Upholstery

Managed to find some time to work on the upholstery this weekend. I am installing the carpet and hull liner myself but had to get the profesionals to finish off the vinyl side panels and engine cover.

Sue from Custom yacht covers is doing a great job !!

She is alive ...

It's been a very productive weekend. I installed the rub rail, which has been sitting on my garage floor for the last 3 months. I also started the engine for the first time and it's been a relief hearing that engine roar.

Shopping and upholstery ...

Over the last few weeks I was busy building the timber panels for the upholstery. I also manged to pick up a stainless steel bimini with sunbrella canvas, which came off a cobalt boat and lucky for me fits perfectly on my boat. Also u managed to find an almost new maxwell rc8 anchor winch for a bargain price.

It's all coming together .....

And she doesn't fit anymore .....

It's been an eventful weekend and after hours of hard work and determination I finished the engine alignment. It was the hardest job I had to do so far. Hopping in and out of the boat every time I turn the agustment a quater of a turn. But in the end I got it as close as I could possibly get it and the installed the out drive. This was another challenge on its own since it's all new the I rings are very tight to go past the gimbal bearing. But a useful tip a volvo mechanic told me was to hit the starter and it will slide right in. And it sure did. 

Now with the outdrive on the boat is too long to fit in my garage and too wide to go past the rear door and park it the back yard. I need a new shed and a wider drive way. (Might have to borrow some from the ensuite and laundry) in sure she will not be happy with that.

Next job is control cables and upholstery panels.

Dash installation

Finally I managed to find some time to work on the boat. It's been a very busy month for us with the arrival of baby Adrian . In between nappy changes and helping out I found some time to install the dash in the boat and complete all the wiring. Yesterday I bought a battery and she is officially alive.

Next job is to fine tune the engine alignment and install the stern drive.

Getting closer and close ... Not long now !!!

Wiring

Over the weekend I was able to finish the dash and start assembling it.

 

 

Next came the mind challenging task of wiring the whole lot ...........

It's August and time for another update.

Progress since my last post has been slow but steady. A lot has been happening. We shall start from were we left off in my last post. The Dashboard.

The Finished Mould

 

 



 

The Finished Product

I did finish my mould and made a fibreglass copy of it. The copy came out really good for my first attempt at fibre glassing. I sanded the whole lot down and gave it 4 coats of primer, then sanded all the primer down to a smooth finish.

Then it was time to choose a color. What I wanted was a space grey non metallic color (same color used by BMW), but while at the paint shop the guys told me that it was impossible to make a metallic color into a solid color, so I decided to have a go and try a base coat clear coat system (same as what cars are painted in. I was terrified at the idea but I must say this was the easiest paint job I did so far and the result surprised even myself.

Also in the meantime I installed the engine and bolted it down permanently. All that is left is minor adjustments and install the leg

The boat did not come with any engine covers so I decide to make my own bench seat that goes all the way across the boat  which acts as an engine cover and storage.
I first made a simple reverse mould using melamine, followed by a coat of gel coat and 5 layers of chopped stand mat.