heard that before.


Pocketfish, A "whiskey plank" is the last plank or piece that is attached to a boat that is being built. It is the name-sake for the celebration upon completing the build. I thought it would have been called a "rum plank" in that part of the world.


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## SailFishCostaRica

StangGang said:


> Pocketfish, A "whiskey plank" is the last plank or piece that is attached to a boat that is being built. It is the name-sake for the celebration upon completing the build. I thought it would have been called a "rum plank" in that part of the world.


Casique Plank would be more Costa Rican. It's like some nasty rice whisky...Or for the poor people here in Costa Rica, rubbing alcohol plank, yep they drink that here and you learned correctly, it will mess you up. Actually in Quepos, it's more like a Flor De Cana Plank, the guy that owns Flor de Cana is always fishing here and sponsors every fishing event here, he has a nice big boat called the Rum Runner, and I hear he's a nice guy. Typical filthy rich Latin America Dude, short fat old guy that always has like 6-7 models in bikinis with him...


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## SailFishCostaRica

Hooked said:


> I love following these threads and your work is really great. I learn something from each one about the overall process.
> 
> Never thought I would have a contribution to one though. However, a thought regarding the footrest. You may want to consider having it angle some so when you're sitting your feet will be more comfortable.
> My apologies for coming in after-the-fact as I hadn't checked in for several days.


Yeah, the foot rest stinks. I'm going to try to make a foot rest in the front of the motor box / captain's seat to make up for that. I was more going for a cool side view than functionality, but I'm not 100 percent happy with the back of the console. At this point, the console is finished and installed in the boat so I can't afford to change it...will post some pictures later tonight hopefully.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Well today was a productive day again like yesterday. We started off by rounding all the console edges.










And then we stuck it in the boat and glassed it in!





































I really like the boat with the console in it, it isn't a panga anymore, we're officially a center console. The console was a little wider than I expected, but there is a ton of room on the inside for the battery, bathroom and then quite a bit of dry storage. It does look a little further forward than I had in my head, but I'll make the roof/tower a little further back and it should look normal. We cut out the door as well and here is the door:










I was hoping to do the door in one piece, but it will hit the side of the boat, we're going to have to cut it in half, but that's ok it's light and it's got a good shape to it.

And then so we didn't get lazy tomorrow, we cut out the front bench and glassed one side. Tomorrow we might have the front bench in the boat. Under the front bench, we are going to try to get 8 rod hangers where I can fit my offshore gear, that will be the tricky part for tomorrow.



















The bench looks HUGE, but after i put the border in the front of the boat, it'll only be about 22-24 inches deep where you can sit. So it's a nice deep bench, but not as big as it looks in the photos. Tomorrow we are going to see if we can get that bench stuck to the boat! And I might start cutting out the motor box and leave it drying on the table. I'm starting to get more and more ambitious, we have to stop construction in 18 days so i want to get as far as i can!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Didn't get as much done as I wanted, but we did get the basic idea of the under bench rod holders in place, we'll finish that out tomorrow and then I'll post some pics. The idea is the front piece will have four holes in it to put 4 rods in, and then the back two holders will have two holes in each side. And 4 per side will be 8 rods. After I took this picture, we got a layer of 1708 on everything and it's drying now as well.










And then this is the motor box on the table. The first view is side view of the motor box and then the second picture is the rest of the box on the table.



















Hopefully we'll get the rod holders figured out tomorrow and the bench installed, and maybe the box put together...we'll see


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## SailFishCostaRica

Got a little done today. We started by hole sawing the front rod holder that will be under the seat. I'm going to buy Harold a ruler, one of the holes got away from him, but it's under the bench, so we decided to leave it.










After we got the holes made in the rod holder, we put the bench where it goes and then marked and cut down the center to get it at the right height. This kind of shows how light it is, this already is all glassed up except for the top, and the little guy carries it like it's nothing.










And then we got it where it went and put the cabosil in the seam:



















And then we glassed it in. I haven't done the ends yet because I'm not sure how I'm going to do them yet. We are trying to just knock at the bulk of the big construction and then go back and hit the details. That's why we have this crazy pace, but finishing everything up is going to be at least a months worth of fairing 

On a different note, the seat looks HUGE because the border isn't on the boat yet. Once we put the border on the boat the seat will be more normal sized.



















And then we decided to put the motor box together.



















But, after putting it together, realized it was going to be a little too wide and there wasn't enough area to pass by on the side, so we stopped that and we're going to make it about 4 inches narrower tomorrow and we finished up the front bench. More pics tomorrow if we get something finished!


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## SailFishCostaRica

One step closer in finishing up our super Quepos fishing boat! Today we put the box together. Pretty easy, we have a board in every corner and we screw through the foam into the boards to hold the thing together until the resin/cabosil mix dries, and then we pull the screws out and the boards and grind down the corners and glass the thing! I got a couple of questions after we did the console on how we made round corners. I tried to explain the best I can, but a picture is worth a thousand words! First, since we are dealing with 3/4 inch sheets of foam (after glass) we marked out 3/4 of an inch on both side of the corner.










Then we use the 4 inch grinder with 36 grit to knock down a little material off the corner, but we finish it by hand with 36 grit cloth backed paper and a small board. Since the top sheet sits on the bottom sheet, you don't make it all the way through.



















And then when you get the curve you are looking for, you glass the corners with an additional 1708 strip 12 inches wide. Also, don't forget to sand the first 8 inches with 36 grit to rough it up before you glass in the corners, we use the 4.5 inch grinder with 36 grit on EVERYTHING we are going to stick glass to every time.


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## mas360

You said: "First, since we are dealing with 3/4 inch sheets of foam (after glass)"

What kind of foam board is it? I did not know that foam board would have structural strength to hold up. I always thought you were using at least 1/2" plywood and glass for these structures.


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## SailFishCostaRica

mas360 said:


> You said: "First, since we are dealing with 3/4 inch sheets of foam (after glass)"
> 
> What kind of foam board is it? I did not know that foam board would have structural strength to hold up. I always thought you were using at least 1/2" plywood and glass for these structures.


Corecell is the name of the foam. There is NO plywood in the boat at all.


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## mas360

Thanks, I just googled Corecell. They come in many different versions. Which one do you use for your boat?
I am pondering on building a leaning post box, which would also store a fuel tank. I've planned to use plywood and glass. This foam board is likely more waterproof than plywood. It does not have to be super strong as no heavy weight would rest on it. Which type of Corecell would you recommend?

Can I just paint Corecell with outdoor Latex paint instead of gelcoat?


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## jorgepease

I'v worked a lot with the stuff. Corecell M plain. is what you want (marine) but any of them would work. Once you have a skin on both sides, it's stiffer than ply of the same thickness. and here is a great place to buy it at a good price http://www.easternburlap.com/

If your going to spend good money on core you might as well paint it with a decent paint. Monstaliner if your looking for something easy and bullet proof.


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## Pocketfisherman

If you need to build up thickness with sheets of Corecell, what can you use to bond it together permanently?


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## SailFishCostaRica

mas360 said:


> Thanks, I just googled Corecell. They come in many different versions. Which one do you use for your boat?
> I am pondering on building a leaning post box, which would also store a fuel tank. I've planned to use plywood and glass. This foam board is likely more waterproof than plywood. It does not have to be super strong as no heavy weight would rest on it. Which type of Corecell would you recommend?
> 
> Can I just paint Corecell with outdoor Latex paint instead of gelcoat?


The Core cell is a CORE material, and you have to have glass skins over it or it is very weak. Once you put the glass over it, it is super strong, stronger than plywood. On the glass skins, i am using 1708 bi-axial and you could do just one layer on each side for anything non structural, and I just put 2 layers on the bulkheads.

I don't think water based paint is good to use over fiberglass, but i guess if you had the right primer. I have the 5.5 density corecell and it's super strong, the more dense the better. They have like a 8-9lb density corecell which does the best in tests, but that's overkill.

I like the perforated stuff, but the flat sheets would work as well.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Pocketfisherman said:


> If you need to build up thickness with sheets of Corecell, what can you use to bond it together permanently?


You can use cabosil, which evertype of resin you are using for the skins, and a notched spreader to make sure everything is even. Best done under a vacuum, but however you do it, make sure there is no air in between the skins or it'll be rather weak. Perforated Core Cell works much better to get the air pockets out of the inside.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Core cell is water proof, but you are putting glass skins over it anyways so water shouldn't get to it.


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## SailFishCostaRica

On my 30 foot boat, we only had 1/2 corecell and we glued two together to make the 1 inch I thought was necessary, but on this boat we are using 1/2 inch foam for the floor. There is a little bit of movement once you get over 2 feet of unsupported, but I only have one layer of 1708 on each side. But i have the luxury of two salaried glass guys on my payroll, so we are building light, going to see if we have any fail points, and then if we do, and I don't think we will, we can reinforce any weak points that show up. If it was for a customer, I would have used 1 inch corecell or Diviny cell H60 or 80, and two layers of 1708 on each side. Then you could park a car on it (literally).

Here's 1/2 unsupported core cell with 1 layer of 1708 glass on each side holding up my 1300 pound motor. The motor was not sitting on a bulkhead, that is an unsupported section and even worse, over a hatch cut out. This is on my other 28 foot boat:










And as you can see, it's always best to paint the floor LAST!!!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Well, here's the side view with the motor box installed.










Looks like the box will make a great seat to fight fish from and there is still plenty of room behind it for fishing.










We still haven't put the last section of floor in, I have to do some welding for the rudder and piston back there, but when that is installed there should be some good fishing space. The box is the perfect height to sit on, and I can sit of the box and still see over the console.

And then the box had a little give in the top, so I went ahead and put some reinforcements on the inside, and we cabosiled all the inside corners and glassed them as well. Should make the top rigid, and keep it from breaking when I have 4 fat guys sitting on top 










And then we moved on to the borders, which really haven't had me too excited to do. Center Consoles, benches and motor boxes are just more fun for some reason. So, i don't know why the fiberglass does that, but the border was really distorted after we took it out of the mold. I don't know if you can see too well from the pictures, but check out the edge:










So what we did is get some 1X2's and just screw them to the edge to make it straighter.



















We are going to do it like it was wood, but with corecell. Going to build a frame out of corecell pieces, and i'm thinking in the back we are going to make the border 5.5 inches wide with a 2.5 inch inside piece. I wanted a bit wider, but the motor box is kind of wide, even after we narrowed it, so I'm worried about having plenty of space to walk by. I spent the last 4 hours today cutting out parts to make the frame for the side borders (are those called gunnels?). I don't know that this is the best picture, but here's what i finished up with:










That picture doesn't make too much sense, but after i trim the excess glass off and put a few on the boat tomorrow, I'll post a picture and that'll probably show what we are trying to do better than explaining it! Just got in and it's 10pm (we started at 6am), so please forgive any typo's, i'm going to bed!


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## battleredtexan

Great thread!
I look forward to seeing the boat in the water catching fish!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Easily the most tedious job of this Quepos fishing boat build, we put the first part of the cap frames on the side of the boat today. I cut them all out yesterday which was a job, but putting them on and lining them up was quite a task today.

Here's a shot mid day. We put the stick across side to side to line up the angles. They were pre cut before i glassed them, but we still had to adjust them a bit.










Then here was when i finally finished them:










And a front view










and then we glassed them in:










We left the next piece on the table drying for tomorrow to install, we might get the cap on tomorrow, we'll see?


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## SailFishCostaRica

Not as far as I'd thought we'd get today, that was really tough finding good lines. I cut the pieces out of the foam and they were pretty straight, but after glassing them, recutting them, and then sticking them to the wall, they weren't straight anymore and it took all day to line everything up and get the knee rail stuck on. But, i was happy how everything turned out. In the front, we are doing a different system, and we have some stuff on the table drying to install tomorrow, and then in the middle of the transom, we are going to try to do a cool live well, so i left a space open for that.


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## SailFishCostaRica

This is how we decided to build the front cap. I was going to do the frame think like the rest of the boat, but i donâ€™t know how to calculate out all the lengths with a section that is curved (I guess I could figure it out with google and math, but that wouldnâ€™t have been much fun). And this way we have an anchor locker up front, and a nice solid back to the front bench, and it makes it a little stronger because up front we are going to put the tie offs for the mooring that the boat is going to sit on. Hereâ€™s the progression:

We started with just a cap that we made from tracing the outside of the boat, and then tracing our widths from the outside in, and then making the door jamb for the anchor locker. We glass this side (the bottom) and will leave the other side bare so the foam stays flexible until we put it in place.










Then in the morning we were trying to line up another piece and Harol commented that he wished we had 10 squares. So i got a piece of plywood and we traced the square and cut out some more.










Then with those in place, we wrapped a piece of foam around the inside of the wooden squares. we measured the highest part and made all the foam the height of the highest part, weâ€™ll put it in the boat and then trim it down little by little until we get it to fit










And then we glassed the bottom part of the foam to the cap










Tomorrow weâ€™ll have that in the boat probably early. While the top was drying, we went ahead and stuck down a couple of the back caps:


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## SailFishCostaRica

Today was productive day here in Quepos Costa Rica, but man this border just eats time. I started today off with me finishing up the cap.










The top outside edge is just rough cut, that's why it's a bit not straight, but that's an easy fix Monday.










While I was cutting foam, Harold was up front installing the front bench backrest.



















Usually it's me Harold and a homeless guy working on this thing, but today the homeless guy was super drunk, so it was just the two of us today. I went ahead and finished cutting all the pieces of the borders for both sides, and the last three pieces are drying on the table, we glassed the bottom sides. While I was doing that, Harold rounded the edges of the border that we have installed and it looks massively better!




























We both died about 4pm today, usually we work a bit later, but we were both out of gas. This Quepos Fishing machine is getting close to getting wet, I am going to spend an hour or so tomorrow sticking down the last cap pieces, so Monday they will be dry, we can sand everything and I think finally we'll get the border glassed. Then next week I have to do some work on the rudder / piston installation, then we are going to install the last bit of floor in the back, build the live well, put in a couple of motor breathers and somewhere in those goals, the clock is going to run out and I'm going to have to wait until October to finish


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## SailFishCostaRica

Today stunk. We really hit it hard in the morning and got everything rounded off and even and ready to glass, and then for the first time in months, we got a daytime super storm! Usually here it never rains until 4-5pm at the earliest, but today right at lunch it came down hard. And our roof isn't really in good condition  Anyways, here's the last pre fiberglass pictures:




























And here's all the fiberglass cut and ready to stick on!










And here's a monsoon picture...Maybe tomorrow?


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## yellowskeeter

Nice!

www.g-spotservices.com


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## Friendswoodmatt

nice work John-- make sure to get some extra thick cushions for the seats please -- the ones on the mucho fisho are a little thin --


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## SailFishCostaRica

Friendswoodmatt said:


> nice work John-- make sure to get some extra thick cushions for the seats please -- the ones on the mucho fisho are a little thin --


Yeah, you can see how deep the front bench is, gonna put some 4-6 inchers up there!


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## Friendswoodmatt

Awesome I can wait to fish it

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk


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## SailFishCostaRica

Today was a bit better. We went after the glass first thing in the morning and had everything glassed in by 9am.










And with the hot morning sun here, that was pretty dry by 10:30 so we went ahead and painted on resin with MicroSpheres to fill in all the bi axial weave.





































And while the guys were doing that, i started on the steering piston / rudder bracket install.










We started with putting a piece of 1/2 corecell on the transom, then three layers of 1708, then another 1/2 corecell, then 5 layers of 1708. The idea is we are going to take a hole saw and pull off the outside layer of corecell where the bolts go through to hold on the bracket, and then put the foam back in and glass over it from the outside, hiding the bolts. I'm not a very good explainer, but as we progress I'll post photos and it'll make more sense. Here's the finished transom ready for the bracket:










And then i broke out my Ghetto welding skills and started welding some 2 inch stainless that was in the shop to make it 4 inch and started building the bracket!










I'll post some more pictures tomorrow, this looks like it will be our last week of intense work, i will probably do stuff by myself, but the pace is about to slow down so i don't burn much materials. Got two days left, I have to bring a friend to Panama on Thursday so not much time to get this thing together!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Wow, today kicked my butt. I'm not really a welder, but I've always had a welding machine and I like making metal puddles, but today was a lot of welding! In order to put the back section of floor in, i had to build the bracket that holds the rudder on one side and the piston on the other. And then something I started doing a couple of boat back is I also weld a bottom part onto the bracket that has two screws through the hull and where the zinc goes. That way the steering piston and rudder are hard wired to the zinc and last longer. Here's what we started with, this was 2 inches wide and yesterday I welded the pieces together to make them 4 inches wide:










Then we drilled alot of holes, in the metal and the hull. I didn't put them in a straight line as I thought this would be stronger. The two ends are in the middle so they sit good, but the middle I staggered.



















Here a picture of when we only had two screws mounted and we were drilling the others. I always try to drill everything in place and weld it assembled. We then went with a hole saw on the outside to take off the first layer of glass and foam to hide the nuts.










And then we actually took our time and lined up carefully the top rudder support and I welded it in place.










Then i added the bottom part where the zinc will go, and took everything off to finish up the welds. I tacked it in place, but I don't want to cook my corecell, so we had to weld it outside the boat. While I was tacking everything (with in touching the hull), somebody was spraying the hull with water, we made lots of steam.










Since I'm going to Panama tomorrow and Harold can't weld, we put in a late day. I'll post daytime pictures when i get back, but in the meantime here's some finished pictures taken with a flash



















We mounted it in with really thick resin and cabosil behind it to really give it a good base, it fit pretty flush, but the putty will make it stronger. And we grinded the back of the stainless with 36 grit and cleaned it a bunch with paint thinner to make sure it got a good bond. And then we filled the outside holes with resin and cabosil also, to hide the bolts!



















And now I'm home and going to bed! No pictures tomorrow as I'm out of country, but we'll post some more up here Friday!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Lots of work, but not a lot of pictures. We got the last section of floor in, and then built the whole bottom part of the live well, rounded the edges of the live well and then glassed it in thick to the transom. We put 3 layers on each of the 4 corners where it ties into the back so that it will support the transom.










We started fitting the deck hatches, they still lack some work, but at least we have them cut out and stuck together. They are 1 inch thick, so we had to stick two 1/2 corecell layers together to make each hatch.










Then we cut the whole between the motor box and the bathroom where the engine will draw fresh clean air. That also helps keep the bathroom air from getting smoky, the engine will cycle the air in there often. We are making a 4 inch fiberglass tube right now and it's drying, but the idea is to connect a hose from the intake turbo to the wall, not just leave a hole there, tomorrow we should have the intake hose connection installed. In the bathroom, we are making a box with holes in it where the motor will suck air from.










And then we started building the fresh air intakes on the side of the hull, they are boxes and then I'll put a blower on one side of the motor to pump air out the side.










And I think I'm going to try to do one more week of work. In one more week, I could have everything glass built and only have fairing left, and probably knock some of that out as well. And I'll be closer!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Didn't bring the camera yesterday so i had to run out there today to get the shots! We started by putting in the two motor box breathers, those are the boxes on either side of where the motor goes. They also reinforced the sides which wobbled a bit.



















And then i took a hole saw and cut two holes and connected them with a jigsaw to make the outside part where it will get air and blow out (One side in one side out)



















We built the floor and the top of the livewell, didn't get a chance to fiberglass the top of the livewell on because we ran out of resin, but the floor is done, we also made the inside corners more round with a thin laminate to keep the amount of corners down so the fish live longer. We are going to paint the inside black as well, i think that helps the bait live longer. We decided to piece together some pieces of foam instead of cutting a whole sheet, and the underside of the top is already glassed.



















And then we built the air intake for the motor itself. The other intakes are for the fresh air inside the box, but this is the box the motor will actually get the running air from. We are going to put holes in the front, side and bottom so that it can't get a bag stuck to it or anything like that.










Tomorrow, we are going to keep going and finish up the live well and then we are going to using the micro-spheres and resin and try to fair out the boat a bit this week.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Not too much to show, we are mostly sanding and fairing. We did manage to get the Livewell glassed in:










And a funny picture. We buy used clothes and get this big bag for 2 bucks, and we wear the clothes once and then throw them out as they are full of glass. Today Harold got a pink Kimono


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## ScarabChris

Wow nice work!!! Especially considering your limited resources and remote location.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Pretty interesting day yesterday. We were kind of out of funds to keep on building until next month, but yesterday the project received a huge blessing! Costa Rica used to have strict laws not allowing salvage recovery until last month. You used to not be able to collect boats that you found offshore, but now with the new law, anything you find abandoned in the ocean is yours as long as you let the costa guard know what you found before they find you. It looks like Iâ€™m going to be the first person to take advantage of that law! Yesterday I got a phone call from one of my captains that there was an unclaimed 32 foot panga out there, waiting to fund the rest of my build 


















So yesterday, me and harold took my other 28 foot diesel Panga and set out in search of funds! it was a terrible pull, took about 10 hours at 1 knot, but we made it. Talk about a long day, with the new law in effect, it was the first person to throw a rope on it and call the coast guard, so I set out at redline and missed breakfast and forgot to bring even water, so it was a tough day, but looks like it was worth it. A boat like this here will fetch between 10 to 18K, and with that I get can my new boat finished! Hereâ€™s some pictures when we got it to the shop, and this morning when we got it flipped over. I have some buyers coming by tomorrow so with any luck 


















And with the salvage operation out of the way, we started again on the build. Hereâ€™s the assembled overhead electronics box. Iâ€™m taking a long lunch today to make up for starving yesterday, and this afternoon Iâ€™ll probably get the outside glassed, right now only the inside has glass.


















And then harold and the homeless guy (whose name is crab) started sanding some more. The sanding is coming a long way, I think we will gelcoat next week.










Hereâ€™s a close up of the border, the fairing isnâ€™t too thick, itâ€™s just mostly a weave fill. Iâ€™m excited how itâ€™s all coming along!


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## WildCard07

Keep chugging along man it is looking good. Congrats on salvage. Always nice when an unexpected surge in funds shows up. Thanks again for sharing this project with us. I have enjoyed following along.


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## SailFishCostaRica

We'll hopefully here are the last pre gelcoat pictures for the outside of the boat. We have been doing lots of fairing this week, making lots of dust, long boarding, orbital, all of the above. Every time we make the fairing compound, we add different amounts of blue tint to the gelcoat/microbeads, so that we can tell what is good. After we sand, we got around with our hands and a pencil, circle the spots where there are still pin holes or imperfections, add more fairing compound, then sand it down again. To get the boat a little higher, we realized we can lift it up with just two people and then the Crab sticks some blocks under it, so we can fair it without it being on the ground. You can see the blocks in this picture:



















And then with the boat on an angle, I got some better inside pictures




























The whole thing is really close, we still have to do the door jambs on the interior, so we have decided to paint the outside first.

And then for fun, and kind of to show off either how light the boat is, or how strong Harold is (probably not a good idea to laugh at his pink outfits while he's around  ) here's a 15 second video of him squating the hull:


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## SailFishCostaRica

Well, we finally got some white on the outside of the boat! First two coats of GelCoat finished on the outside, and I'm super happy about how everything is turning out!




























And then in between coats on the hull, we went ahead and shot some Gelcoat on the motor box.










We didn't get all four coats on, just two, so tomorrow in the morning we are going to shoot one more, and then one more with wax. We are spraying the Gel Coat thick so that we can wet sand it every year to keep it looking new and then when we get done spraying we are going to have to go after it with some 400/1000/2000 grit wet sanding to get out the shine! Going to finish up the last two coats tomorrow, and then we have to fill in some pin holes on the inside and shoot the inside as well, probably Wednesday. Really moving quickly, hopefully my aluminum will get in soon so we can start on the t-top when the paint dries!


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## SailFishCostaRica

We got the final two coats of GelCoat on the boat, and now it's officially a white boat! We still have to wet sand it to get out a good shine. It looks pretty good, but there is still some eggshell we will sand out. I tried to play with the pictures so you can see the eggshell, but even with the eggshell, I'm excited to see the outside done!




























And then we cut out the holes to put in the rod holders!



















But, I got these rods holders off of ebay, and they aren't super impressive. The top part wasn't really welded on well, and the part that keeps the rods in line wasn't welded on well either. We are going to send these down to my TIG welder so they don't come apart after we start abusing them! I don't want to say what brand they are, but if you look close you might be able to see the name, and I would probably recommend a different brand


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## SailFishCostaRica

And then in a pleasant surprise, when we took the gear/gas shifter out of the box to cut the hole, I was very very impressed with the build. All bronze with a chromed top part, and it felt really well made and it'll be fun pulling on those levers! Can't wait 



















And then in between all the other stuff Harold started fairing the electronics box.










We are moving forward


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## Hooked

Looking good!!! I can see your excitement in the posts.........lol


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## TXSlapNTickle

I've been keeping up-to-date on your build and enjoying the progress.

I've got 6 cast rod holders and a stainless double battery tray with hold downs you can have if you want them...wonder how much postage would be?


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## ShallowRed

This is impressive nice work.


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## SailFishCostaRica

TXSlapNTickle said:


> I've been keeping up-to-date on your build and enjoying the progress.
> 
> I've got 6 cast rod holders and a stainless double battery tray with hold downs you can have if you want them...wonder how much postage would be?


Very cool. I'm not sure, usually postage costs about as much as the stuff is worth, glad you are enjoying the process!


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## ChampT22

Looking really nice. Everyone could use a Harold or two.


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## SailFishCostaRica

ChampT22 said:


> Looking really nice. Everyone could use a Harold or two.


With two harolds I could take over the world


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## SailFishCostaRica

I was hoping to have the inside painted today, but it looks like it's not going to happen until maybe tomorrow if we work Sunday or Monday. I was in Panama again yesterday, and the guys thought it would be funny to make the fairing compound pink.




























It's getting much closer to paint though, should have all the fairing done today. Here's a little trick I'm sure somebody can use. When fairing round things like our hatches, we take a hole saw and cut out pieces of wood at whatever diameter we need, then drill a hole in the middle and put a carriage bolt through it and contact cement on sandpaper. Check out the pics:



















And then it's funny, you can tell the mold was a male mold, because there is almost no fairing on the inside walls


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## SailFishCostaRica

Well, we are now officially ready to paint the inside. Tomorrow should post pictures, today we got the outside papered so we don't overspray. The hatch openings in the floor were pretty hard to get the way we wanted them, and that's how we spent the last two days, just sanding and touching up, but tomorrow we should have the inside painted up.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Finally got the inside painted!














































We spent a ton of time in prep getting the floor hatches right, hereâ€™s a close up of on of them. The frame on the bottom isnâ€™t 100 percent perfect, but when the hatch is closed you wonâ€™t see that.










And then we cleaned up the hatch themselves and glassed them










And then made a box that the toilet will sit on










In the pictures, the boat looks dirty because we painted yesterday, but today the are changing the roof and itâ€™s dropping rust and dirt everywhere. But the Gelcoat was dry before, and is clean.










When they finish the roof, Iâ€™ll shoot some more pictures with the boat clean. Getting closer! Details now. One day this week, Iâ€™m going to hang the motor where it goes and build the motor mounts. More pictures coming!


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## SailFishCostaRica

We just hit the three month mark since we started the hull itself (not building the mold). So I was calculating out the hours put in.

So from 6-23 until now that is exactly 3 months or 90 days, we didn't work Sundays so that gets us to 77 days of work. We work from 8 to 5 on normal days, so that's 770 hours, and we have 2.5 people working (I haven't been too involved in the paint prep as I've been busy on other things, and crab is drunk ALOT) on it so that's *1900* hours so far


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## JKD

SailFishCostaRica said:


> so that's *1900* hours so far


Thanks for posting up this stat and showing all the sanding done throughout or this thread would be high motivation to make an extremely bad decision. You make this look too easy!!! :rotfl::rotfl:Thanks for posting!


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## BATWING

Oh My! 1900 hrs that is like $114,000 in labor. Yikes!

Been following this thread and looks great so far. Very informative and fun to read and look at the progress..


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## SailFishCostaRica

BATWING said:


> Oh My! 1900 hrs that is like $114,000 in labor. Yikes!
> 
> Been following this thread and looks great so far. Very informative and fun to read and look at the progress..


Not 114K here  And I did at least 800 of those hours so those were free !!!


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## SailFishCostaRica

There is a T Top on my truck! Tubes came in, I got them from Eastern Metal Supply in Florida, and they actually dropped them off in person for free at my freight forwarder in Miami. Great service. It looks like my rod holders, the ones that we were going to weld on, got stolen though. The freight people are looking for them, but I don't have high hopes. It was quite a trip from the capital to here at night with 23 foot tubes on the truck, poor truck, it's been abused alot lately. We ended up going with polished sch 40 aluminum tubing, I don't remember which number, but this is the one that bends easy. Here's some pictures of the tubes on my truck! I have a buyer for the boat we found in the ocean, hopefully they will pay by the end of the week, and if they do we're going to start getting this tower put together!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Ok, in the morning today, Harold sanded the inside of the console to put on the microballons to fair it out. Sanding inside stinks.










After that, he went home and showered and me and harold decided we were tired of sanding and wanted to do something more fun. So I paid a couple of guys to run the orbitals today on the outside while me and harold built stuff, but more on that later. During the sanding, we learned something awesome on our last restoration. We used to wet sand with 400 grit by hand with the blocks to get all the eggshell out. That's what I was always told was necessary. Sanding by hand is stupid hard though. What we learned, is you can do the worst part, the 400 grit, with just velcro disks and an orbital. The rest you have to block sand, but the 400 with the orbital saves YEARS of sanding. Here's the unlucky soul that we put up to sand the outside with the orbital. He got done in just one day though, but he burned about 75 disks.










You can REALLY tell the difference after the 400 grit goes around. This is a picture before the border was sanded, and you can see the eggshell on the border, but how flat the sides came out:










Ok, while the sanding people were suffering, i had fun with my new radio that just came in. It's bluetooth so customers can play music from their phones while they fish. Technology is soo cool, they didn't have this kind of stuff when I was growing up 










I went ahead and cut the holes to mount the speakers in the bottom of the overhead electronics box.










And then we stuck the speakers in to "make sure they fit"!



















I really like the speakers. They are Fusion 200 watt 6.5 inchers, so they will sound good, but they are relly plain on the outside so they don't draw too much attention.

While I was playing with the speakers, Harold wanted to paint the inside of the live well black. Fish like black better, I don't know why, but they live alot longer when they are in the dark?










And then since there weren't anymore fun projects on this boat we could do, we decided to build some corecell/carbon fiber electronics boxes for my 30 and 32 foot boats. They both have boxes like this up in the tower were the gauges, gps, sonar and vhf goes. Right now I just this mold that looks like this, but each box weight about 35 pounds. The new boxes will weigh in at 3 pounds, so that will be 32 pounds times 4 boxes so we're taking 128 pounds out of the boat, or a small passenger. Not bad, but materials for the two boxes will be around 400 bucks, or 100 bucks a box. I also had a problem with the old heavy boxes cracking the aluminium supports that holds them up, making the boxes weightless will get rid of that problem. I started by tracing the big box we are using in the new "Quepos 28"


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## SailFishCostaRica

Then I did that 8 times. Then I put the sides I am going to use together and sanded them so they are exactly the same. I did this for all four pairs.










Then we measure out the other top bottom and back and cut those out.



















Then we use cabosil and resin to make glue and start putting them together





































You can see on the last picture we used nails to hold them together while the glue dries. Should be dry in about an hour and then I'm going to put the back on, sand them down and put on the carbon fiber, I'm waiting for them to dry now...


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## SailFishCostaRica

And here's the end of the day. The two guys that aren't Harold started at the transom and this is a finishing shot. Today they got the whole outside with 400 grit, it was mostly the guy on the left, but crab and Harold helped out at the end. Tomorrow they'll hit the outside with 600 grit on the orbital, and then do the inside. Then we will hit the outside with 2000 by hand with water to get the shine out, and then use the buffer with 2K compound and it should be super shiny 










And then while the guys finished up the sanding, i took two of the new boxes over to the tower which is off of my 32 footer to see how they looked! Tomorrow I'll have the carbon on them and probably a layer of fairing compound. Right now they weigh less than a pound per box, it's pretty cool. It was tough because the wind kept blowing them off, and there was no wind today hardly.


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## BayouBonsaiMan

Great Job! Hope to get down a see in person!


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## Hou-Chap

This has been really fun to follow. Amazing amount of work in a challenging environment, I can appreciate the commitment an undertaking like this must take. Good thing you got Harold! Thanks for taking the time to take us along.


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## SailFishCostaRica

BayouBonsaiMan said:


> Great Job! Hope to get down a see in person!


Love to have you out anytime! Glad you guys are enjoying the build!


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## jl8200

I like your name Gringojohn better.


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## SailFishCostaRica

jl8200 said:


> I like your name Gringojohn better.


Yeah  I've been on here at lot longer and have been a sponsor forever and when I signed up they wanted something related to the company. ****** John is what all the ticos call me, sometimes leaving off the John


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## SailFishCostaRica

Not much to look at on the build, there were two guys that sanded all day on the inside with 400 grit and orbitals. Looks much better in real life, but in the pictures you can't make out what's going on. BUT, I had a pretty good day on the boxes for my 32 footer. First we sanded them down to give them an even rounded look. Sanding them down, we used a small board and 36 grit. The pace is slowing, I think Harold's getting worn out, and I know I'm beat. We'll probably take the next week slow so we can get some air. He's the pictures from today.

We started with rounding the edges with a board and 36 grit:



















Then cut the carbon fiber










and we did the inside first. This will make more sense on the next post, but we're going to put the face on it Monday and it's going to be hard to get to the inside, so we have to do the inside first.










and then I put it in the Costa Rican sun to post cure, and black gets really really hot. It was neat though, it was super heated, but it's so light that it has a low specific gravity and although you can feel it's hot, it won't burn you like a wrench or drill you leave in the sun.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Put in a couple of hours on Sunday, just wanted to see how the boxes would turn out and Harold called me in the morning saying he was bored, so we put the faces on the boxes and tried them out on the tower.

This was just putting the face on where the GPS and stuff goes. We left that on the table last night with carbon fiber on the back of it drying, so the inside is 100 "fibered" (I would say glassed but it's not glass?)










But when I put it where it went, it just didn't have the right form. There wasn't much shade at all for the electronics/gauges, and the rim was just ugly.










So we went back over to the table and added a hood on the front and cut a little foam off of the bottom of the box and came up with this, I like this one and tomorrow we'll go ahead and fiber these things:

This is what it looks like straight on while you're driving the boat, angle is perfect. And even with the sun low in the sky and behind me, the electronics still got some cover. Noon time and the GPS will have full shade, and if we're moving they won't get too wet either. Even with three hours difference between this picture and the one above (the one above was like 1pm sun), the new box had more shade. If I had taken the pictures at the same time, the new box would have 100 percent shade on the electronics.




























And then I put a couple of holes in the transom where the live well will drain. The top edge is cored with core cell, but where we put the holes is just all glass. We sealed it anyways with the same black tinted Gelcoat we used inside the live well.










And then in order to get access to the rudder and piston, we had to make an access hole in right below the live well. When I'm done with that, we'll figure something out to close it, like a hatch or maybe we can silicone on a thin sheet of glass or something.

















And then we thought it looked a little better and we painted the inside with the rest of the black GelCoat we made. Why not?


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## PhotoFish

I may have missed it, but what are you constructing those boxes out of?


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## SailFishCostaRica

PhotoFish said:


> I may have missed it, but what are you constructing those boxes out of?


The boxes and pretty much the whole boat is made out of a material called CoreCell. It's a really strong but weightless foam that you use like plywood with skins of glass on the outside. On the boxes, we aren't using fiberglass on the outside and are covering them in carbon fiber, which will be super light. The boxes like they are now still weigh a little less than two pounds, and the foam already has the carbon fiber on the inside.


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## Whiz

SWEEEEET, keep us updated on the progress


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## SailFishCostaRica

We took a couple of days off the new boat to paint the bottom on another one of my boats. Three coats of interlude Ultra 66 should keep the bottom shell and slime free this year!










But I did get a little done. We got the inside of the bathroom Gelcoated. You can see in the picture we also stuck a couple of PVC tubes on the wall before we painted. Those are all stuck on there with carbon fiber, just because I had a little extra left over from the boxes.










And then We also painted the inside of the motor box. The motor air intake on the left is also carbon fiber. Just because we had it laying around 










In between coats of both paint on my other boat, there has been a guy sanding with 600 grit as well, but that doesnâ€™t show up in the pictures.

And then I also took the 330 cummins that we are going to use at first and painted it up. It runs great, but this is going in my bigger boat when I get it finished and we are going to put in a rebuilt 210 in this boat.


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## ossnap

This has been a really cool thread to follow. Looking forward to the finished product. Amazing job so far.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Got the electronic boxes for my 30 footers all wrapped up today. I think they look better in black! We are going to paint them though, but they sure are neat looking. We are right at the three pound per box right now, so the gelcoat and fairing will put us over our 3 pound goal. So now they will probably end up four pounds 



















That's what real carbon fiber looks like, MESSY!! This isn't the silly tape you see everywhere...


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## SailFishCostaRica

ossnap said:


> This has been a really cool thread to follow. Looking forward to the finished product. Amazing job so far.


Thanks! I'm looking forward to pushing down the gas lever as well! I might have to bring along a camera and video the first run...


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## TXXpress

ossnap said:


> *This has been a really cool thread to follow.* Looking forward to the finished product. * Amazing job so far.*


X 2!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Really not too much to show, here is a picture of the boat with everything gel coated.










We Gel Coated the electronics box as well. The two smaller holes are for the speakers and the bigger hole in the middle is a screw in white plastic access plate. I hate plastic deck plates, but Iâ€™m hoping since this one wonâ€™t see sun and nobody will step on it, it might survive.



















And this is really where I have been spending all my time. We arenâ€™t really to a picture worth place, but this is some heavy metal and it kind of shows the ugly middle part of the process. This will look much better when everything is grinded down and painted.


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## Reel Therapy15

Coming together reel nice!


"We're going to need a bigger boat!"


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## SailFishCostaRica

This was a better spot to get to the pictures. We got all the boxes made, and then welded on the two 1/2 inch bolts that stick up to grab the supports. These are the bigger barry supports for the C series engine, I use them because they have shore 45 rubber which is softer than the shore 65 rubber that is used on the smaller B series barry mounts. Tomorrow we are going to use the giant hoist at the shop to lower the engine in to where it needs to go, and then we through bolt these onto the stringers with everything in place. After we get the holes done, and everything bolted up and it looks good, weâ€™ll pull these back off and put them down a second time with a good mix of resin and cabosil. hereâ€™s the almost finished bases:



















And then some of you are going to notice that the bases are wider than the wood stringers that are in the boat. That is intentional, because the front supports on the cummins work better if they arenâ€™t as far apart as the rear supports (we are mounting on the bell housing on the back so we can pull the transmission without re aligning the motor, it makes damper and tranny problems less of a problem  )

So what we do is place another piece of the cool purple heart iron wood on either side of the original stringers to make them wider. This will make more sense when we do it, all the wood gets glassed in before we finish and everything metal gets painted and Iâ€™m thinking about hooking up the main bases to the rear zinc, but havenâ€™t decided on that yet. Hereâ€™s the wood that we use to make the stringers wider where we are putting these bases










And here is a quick shot of the stringers to see where these go.










The advantage of this is I can put the motor exactly where I want without too much drawing and paperwork. I just put the motor where it goes and through bolt the boxes and thatâ€™s where the motor stays. Might put the motor in tomorrow, and if not itâ€™ll be in by the end of the week. After everything is mounted, Iâ€™m still going to wait on the final install of the engine until the tower is built, so Iâ€™m just going to be leaving the bases.


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## seber

Wow, a 650 pound engine plus transmission in a small boat. That's stability. How much power will you be setting it up for?


----------



## batmaninja

I had the pleasure of fishing on the GringoJohns boat a month or so ago, was lucky enough to fish the panga, when it was still in the water (you can see it on the first 2 pics). Nonstop action. First time in CR, had a great time in Manual Antonio, girlfriend had fun even with us fishing 3/6 days we were there.


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## SailFishCostaRica

seber said:


> Wow, a 650 pound engine plus transmission in a small boat. That's stability. How much power will you be setting it up for?


Nope, that's 650 kilos, it's a heavy sucker!!!! Right now I am actually in this moment welding in all the stuff and I have a 330 B series we are going to mount for the first couple of months, but long term this is going to get a 210hp B series cummins. I just am waiting on a few trips so I can build the 210hp. I have the core (4 of them actually) in the storage. i'll post some pictures later, we had a crazy day so far, by far the most dangerous day of the build!


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## SailFishCostaRica

batmaninja said:


> I had the pleasure of fishing on the GringoJohns boat a month or so ago, was lucky enough to fish the panga, when it was still in the water (you can see it on the first 2 pics). Nonstop action. First time in CR, had a great time in Manual Antonio, girlfriend had fun even with us fishing 3/6 days we were there.


I'm so glad you guys had fun! I don't know if you read through the whole build, but we actually recovered that panga and have had several people ALMOST buy it.. 



















i'll probably end up fixing it up and then it'll sell fast.


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## batmaninja

I dont really venture into the boat board much (since i dont have a boat), but I followed it on the other forum you sent.

I had a hell of a time, swimming with that sail was the highlight. GF probably didnt have as much fun as me fishing for 27 hours of the trip, but yall made it fun for her to.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Well, I didn't get much finished, but I did get the motor "in" the boat. Not installed, but at least it's in the spot that it goes. My poor tacoma thinks it's an F350, but it really does get the job done. Before you go loading big diesels in the back of your tacomas, you should know we added 4 overload springs onto the original spring, that was just a single. I am currently waiting to bust an axle, but it didn't happen today!










So after the crazy drive over there with my overweight tacoma, we proceeded to pick the motor up really really high.










And then Harold pulled the boat forward while I shot pictures. Again I don't know if it's a light boat or a strong guy, but he didn't even strain, you'd think he was pulling one of those red kid's wagons










And here's some shots where if a rope came loose we would have seriously jackup up the boat



















And then we finally got the motor set in where it goes.










We had quite a few little issues today, a couple of broken bolts in the motor, so tomorrow we are going to pick it back up and see if we can get this thing bolted down. I have just lined up the t top welder for Monday, so we have to get this thing bolted in before monday!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Ok, not much progress this week, Iâ€™ve got strep so Iâ€™m taking it easy and the guys are just finishing up details we missed or put off. I went over to the tower shop today though to see how the top was going. They have a form drawn up on the floor, and have started bending tubes and have the outside of the Ttop welded up. I am excited, they gave it a little bit of crown, and I really like how it looks so far.










Here are two different angles, I couldnâ€™t decide which one was better so Iâ€™ll post both. This is their plywood they screwed to the floor and drew out the legs. The red part is where the base that will hold the top up. The top is going to be pretty big, I think itâ€™s like 9.5 feet long and I made it a bit wide as well. We are going to have multiple anchor points on the floor around the console, and then on the console itself.



















I need a day or so more to finish up not being sick, and then we are going to hit the boat hard and finish it up. Iâ€™ll keep going by the aluminum guy in the meantime to show his progress, heâ€™s done a couple of other tops and towers here, and the guy is really creative and I have high hopes for a nice finished product.


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## SailFishCostaRica

A couple more tubes got welded in. I really like the thick tubes, the smallest tubes we are using in the top is 1 1/4, and the legs we are going with 2 inch, Iâ€™m excited to see the progress! It was about double the price to use the thick and larger tubes, but I really like shiny poles in boats, and I thought it was worth it. These larger sch 40 tubes should give me years and years of good looks, and great shade! I always thought the skinny tubes just look cheap, and had an old boat that every wave we hit we were always welding on the tower. I think these will hold up nicely!










And itâ€™s dirty, but itâ€™s finally where it goes. We got all the new motor supports built, welded painted and installed, and the engine lines up great.










But then we also had our first big problem. And it looks like something Iâ€™m just going to have to live with. Hereâ€™s our new motor box. Looks like the captain is just going to have to swing his legs over to the side while driving as the old box with the foot rest didnâ€™t have the clearance. Not the way I would have wanted it, but it doesn't affect the fishing or boat performance, so it's not a big deal...something to improve on the next one!


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## AlwaysWorkin

Looks great, maybe a fold down footrest could work


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## SailFishCostaRica

Not much to show on the boat, we are making the door for the bathroom right now, just sealed the foam edges with resin and we are just about to spray them with GelCoat.










And then we have some T Top pictures. They have the top almost done and are starting on the bottom now. I always like to offset the rod holders because it hurts like crazy if you get hit in the head with them, so that's why we made them a hair higher. It would be hard to hit the tube, but the perfect wave could happen, and the tube isn't as bad as the tip of the rod holder.



















And then here's an action shot of the guy starting to prep one of the legs!


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## Friendswoodmatt

nice john-- when will you be splashing her?


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## SailFishCostaRica

Once we get the tower built, it will take a week to hook everything up and paint the bottom and then we are going to see if it floats!


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## Friendswoodmatt

Nice whos gonna be the Captain of this one? Alex getting his own boat?


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## SailFishCostaRica

At first Mike is going to drive this one and we are going to do my Ocean Master in CoreCell. Alex likes the gamefisherman, so he doesn't want to drive a boat. I don't blame him, I like the gamefisherman as well, that boat raises stupid amounts of fish. There are a few guys that have been around fishing in Quepos forever and they are all begging me to drive this boat, so I'm not sure. There is a guy named Nano is like one of the pioneers of fishing here that would be great, and then I'm looking at a guy named Junior who is the head captain for Luna Tours and he is more than ready to move over, and then there is a guy named Glen who is another one of the pioneers of fishing out here that is wanting to drive the new one. So I'm not sure yet who I'm going to go with, the Luna Tours owner is kind of a rat so I'm thinking it would be nice to take his best captain just to hack him off. We'll see, first I need to get this thing in the water


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## Shin-Diggin

SailFishCostaRica said:


> At first Mike is going to drive this one and we are going to do my Ocean Master in CoreCell. Alex likes the gamefisherman, so he doesn't want to drive a boat. I don't blame him, I like the gamefisherman as well, that boat raises stupid amounts of fish. There are a few guys that have been around fishing in Quepos forever and they are all begging me to drive this boat, so I'm not sure. There is a guy named Nano is like one of the pioneers of fishing here that would be great, and then I'm looking at a guy named Junior who is the head captain for Luna Tours and he is more than ready to move over, and then there is a guy named Glen who is another one of the pioneers of fishing out here that is wanting to drive the new one. So I'm not sure yet who I'm going to go with, the Luna Tours owner is kind of a rat so I'm thinking it would be nice to take his best captain just to hack him off. We'll see, first I need to get this thing in the water


What is the Gamefishermen? I looked quick at your website and didn' t see any info.


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## SailFishCostaRica

Shin-Diggin said:


> What is the Gamefishermen? I looked quick at your website and didn' t see any info.


The gamefisherman is our 30 foot Stress Reeliever 2. The reason it is better than most boats is it has a hand built cold molded hull, that is made out of super light weight laurel wood coated in 100 dollar a gallon West Epoxy. The wood hull makes it the lightest type of construction possible for hulls, and the wood absorbs the motor noise. And the whole top of that boat I built out of corecell foam and then we covered it with a low resin absorption 1708 glass weave, or where it wasn't in an area that needed to flex, we covered the foam in carbon fiber. The gamefisherman usually catches more fish on the bad days in the high season than the average all-glass boat catches on their good days.

It's the boat on the left:


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## Shin-Diggin

SailFishCostaRica said:


> The gamefisherman is our 30 foot Stress Reeliever 2. The reason it is better than most boats is it has a hand built cold molded hull, that is made out of super light weight laurel wood coated in 100 dollar a gallon West Epoxy. The wood hull makes it the lightest type of construction possible for hulls, and the wood absorbs the motor noise. And the whole top of that boat I built out of corecell foam and then we covered it with a low resin absorption 1708 glass weave, or where it wasn't in an area that needed to flex, we covered the foam in carbon fiber. The gamefisherman usually catches more fish on the bad days in the high season than the average all-glass boat catches on their good days.
> 
> It's the boat on the left:


Thanks for the reply. Very neat boat!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Iâ€™m finally recovering a little bit from a mean case of Strep. Everybody in the shop got it, but since Iâ€™m not from here I guess my body wasnâ€™t ready and it really wiped me out. But now finishing up my second round of Antibiotics, I think Iâ€™m ready to start work again  Today we prepped all the hatch lids for the floor, and the door to the bathroom, and the modified motor box and sprayed them with GelCoat. I think this is our last spray on the build, but weâ€™ll see if I missed something.



















This is the door to the bathroom:










And then I went by the tower shop and they have the top welded and one of the legs welded, and the other side almost built. They are really making progress. The top is going to be the most expensive part of the boat I think, weâ€™ll have about 6K tied up in it when weâ€™re done, and that doesnâ€™t include the outriggers.




























Tomorrow I have to go pick up a crate of corecell PVC foam for my ocean master, but Saturday Iâ€™m hoping to really hit the boat hard and start installing easy things, like hoses, steering wheels etc, so I should have a good progress pic on Saturday!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Well, we moved the boat over to the welding shop to finish up the tower. I like how everything turned out except the motor box, but the funds are done and itâ€™s gonna have to do the season like this. We finished up tons of little details though.



















And I think the tower guys are doing a cool job with the tower. Itâ€™s almost ready to weld on.










Getting a keyway put in the rudder and that should be on tomorrow, Itâ€™s getting really close! Almost thereâ€¦


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## 6.5 shooter dude

I really have enjoyed following this build. Great job you are doing! Looking forward to the finished product.


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## offshorebound

Looking great!


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## SailFishCostaRica

It's just sitting on there right now, they are building the feet, but I thought I'd post a picture!


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## Hooked

Looking great!!! Thanks keeping the build updated for us here. Love the entire project.


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## commtrd

Thanks for posting the journey. Nice to see someone actually living the dream...


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## SailFishCostaRica

commtrd said:


> Thanks for posting the journey. Nice to see someone actually living the dream...


The dream has me worn out, but it has been fun. I'm ready to see some fish behind this one and get out of the fiberglass dust!!! A big 500 pound black jumping behind this boat would make the perfect end to this journey!  As soon as this one hits the water, I'm redoing my 31 Ocean Master, we're going to make it an express from a center console, using all corecell foam so it's light and stealthy, I'll probably post that build as well, and then after that I'm going to take some time and enjoy them....until I get the bug again...


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## Elcabador

Great Thread! Wish I had the guts to dive into a project of this caliber (be it boats or not boats). Looks like this is going to be a one of a kind ride. Keep up the good work!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Elcabador said:


> Great Thread! Wish I had the guts to dive into a project of this caliber (be it boats or not boats). Looks like this is going to be a one of a kind ride. Keep up the good work!


Thanks!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Been a while since the last post, been lots of smaller things that aren't picture worthy, but we overall there has been lots of progress made. We got the electronics box on and we have the tower on, and all the electronics are wired up. That's a new Furuno 1870 GPS/Sonar and then a bluetooth Sony radio, some Fusion 6.5's and then the new VHF. I am still waiting for the gauges, I have a tach and a temp that I'm going to just put in tomorrow while I wait on the cummins panel. We still have a little to do, the sunbrella top is due to be finished on Monday, and then we can put on the Taco Outriggers and the antenna. We got all the bilge pumps hooked up, battery installed, perko switch, steering is all hooked up and rudder is in.





































Here's a couple of outside shots



















Still have to get the name on the side, paint the bottom and polish the sides out, not in that order. The boat also needs a good cleaning, it's super dirty. And then lastly we'll paint the floor and see if it floats. Almost there...


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## yellowskeeter

Wow, really nice!

www.g-spotservices.com


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## SailFishCostaRica

yellowskeeter said:


> Wow, really nice!
> 
> www.g-spotservices.com


Thanks!


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## Bearkat

I've been following this thread too. It's been fu. To watch your progress. Looking forward to seeing it in the water!


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## ChampT22

Yes indeedy, really nice.


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## fishshallow

Awesome build!


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## SailFishCostaRica

Well, we sanded off the flotation line, so I had to stick it back in the water to get the float line again. It floats about half an inch below the corners (chimes?). This was full fuel and motor and everything except ice. The ice chests will go in the back. It was very level, the front of the boat is a little closer to the water than I would like, but the boat floats really high and I think itâ€™ll fly.





































We had to redo a couple of hatches in the floor, after we painted them they were a little tight, so weâ€™ve been opening those back up and going to repaint those. You can see in the pictures the pink around the hatch openings. Then on the outside of the boat, we went around the outside with 600 grit, we still need the 1000 and then the buffer.




























We also found a surprise! I was checking all the fluids on the motor and the tranny, and the tranny was full of milk! We had to take that apart today, all the bearings are good though, it looks like on one of the last two trips this motor did on my 32 footer, the tranny cooler ruptured. So that has us stopped until I get a new one in, I have the tranny all cleaned up on the inside with fresh oil and installed again. I also noticed quite a bit of play in the turbine on the turbo, so I have that off as well and Iâ€™m going to get a new center put in it while the cooler is on the way here.

Tomorrow we are going to do the bottom paint. After I shot these pictures, we got the bottom all masked off for where the bottom paint goes, and we got under there with some 80 grit and orbital sanders and got it all sanded down and ready to paint. Iâ€™ll post some more pictures when the bottom is blue!


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## SailFishCostaRica

I was a bit worried about some of my tipsy customers falling off the front of the boat into the water, so we put a pretty cool rail up front to keep everybody safe!










And then since I havenâ€™t gotten my new cummins gauge panel in and apparently itâ€™s lost in the mail, I built a quick gauge cluster with just the tach and the temp so I can run the boat and see what it does!










We faired out the floor today, and then put down two coats of gelcoat on the floor. All it needs now is the non slip coat which we will probably do either monday later in the day or tuesday. Monday morning we are going to building the exhaust riser, and then there isnâ€™t much left. Iâ€m waiting on a tranny cooler but I will borrow one if it doesnâ€™t get here this week and we are going to see how this boat does in the water. We got the bottom painted as well, but I forgot to take pictures and we covered it with plastic so we didnâ€™t get any compound on it while we were buffing the sides. More pics soon, hopefully in the ocean and then hopefully soon with fish in the boat!


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## JKD

Look forward to seeing the pics of the big black jumping just off the transom of her this weekend   

really enjoyed following this build!


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## JLJ1981

Awesome job Capt John. I love reading threads like this.

I fished with you guys last December and had a great time catching sailfish and mahi mahi. I am trying to fit another trip into my schedule ASAP.

I appreciate the rail up front. I might be one of those tipsy customers!!


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## SailFishCostaRica

JLJ1981 said:


> Awesome job Capt John. I love reading threads like this.
> 
> I fished with you guys last December and had a great time catching sailfish and mahi mahi. I am trying to fit another trip into my schedule ASAP.
> 
> I appreciate the rail up front. I might be one of those tipsy customers!!


Awesome, love to have you back out! People come here to blow off steam so we have a bunch of beer on board to make sure we accomplish that  I just got to make sure everybody gets back to the dock in one piece!

Almost have it in the water, tomorrow is the day. We have been doing motor work and just small things. The turbo had a lot of play in it, so I bought a new one and I'm going right now to San Jose to grab it out of customs and that is the last piece to this puzzle! Hopefully have some photos or video or something of the new boat running tomorrow!

:birthday2


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## PhotoFish

I just have two questions...

How much do you want for it, and how much will it cost to ship it to Texas??? 

Awesome job on this one!


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## SailFishCostaRica

No pictures to show, as today was a LOT of work, but we got it in the water. I took it up to 20 knots, we were running 1800 rpm. Prop curve on a cummins 210 at 1800 rpm is 4.6 gallons an hour. So a 20 knot at 4.6 gallons an hour beats my original 20 knots at 5.5 gph goal  I was going to take it fishing tomorrow but the temp gauge won't work, I'm going to get that fixed tomorrow and then get some shots of it running hopefully and post some up here. It runs a lot flatter when I put people up in the front, when everybody was sitting on the box watching the gauges, it ran nose up in the air, but with harol and Mike sitting in the seats up front, it ran pretty level. I didn't get it running and try it out until 5pm, and we are still getting night rains here, and today around 4:30 it was a nasty storm. So that 20 knots at 1800 was in slop as well. More pictures soon,


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## SailFishCostaRica

PhotoFish said:


> I just have two questions...
> 
> How much do you want for it, and how much will it cost to ship it to Texas???
> 
> Awesome job on this one!


I think that's the best compliment so far, but this was way too much work to ever sell. If you come down though, we can let you take it out to fish


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## SailFishCostaRica

Ok, I'm almost embarrassed to post such low quality video, but here is the little video that worked out. The first pass was I put two guys on the transom to show worst case scenario, and you can see the nose is up pretty high. The second video is with just the captain, and you can see it's starting to fog. I then shot two more videos with the people better balanced, but those videos came out just white. I'll try to get some more on Thursday. I had the camera in a pelican case that I didn't open until we were on the boat, and the AC had the camera cold and it fogged on the inside. It runs really well though, it stinks that the only video that worked was when I put the two guys on the back to show how high the nose goes when it's off balanced. It ran really well otherwise...


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## BigFishinTank

*Awesome!!*

I just found this thread and went through the entire thing in one sitting. I couldn't stop. That is awesome. I have never seen a boat built and never been able to follow one with as much detail. Kudos to you.


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## SailFishCostaRica

BigFishinTank said:


> I just found this thread and went through the entire thing in one sitting. I couldn't stop. That is awesome. I have never seen a boat built and never been able to follow one with as much detail. Kudos to you.


Glad you enjoyed it! We had our first big Marlin on today, but the sucker jumped off about 30 minutes in...we'll go back after another big one on Friday... I want to get a picture of a big Black jumping behind the boat..I'm on a mission :cheers:


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## SailFishCostaRica

Well, with the new "Quepos 28" booked up and fishing, I have taken on another big project. We are going to restore / lighten up my old Ocean Master. Anybody interested in seeing the mountain of work we are about to put in can check out the next project here:
http://www.2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?p=15941410#post15941410


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