The Dreaded Dashboard project

When you own an older boat, you know that some things are going to have to eventually be replaced. Many of us hope that we can drag our feet forever on those projects. My dashboard was one of those projects. After all, you can't just trundle down the the local West Marine and pick up a dash for a 30 year old boat. I knew there were things I wanted... like a new GPS I could actually reach without standing up from the helm seat. I chose a Simrad Go7XSE. I was amazed at the capabilities of this unit for the price and it was just the right fit for the space I had to work with.

The old dash was made of plastic that had warped and deformed over the many, many, years of the sun beating on it. It wasn't watertight anymore, and the plastic was so old that it was starting to crumble if I even looked at it crossways.

Don't believe me? I'm pretty sure this was supposed to be a straight line in 1986:

So I set to taking the old dash out, labeling everything as I went as best as I could. There was plenty of "wires to nowhere" thought to keep it interesting. In 90 minutes it looked like the boat had a wiring explosion...


I set to designing the dashboard and gauge and switch panels. Cardboard and blue tape is cheap, and very forgiving. It also makes good templates when it comes time to move to marine plywood:

Now it was time for the implements of destruction..

What seemed like forever later....

So I set to designing the panels... I work in IT, so I am comfortable in Visio... so that's what I used. After many hours of messing about, I came up with this:

The switch and gauge panels I ordered from New Wire Marine arrived and another test... Things were starting to look like an actual dashboard!

Ok, lets get messy... time to encapsulate in epoxy and test fit...

All and all, I couldn't really complain about the fit... this was after what seemed like 1000 hours of sanding and shaping:

After much thought and research, I decided on using Awlgrip to paint the project. A few words about Awlgrip... On the can it says "professional use only". Be advised... they are not kidding. You can roll and tip Awlgrip, but the learning curve in using it is like a hockey stick. It is as much a chemistry experiment as it is a paint. It's expensive, and unforgiving. If you set out to use it, plan on screwing up a bunch if it is your first time around with it. You have to use ONLY Awlgrip products and there are no shortcuts.

First, prime... and sand... and prime... and fill.. and prime some more:

I thought I would never get the primer right, and the surfaces fair. But after much perseverance, a fair amount of sweat and even more profanity, it was time to top coat... 4 of them. I was really amazed at how well Awlgrip laid down after I got the hang of it and I was really happy with the finish, especially considering I had never tried a project like this before and it was a one off, one of a kind, scratch built item.

Now the scary part... it's time to install and wire everything up and try not to blow up anything in the process. The old wiring was pretty rough

But with some encouragement from a mechanic friend and a few extra pieces parts I didn't have, I managed this:

An entire tube of 3M 4200 and some brackets, and the new dash was in. I connected up the switches and gauges and holy cow... it all worked...

A few odds and ends like the trim tabs being sorted out, and a minor issue with using LED bulbs in my running lights and The Hard Six went from this:

To This:

It was about 4 months of work.. That included lost time for Hurricane Matthew, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. But It is so nice to have a command console where everything works, nothing rattles, and it is water tight. There is a sense of pride when you conquer something you weren't sure you could actually do. The shakedown cruise when I took this photo was on New Years Day. What a great way to start the year!

Of course, like all stories, there is much that I left out of this one... Sure, there were setbacks and issues, but I do still believe it really was worth it.

New MSD

So I ordered a new MSD (head) for the boat... It came via FedEx... I have this odd urge to open the box and sit on it - just to see.

"Catalina" Badges

So the hull badges had bothered me for a long time. I tried updating them on the fly when I had the fiberglass work done on the boat and botched it pretty badly. The stickers were faded and peeling a bit in some places. 

So I decided it was time to refurbish them... 

Step one - tape off and peel off the old stickers... the taping was easy, some of the stickers were still really on there, even after almost 30 years.

Step two - paint base coat - 2 coats.

Step three - paint in silver portions, 2 coats - did this by hand with a small brush. TIP: Don't have a bunch of coffee before doing this, and don't even think about trying to do this in the water!

Step four and five - Add new stickers (found them on eBay, believe it or not) and add three coats of Acrylic sealer with UV protection. 

Final product - I'm pretty happy!

I used Krylon paint for plastic for this job and it stuck well - all I did was scuff it just a bit with a Scotch-Brite pad.

Cockpit Coaming

Well another month, another new skill.

My cockpit coamings were really looking tired. They had the CC Blue trim on them and since I am changing the scheme of the boat to navy blue, I figured why not.

I'd never done vinyl before, and wasn't sure I wouldn't make a mess of it. It's not perfect, but over all, I am really happy with how it came out. With coupons, I was able to do this project for about $120 with materials from JoAnn Fabrics. That included new padding, new vinyl and screw covers. I think I got a pretty big bang for my buck!

New Canvas

Captains don't think about their canvas. We just assume it is going to work. I mean it's there, right? Well, not always. Like anything on a boat, they require attention.





July 4, 2013 - clearly the wrong time to have this conversation with yourself:








It rained - HARD. It blew. We rolled. Violently enough that a Navy Vet that was aboard got seasick. Things in the cabin were travelling horizontally. It blew hard enough that the zippers on my aft canvas - well let's just say they were no more.

I had the top patched, I re-waterproofed it.It still leaked. I knew nothing was going to save the aged and brittle zippers. I knew it was time as the canvas may have been original to the boat. 25 years.... not bad.

So I hired a well respected canvas company (Boatswains Locker) here in Jax to do the work. When Bill came out to look at it, he says to me "Oh yeah, I did ton's of these boats when they were new over at Beach Marine". SAY WHAT? The boat is 25 years old! If you did these 25 years ago, I think you got this.

I told him that I wanted the top extended and that I wanted a drop curtain in the back and different vents in the top. He recommended going to heavier hardware and rails and stainless instead of aluminum. Ok - in for a penny right?

Here's what she looks like now:

I can tell you that when it rains now, it's quite dry inside and warm in the winter. It almost feels like an inside space when the canvas is all buttoned up.

I chose navy blue Sunbrella canvas because I plan to change the stripes over to navy as well. I think the Navy is a little more modern and sophisticated. 

New Cockpit Rails

So I am way behind on updating this, but hey, at least it's here now!

After doing the SeaDek, the StarBoard cockpit rails really looked awful. People say how wonderful that stuff is. "It doesn't stain" "easy to clean" "doesn't deform" Bullshit.

Mine looked horrible. They had black crud into the material in the cracks. I scrubbed. I power-washed. I even sanded. They had sagged over the years and deformed. There was no getting them clean. In looking at the photo above as I write this, I had forgotten how bad they really did look!

 

I made the decision that I wanted teak rails there. Now, I'm pretty good with wood. But I don't have a larger planer, and with the cost of the stock, I didn't want to have to do this one twice. So I paid someone to make the rails for me.

When I walked up on the boat I realized just what a dramatic difference it made. Even with no varnish on them .














After 7 coats of Pettit Flagship Varnish, they gleamed. I decided that it was worth every penny and knew that I had made the right decision.

You may also notice in these photos that the canvas looks a bit different. That's because it's new!

More about that in the next posting.

The SeaDek project

Some of you may be acquainted with a show called ShipShape TV and a guy named John Greviskis. If you aren't, just think "This Old House" for boats and you'll have the idea.

My Sunday morning routine is to get up, make coffee, and watch the show. You can learn tons from this guy. He is always also talking about new products in the marine industry. And that's the rub. You see something like SeaDek and say "Hey, that's just what I need for the cockpit on the boat!" and then you go away and quietly begin writing checks.

Myt cockpit floor was structurally sound, and completely serviceable. It had stains and spider cracks as you would expect for a 26 year old boat. I started thinking about all the repair work that would have to be done to make it look "right" and well after seeing SeaDek on ShipShape - it started to make sense. It's an EVA foam that looks like teak, requires zero maintenance, has great non-skid properties, and can be washed with a pressure washer. I mentioned it to my fiberglass guy one day and he said "I do that". This is the part where I started writing checks.

So - here's some photos:

Before

Before

Before

I hired a guy to do all the work. Could I have done the templates myself? Probably. But, it's important to know what you can do, and what is better to hand off to a pro. If I didn't get the template right, I'd have a ton of useless SeaDek as it was custom. So I decided to make it Aaron's problem if there was going to be one.

Was it expensive? Yes.
Was it required? No.

Does it make the boat look like another vessel entirely, YOU BET! I think it takes 15 years off her.

Would I do it again? - yes, tomorrow!

Cleaning the swim platform

While the boat was out of the water to be detailed, I decided to clean and seal the swim platform. First it needed to be cleaned though. My friend Tommy at the marina recommended a product called Snappy Teak Nu.  

I'll let you be the judge.

Before

Before

After

After

After