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.

More progress .....

It's been a while since my last post but i have been busy with all sorts of things. Since my last update i now have the transom shield all bolted in place, i lowered the engine in place to check that the engine mounts were at the correct height and that the engine fitted in place.

The engine just made it over the boat deck with very little clearance. I do not have enough headroom to play with. Once in i used the engine alignment tool to get the engine at the right height, and guess what it did not fit under the deck. Not a problem, i chopped the middle section out of the deck, which will later be covered by an aft bench seat.

I also installed the fuel tank and covered it with the missing part of the floor deck.

After getting all the measurements i needed for the engine it was time to get it out of the boat again and start working on some fibreglass work and finish off all the smelly and stick work, starting by constructing the side pockets and fixing the cabin floor. I installed a false floor to get rid of the v shape i had.

 

Fuel Tank Compartment with Gelcoat

 

 

Fuel Tank and Vent Line Installed

 

 

Trial Fit of Engine

 

Lowering engine into the boat

 

Cut out in deck to fit engine

 

Construction of port side pockets and seat base

 

Construction of Starboard side pockets

 

Next i moved onto constructing a dash board for the boat, since it did not come with one. after searching through hundreds of pictures of different dashboards i started crafting my own, nothing fancy but functional and enough space for all the necessary instruments.

 

It all started with the plug, which is an exact copy of the finished product.

 

 

Then you cover it with bog and plaster, you sand it and plaster again, sand, plaster, sand, plaster, again and again until its almost smooth and fair.



Then i gave it 6 coats of high build primer

 

 

Then you guessed it ...... more sanding and in the end a wet sand with 600 grit then 2000 grit

 

Since it's a complex shape with reverse sides and angles i had to do it in a 3 part split mould. In the photo above you can see the flanges for the first half.

Next was 3 layers of Paste wax and followed by 8 coats of PVA Mould release.

 

Then a layer of gelcoat



 

followed by 1 layer of 225g Chopped strand a 3 layers of 450g chopped strand.

While i was doing all this fibreglass work i decided to make a simple L shaped mould with an oval opening in the middle for covering all the electrical work inside the cabin. this will be fibreglassed inside behind the dash.


White melamine covered with PVA and a layer of gelcoat on top

Followed by 4 layers of fibreglass