Spring Project(s) 74 20SF

[strick]

Now that's a fishing boat

strick

[SeaPlusPlus]

Thanks for the compliments

How do you get the rigid vinyl to make the tight bend at the transom?

Well my transom is flat across the top unlike the rest of the boat which has a lip where the top liner is joined to the boat, this is just the way we did it when we enclosed it. So the lip of the rub rail had to be removed to get it to lay flat on the transom. Removed the red area below just along the transom.



Dremel with a cutting bit made short work of the lip. Removing this also took a lot of the rigidity out of the rail. After that it was a matter of pulling the rail around the bend while lightly heating it with a heat gun, also the occasional rubber mallet knock to keep it tight.

[IslandRunner]

Hey Sea++ just wonder why your motor was mounted so high on the bracket, or why the bracket is mounted so low, is it to help with floation?....just wondering

The boat looks great, is this your first boat you work on?..... looking at your boat makes me want to learn how to do fiberglass work and redo my 1988 20 ft seacraft. Any advise?

[Beach]

Come on Sea++ you need to post some more SC20 RESTO PICS...I know its ready...whatcha waiting on?

I'll tell you the truth guys...I sold NEW SeaCrafts for a few years...you cant tell the difference between this 1974 and a 2010...unless you look REAL close... but I'll sit back and let him post it...

I'm really proud of the way he did this...lots of thought, lots of sweat equity and a whole lot of $$$...he did it right...

Beach AKA Dad...

[SeaPlusPlus]

IslandRunner - Engine is so high/bracket is low because it was installed for a 20" shaft engine. My zuke is 25" shaft so hence the highest hole on the mount/the jackplate. The alternative was to take the bracket off, fill (6) huge holes in my transom, drilling (6) new holes and moving the bracket up. Decided to try the jackplate and moving up before doing this and it worked out nicely. As far as advice, this is the first boat I've restored and I've learned a ton about it in the process, gained a lot of knowledge from my dad (Beach) and from everyone on this board, I'm easily spent twice as much time reading posts on here as I've spent work on the boat. Also like DonV said at the beginning of this post, buy sandpaper in the biggest size you can possibly find, I easily have $500 of sandpaper in this boat because I was buying it from Home Depot for a while.

She's 99.9% done, and she got wet and bloody this week (...yeah that sounds gross).

Anyways, built a starboard box to flush mount my vhf and stereo to inside my ebox. Frame is made out of 1/2" starboard and face/side is 1/4".

Constructing:

Black starboard + zip tool = mess






Installed:





Spent some time and changed my switch panel, original configuration was (2) 12 gauge wires feeding the (8) positives on the panel, I took these out and fed each one individually.



Went and bought the largest cutting board I could find (15" x 20"), this was bolted with nylon spacers to the inside of my console, all my electronics were mounted to this.



NMEA 2000 network backbone installed.



Battery switch and fuse box installed.



Every connection was made with an adhesive heat shrink connector, then adhesive heat shrink was put over that.





Wire management around the console was done with nylon cable tie mounts, these were screwed to the board, but 5 minute epoxied (thickened with some adhesive filler) to the inside of the console. Installed them by smearing some on the back, and then taping in place till dry.



Looks pretty messy in this picture because the throttle/steering/suzuki wire harness is in front, but after everything is in place and tied down.





Got everything installed on the dash



very tall person's view of dash


my view of dash


Spare fuses for every fuse type on board


Rear




Bow (non skid lines)


Looking back, tower folded, also my console seat opens forward now.


Down the line


Front deck light mounted on ebox (led spreader from coastalnightlights.com)


Spreader light (led spreader from coastalnightlights.com)


VHF getting GPS info for DSC from chartplotter


Looking forward


Leaning post/future home of 65qt yeti cooler


Glamor shots






Things still to be done

• Cut 3/4" starboard rod holders for under gunwhale holders
• Plumb/install scuppers through transom (right now they just drain to bilge until I get a 100% accurate waterline)
• Install trim tabs (my pump needs a part that I haven't purchased yet, might need a new pump, so holding off)
• Install rigging tubes from upper dash to tower for running steering/throttle and wire steering/throttle
• Ton's of other little tiny things, its a boat after all, its never "done"

Like I said, took her out on weds to run her some, not one problem with anything. Was a great day on the water, especially to have everything work just right.

Only thing that could have gone better was that we never spotted the man in the brown suit.

[Islandtrader]

Very Clean Machine...nicely done!

I bet it is a head turner every time out.

[uncleboo]

What an awesome job!!! Your attention to detail speaks volumes. All I can say is I'm 'SEAFOAM' with envy! I plan on towing mine up sometime. Hope we can get together so I can see her in the flesh. Enjoy her!

[TooFly]

Oops. I meant to post a 5 star rating but messed up and hit submit on only 1 star. Sorry 'bout that.

Your boat is absolutely stunning! I'm totally envious. Beautiful job!

[Calibogue]

Where did you score the stainless drink holders?
Helluva nice looking rig!

[SeaPlusPlus]

Thanks for all the kind words guys. The drink holders, thru-hulls, pull up cleats, all the hinges, and rod holders came from a local company called Prime Industries. Their website is here and their ebay page is here. Cheaper to buy from their ebay sometimes as they offer free shipping on some items. Awesome prices on high quality stainless stuff, that drink holder was $12 shipped, pull up cleats were $22, etc.