Bought my first boat - '94 Echelon LX

[nosnarb]

10 hours ago, Fabricator909 said:

Watching this thread very closely, just picked up my BU, a '94 response that needs TLC. Going to do the same as you with the motor hopefully, put on the vortec heads for the extra hp. Boats remind me of dirt bikes, some guys will hack the living hell out of them instead of doing it right!

I get temporary fixes....but the half assed stuff tends to drive me nuts.  Other than the transmission I really haven't had to replace anything that was very expensive so it just irks me that something could have been properly repaired for less than $20 and a half hour of time.

[nosnarb]

The rain here has slowed my progress but I do have the majority of the floor installed now.  I did end up using the MEK to wipe down the floors prior to install.  Maybe the kiwigrip hadnt completely cured out or something the last time but this time the MEK didn't seem to effect it.  Everything has gone pretty smoothly.  Only had to completely recut one panel.  I ended up using a harbor freight trim router and adjustable speed control (worth it!) and a 5/32 ogee router bit.  I may change out the bit for something that tapers the edges a bit more for some of the other misc. pads that I am doing.

My echelon didnt have an arm rest pad in it when I bought it so I made one out of the fauxseadek as a bit of a test run.  

(again with the d@mn rotated images!?)

only complaint I have is that the router cuts are coming out just a little fuzzy.  Im hoping that some of that will wear off with time.

Heres all of the flooring precut and laid in place for a test run.  The sheets are not perfectly square so there is some pushing and pulling to get the panels to fit just right and to get the lines in the material to line up as closely as possible.  I used a bunch of large textbooks (knew they'd come in handy again some day) to weigh down the seamed areas.

I'll try to snap some pics of the finished floor install tonight or tomorrow.  So far I don't regret the purchase and it is a definite upgrade over the old nasty carpet.

 

Edited April 21, 2018 by nosnarb

[nosnarb]

Heres the completed floor.  I still have to do the area under the helm and add some black trim around the ski locker lid and the rudder access hatch.  The lids for those two areas are smaller than the opening in the aluminum trim to accommodate the thickness of the carpet.  Im going to add some black vinyl door trim to it to take up some of that gap.

I had been asked earlier what the plan was for the gunnels.  I installed the fauxseadek on those and will use a strip of neoprene rubber to trim it out which will hide the strip of light gray that you see.

I also replicated these guys to use as a more slip resistant step pad.  Nice thing about this is being able to use the plastic piece as a template and just run a router around it to trim the fauxseadek material

and here they are test fit in place.  I removed the old plates and thoroughly cleaned the surface with MEK.  There was still an outline in the gel from the old plates so lining the new ones up was a piece of cake.

I got started on making a template for a couple of other step pads as well

Next step is to start putting everything back together

 

 

 

 

Edited April 22, 2018 by nosnarb

[Michigan boarder]

That is an amazing job, it looks beautiful!  Great idea on the pads too.

[nosnarb]

Thanks!  Not too bad for an amateur.  Theres plenty of little things that could have gone better but so far the project has been pretty smooth.  I had to field cut around the ski pylon so now I am looking for a escutcheon plate / trim ring to hide some of that jagged mess.  If I had to do it over again I would have put a seam right down the middle of the ski pylon and then used the router around it to trim and taper the flooring at the base of the pylon

[Woodski]

@nosnarb:  Nice work, looks great, an amateur no more!  I did the same step pads as the plastic ones tend to crack, I also did the ones on the top of the gunnel and added some at the transom as that is the path to load on the boat lift, much nicer than the original ones you will appreciate your work there.  FYI - The pads at the transom are where you sit putting a ski / gloves on, your skiers will appreciate the softer padding as they prep to ski.

I would check at 'Great Lakes Skipper' for a pylon plate, may take some poking around on the site and it is hit or miss.

PS:  don't forget the scale before reassembly...thx.

[powbmps]

That is coming out real nice.

[nosnarb]

@Woodski I got 28lbs port and 22lbs starboard. I'd venture to guess the port may weigh more than that.  It was flopping around as I weighed it

[MikeDe]

You ready to go pro doing the floors? I'd like to have my 2006 VLX done.

[nosnarb]

@MikeDe lol....no.

[MikeDe]

On 8/31/2017 at 7:59 PM, nosnarb said:

@MikeDe lol....no.

Damn. I'd be more than happy to just ride with you to finish the season. My carpet sure is dirty.

 

lol

[nosnarb]

Hope you guys are having a good Labor Day Weekend!

Edited April 22, 2018 by nosnarb

[nosnarb]

Well,  found a submerged rock at Lake Murray.  I thought I had just bumped it at first but evidently I tagged it pretty good.  Tore the front tracking fin off and punched a 2" square hole in the hull.  

I found the replacement fin on bakes but haven't found any info on the mounting hardware.  Filed a claim with the insurance company and Im getting my ducks in a row on finding a repair shop.  Anyone in OKC used Sooner Fiberglass off of SE89th and Shields?  Place has been there for as long as I can remember and they are a preferred repair specialist with my insurance.

 

Edited April 22, 2018 by nosnarb

[braindamage]

^^^ouch!!

 

[Michigan boarder]

Wow!  I'm surprised you did not sink, it looks like that would steadily scoop water into the bilge anytime you went forward.

[nosnarb]

@Michigan boarder yeah she took on water fast but surprisingly stayed very buoyant.  Bilge pump barely ran

[nosnarb]

I see that changing hosts from photophucket didn't fix my non loading image issue.  Guess I will have to find another host.

[nosnarb]

Alright!  back in business...both on the boat and my image host   

Got the #towmato back from sooner fiberglass yesterday and the repairs look good

 

Sooner had to cut an access hole in the floor of the ski locker to get to the back side of the area to repair the hull then patch back the floor in the ski locker.  Only complaint is that the new fin doesn't match the other two.  Im debating taking all 3 off and having them powder coated red.  All in all Im happy and I'm only out my deductible.

I did pick up a keel guard off of amazon and I plan on putting that on to protect my freshly re-gel'd keel

Edited April 22, 2018 by nosnarb

[John I.]

Were the 2 existing tracking fins painted / powder coated?  Use the boat a few times and the disparity in appearance will lessen considerably. Otherwise you can try some of the methods posted here.

I doubt a keel guard is going to stand up to a submerged rock. Folks I know that install a keel guard do it because they typically beach their boats. Honestly, I never understood the benefit as the boat rarely rests just on the keel.

Glad to hear that you can back to enjoying the boat. 

Edited September 29, 2017 by John I.

[nosnarb]

@John I. yes the fins that were existing were Red.  Is that something that a previous owner did?  I assumed it came from the factory that way.  

The gel on the ridge of the keel was pretty scratched up and chipped when I bought the boat.  The rock put a couple of deep gouges in it too so it was kind of a bonus that all of it got repaired.  

I don’t beach my boat.  It always stays in 4-5’ of water so maybe the keel guard isn’t necessary.  But my thought is that I just got all of that repaired and the keel guard is cheap insurance against abrasions however you are correct in that it would be worthless against the impact of a rock, stump etc.

[Cole2001]

I’ve never heard of red tracking fins before. 

Regarding the keel gaurd, I would keep it clean and don’t bother with one. If you don’t beach it, it definitely won’t do you any good. 

[Woodski]

@nosnarb:  The red tracking fin finish was done post purchase, so yes previous owner did that.  Once in the water, the new fin will discolor over time.  You could use a chemical cleaner to brighten the original fins if you want to try to make them look similar.

[Michigan boarder]

When my boat was laid up a couple of years ago I wire wheeled my tracking fins, came out nice and shiny, they are made of nibral.  I would do that before painting for sure, that way it matches all the other underwater stuff.

I beach my boat occasionally, but I'd stay away from a keel guard.  If you are concerned about the look of the the fins, then you probably won't like the look of a bulky keel guard under there either.

[moffattra]

Ha! I remember this boat on CL, almost went all the way from VT to get it!  Apparently it took quite a bit of work, but I still think you got a great deal, and now it looks awesome!  I didn't look all the way through your thread, but if you haven't replaced your gauges yet, there is a guy who posts a NEW computron on Boston (maybe Worcester) CL every few months or so.  I'm not sure that's the route I'd go, but it would be kinda cool to have working computron 25 years later...

[nosnarb]

@moffattra dash and gauge replacement is next on the list.  I do think a working computron would be cool but the asking price on working units is pretty high.